Playtest Application

Hello All, If you would like to volunteer to be a playtester, please fill out the application below, and post it as a reply to this thread. Thanks, Ira PLAYTESTER APPLICATION Please note: There aren't any "right" answers to these questions (except to #2 ). For all the rest, we are looking for a mix of people. We don't want to have playtesters who are all spending 5+ hrs/week on VTES; some casual or newer players would be great too. 1) Please list your first and last name, e-mail address, and city/country where you play. If you regularly play online using JOL or another system, you may list that in addition to your physical city. 2) Do you promise to keep secret all the cards and content of the playtest until at least 12 months after the release of the set? 3) How often do you actually play VTES? Describe in a sentence or two (weekly casual game, tournaments, etc.) 4) Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on VTES-related things? (including deckbuilding, playing, forum posts, organizing events, etc.) 5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two): Bleed, Vote, Combat, Toolbox, Crazy Combo/Trick, Weenie, Star Minion, Allies/Imbued, Specific Clan (name the clan), Specific Discipline (name the discipline) 6) If selected as a playtester, do you promise to play at least 2 games per week (for 1 month) using at least some of the cards from the playtest? These would need to be at least 3 player games. 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. 8) What are the top three things that you think could be improved about the game? 9) What question would you add/change on this application to ensure we get the best playtesters? Ira

1) Andrew Chirgwin (Prince of Castle Hill, NSW, Australia) Blacktown, Sydney Australia I would play on JOL if playtesting was held there. 2) "The Secrets Must be Kept"... I'm happy to agree to that. 3) I play weekly at my FLGS for about 4 hours. 4) I estimate I'd spend more than 10hrs a week on VTES related things. (VEKN forum, Blog, Prince-matters in Australia, keeping in touch with my playgroup on VTES matters, planning for future tournaments) 5) Toolbox, Combo/Trick/Theme (e.g. Wizard Decks using Mage Allies, Mother Hamster where Mata Hari makes Tumnimos and then Talbot's Chainsaws them to feed herself with Carver's Meat Packing and Storage) 6) I am happy to play at least two games a week (on average) using cards from the playtest. (I would also specifically incorporate the playtest cards into 'normal' decks to check them against the current power of the game). 7) www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9288-card-idea-metanoia My reasons for it being overpowered are in the thread. I don't know if you've read them, but there is plenty of reasoning there. www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9607-card-idea-endure-through-spirits Again, my reasoning for my views on its power are through the thread. *Note: Not wanting to pick on Ankha, he's just been the one publishing the most threads about card ideas. 8) #1: Plain English cardtexts. There should not really need to be rulings on the text of an actual card on its own (See Villein). Words such as Move, Transfer, Steal, etc should potentially be given a specific in-game meaning and treated as separate things; if they aren't different ways of handling cards/counters then one word should be used and not two. (e.g. if Move and Transfer are treated as the same thing, Move or Transfer should be used and the other word replaced) #2: Development of new ousting methods (Alternate Win 'Paths'). This is particularly true for deck types such as combat. There should potentially be more ways to: gain pool and damage your prey's pool that are not just "make them enter combat more often". Combat should potentially contribute on its own. #3: Reduce the natural instinct of players to attend events like Qualifiers with Weenie S&B, Dom S&B, etc. I think we need to develop cards that will change the nature of the game for the Speed-Bleed and Speed-Vote deck types. I would like Qualifiers to be more diverse than 15+ S&B and Weenie-Dom decks with the odd Powerbleeder, the Schmuck who brought a toolbox and "that dude who always brings a wacky trick deckto everything". 9) Choose a card and redesign it so that you would consider it balanced AND include it in a deck suitable for tournaments. (You may include cards that have already been proposed to the public, e.g. via the VEKN Forum) Retired Baron of Sydney, Australia, 418

1) Liam Mitchell, , Victoria, BC, Canada 2) Yes 3) I play a weekly casual game and the (very) occasional tournament. I've been playing casually since the late '90s. 4) I usually spend 5 hours playing and another 1 to 4 hours deckbuilding. 5) Toolbox, Crazy Combo/Trick 6) Yes 7) Editing for misunderstanding the question and writing about Parity Shift; give me a minute... 8) First, I'd like to see more indirect methods of acquiring victory points. I like decks that do unusual things that don't necessarily touch pool directly since they're difficult to predict, and since this unpredictability encourages players to deckbuild with a wide range of possibilities in mind. (I like focused trick decks, but more and more I'm coming to love well crafted toolboxes.) Deck destruction, blood attrition, corruption, and so on - I'd like to see support for this sort of thing. Second, I'd like more support for the Anarchs and the Laibon. I love the options that the three way cards open up, and I think that the Aye/Orun mechanic could be feasible with a little more support. Third, I'd love it if some of the innovative ideas from this forum were incorporated, with "bounce + X" being particularly promising. Novel, unexpected responses to old, predictable actions should keep the game fresh by opening up new strategies. 9) Which of the card ideas so far proposed in this forum is your favorite, and why?

What will be the medium to playtest? Playing the cards in my parisian playgroup would mean other players will know the cards, doesn't it conflict with point #2? Playing through Lackey or JOL with other playtesters mean more confidentiality, but is quite tedious and long. Anyway, I'll gladly join so here's my form: 1) Vincent Ripoll, v.ripoll-at-gmail.com, Paris, France. Present on Lackey. 2) Sure, no problem. 3) I play every week in our gaming shop, and sometimes do an extra during the week and/or week end, either physically or on lackey. As the Prince, I promote competitive play in shops even on casual game and attend nearly each tournament organized in Paris (once a month). I move also 3 or 4 times a year for other local tournaments (usually qualifiers) and national championship. 4) My brain's constantly running ideas, either about card design or deck building Physically, I spend more than 10 hours a week on it, either playing, programming tools (such as the turbo deck simulator or card creator), and answering forums. 5) Crazy Combo/Trick, Star Minion. they're more challenging and fun to design (though Aim&chain is at the opposite). This includes "infinite pool damage" suing Henry Taylor and Condemnation Doomed, Eternal Contagion where you steal vampire using contagion, Saulot/Khobar, Turbo Jacob etc. 6) No trouble playing 2 games per week. I play more than that on regular basis. 7) I had to browse a lot to find cards I didn't create www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/8069-lasombra-cards Inner Darkness Cardtype: Combat Only usable before range is determined. Put this card on the vampire. [obt] Once each combat, you may remove 2 cards from your ash heap from the game to exchange any combat card from your hand for combat card that require obtenebration from your ash heap [OBT] As above, but you may remove 1 card instead. I think it allows unbalanced permanent recursion. Since VTES is a game where resources are supposed to exhaust, recursion must be thought carefully. Permanent recursion even more. The card is no action so can't be blocked and may transform any combat card into a combat ends (at best) or an Entombment (at worse) for a ridiculous cost (removing 1 card that doesn't even need to be a combat card?) Compared to a Shadow Court Satyr, it is overpowered because it's more versatile, it stays on a vampire (more resilient than ally), and doesn't cost 3 pool To be balanced, the card should be one shot (before range, you may exchange a combat card from your hand and from your ash heap) and cost 1 blood (as most obtenetration cards anyway). I don't know if the "remove a card" part should be kept, but in that case, it should remove a combat card (to exhaust resources as explained earlier). 8) Tough topic. 1/ I've always found combat options a little underprivileged compared to vote and bleed. It requires a lot of cards, is more hazardous than bleeding for 6 at 1 stealth, and usually is less pool damaging than other options. More cards like Fame, Tension, Dragonbound could help. 2/ Some decks ruin the game: Madness reversal of fortune, Una freakshow among others. They are extremists win-or-die decks that have too little interaction with other players (that usually don't even have a chance to play if everything goes well). Weenie DBR and Tupdogs are borderline but still ok. 3/ It would be nice to have an alternative format, quicker, with less players, that could be used to bring new players to the "real" game. It could even be a board game using VTES material and introducing some common but simplified rules. 9) I'd ask what method applicants would use to playest efficiently. Prince of Paris, France Ratings Coordinator, Rules Director

