rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad

out-of-the-box anarchs, 'group zero' vampires

39 messages from 17 participants · 28 January 2008 – 02 February 2008
original thread on Google Groups

Malone

The announcement of the upcoming Rebellion expansion may mean that this question has already been settled, for the time being... but anyway... A discussion a few weeks ago about Anarchs included, among other things, a little bit of debate about out-of-the-box Anarchs. The two sides are basically "Just go ahead and print them, already" and "Anarch is distinct from other traits because of how it is acquired, let's maintain that distinctness". Things usually not being exactly black-and-white, there's some middle ground here. One option proposed was (a small number of) vampires that, per special text, could go Anarch by burning some blood or pool and/or tapping during some appropriate window. Another was (a small number of) 4-cap Anarchs, possibly one standard-disciplined 4-cap from each clan, that ignored the grouping requirements. It seems like vampires that ignore the grouping rules (I'll call them group 0) are a design possibility that will eventually be exploited, if the game lives long enough. Putting user-friendly Anarchs there would be a mistake, though, at least if you believe maintaining distinct mechanisms for distinct traits is desireable. It would change the Anarch trait from one that requires effort to acquire into the most readily available in the game. (Imagine a bunch of group 0 Seraphs, one from each clan, or Princes, or...) And from the standpoint of needing to keep printing and selling new cards, a bunch of group 0 Anarchs would be a one-shot, unrepeatable thing that would also weigh against the later release of grouped ootb Anarchs. Here's another angle for having ootb Anarchs that wouldn't genericize the trait too much (in my opinion, which is grounded in trying to respect the trait's distinctness). Alice, Thin-blood Anarch Caitiff, capacity 2, group 2 Independent, Anarch. Thin-blood Anarchs are not unique. When this Alice enters play, choose a discipline; this Alice may play cards requiring an Anarch as though she had that discipline at the basic level. During your untap phase, burn 2 pool if you do not control an older, ready, unique Anarch. Bill, Thin-blood Anarch Caitiff, capacity 2, group 4 Independent, Anarch. Thin-blood Anarchs are not unique. When Bill enters play you may search you hand, library or ash heap for a Master: Discipline card and place it on him. During your untap phase, burn 2 pool if you do not control an older, ready, unique Anarch. Cathy, Thin-blood Anarch Caitiff, capacity 2, group 6 Independent, Anarch. Thin-blood Anarchs are not unique. Once per turn, Alice may play a card requiring an Anarch as though she had any one discipline at the basic level. During your untap phase, burn 2 pool if you do not control an older, ready, unique Anarch. etc.

Peter D Bakija

On Jan 28, 10:42 am, Malone <kffos...@indiana.edu> wrote: > It seems like vampires that ignore the grouping rules (I'll call them > group 0) are a design possibility that will eventually be exploited, > if the game lives long enough. Putting user-friendly Anarchs there > would be a mistake, though, at least if you believe maintaining > distinct mechanisms for distinct traits is desireable. Assuming fairly generic "G0", 4 cap anarchs, you'd still need to have other non anarch vampires that have useful disciplines go anarch. Having the start out anarch, however, saves you a blood (by giving you that leg up) and lets you play some cards defensively even if you can't go anarch with your other guys for whatever reason. > It would > change the Anarch trait from one that requires effort to acquire into > the most readily available in the game. (Imagine a bunch of group 0 > Seraphs, one from each clan, or Princes, or...) Why would we imagnie that? Why does making "G0" anarchs (which solves an existing problem) equal making "G0" Seraphs of Princes (which creates a new problem)? -Peter

Jozxyqk

Malone <kffo...@indiana.edu> wrote: > It seems like vampires that ignore the grouping rules (I'll call them > group 0) are a design possibility that will eventually be exploited, > if the game lives long enough. Just to be pedantic for no reason, "Group 0" would be a bad name for this :) I would love to see some actual "Group 0" vampires by the canonical rules for Grouping. That is, some vampires that are only playable alongside group 1 (to compete with the strengths of g2-3, especially with availability of Indy/Sabbat/Laibon stuff).

