A
collectible card game (
CCG) set in
White Wolf's
World of Darkness. Each player represents a
Methuselah, one of the shadowy
elder vampires who pulls the strings of younger
vampires from the shadows. The game was originally called
Jyhad. Originally owned by
Wizards of the Coast, now owned by
White Wolf.
Game Setup: Like most
CCGs, you must buy cards in order to play. Original
runs are out of print, but are often sold on
eBay cheap; newer
runs such as
Sabbat and
Ancient Hearts can be found in
gaming stores. Again, like most
CCGs, you must fashion a
deck of cards before play.
Building A Deck: In
V:TES, a
deck consists of two piles of cards: the first pile is called the
crypt, and consists of
vampire cards, while the second pile is called the
library, and consists of all other cards.
The
crypt must have at least twelve cards in it; typically, it'll either have only twelve (to ensure
drawing the wanted
vampires), or it'll have a huge number (for a
weenie deck where the idea is to bring out a lot of
low cost vampires). Each
vampire has a
cost (in
pool) to bring out, a list of
Disciplines (
vampiric powers) they can use, and perhaps some special ability. Most
decks will have
vampires with similar
Disciplines (because it makes playing
Discipline-related cards easier), but this is not always true.
The number of cards the
library may have depends on how many people are playing, but eighty is a good number. Each card represents an item, a location, or an action that either you or one of your
vampires can undertake. Just about all of the cards have a
tangible cost; unlike in
Magic: the Gathering where most cards are paid for in
mana which
regenerates each turn, most cards in
V:TES cost you
pool or one of your
vampires blood, leaving you or your
vampire weaker in the process. Many cards also require a
vampire to have a
Discipline in order to use them.
Play: The players sit in a circle. The optimimum number of players is five, but anything larger than two will work (two is good for learning, but not so much for playing). The person to a player's left is considered that player's
prey; the person to a player's right is considered that player's
predator. The object of the game is to
oust your
prey (by reducing their
pool to 0), without being
ousted by your
predator.
Ousting your
prey gives you a point, and some more
pool as a bonus. Since it does not matter who
ousts a player -- the player's
predator always gains the point and the
pool -- short term
alliances are common, but long term ones are not; you wish to help the your
grand-predator (your
predator's
predator) enough to keep your
predator from focusing fully on you, but not so much that your
grand-predator will
oust your
predator and then become your
predator. Similarly, committing too many
resources towards attacking your
prey leaves you open to attack by your
predator, and playing too many cards that cost
pool (or bringing out too many expensive
vampires) can leave you low in
pool, vulnerable to a lucky strike.
There are three main types of
strategies in V:TES:
The game follows a
rock-paper-scissors design:
Bleed decks will beat
bruiser decks which will beat
political decks which will beat
bleed decks...This is not always true, but close enough. For any
strategy, there is a way to neutralize that
strategy.
Good Points:
Bad Points: - Unless everyone you're playing with is good, the game can take a long time to play; two hours for a five player game would not be uncommon.
- The game has a steep learning curve, especially if you don't know the World of Darkness. There are (at least) forty symbols printed on the cards that you need to know, and it takes awhile to learn them. Additionally, there are a lot of non-obvious rules, and it will take awhile to learn them, as well. Magic: the Gathering is simple in comparison.
- For maximum enjoyment, you need other people who know how to play the game and play it well. These people are not always easy to come by.