1) Lech Jabłoński, angelofcain at gmail dot com, Kraków Poland (i can use Lackey or jol, too) 2) Yes 3) 2 to 3 times per week, 2 to 4 games per session. This year i didn't played serious tournament, but i'll most likely play EC. 4) About 15 5) Toolbox, Intercept-combat. 6) Yes 7) vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9743-card-idea-month-of-madness Easy, prolong the game and make it retarded and random, why even printing a card that is similar to banned card (madness of the bard) ? vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9443-card-idea-timefalls Name: Timefalls Cardtype: Action / Reaction / Combat Discipline: Thaumaturgy / Temporis Press. Only usable at the end of an action, if at least 4 actions have been taken during this minion phase. Minions can't take actions this turn. +1 stealth action. Play a master card that can be put into play from your hand. Pay cost as normal. At superior any Minion steal that lasts + Golconda, outnferior is better than other press cards from . Some master card played out of order are strong( like Millicent Smith that dont hurt you), like anarchist troublemaker or pentex. With the enkil cog, you can play those in other players turn. This card also allows to play master cards that you just drawn, and to play master cards after master-out-of-turn. Inferior is very strong against some decks and in some situations, but too unreliable to count on it as defense strategy. 8) Infinite combos, master card recursion, steal minion effects combined with heidelberg castle and some blood gaining techs. Cards like Tupdogs, Parity Shift, Temptation of Greater Power, Voter Captivation, Giant's Blood, Una, Ashur Tablets 9) Choose existing wallpaper card and suggest how to make it playable. Sabbat.Black Hand Shakar: Lech loathe ranged weapons. Once each action, he may burn 1 blood to become Camarilla Prince of Krakow until the end of the action.

> Lech wrote: > 7) vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9743-card-idea-month-of-madness > > Easy, prolong the game and make it retarded and random, why even printing a card that is similar to banned card (madness of the bard) ? > The whole joke aspect of the card (where the text itself is a haiku) didn't elude you, did it? Prince of Paris, France Ratings Coordinator, Rules Director

1) Aleksi Nuora, suolirusetti at gmail dot com, Helsinki, Finland. 2) Yes. 3) Weekly casual games and a tournament every two months or so. 4) 10+. 5) Toolbox, Star Minion. 6) Yes. 7) vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/8794-card-idea-shadows-within-shadows This is the card that Smoke and Mirrors wanted to be. Seemingly simple but opens up many new crypt possibilities. Rewards big minions with redundant disciplines. Complements outferior Domain of Evernight and Pocket Out of Time for Nehemiah's support vampires. Makes the Nocturn/War Ghoul deck slightly less clunky. The cost of 1 blood at obf and obt seems like a fair trade for the flexibility and falls in line with other obt-stealth cards. Unfortunately, 1-4 stealth from one card is probably too obscene for g2-3 Lasombra voters. 8) Better access to bleed bounce. More specifically, a bounce card for Fortitude. It would make a lot of the fun but unplayable clans and vampires more viable. The research area could be fleshed out. Maybe something along the lines of an action/master that moves the top X cards from your library to the research area and an action modifier that lets you play other action modifiers from the research area. Nerf Pentex. I guess this means that I don't see any fundamental problems with the game. Villein, Wider View and Eyes of Argus have been pretty good for deck variety and balance. 9) Describe your metagame/testing environment.

1) Fernando Cesar AKA Sydnelson, , Rio de Janeiro - Brazil, I play online over LackeyCCG and in several states of brazil. 2) Yes 3) I play at least 5 per week online over lackeyccg and 4 times per month with my friends or tournaments. 4) At least 20hrs per week online and 3hrs in normal or tournament games. 5) Bleed\Vote, Block\Combat 6) Yes I can play more than 2 games per week and I also want to offer LackeyCCG as one of playtest plataform. I can create a private version* of vtes plugin and send to choosen playtester. Also can create password protect matchs to avoid other players see those tests. 7) I already send some card ideals and can provide a review of cards that is not balanced, not good or can made a nerf combo. 8) Research Area need to be more effects and cards to use it, Bahari\Imperator need more effects too and the third thing can be new crypt cards to fill group 5 and 6. 9) Ask to players how many years they play and how many tournament they participate. Players that play at long time or too many tournaments can be better to detect combos, overpower cards and impact of this cards and effect to the table. *) As I said on item 6 and already talk about it in prince list, I offer lackeyccg plataform to test new cards and expasions. I can create a private version specific to this and can put password on all files to avoid leaks. Fernando Cesar - Sydnelson LackeyCCG and OCTGN VtES Mantainer Prince of Rio de Janeiro Powerbase Rio de Janeiro