XZealot

[ quoted text not captured ] There already are "GO" Princes. See Maxwell and Horatio Ballard. They are not a problem. Comments Welcome, Norman S. Brown, Jr XZealot Archon of the Swamp

Johannes Walch

Jozxyqk schrieb: [ quoted text not captured ] I don´t really like the idea. Given that a lot of new players who will buy new cards don´t have a good access to G1 Vampires. Also G1 is pretty strong by itself. It would be really awfull mixing old a new crypt designs, I am glad that it is restricted to combining G2/3. -- Johannes Walch

Peter D Bakija

On Jan 28, 11:57 am, XZealot <xzea...@cox.net> wrote: > There already are "GO" Princes. See Maxwell and Horatio Ballard. > They are not a problem. No, no. Not "Go" Princes. "Group Zero" princes. As per the discussion of "Group Zero" anarchs (i.e. vampires that are anarch out of the box and no group number so they can go in any crypt, which Malone dubbed "Group Zero"--vampires that are groupless and go in any crypt regardless of group number). Adding a bunch of "Group Zero" princes would arguably add a problem, in that it would greatly increase the at start princes in any given group (which might be irrelevant, but also michg be problematic, depending on how it was done). Adding a bunch of "Group Zero" anarchs might fix the going anarch problem. -Peter

preac...@gmx.at

On 28 Jan., 18:15, Johannes Walch <johannes.wa...@vekn.de> wrote: > Jozxyqk schrieb: [ quoted text not captured ] You know, new players might be more likely to own the G1 vampires in the new layout (10th). Just to be pedantic. :)

Teeka

Uhm, I've never played Anarchs (yet). Could someone explain why (apparently) Seattle Committee isn't a solution to this problem?

Frederick Scott

"Teeka" <teeka_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:0a421a57-d66f-4a34...@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com... > Uhm, I've never played Anarchs (yet). Could someone explain why > (apparently) Seattle Committee isn't a solution to this problem? You have to draw it. How many will you put in the deck? If too many, your deck is full of cards you don't need. If too few, how many games will you play where the first one doesn't appear until, say, card #30 or #35? How bad will your game go when that happens? It's The Parenthenon situation all over again. Only The Parenthenon frequently gives you a decided enough advantage to be worthwhile. Is the advantage of Seattle Committee likewise that advantageous? Few think so. Fred

Malone

> > It would > > change the Anarch trait from one that requires effort to acquire into > > the most readily available in the game. (Imagine a bunch of group 0 > > Seraphs, one from each clan, or Princes, or...) > Why would we imagnie that? To illustrate how making a whole bunch of groupless TRAIT X vampires would *radically* alter the nature of TRAIT X, making it pretty much the easiest of all traits to incorporate in a crypt and be certain you have access to it. Doing so with the Anarch trait would make it functionally exactly the opposite of what it is now, which, I know, is along the lines that you would prefer. But it's the opposite of preserving a currently distinct feature of the Anarch trait, which I made perfectly clear was where I was coming from.

Malone

On Jan 28, 11:09 am, Jozxyqk <jfeue...@eecs.tufts.edu> wrote: [ quoted text not captured ] maybe group 'infinity' then... They probably shouldn't be groupless, because the occasional grouped vampires that are misprinted without their group number would be confused for the groupless ones. An infinity symbol where the group number goes would solve that.

