Official V:EKN Lasombra Newsletter for November 1999

Official V:EKN Lasombra Newsletter for November 1999 Mike Eichler Michael...@ramstein.af.mil - - - - - - - - - - - Story Time – A Methuselah Among Us Minion Call – A discussion of cards - - - - - - - - - - - A Methuselah Among Us Walking through the gallery of his private collection of art, Runako reread the telegram he had received earlier again. “MADNESS OF SA MOVES”: stop “SEEKS BLACK HEART IN GA”: stop “WILL ENVELOP ALL”: stop “MUST STOP AT ALL COSTS”: stop signed – M: stop “This is so like Masika, using a dramatic telegram delivery to send dire news. Though I find it hard to believe Sikkim would be on the move again after he was nearly destroyed by Roberto during the Crusades. I always wondered if Roberto was close by to Atlanta. Now that Mad Sikkim is coming here to destroy Lasombra’s Childe, Roberto the Black Heart, preparations for diverting or driving him back to his jungle hole in South America must be brought about swiftly.”, mused Runako, “Experiencing Sikkim’s brand of retribution is something I do not wish to experience again at this time.” “Samson! Bring the car around. We are having a command meeting with Atlanta’s archbishop.” “Where do you get off demanding a meeting, Maldavis?”, roared Caldwell, “You may be one of my best pack leaders but you have just been down rated.” Black mist slowly rising up from his clinched fists and a black wave moved from the shadows of the ceiling toward Runako’s back. Runako just stared back at Caldwell, saying nothing. “What’s the matter, Maldavis? Feeling a chill? Are you soo scared shitless that you have nothing to say?”, sneered Caldwell. Runako quickly overpowered Caldwell through mental domination and all darkness throughout the room ceased movement as instructions were quietly spoken and received. Runako then silently left the room to give the Archbishop time to set his actions into motion. Phillip decided he needed a good buzz and walked over to the local club for a late evening pick-me-up. He shook his head at the instructions he was given personally from Caldwell. “Stinkin’ Lasombra, always thinking they’re in charge, telling you to do this and do that.”, thought Phillip, “ At least this was more in line with what he liked. Art by fire, yes! But hitting Caceras was not something he looked forward to. While Lasombras are all assholes, they are tough assholes, and Caceras was not one to mess with lightly.” Again thinking a buzz would be just the thing to take his mind off of hitting Caceras, Phillip smiled as he found his Sheila for the evening. - - - - - - - - - - - Minion Call – A discussion of cards From previous newsletters, we have discussed the cards, 'Arms of the Abyss', 'Call the Lamprey', 'Entombment' and 'Eyes of the Night'. This month we will examine 'Shade' and 'Shadow Body'. Anyone finding uses for these cards that I have missed, please drop me a line explaining what you do and if possible a deck design. I will include your suggestions and deck in the next newsletter. Shade Retainer Card with 1 blood cost Text: Retainer with 2 life. When the minion with this retainer is in combat, the opposing minion takes 1 damage during strike resolution. A Rose by any other name is still a Rose and this is simply the Lasombra’s version of a 'Wolf Companion'. Overall, this card is not a bad card to have. The recruitment and use of retainers, though, has never been high on my list of actions to perform with the Lasombra, especially with their capabilities as combatants. But keep in mind the 1 extra point of damage could be the point that you need to send someone to torpor when you need it. Shadow Body Combat Card with 1 blood cost Normal Strike: Combat ends Superior Strike: As above, and if this vampire was blocked while attempting an action other than a political or bleeding action, the action continues as if unblocked. This is Obtenebration’s limited ‘Majesty’ card with a blood cost. When compared to ‘Majesty’ at the normal strike, it is expensive. When you try to compare the superior strike to the Majesty’s superior strike there are only two like aspects: 1) Both cost 1 blood when used to maximum effect. 2) Both end combat via Strike: Combat Ends Here the similarity ends. ‘Majesty’ provides an Untap when you pay the 1 blood cost. Depending upon your play environment this will produce different options. In a DCI environment or where ‘house-rules’ forbid it, you now are able to perform a new action except the one you just attempted. In the non-DCI environment and where ‘house-rules’ do not forbid it, you can now perform a new action including the one you just attempted. With ‘Shadow Body’, you can continue the action provided it wasn’t a bleed or political action. If it was one of the two attempted actions then all you get is a ‘Strike: Combat Ends’ to avoid damage and a burned action attempt. Just upon this description the card does not sound all that great, the loss of a blood to end combat if attempting an offensive action. But the card does allow the continuation of some actions, both offensive and non-offensive. ‘Bum’s Rushes’ and ‘Ambushes’ would continue on target, leaving a possible defensive hole where previously there may not have been one as the defender becomes/remains tapped. As blood gain is not as easily attained for non-Camarilla clans (aka Minion Tap/5th Traditions for Camarilla Princes/Justicars), a Hunt action can be made with less fear of interception when using the ‘Festivo dello Estinto’ master card to fill up. (Unsure if multiple use of ‘Shadow Body’ during multiple blocks for a single action is allowed due to the ruling with ‘Form of Mist’. LSJ, any help on this one?) Performing an Equip action falls into the same line as the Hunt action of being reasonably certain of completing the action. While the superior capability is nice to have, a theme deck built around this card would likely have the draw-back of being more narrowly defined in scope with limited or no flexibility. (To some people this is not a bad thing… to me it is. Something about living in an environment where flexibility is considered a positive asset.) The card as a whole could provide valuable assistance to different deck themes, especially a non-combative vote deck, makes this card something to consider in any deck using Obtenebration. “Anticipate chaos and be prepared to work through it.” Unknown Until next time. Enjoy! Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