Hello All, If you would like to volunteer to be a playtester, please fill out the application below, and post it as a reply to this thread. Thanks, Ira PLAYTESTER APPLICATION Please note: There aren't any "right" answers to these questions (except to #2 ). For all the rest, we are looking for a mix of people. We don't want to have playtesters who are all spending 5+ hrs/week on VTES; some casual or newer players would be great too. 1) Please list your first and last name, e-mail address, and city/country where you play. If you regularly play online using JOL or another system, you may list that in addition to your physical city. David Sniegon, , Ostrava, Czech Republic. Im willing to participate testing through JOL or other programs if there will be people to test with. 2) Do you promise to keep secret all the cards and content of the playtest until at least 12 months after the release of the set? Yes, of course. 3) How often do you actually play VTES? Describe in a sentence or two (weekly casual game, tournaments, etc.) Weekly afternoon games 1x, sometimes 2x, 1 tournament/month +- 4) Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on VTES-related things? (including deckbuilding, playing, forum posts, organizing events, etc.) No idea but i guess it will be +- 3 afternoons a week 5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two): Bleed, Vote, Combat, Toolbox, Crazy Combo/Trick, Weenie, Star Minion, Allies/Imbued, Specific Clan (name the clan), Specific Discipline (name the discipline) hmm... Vote and Toolbox i guess:) 6) If selected as a playtester, do you promise to play at least 2 games per week (for 1 month) using at least some of the cards from the playtest? These would need to be at least 3 player games. Yes i promise if i get people to test with. 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9743-card-idea-month-of-madness why to make a card which will be instantly banned? 8) What are the top three things that you think could be improved about the game? Personally i do not feel that there we need changes in rules, but: This will sound funny but mainly randomize cards in booster packs... you know which uncommon is missing when one is there, also commons come in 3-4 "sets" of them so in booster draft, it gives significant informations. Also some cards are really confusing in some specific situations so rulings could be more worked on:) And of course ban Scobax (only fun, our prince will understand this:) ) 9) What question would you add/change on this application to ensure we get the best playtesters? I guess nothing, its well created and it covers every needed question we need in first line of looking for playtesters. Gl, lot of blood, and hf, Halldir Lotharos

Can we assume that all playtests games will be played via web? If not it'll be impossible to maintain confidentiality as playing in our local groups will automatically reveal the cards to others

> HalldirLotharos wrote: > 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. > > vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9743-card-idea-month-of-madness > Wow. A second victim of the Month of Madness. What did I wrote earlier? "The whole joke aspect of the card (where the text itself is a haiku) didn't elude you, did it?" Prince of Paris, France Ratings Coordinator, Rules Director

dont think it will be neccesary, we can always make seperate group of playtesters in local which will know the cards and test...

> alek wrote: > Can we assume that all playtests games will be played via web? If not it'll be impossible to maintain confidentiality as playing in our local groups will automatically reveal the cards to others > My playgroup has previously had a playtesting group. They kept to the letter of the NDA and we knew nothing before the set was published. Retired Baron of Sydney, Australia, 418

> Juggernaut1981 wrote: > > > alek wrote: > > Can we assume that all playtests games will be played via web? If not it'll be impossible to maintain confidentiality as playing in our local groups will automatically reveal the cards to others > > > My playgroup has previously had a playtesting group. They kept to the letter of the NDA and we knew nothing before the set was published. > And that is exactly the way it should be handled for future expansionsn. pckvtes.wordpress.com

> Ankha wrote: > > > HalldirLotharos wrote: > > 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. > > > > vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9743-card-idea-month-of-madness > > > Wow. A second victim of the Month of Madness. > What did I wrote earlier? "The whole joke aspect of the card (where the text itself is a haiku) didn't elude you, did it?" > Hehe. If they pick this card, I don't think they will be picked as playtesters. They should make another attempt maybe. Or maybe this card will be included in the next sett. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

> Ankha wrote: > > > HalldirLotharos wrote: > > 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. > > > > vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9743-card-idea-month-of-madness > > > Wow. A second victim of the Month of Madness. > What did I wrote earlier? "The whole joke aspect of the card (where the text itself is a haiku) didn't elude you, did it?" > I hope you guys DO know what happens when the counter reaches 3 ...

1. Stewart MacLeod, stewart h macleod at hotmail dot com, Melbourne Australia. 2. Absolutely, yes. 3. We have casual games in Melbourne every two to three weeks, with 4-6 players of varying skill levels playing 2-3 decks over the day. We also have tournaments 3-4 times a year, with an average turnout of 10-15 players. 4. Averaged out over weeks without a casual game, approximately 3-4 hours per week. 5. Favourite deck designs are Crazy Combo/Trick, Star Minion. 6. Yes, this would not be a problem. 7. www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9713-card-idea-on-the-list On the List Cardtype: Master 0 pool Play this card on a ready minion. If this minion is titled this card costs two additional pool. The minion with this card is considered Red List. I’m a fan of Trophy decks, but if I look at a card and consider it an auto-inclusion there might be something a little off. As currently designed, Trophy-hunting decks tend to only need to burn a small number of minions as the Trophies are so powerful. By making it much easier to List a minion, we’re thus creating significant change to the Trophy-hunter design space. If we keep the design intent as a Red Listing master card, the most obvious methods of dampening the card’s effectiveness would be to increase the cost (costs pool), limit the opportunity for it to be played (clan-, title-, sect- or capacity- restriction, on either the target or the user), or limit the benefit (the effect is limited to a single turn, for example). Where possible, a card's limitations should make some thematic sense; the card should be an equal substitute rather than a complete replacement for existing similar cards. Additionally, more words tends to create an inelegant card, with too many restrictions or exceptions leading to confused players - something I learnt the hard way from my earliest drafts of Kindred of the East. On the List v2 Cardtype: Master 1 pool Requires a Sabbat vampire. Put this card on a ready non-Sabbat vampire controlled by another Methuselah. The vampire with this card becomes Red List. During your discard phase, burn 1 pool or burn this card. Burn this card if this vampire has a title. (Note that the redesign allows you to cycle the card for 1 pool, should your opponents only control titled non-Sabbat vampires. This was a nod toward the master-heavy nature of many Trophy-hunting decks; this design allows you to potentially get rid of the card if you have a hand jammed with the Trophies themselves) 8. Top three things to improve in VTES would be * echoing Juggernaut 1981, clarity in definitions such as ‘steal’, ‘move’, etc. – I recall Jyhad’s copy of Bum’s Rush had “attack a minion” and I scrambled to the rulebook to work out what special rule ‘Attack’ might be...! I suspect that defining such terms explicitly would benefit the game considerably. * streamlined combat; between pseudo-phases like ‘before range is determined’, ‘before strikes’, ‘at the end of the round’ etc, newer players can be stumped. Even now, experienced players sometimes hesitate when timing their press versus Taste of Vitae. * more distinctive sects. Sects seemed very different from one another in the roleplaying game, but the range of Discipline-specific over sect- or title-specific cards means that these differences have become progressively blurrier as the card pool has grown. 9. I think that some of the best answers to this question have already been put up! That said, the first thing that came to mind is “describe your local playgroup”, in that I think we’ll see geographic blocs of playtesters start to form as this thread grows. In Melbourne, for example, we have some of Australia/NZ’s top-rated players (Jason Ryan, Ivor Blockley, Simon Reed) as regular attendees to tournaments. On the other end of the scale, we have newer players who are still learning the joy of simpler combos like Concealed Weapon + SNS + DBR + Graverobbing A health-check of the depth and breadth of experience of a city-based group is thus a good way of understanding the quality of the testing they’ll perform. cheers Disco Stu Prince of Melbourne, Australia