James Coupe

In message <y5CdnWV3W4i4YwDa...@comcast.com>, Jozxyqk <jfeu...@eecs.tufts.edu> writes: >Malone <kffo...@indiana.edu> wrote: >> It seems like vampires that ignore the grouping rules (I'll call them >> group 0) are a design possibility that will eventually be exploited, >> if the game lives long enough. > >Just to be pedantic for no reason, "Group 0" would be a bad name for this :) For this, were it implemented, I'd go for "Group U" - ungrouped, group unlimited, whatever. -- James Coupe PGP Key: 0x5D623D5D YOU ARE IN ERROR. EBD690ECD7A1FB457CA2 NO-ONE IS SCREAMING. 13D7E668C3695D623D5D THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

Peter D Bakija

On Jan 28, 1:27 pm, Malone <kffos...@indiana.edu> wrote: > To illustrate how making a whole bunch of groupless TRAIT X vampires > would *radically* alter the nature of TRAIT X, making it pretty much > the easiest of all traits to incorporate in a crypt and be certain you > have access to it. Doing so with the Anarch trait would make it > functionally exactly the opposite of what it is now, which, I know, is > along the lines that you would prefer. But it's the opposite of > preserving a currently distinct feature of the Anarch trait, which I > made perfectly clear was where I was coming from. See, but it is a bad comparison. There is nothing that a (Prince or Seraph) mechanic needs to fix them. The Anarch mechanic arguably needs a fixing. Adding a handful of "Group Zero" or whatever pre existing anarchs fixes a problem with the anarch mechanic (that it is too costly to go anarch currently)--you have someone who can play cards out of the gate, and it makes going anarch the hard way cheaper across the board. Making them Group Zero (i.e. groupless) gives all group pairs the ability to take advantage of this fix without adding anything else significant to each group pair, assuming the Group Zero pre packaged anarchs were fairly generic (i.e. 4 cap with 3 inclan disciplines at inferior and inherrent anarch trait--are the Nosferatu *really* going to benefit from getting a second Sammy?) Adding "Group Zero" Princes or Seraphs increases the power of an already effective group (i.e. Princes or Seraphs) by adding more of the same to each group. It isn't a good example. -Peter

Wookie813

On Jan 28, 10:42 am, Malone <kffos...@indiana.edu> wrote: > Here's another angle for having ootb Anarchs that wouldn't genericize > the trait too much (in my opinion, which is grounded in trying to > respect the trait's distinctness). I think 1 or 2 ootb anarchs for even numbered groups is the way to go. There could really only be 1 vampire printed that was groupless to prevent complications. I like your weenie Caitiff/Pander idea, though one could use creative text like "When [vamp X] is brought into play, you may lower his capacity by one to give him the Anarch trait." or similar. For group two shoe-horning considerations, the theoretical vampire could be from a Scarce clan, since that mechanic mitigates the abuse potential. i.e. Shecky DuBois True Brujah group 2 Capacity: 5 TEM pot pro tha Independent. When Shecky is brought into play, you may lower his capacity by one to give him the Anarch trait. He may not use cards that require celerity [cel]. Scarce. Winifred McGillicutty Pander group 4 Capacity: 6 OBT cel for tha Sabbat. When Winifred is brought into play, you may lower her capacity by one to make her Independent and give her the Anarch trait. Winifred pays one less blood for cards that require Obtenebration [obt]. Or whatever (don't even start in on me about points and costing - I didn't give it much consideration.You get the idea.)