ramst...@my-deja.com wrote: > Shadow Body > Combat Card with 1 blood cost > Normal Strike: Combat ends > Superior Strike: As above, and if this vampire was blocked > while attempting an action other than a political or bleeding action, > the action continues as if unblocked. > (Unsure if multiple use of ?Shadow Body? during multiple blocks > for a single action is allowed due to the ruling with ?Form of Mist?. > LSJ, any help on this one?) Form of Mist (superior, when played by the acting minion) counts as an action modifier because it adds stealth (thus modifying the action) (well, because of errata, but the errata was issued for the reasoning above). Shadow Body doesn't modify the action, and so has not received any errata to make it an action modifier. -- LSJ (vte...@wizards.com) V:TES Net.Rep for Wizards of the Coast. Links to revised rulebook, rulings, errata, and tournament rules: http://www.wizards.com/VTES/rules.asp

LSJ <vte...@wizards.com> writes: >ramst...@my-deja.com wrote: >> Shadow Body >> Combat Card with 1 blood cost >> Normal Strike: Combat ends >> Superior Strike: As above, and if this vampire was blocked >> while attempting an action other than a political or bleeding action, >> the action continues as if unblocked. > >> (Unsure if multiple use of ?Shadow Body? during multiple blocks >> for a single action is allowed due to the ruling with ?Form of Mist?. >> LSJ, any help on this one?) > >Form of Mist (superior, when played by the acting minion) counts as >an action modifier because it adds stealth (thus modifying the action) >(well, because of errata, but the errata was issued for the reasoning >above). > >Shadow Body doesn't modify the action, and so has not received any >errata to make it an action modifier. Since Shadow Body doesn't add any stealth, is there any reason why the opposing minion can't block again, assuming he has a way to get around being tapped? For instance, if the controller has a wakey or a Forced Awakening in his hand? And are all the Methuselah's still committed to all of their previous blocking decisions made before the combat began? Fred

Frederick Scott wrote: > LSJ <vte...@wizards.com> writes: > >Shadow Body doesn't modify the action, and so has not received any > >errata to make it an action modifier. > > Since Shadow Body doesn't add any stealth, is there any reason why the > opposing minion can't block again, assuming he has a way to get around > being tapped? For instance, if the controller has a wakey or a Forced > Awakening in his hand? No. As always, any ready, untapped (or woken) minion (controlled by an appropriate Methuselah) can attempt to block the action. > And are all the Methuselah's still committed to all of their previous > blocking decisions made before the combat began? Yes. [ quoted text not captured ]

In article <382AB7A2...@wizards.com>, LSJ <vte...@wizards.com> wrote: > > And are all the Methuselah's still committed to all of their previous > > blocking decisions made before the combat began? > Yes. Let me make sure that I understand this properly: If Guido Lucciano attempt a Thanks for the Donation action and gets blocked by a woken Anton and Guido plays a Shadow Body at Superior, he will continue the action and Anton must block him again? [No other minions of Anton's Meth may attempt to block and no one else may attempt to eagle sight and get in the way.] -odd -quirky -peculiar -I LIKE IT! It gives Guido the option of ending combat (inferior) or restarting combat (superior) and Anton has no choice in the matter (unless he has a Psyche and Guido chooses to S:CE or something like that). If Anton had paid for Blood of Acid and Body Arsenal, then restarting combat might be a great idea since you would then be fighting a blood-depleted no_more_kooky_cards_to_play Anton. Stu -Your Friendly Neighborhood Camarilla Scholar [ quoted text not captured ]