I'd like to join! 1) Joscha Duell, Joscha.DuellATgmxDOTde, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2) Yes I do. 3) I play in casual games every other week and join in 4 to 5 tournaments per year. More often I meet with a buddy to play training games and tune and discuss decks and cards. 4) I spend appr. 15 hours per week to VtES. 5) My favourite decks, among many others, are toolbox and Tremere/!Tremere. 6) I can afford the time to play at least two games per week for 1 month. 7) I'm refering to the entry "Conditional Combat-cards" to the card "With Benefits". www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/9978-conditional-combat-cards With Benefits Only usable in a combat in which this vampire was attempting to bleed. Only usable at close range, before strikes are chosen. Put this card on the opposing minion. That minion gets -1 intercept against the this minion. As above, with Strike: combat ends. This card has the drawback in being usable in one condition: combat after bleed. There is an added only usable at close range which makes it even more conditional. It has no blood cost and its really strong effect comes only with PRE. It is comparable to Unholy Pennance, which gives you the S:CE on pre with a nice +1 bleed on PRE for 1 blood without a condition to play it. So at first glance it is a well balanced card. Yet I think this card is too good. If played in a weenie to midcap presence-bleeddeck this card would be a monster. You bleed like hell, if you get blocked you can S:CE (given you have PRE) AND have the big advantage that your big bleeds are harder to block next turn. This card can be exploited easily by an already very good decktype. That flawes the design. 8) Bringing non-Camarilla-vote-decks at par. Although there is not much missing after the invention of Reckless Agitation and the ease of gaining titles as an Anarch. Another good pol. action for non-cams would be great. The Research- and Bahari-theme need a work-over. Some more cards for biggies like Into Thin Air. Apart ot these points I think the game is very fine. One of the most important points for me is how careful its design was developed through the last 17 years. I think LSJ and his team did an extraordinary great job in developing and designing. I hope we can say the same after the next expansion. 9)I think it's tough to judge by a form if someone is a good playtester. So I can't think of any other good question. I think you can better judge someone by the quality of his contribution he makes later and decide then, if you take his entries into consideration. Baron of Frankfurt

> 1) Please list your first and last name, e-mail address, and > city/country where you play. If you regularly play online using > JOL or another system, you may list that in addition to your > physical city. > Simon Cross (Prince of Cape Town) hodgestar -at- gmail -dot- com Cape Town, South Africa I would like to put in a joint application on behalf of six of the local players to form a far flung play testing group in Cape Town. I think our local meta-game (which is unusually combat heavy) has a distinctive view point to offer. A good example is perhaps one of our recent tournament winning decks (www.thelasombra.com/decks/twd.htm#2011vsctsa) -- a stealth Lutz and Alicia stealth vote deck that includes 7 Sleep Unseens, 6 Charismatic Aura, 7 Majesty and 2 Staredowns. It involved from an earlier version played at SA nationals last year that didn't make the TWDA because it had Lutz, Alicia and Aristotle consistently burnt in earlier rounds despite packing a fairly hefty (> 20 card) manouevre and S:CE defence package. The six players are me (current prince), Neil (experienced player, large card collection), Richard (experienced player, huge Laibon fan, medium-sized card collection), Marc (experienced player, won nationals this year, medium-sized card collection), Evan (new player, has played a few tournaments, favours combat) and Anthony (new player, has played a few tournaments, going through the Malk S&B phase). > 2) Do you promise to keep secret all the cards and content of the playtest until at least > 12 months after the release of the set? > Yes (and the others have agreed too). > 3) How often do you actually play VTES? Describe in a sentence or two (weekly casual game, tournaments, etc.) > I run a tournament roughly ever six weeks and we play socials about every week or second week in between. > 4) Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on VTES-related things? (including deckbuilding, playing, forum posts, organizing events, etc.) > Eight hours plus. Neil and I are the developers of Sutekh (the VtES card collection manager) which uses up time regularly. I hang out on the #vtes IRC channel, read the forums, read the news group (yes, I still read the news group . > 5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two): > Bleed, Vote, Combat, Toolbox, Crazy Combo/Trick, Weenie, Star Minion, Allies/Imbued, > Specific Clan (name the clan), Specific Discipline (name the discipline) > Combat. Malkavian. Preferably both at the same time when I can pull it off. > 6) If selected as a playtester, do you promise to play at least 2 games per week (for 1 month) using at least some of the cards from the playtest? These would need to be at least 3 player games. > Yep. The idea would be for our playtesting group to meet to play together once or twice a week during the playtesting period. > 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. > vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/6383-card-idea-weekend-anarch Weekend Anarch didn't get any discussion on the forum but I think it's an interesting idea for two reasons. Anarch Secession and Jack Drake's text are currently the only means of making titled vampires anarch. Neither are particularly attractive (AS requires playing lots of copies and is useless later on and Jack requires influencing out Jack first and having a younger, titled minions of the right group to bring out second). This card would add a third option that avoids these problems and enables the construction of a whole variety of new types of anarch decks. There is currently no way to become anarch temporarily so that also opens up a whole new avenue for interesting decks. Galaric's Legacy is a similar card (trifle for making minions anarch) but it's not popular because it shares with Anarch Secession and Go Anarch the issue of requiring a lot of copies that are dead cards late game. It would be important for Weekend Anarch to avoid this pitfall -- perhaps it needs additional text similar to Pallid's, e.g. "Alternatively, when a non-anarch vampire is acting, play this card to your ash heap as an out-of-turn master to give an anarch you control +1 intercept". Some cards that possibly interact interestingly with Weekend Anarch include Stolen Police Cruiser (possibility to untap and use the SPC without having to worry about the downside if it's burnt), Lay Low (possibility to diablerize with minimal risk), The Mole (causing a bleed by a younger vampire to fail is seems very powerful for a high cap vampire who is temporarily anarch), Crypt Sons (can equip and benefit from the 1R damage even while not Anarch) and Anarch Railroad (many more decks can benefit from the stealth). My attempt at improved Weekend Anarch card text: Master. Trifle. Put this card on a ready non-anarch vampire you control. During a minion phase, this vampire may tap this card and move a blood to it to become anarch (and independent) until an action or the minion phase ends. During your untap phase, if Weekend Anarch has 2 or more counters on it burn it and make this vampire anarch (and independent). A vampire may only have one Weekend Anarch. Alternatively, move one blood from the blood bank to a ready anarch. Reasons for changes: * "During a minion phase" -- avoid being temporarily anarch outside the minion phase (although I sort of liked the possibility of avoiding paying for Anarch Revolt this way). * "tap this card" -- weekends only come around so often. * "2 counters" -- for decks relying on being anarch temporarily requiring 3 counters makes the card a lot stronger (perhaps too strong) and for decks wanting to become anarch permanently requiring 3 counters makes the card less attractive (perhaps too unattractive). * Add a means to cycle the card as a trifle once it's usefulness for making minions anarch is gone. The card still has a lot more text than I'd like though and I haven't found a good way to fix that yet. One last worry is that this card supercedes some of the other means for becoming anarch (Go Anarch, Anarch Sucessionm, Galaric's Legacy) but they haven't been particular popular anyway. TWDA stats for popularity of various card-based means of going anarch (courtesy of Neil): 6 decks have used Go Anarch (none since 2008) 17 decks used Galaric's Legacy 0 using Anarch Secession 17 using Twilight camp 57 using Anarch Convert Of these 21 decks are using combinations of the techniques, with the combo of Anarch Convert and Twilight camp being the most popular (13 decks). 5 of the Go Anarch decks pair it with either Galaric's Legacy or Anarch Convert. Some of the decks Anarch Convert appears in are probably using it purely for its crypt cycling ability. > 8) What are the top three things that you think could be improved about the game? > Print more expansions (new players' options for buying cards are becoming rather limited). Several of the more important rulings need to be part of the official rulebook. The "During X, do Y" template and combat queuing interactions are obvious cases. It would be nice if the Complete Rules Reference gained some sort of official standing (maybe it could even be included in the rule book). Get the rankings system up and running again. Flesh out the research area concept that was introduced in HTTB. Re-print Ashur Tablets (it appears in a lot of TWDs, new players don't really have access to it and in play groups like ours the down side is never a factor because so few people have enough copies to play them). (That was not three items. > 9) What question would you add/change on this application to ensure we get the best playtesters? > I liked the suggestion to take a wallpaper card and unwallpaper it and the suggestion to include a description of your local meta-game and tournament experience (perhaps number of TWDA entries is a useful statistic).