Peter D Bakija

In article <0a421a57-d66f-4a34...@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, Teeka <teeka_...@hotmail.com> wrote: > Uhm, I've never played Anarchs (yet). Could someone explain why > (apparently) Seattle Committee isn't a solution to this problem? To piggyback on what Fred wrote, those who see a problem with the "go anarch" mechanic (which isn't everyone, mind you, but it isn't at all unusual to see folks critisizing the mechanic) generally feel that filling your deck with cards that don't do anything other than let you play some other cards in your deck is just too disadvantageous in the long run to be worth the effort. For example, if you need all your vampires to be anarchs (as you have a lot of anarch tech in your deck--say you are relying on making multiple Barons to pass votes and let you protect your Baron titles), and you need them early and often (assume you want 4 vampires in play, and you want all of them anarchs as soon as possible), you have some options, none of which are great: A) Include enough cards to make your guys anarch that you draw them early and often--say, 12-13 slots dedicated to Galaric's Legacy, Go Anarch, Seattle Committee. That is about 15% of your deck filled with cards that don't do anything other than make you an anarch. And once all of your vampires are anarchs, they don't even do that. So then you add a few Power Base: LA so that you can cycle them out of your deck for a handy untap. So then, let's say, you have 12 "go anarch" cards and 3 PB:LA (17% of your deck). You have a pretty good chance of having a go anarch card in your opening hand, but also have a pretty good chance of not ever seeing a PB:LA, and have a pretty good chance of not drawing enough go anarch cards early enough anyway. B) Include no go anarch tech at all, and plan on going anarch the hard way. Saves deck space, costs blood and actions. Not necessarily a good trade off. In situations where you don't *need* to be an anarch immediately (i.e. your anarch angle is limited in the deck), then you can add a couple Seattle Committees or a small handful of Go Anarch or something and not worry about it. But if you need your vampires to be anarchs and need them anarach as soon as possible, as being an anarch is the mechanism that makes your deck go, the two current options aren't great and provide significant disincentive to bother even trying. Peter D Bakija pd...@lightlink.com http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html "Find hungry samurai." -The Old Man

Malone

[ quoted text not captured ] So you are adamant about ignoring what I'm actually saying? Saying, "imagine FOO" can never be wrong. It's not a claim. It's not even an opinion. It can't be wrong. Imagine a trait that has a pile of group-ignoring low caps starting with it, and every single other vampire in the game able to acquire it, most of them by either a trifle or a cardless +1 stealth action. Now I will make a claim : changing the Anarch mechanism to the one imagined above is diametrically opposed to respecting anything about its current nature.

Wookie813

On Jan 28, 9:14 pm, Wookie813 <veknpont...@yahoo.com> wrote: > though one could use creative > text like "When [vamp X] is brought into play, you may lower his > capacity by one to give him the Anarch trait." or similar. Additional examples of alternate creative text: "Daffy" Daphne Malkavian group 6 Capacity 4 dem obf cel Camarilla. At the start of your untap phase, if you control an odd number of ready vampires, Daphne becomes Independent and gains the Anarch trait until your next untap phase. Phil McKrevis !Ventrue group 5 Capacity 5 FOR dom aus obf Sabbat. Phil may play cards that require an anarch as though he were an anarch. Do not replace cards requiring an anarch played by Phil until your next untap phase. Babs Bakersfield Nosferatu group 3 Capacity 3 ani obf pre Camarilla. During your Master Phase, you may place a turncoat counter on Babs. If Babs has a turncoat counter, she is considered Independent and has the Anarch trait. Any titled vampire can enter combat with Babs as a D action if she has a turncoat counter. Burn all turncoat counters on Babs at the start of your turn.

ira...@gmail.com

On Jan 28, 6:17 pm, Peter D Bakija <p...@lightlink.com> wrote: > A) Include enough cards to make your guys anarch that you draw them > early and often--say, 12-13 slots dedicated to Galaric's Legacy, Go > Anarch, Seattle Committee. That is about 15% of your deck filled with > cards that don't do anything other than make you an anarch. And once all > of your vampires are anarchs, they don't even do that. So then you add a > few Power Base: LA so that you can cycle them out of your deck for a > handy untap. So then, let's say, you have 12 "go anarch" cards and 3 > PB:LA (17% of your deck). You have a pretty good chance of having a go > anarch card in your opening hand, but also have a pretty good chance of > not ever seeing a PB:LA, and have a pretty good chance of not drawing > enough go anarch cards early enough anyway. > > B) Include no go anarch tech at all, and plan on going anarch the hard > way. Saves deck space, costs blood and actions. Not necessarily a good > trade off. And just to add a little more concrete data to what Peter wrote, if you put 3 PB:LA in your 90-card deck, on average, you'll draw the first on card 23, which is probably about the same time that all your vamps are anarch and you want to start ditching Become Anarch cards. Also, I'm not sure how many cards Peter expects to cycle in a game, nor what a "pretty good chance of never seeing a PB:LA" means to him, but to me, I expect to cycle at least 30 cards in a game, and "pretty good chance" means >50%. So I disagree with the "pretty good chance of never seeing a PB:LA" if you put 3 of them in your 90 card deck. Regardless of what English you use, the actual numbers are: You'll draw at least 1 PB:LA by card 23 in 50% of your games. You'll draw at least 1 PB:LA by card 38 in 80% of your games. You'll draw at least 1 PB:LA by card 55 in 95% of your games. So, yes, there will certainly be some games that you don't see a PB:LA, but the chances of that are directly related to the number of total cards you cycle. Ira, defender of the anarch mechanic, advocate of creating additional powerful 3-way cards.