[ quoted text not captured ] Is there somewhere else other than Deja.com that these newsletters are archived? Id hate to have to search through the history of this forum to find the ones I would like to see. [ quoted text not captured ]

In article <80f1bm$5md$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, Saliib <sal...@my-deja.com> wrote: > Is there somewhere else other than Deja.com that > these newsletters are archived? Martin Ralya used to collect them and have them archived on his website with Crosswinds.net. Unfortunately, Crosswinds moved their servers to New York and lots of their pages/server names did not make the move. I have contacted Martin about hosting his archive, and should have something new to add to this discussion by the end of the week. Carpe Noctem. Lasombra http://members.tripod.com/~Lasombra [ quoted text not captured ]

On Thu, 11 Nov 1999 04:33:38 -0800, LSJ <vte...@wizards.com> wrote: >Frederick Scott wrote: >> LSJ <vte...@wizards.com> writes: >> >Shadow Body doesn't modify the action, and so has not received any >> >errata to make it an action modifier. >> >> Since Shadow Body doesn't add any stealth, is there any reason why the >> opposing minion can't block again, assuming he has a way to get around >> being tapped? For instance, if the controller has a wakey or a Forced >> Awakening in his hand? > >No. As always, any ready, untapped (or woken) minion (controlled by an >appropriate Methuselah) can attempt to block the action. So if Sadie played a WWEF or FA to block Guido the first time, and he played Shadow Body, Sadie is STILL "woken", and can just say "OK, I block again."? If this is true, this really sort of turns this card into borderline-wallpaper. :( -- Derek PEACE, n. In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.

In article <80f2mj$6lg$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, Saliib <sal...@my-deja.com> wrote: > Is there somewhere else other than Deja.com that > these newsletters are archived? Many of the individual Newsletter editors have archived them on their websites. Find links to these and to the majority of the newsletters posted to the newsgroup by month at: http://members.tripod.com/~Lasombra/newsletter.htm Carpe Noctem. Lasombra http://members.tripod.com/~Lasombra [ quoted text not captured ]

pie...@my-deja.com wrote: > > In article <382AB7A2...@wizards.com>, > LSJ <vte...@wizards.com> wrote: > > > And are all the Methuselah's still committed to all of their > previous > > > blocking decisions made before the combat began? > > Yes. > > Let me make sure that I understand this properly: > > If Guido Lucciano attempt a Thanks for the Donation action and gets > blocked by a woken Anton and Guido plays a Shadow Body at Superior, he > will continue the action and > Anton must block him again? No. Anton *may* attempt to block him again. As may any minion controlled by his controller (assuming Anton didn't play superior Eagle's Sight to allow him the opportunity). Or Anton's controller may now choose not to make any further block attempts (and the opportunity to block would pass to the next eligible Methuselah, if any). > [No other minions of Anton's Meth may attempt to block and no one else > may attempt to eagle sight and get in the way.] No Methuselahs who have already announced "I do not block" may go back and adjust that decision. The question was on Methuselahs' blocking decisions, those being "I choose to make no (more) bloock attempts" or not. [ quoted text not captured ]

"Derek S. Ray" wrote: > So if Sadie played a WWEF or FA to block Guido the first time, and he > played Shadow Body, Sadie is STILL "woken", and can just say "OK, I > block again."? If this is true, this really sort of turns this card > into borderline-wallpaper. :( Reaction cards last for the duration of the action by default, just like action modifiers, yes. This is how it has always been. [ quoted text not captured ]

Saliib <sal...@my-deja.com> wrote: > Is there somewhere else other than Deja.com that these newsletters are > archived? Id hate to have to search through the history of this forum > to find the ones I would like to see. If you want I can also email you all the newsletters as I have already gone out, grabbed and copied all I could find (via Word 97). Give me your email address and the clan(s) newsletters you want. I'll jet them to you. Mike Eichler michael...@ramstein.af.mil [ quoted text not captured ]

On Thu, 11 Nov 1999, Derek S. Ray wrote: > So if Sadie played a WWEF or FA to block Guido the first time, and he > played Shadow Body, Sadie is STILL "woken", and can just say "OK, I > block again."? If this is true, this really sort of turns this card > into borderline-wallpaper. :( Not necessarily, since a lot of vampires will not have Woken to block, and so will be tapped and unable to block. The Wake corner is one where the card has a problem, but against non-Wake, it is more interesting. Also, don't forget that during combat, you may have cycled to more interesting stealth cards, after playing your Shadow Step etc. -- James Coupe