If you're going public, go fully public. After the design team creates some cards, put them on a sticky message and let EVERY playgroup play test them and give feedback here. There's no real reason to keep any of this private, since you're making it public (some of those) who is on the design team and who is going to be a play tester. It's not like anything (money) is at-risk. and if openness is better, then fully embrace it. Kevin M., Prince of Las Vegas "Know your enemy and know yourself; in one-thousand battles you shall never be in peril." -- Sun Tzu, *The Art of War* "Contentment...Complacency...Catastrophe!" -- Joseph Chevalier Please visit VTESville daily! vtesville.myminicity.com/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/129744447064017

> KevinM wrote: > If you're going public, go fully public. After the design team creates some cards, put them on a sticky message and let EVERY playgroup play test them and give feedback here. > > There's no real reason to keep any of this private, since you're making it public (some of those) who is on the design team and who is going to be a play tester. It's not like anything (money) is at-risk. and if openness is better, then fully embrace it. > 100% support for this. make the cards public, long before they become official and start appearing on the tournament scene. I honestly believe that the power level of some cards which appeared in the last couple of expansions is way too high, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

1) Robert Guerrero Acedo, , Cádiz (Spain). I play around Cádiz normal. 2) Yes, why not? Is a secret. 3) Three to five games for week, and tournaments. (weekly casual game) 4) 30h, sometimes more time if i will play any tournaments, o brainstorm decks. 5) Block Tzimisce (VIC/AUS) and Toolbox Abonwe (ABO/FOR) my favourites. 6) Yes, no problem. I have a flat, many friends players and princes. We can do good partys while playing. 7) vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/10601-card-ideas-new-toys-for-the-bahari Conversionde hate Bahari. They only make blood win bloodless vampire turning to Bahari, if we mix it with princes as "Anson" double master in turn. Liquidations, guns and Ashur tables have a pool orgy and crypts entire game. 8) Cooperation between clans Being more selective in sects Earn other ways 9) How old are you and if you think a Methuselah while playing. What clan and sect? Thanks. ^^

1) Chris Hammond , melbourne australia 2) Yes 3) weekly 4) 8 5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two): Combat, Weenie, 6) Hells yes 7) Villein: Can be used top creat timeout focused decks. Not balanced due to poor focus on ousting/ 8) Reprints of all cards for newbies, downloadable pictures fomatted for printing and playing proxie decks allowed in tournies 9) What question would you add/change on this application to ensure we get the best playtesters? All good

1) Please list your first and last name, e-mail address, and city/country where you play. If you regularly play online using JOL or another system, you may list that in addition to your physical city. Brandon Haas, , San Jose, California. 2) Do you promise to keep secret all the cards and content of the playtest until at least 12 months after the release of the set? As long as VEKN exists, I'll have and adhere to this obligation, yes. 3) How often do you actually play VTES? Describe in a sentence or two (weekly casual game, tournaments, etc.) I play 3 games about every 2-3 weeks and tournaments 2+ times/year. 4) Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on VTES-related things? (including deckbuilding, playing, forum posts, organizing events, etc.) I'm always thinking about it. As far as sitting down and consciously planning, ~5 hours/week. Playing, it averages 2-3 hours a week (based on answer #3 above). On the forum, 5-8 hours a week. Total: 12-16 hours/week. 5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two): Bleed, Vote, Combat, Toolbox, Crazy Combo/Trick, Weenie, Star Minion, Allies/Imbued, Specific Clan (name the clan), Specific Discipline (name the discipline) I like toolbox and star decks. 6) If selected as a playtester, do you promise to play at least 2 games per week (for 1 month) using at least some of the cards from the playtest? These would need to be at least 3 player games. It would depend on the timing. If it is on a school break (i.e. over the holidays, summer), I could probably do that. Otherwise, no. 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. Here's one I just made up: Quinton McDonal Adv Gangrel 8 capacity FOR ani cel pot pro Independent. Anarch. When you gain control of a vampire, that vampire may become anarch. Merged: +1 stealth +1 bleed Edited: Baron is cool, but not as cool as +1 stealth with cel/for 8) What are the top three things that you think could be improved about the game? Weaken S:CE Make it easier for titled vampires to become anarchs Make a card that gives anarchs a table action worth taking (i.e. club illusion should have been "any anarch may take a D action to bleed their prey at +1 bleed that costs 1 blood" or something to that effect) 9) What question would you add/change on this application to ensure we get the best playtesters? I don't know who the "best" playtesers are. I would change this to ask for a specific trait you are looking for in playtesters so that people could give more pertinent advice. Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one. -Friedrich Nietzsche brandonsantacruz.blogspot.com/

> dude_PL wrote: > > > KevinM wrote: > > If you're going public, go fully public. After the design team creates some cards, put them on a sticky message and let EVERY playgroup play test them and give feedback here. > > > > There's no real reason to keep any of this private, since you're making it public (some of those) who is on the design team and who is going to be a play tester. It's not like anything (money) is at-risk. and if openness is better, then fully embrace it. > > > 100% support for this. make the cards public, long before they become official and start appearing on the tournament scene. I honestly believe that the power level of some cards which appeared in the last couple of expansions is way too high, so it's better to be safe than sorry. > I also agree with this. We have a very active playgroup here in Stockholm, and the core of use are very good players who would gladly help with any playtesting, but I am not sure we want to be in on some kind of work that is not community-based. When we have a community that can playtest and talk about all cards, why not use it? What´s the point with a non-disclosure agreement in a non-profit activity? Ira, maybe you can answer this? "My strategy? Luck is my strategy, of course."