LSJ

ira...@gmail.com wrote: > And just to add a little more concrete data to what Peter wrote, if > you put 3 PB:LA in your 90-card deck, on average, you'll draw the > first on card 23, which is probably about the same time that all your > vamps are anarch and you want to start ditching Become Anarch cards. You have a 50% chance of having 1 or more of your three PB:LA's somewhere in the first 18 cards of your deck, meaning, on average, the time at which you'll draw the first one is somewhere around there or earlier.

Peter D Bakija

On Jan 28, 10:21 pm, Malone <kffos...@indiana.edu> wrote: > So you are adamant about ignoring what I'm actually saying? I'm not. I'm simply trying to point out that your proposed example of "group zero anarchs" = "group zero princes" is not a viable comparison. > Saying, "imagine FOO" can never be wrong. It's not a claim. It's not > even an opinion. It can't be wrong. I'm not saying you can't imagine it. I'm saying that it isn't a relevant comparison. > Imagine a trait that has a pile of group-ignoring low caps starting > with it, and every single other vampire in the game able to acquire > it, most of them by either a trifle or a cardless +1 stealth action. Ok. > Now I will make a claim : changing the Anarch mechanism to the one > imagined above is diametrically opposed to respecting anything about > its current nature. Yes. It might be. As it's current nature is insufficiently effective, this doesn't strike me as a bad thing. On the other hand, doing the same thing with Princes, say, is a bad thing. As the current nature of Princes is effective. -Peter

Peter D Bakija

On Jan 29, 3:05 am, "ira...@gmail.com" <ira...@gmail.com> wrote: > And just to add a little more concrete data to what Peter wrote, if > you put 3 PB:LA in your 90-card deck, on average, you'll draw the > first on card 23, which is probably about the same time that all your > vamps are anarch and you want to start ditching Become Anarch cards. Yep. And other times, you won't draw them till you go through half your deck, and by then, you are probably sucking. > Also, I'm not sure how many cards Peter expects to cycle in a game, The trick to cycling cards is being able to play them. If you aren't going anarch in a deck that requires you to be an anarch, you cycle fewer cards. > nor what a "pretty good chance of never seeing a PB:LA" means to him, It means that with 2 or 3 cards in a deck, you have reasonable chance of not drawing said card early or often. > Regardless of what English you use, the actual numbers are: > You'll draw at least 1 PB:LA by card 23 in 50% of your games. > You'll draw at least 1 PB:LA by card 38 in 80% of your games. > You'll draw at least 1 PB:LA by card 55 in 95% of your games. Sure. But if you aren't cycling cards, 'cause you aren't going anarch, playing 23 cards takes a while. If you are going anarch, and you are cycling cards, 23 cards isn't that long, and it can work out. And even then, 20% of the time, you aren't seeing a PB:LA till you are over a 3rd of the way through your deck. > Ira, defender of the anarch mechanic, advocate of creating additional > powerful 3-way cards. You honestly think the "Go Anarch" mechanic is a good one? You wouldn't want to see an improvement of some sort? -Peter