1) Bart Van Gheluwe, belgaman[at]hotmail.com, Brasschaat, Belgium 2) yes, I promise 3) We used to play about 2 times per month, but the last year we only played the game 3 evenings or so... We have played the game since 1994, Jyhad cards are still an important piece of our decks. We have never played a tournament, but we used to have a dedicated core. 4) I used to be a couple of hours per week, but as stated in answer 3: the last year or so has been very calm related to VTES. 5) Indeed, it's very hard to choose two deck types, since I like to vary a lot. That's why I choose two deck types all other players will try to kill my deck first: it raises extra tension. I like the crazy deck (without the combo/trick part ) filled with Malkavian Pranks, Games Of Malkav and other completely unpredictable cards because it often drives the other players into despair: their well thought-over, powerfull and balanced decks don't perform as expected. It often backfires, though I also like my Imbued deck with a lot of events that cripple vampires. The other players always grunt when they realise "it's that deck again". But, as with any deck, it can be beaten... 6) Since we don't like our current play rate, a motivational factor is very welcome to reactivate our sleeping player group. So yes, I promise to play at least two games per week during one month when playtesting. 7) + 8) I probably talk in stereotypes, but I'm just happy to talk about the game again. So don't blame me for being obvious In our play group we have never encountered a deck that wiped every table. And doing the same trick over and over again becomes pretty boring as well. And predictable... We like to experiment. Sometimes a deck idea works great in one game and gets immediately smoked in another. When the other players know you often use a certain way of playing, they will prepare themselves and hit that deck (type) on its weak spot. But it might be a whole other play experience on tournaments... I've never been on one, so I couldn't tell. Example: I notice here on the forum a lot of people see Villein as a problem. We haven't played it often. Powerful cards / combos tend to draw too much attention and in that way they may become very ineffective. If every other player has some Sudden Reversals in his/her deck (we usually have), a deck relying on masters to get pumped and without a backup plan will fail big time. Sure, it will slow your own play down, but isn't it fun you have the possibility to kill every big plan? You can't foresee every situation, but in VTES as I know it there's cure for every cancer... You just hope no other player has created a medicine against your disease. We've seen decks relying on big cap vamps and massive pool gain wipe a table and a game later get smoked by relatively small vamp combat decks before they could pull off their first trick... (example:(ok, it's card intensive and a big risk relying on so much different cards needed in one round AND if you don't watch out your library deck is gone before you know it and you're ousted...) Bum's Rush, Torn signpost, Concealed weapon, Wooden Stake, Decapitate in the round after a big cap vamp was being brought into play. There also were some additional strike cards and some Psyche! cards in that deck to counter some S:CE or damage prevention cards. It's probably not the best deck idea ever, but in that particular situation it worked quite well ). Brainwash is also fun to cripple big cap vamp decks, especially when they have no "service" weeners. We have never used proxies, but it might be an interesting idea to get new players onboard since the initial costs might be too big just to get started. (but miniature games like Warhammer also cost you an arm and a leg to play it as you should). I think it must be possible to have different categories of tournaments / game nights: a "only official and original cards allowed" competition. It's still a CCG. a "proxy" competition. Here you can show your deck building skills without financial/availability restrictions. a "check what selection of fan based expansion cards is allowed" + "proxy" competition a "buy a preconstructed deck and go" competition. Here you can show your situation handling skills. a "I have to show my skills in every forementioned discipline" competition I would like to see V:TES evolve to WOD:TES (World Of Darkness:The Eternal Struggle) Other players I know despised Imbued in the crypt, but I would like to see werewolves, ghouls, mummies, whatever... in the crypt to open whole new play dynamics. It would be nice to see specific strengths and vulnerabilities between the different types of monsters... 9) no questions to add

> Ira wrote: > 1) Please list your first and last name, e-mail address, and city/country where you play. If you regularly play online using JOL or another system, you may list that in addition to your physical city. > Peter Bakija, , Ithaca NY. JOL bakija. > 2) Do you promise to keep secret all the cards and content of the playtest until at least 12 months after the release of the set? > Always did. > 3) How often do you actually play VTES? Describe in a sentence or two (weekly casual game, tournaments, etc.) > Weekly for a couple hours, occasionally host tournaments, occasionally go to tournaments hosted by other folks. Online with JOL all the time. > 4) Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on VTES-related things? (including deckbuilding, playing, forum posts, organizing events, etc.) > 5? 10? > 5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two): > Bleed, Vote, Combat, Toolbox, Crazy Combo/Trick, Weenie, Star Minion, Allies/Imbued, Specific Clan (name the clan), Specific Discipline (name the discipline) > Combat, weenie mono discipline. > 6) If selected as a playtester, do you promise to play at least 2 games per week (for 1 month) using at least some of the cards from the playtest? These would need to be at least 3 player games. > Yep. > 7 > I suspect there is enough history of me doing this on the internet to make doing so now redundant. > 8) What are the top three things that you think could be improved about the game? > Make stealth bleeding slightly less effective. Kill a small number of cards that negatively impact the fun quotient of the game. Upgrade some of the fringier strategies. > 9) What question would you add/change on this application to ensure we get the best playtesters? > Other than "are you an irrational wackjob", not really.

This application for playtesting is not an indication that any of the design process will be open. Yes you know Ira is involved in the Design, but everyone knew LSJ was involved as well. These are applications to playtesting and maybe 10% will make the cut, so you also don´t know who is playtesting and who not (because they can´t talk about it). Why we don´t make the development process open? There are a lot of pros and cons but here is what counts for me: - Even with a limited number of people the amount of information coming together is really large, I can see from the design forum. I can´t even imagine the amount that we would see if we made it open. A lot of people who are very qualified to do this would not be able to parse all that information and the possbility to devote several hours per day to this would become an election criteria, which makes it sort of non-open again and will prefer the people with the most time vs. the people who are most qualified. - There has always been a large deal of excitement about the contents of a new set. I don´t want to take that away from people. Rest assured that the new set will be carefully designed and playtested (I think more than it ever was, especially the latter), any fear of overpowered cards is unwarranted, I promsise.

> johannes wrote: > Rest assured that the new set will be carefully designed and playtested (I think more than it ever was, especially the latter), any fear of overpowered cards is unwarranted, I promsise. > I seem to recall hearing that the amount of underpowered cards, ie. wallpaper, should be more or less non-existent. Finnish Politics!

> 1) Please list your first and last name, e-mail address, and city/country where you play. If you regularly play online using JOL or another system, you may list that in addition to your physical city. > David Litwin, , Las Vegas, NV, No online systems used at the moment. > 2) Do you promise to keep secret all the cards and content of the playtest until at least 12 months after the release of the set? > Yes. > 3) How often do you actually play VTES? Describe in a sentence or two (weekly casual game, tournaments, etc.) > 0-2 sessions/week, anywhere from 4-6 games/session on average. > > 4) Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on VTES-related things? (including deck building, playing, forum posts, organizing events, etc.) > Not a fair question as I have spent 8 hours at work making/tweaking decks. Not counting work time a few hours to 10+ depending if I'm working on new archetypes/defense against meta game, trying to break cards in amusing ways. Guide and Mentor against anti-hunting tech. > 5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite deck types to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two): > Vote, Star Minion > 6) If selected as a play tester, do you promise to play at least 2 games per week (for 1 month) using at least some of the cards from the play test? These would need to be at least 3 player games. > Kind of defeats the point of play testing if you don't. > 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. > Name: Ekkehard Cardtype: Vampire Clan: Harbinger of Skulls Group: 1 Capacity: 6 Discipline: for AUS NEC Sabbat. Black Hand: Ekkehard may remove 3 master cards or 3 cards with the same name from any Methuselah's ash heap to make that Methuselah burn 2 pool as a action. Upsides. The game certainly lacks interaction with the ash heap beyond Ashur Tablets. Sure the Giovanni do some but beyond that there is very little. This guy allows you to attack master cycling decks in a way they have to defend against and still has a use if you run into a prey who plays few master cards. the obvious interaction with Slaughterhouse and more Brinkmanship ideas is apparent. This is a fairly nice upside and something more that could be expanded on in a themed set. He doesn't seem to be paying much if anything for his Black Handage and doesn't gain much benefit from it as configured. Downsides: Group 1. This makes him the only non-Camarilla vampire in G1. He's be better served put into G6 to further flesh out what is only half done. G1/2 Black Hand friends do not share NEC and only AUS and/or for with Tariq giving him no other friends that use Disciplines for that. As a G1 he shares the exact same disciplines as another HOS, Agaitas who is also a 6 cap who he would certainly team with. In G6 he shares capacity and lacks obf to match La Viuda Blanca. A better option but more diversity in a Bloodline clan seems it would be better. All that above is really nitpicking. He isn't broken nor underpowered, the only two things that really make me pause are the ability to do 2 pool damage that can't be defended against without blocking(no obvious combos jump out at me for abuse) and the fact it is a D action at anyone and not just prey. The ability to spend time and actions against a crossable player is the opposite of what my V:TES world would have. There is already so many decks built that spend too much game time worrying crossable instead of ousting their prey. The only absolute change I would make to this vampire would be to make it affect prey only. Instead of causing 2 pool damage, have it trigger in the successful bleed window(Dis Pater/Spying Mission) to give him +2 bleed. This way it can't be bounced by the prey after gaining +2 bleed, and now weakens their bounce defense as they need to consider bouncing a bleed of 1 to protect masters/other stuff in their ash heap. He can now bleed for 3(Trochomancy and it becomes 5 with his text) removing 10 cards in the prey's ash heap. 10 cards is a lot so it can't happen often, and still is inferior to what Dominate can do using one more card. A good lunge move but not sustainable. If someone crossable is running away with master cards their prey/pred can't handle this guy won't change that and only do what I think is the main problem in VTES, slowing the game down. Overall an interesting idea with some tweaks could fit right in. > 8) What are the top three things that you think could be improved about the game? > 1. Work on timeouts. While no changes to VPs or such should be done, encouraging people to interact with the person they're supposed to kill instead of everyone else. Cards that have extra functions when used on your prey, or just encourage you to oust players. (Bitter and Sweet story being a nice example) While managing the table is still important, rolling through a prey or two also puts you in a position to manage the problem by just ousting it. 2. One set of keywords for each type of action/effect. Texts like what has been more consistent along the lines of 'capacity 8 or greater' against 'capacity over 7'. While this has marginal impact on existing cards with no chance of real prints anywhere in sight, new cards should adhere to a consistent form. 3. Continued interaction of new cards with old cards and even using them to contain existing problems. Villein was a good idea that it was attempting to change Minion Tap but it went well beyond any original intent. The fact it made MT all but useless, and was just better in most decks including interaction with a second MPA. Vessel is a nice example of what I consider a better way to do this. It provided an alternate choice to Blood Doll that each deck in design makes. While Blood Doll is still just the better card, the fact Vessel is a trifle can earn it slots in a master heavy deck or a deck that can't afford the risk of losing a Blood Doll. > > 9) What question would you add/change on this application to ensure we get the best play testers? > The main questions are already asked but I'd still include a few more. I'd add amount of organized play/casual as I play rather different decks depending which I'm in. Also consider size of play group as with a smaller group players will tend to tailor decks a bit against what they expect to see and knowing what some players just never play. Tied in with that I'd have them summarize what they think their playgroup focuses on(if anything). To pick on the LA crowd I'd summarize them as intercept heavy, being if I look at any decks I made in 2007-08 (when I was playing down their fairly often) they all had 25-30 stealth cards in them. Now to answer my own question my play group doesn't have any real focus as a whole. A bit more random combat(not grapple/psyche) and much more likely to be Sabbat than Camarilla. If it hasn't been seen yet also here is my reports from events where I tend to put what I was thinking/reading a game. As said before I'd an affront to the Queen's English and I generally only update it for tournaments so don't go back thinking it is a weekly posting. www.obtenebration.org/blog/

1) Alex Orzulak: . Berkeley, CA. No online gaming 2) Do you promise to keep secret all the cards and content of the playtest until at least 12 months after the release of the set? of course 3) How often do you actually play VTES? Describe in a sentence or two (weekly casual game, tournaments, etc.) Weekly casual games and usually a couple tournaments per year 4) Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on VTES-related things? (including deckbuilding, playing, forum posts, organizing events, etc.) deckbuilding: 1-3 hours, playing: 4 hours, forums: 1 hour. total: 6-8 5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two): anarchs, !Salubri rush 6) If selected as a playtester, do you promise to play at least 2 games per week (for 1 month) using at least some of the cards from the playtest? These would need to be at least 3 player games. yes our weekly group can do this 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. New: Misinformation Political Action, Cost: 2 pool. Requires a !Nosferatu over 6 capacity. If successful, titled vampires controlled by your prey must successfully play two reaction cards to be able to react to bleed, political, or rush actions for the rest of the game. A Methuselah may only play one Misinformation per game. Pros: It shortens games, and offers new ways to hurt with votes. Abuse with Trochomancy or Force of Habit. Cons: Pool cost. !Nos vote. Sh*t out of luck if Suddened. Non-titles don't care, and they can still block equips, hunts, leave torpor/rescues, burn Smiling Jack... 8) What are the top three things that you think could be improved about the game? Redo 1st Strike. Ban Tupdog. Enforce going forward. Our local playgroup in Berkeley varies from 4-7 players, sometimes 8. We have Jeff Kuta still Tariq'ing us and offering great advice, a few longtime players, and a few recently new players. We are combat heavy, votey sometimes, and I like to throw Beatriz the bleedy Inbued into random decks to keep things interesting. Agitate Responsibly, but Influence Unduly.