Screaming Vermillian

If going Anarch were ever worthwhile, we wouldn't complain about building the extra effort in to going anarch. As it is, its seldom worth the card slots or effort to Go Anarch. On Jan 28, 10:42 am, Malone <kffos...@indiana.edu> wrote: [ quoted text not captured ]

Frederick Scott

"Malone" <kffo...@indiana.edu> wrote in message news:d3f8c3b1-261f-42fc...@d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com... > Things usually not being exactly black-and-white, there's some middle > ground here. One option proposed was (a small number of) vampires > that, per special text, could go Anarch by burning some blood or pool > and/or tapping during some appropriate window. Another was (a small > number of) 4-cap Anarchs, possibly one standard-disciplined 4-cap from > each clan, that ignored the grouping requirements. > > It seems like vampires that ignore the grouping rules (I'll call them > group 0) are a design possibility that will eventually be exploited, > if the game lives long enough. Maybe. But it would have huge implications and I'd question why it would be necessary to use such an atribute for this purpose. If you want 'special' Anarchs, that's fine. James's objection not withstanding, I don't think it's a terrible idea, especially if they had to pay something to start out Anarch like blood or something and had compensating disadvantages. But there's no need to make them group 0. Make them Group 4 or group 5 or, in some cases, earlier groups. The game wouldn't collapse if it were easier to make a group 4-5 Anarch deck than a group 1-2 Anarch deck. There. To me, that's the simplest end to the group zero argument. Fred

James Coupe

In message <dWRnj.17071$4H1....@newsfe07.phx>, Frederick Scott <nos...@no.spam.dot.com> writes: >James's objection not withstanding, I don't think >it's a terrible idea, especially if they had to pay something to start out >Anarch like blood or something and had compensating disadvantages. That wouldn't be my objection notwithstanding. That would be my objection worked around - other traits don't, by and large, work in the manner you've just described. [ quoted text not captured ]

Malone

> I'm not. I'm simply trying to point out that your proposed example of > "group zero anarchs" = "group zero princes" is not a viable > comparison. I never proposed any such example. > > Saying, "imagine FOO" can never be wrong. It's not a claim. It's not > > even an opinion. It can't be wrong. > > I'm not saying you can't imagine it. I'm saying that it isn't a > relevant comparison. "Imagine .." no doubt suggested that the imaginer might want to make a comparison. I myself offered no statement, claim, nor even opinion about the specific content or conclusions of such a comparison. Stop saying I did. Stop making the slanderous accusation that I said " 'group zero anarchs' = 'group zero princes' !!! : ) > > Imagine a trait that has a pile of group-ignoring low caps starting > > with it, and every single other vampire in the game able to acquire > > it, most of them by either a trifle or a cardless +1 stealth action. > > Ok. > > > Now I will make a claim : changing the Anarch mechanism to the one > > imagined above is diametrically opposed to respecting anything about > > its current nature. > > Yes. It might be. As it's current nature is insufficiently effective, > this doesn't strike me as a bad thing. On the other hand, doing the > same thing with Princes, say, is a bad thing. As the current nature of > Princes is effective. When you made the comparison what you focused on was the competitive effectiveness of trait X vs trait Y. Fine, the imaginer has authority over the content of their imagination. But I was never talking about competitive effectiveness anywhere in any of my posts in this thread, it was quite clear that I was talking about the mechanic *as such*. Now, as a game mechanic I think making a trait that a bunch of affordable, grouping-ignoring vampires start with and that is available to *all* other vampires, most of them at very, very low resource cost (no card needed!), is a terrible idea. That's my opinion, disagreeing with it is fine, I'll stop repeating it if you'll stop completely misrepresenting it.