1) Ángel Castro (Prince of Jaén, Spain) No online gaming 2) I will keep the secret and I will block the revelations and other evils ... 3) I play every weekend , and sometimes do an extra during the week . I move also 3 or 4 times a year for other local tournaments and national championship. 4) Puf ... I spend many hours a week building decks, playing and reading the forums. Approximately 2 hours per day. 5)Allies - Vote ( or vote + combat ) 6) Of course, I play more than two games .... muahaha 7) www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/18416-card-idea--sabbat-pressure Name: Sabbat pressure Cardtype: Unique. Requires a ready archbishop, priscus, cardinal or regent. Choose a Methuselah. Successful referendum means that you put this card into play. As long as this card is in play, target Methuselah loose 1 pool after each combat between one of his minion and another Methuselah minion. Minions of the target Methuselah can burn the edge to burn this card as a +1 stealth action directed to this vampire This is a very broken card because, my minion enter combat, he play a ends combat and later psyche. I think this card will be better my version: Name: Sabbat pressure Cardtype: Unique. Requires a ready Archbishop, Priscus, Cardinal or Regent. Choose a ready Sabbat vampire in your control. If this referendum is successful put this card on this vampire . Once per turn when this vampire enter combat with any minion controlled by your prey his/her burn 1 pool , if opposing vampire going to sopor during this combat his/her controlled burn 1 pool. Any vampire may burn this card as a action. 8) Bahari, the political of Sabbat complete the five group of Sabbat 9) Add…… -Does your deck regularly change between a game to another? If yes, select one of these options: -Because I like test new decks -Because I want all my decks strengthen -Because I'm bored of playing always the same -Another option: _____________ Camarilla Prince of Jaen

1) Alexandre costa: alexandrembcosta at hotmail.com Maceió,Brasil. I dom't play online. 2) Do you promise to keep secret all the cards and content of the playtest until at least 12 months after the release of the set? Yes. Spoilers kills all the fun. 3) How often do you actually play VTES? Describe in a sentence or two (weekly casual game, tournaments, etc.) Two days a week, and 5-7 tournaments a year (as a judge) 4) Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on VTES-related things? 10-14 hours. 5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two): Combat and Toolboxing decks. 6) If selected as a playtester, do you promise to play at least 2 games per week (for 1 month) using at least some of the cards from the playtest? These would need to be at least 3 player games. Easily done. My collection is big, and I can test crypt and library cards in my decks easily with my friends. 7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc. you can see the way I think here: www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/13062-cards-idea-making-abominations-fun 8) What are the top three things that you think could be improved about the game? both bahari and research mecanics are incomplete and should be "fixed". also, more fun events that dont destroy the game as gehenna cards. Events like hunger moon and bitter and sweet story are great! 9) ask us if we are having fun with the new cards. I am death. Paul Kersey, Death Wish

PLAYTESTER APPLICATION 1) Vitor Ferreira, , São Paulo/Brazil (mostly). 2) Yes, and will honour our agreement as long as you honour it too. 3) I'm a lawyer with family and girldfirend living far from me, so, I play VTES only once or two times a month. Our playgroup is formed by old guys, and we laugh and make it fgunny, prefering the 4fun style than the tornauments. 4) Approx. 2-3 hours, at the max. level. 5) Vote and toolbox. 6) Yes. In fact, here in São Paulo are many groups, and I can play with them, testing the new cards and mechanics. 7) www.vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/18409-card-idea-millenial-opposition Name: Millenial Opposition Cardtype: Requires a ready archbishop, priscus, seraph, cardinal or regent. Choose a Methuselah. Successful referendum means that Methuselah loses X+1 pool, where X is half the number of master cards in that Methuselah's ash heap, rounded up. Seraphs get two additional votes during this referendum. Too overpower. Any deck, today, is played with at last 12 masters, and some plays with above 20 masters. Giving a card that could be played by every titled vampire on the sabbat less bishops, can be played mor than once each game, can be a combo with location/path/blood doll burners, Tension in the Ranks, etc, and wich affect not only a condition or thing but an entire type of cards is something should be avoided. Plus, the card doesn't have balance. We should try to balance decks overloaded by masters, but not make them something wrong or banned. A lot of fun and well deisgned decks uses many masters, and they aren't all vote decks or wall decks, those wich can stop this card, and too few use them in an unproportional and intentional level (as some deck based on the shock troops card). Plus, the rise of votes for seraphs is useless, as no one will want to put a seraph to rise 2 votes if he can put a PRE vampire and play Awe. 8) Things must be repaired. a)Imbueds shuld have new cards to make them enjoyable, as it was made for the laibon. b) low vote sect vampires (bishops, primogens) should have ways and cards to be more playable. c) we should create more defenses to weenie decks. In VTES, many championships are won by mathematic, not funny: someone with up to 10 minions and some kind of defense to Anarchist Uprising/Ancillae's Empowerment can surely win others with better balanced decks. 9) How can we bring more players to VTES and make it a major game? Vitor Hugo Sabbat. Vitor gets +1 vote against any referendum of a political action.

I don´t know if I have the perfect profile to be a tester as I cannot spend time in the internet to make game testing; but I would like to answer the questions. 1) Alejandro Rodríguez, . I live in Madrid, Spain; but I spent lot of time in Barcelona. 2) Of course. First tradition must be applied... 3) I play weekely a couple or three games and I play as much tournaments as I can. 4) More than 10. Deck making is what I like the most. 5) Block auspex based decks, Combat decks, Tricky decks... It is very hard to choose only two... 6) Of course.. In fact, I like to make draw simulations and test out of a game. 7) I have never saw any card in this forum... 8) Bahari/Imperator cards/effects, Sabbat 5-6 crypt, Imbued and research area are the most forgotten issues that should be repaired. 9) I think one of the important missed questions is For how long have you been playing VTES? Good luck and happy 2012 with VTES to everyone.