Peter D Bakija

On Jan 30, 10:46 am, Malone <kffos...@indiana.edu> wrote: > I never proposed any such example. You wrote: "Putting user-friendly Anarchs there would be a mistake, though, at least if you believe maintaining distinct mechanisms for distinct traits is desireable. It would change the Anarch trait from one that requires effort to acquire into the most readily available in the game. (Imagine a bunch of group 0 Seraphs, one from each clan, or Princes, or...)" Perhaps I am misunderstanding you, but you certainly followed "It would change the Anarch trait from one that requires effort to acquire into the most readily available in the game." with "(Imagine a bunch of group 0 Seraphs...") Which looks like a comparison between the two. Maybe that is just me though. Or maybe it is not what you intended. But that is what it looks like. So at least maybe you can understand why I would think you said such a thing. -Peter

Malone

On Jan 29, 10:12 pm, "Frederick Scott" <nos...@no.spam.dot.com> wrote: > "Malone" <kffos...@indiana.edu> wrote in message [ quoted text not captured ] Since you quoted me it sounds like you're disagreeing with me, when actually we agree... Group 0 Anarchs was an idea Peter expressed in an Anarch discussion a while ago. I think the Group 0 thing is an interesting possibility for something or other, but putting some user-friendly Anarchs there is not a good solution to 'the Anarch problem', because (as you say) of the huge implications.

Peter D Bakija

On Jan 30, 11:08 am, Malone <kffos...@indiana.edu> wrote: > Group 0 Anarchs was an idea Peter expressed in an Anarch discussion a > while ago. I think the Group 0 thing is an interesting possibility > for something or other, but putting some user-friendly Anarchs there > is not a good solution to 'the Anarch problem', because (as you say) > of the huge implications. I'm not seeing the huge implications, really. I mean, like, I'm not totally sold even on my own idea. But what are the huge implications of a group zero anarch guy? I mean, assuming they are fairly generic, not spectacular vampires--my original idea was make a generic 4 cap for every clan who starts as an anarch and is grop zero (or whatever). It would add an extra vampire to every clan in every group, but a singularly unspectacular one (a 4 cap with 3 in clan inferior disciplines). You could make a whole crypt out of them, but that isn't impacted by the group aspect (i.e. you could make a whole crypt out of them if they were all G4 also), and said crypt isn't likely to be that useful, due to the large discipline spread, even taking the crazy anarch 3 ways into account. What are the huge implications you are seeing here? I'm not saying there aren't any, but I'm not seeing what they are. -Peter

Frederick Scott

"Peter D Bakija" <pd...@lightlink.com> wrote in message news:9aad8272-126c-4158...@s13g2000prd.googlegroups.com... > But what are the huge implications of a group zero anarch guy? > I mean, assuming they are fairly generic, not spectacular vampires-- > my original idea was make a generic 4 cap for every clan who starts > as an anarch and is grop zero (or whatever). Just that people inevitably find uses for such a vampire other than their original intent. So, for instance, if you make a group zero 4-cap with inferior potence, this would be usable for all potence decks which could conceivably make use of such a vampire, anarch or not. Maybe 'huge' was an unforunate choice of words (you know we Usenet denizens always pump up the drama of the situation) but certainly a lot bigger and more long- lasting than the standard vampires that are now being designed, given that grouping is here to stay. Fred

Peter D Bakija

On Jan 30, 12:43 pm, "Frederick Scott" <nos...@no.spam.dot.com> wrote: > Just that people inevitably find uses for such a vampire other than their > original intent. Oh, sure--that is certainly something to worry about running into, but that is pretty much why I went with the most mundane possible vampire for the idea--generic 4 cap with 3 in clan inferior disciplines. Again, I'm not totally sold on the plan by any stretch of the imagination, but still, that seems like a pretty benign starting point. > So, for instance, if you make a group zero 4-cap with > inferior potence, this would be usable for all potence decks which could > conceivably make use of such a vampire, anarch or not. Oh, of course. But using that as an example, there are already more than twelve 4 caps per group pair with potence (13 in G1/2; 17 in G2/3; 20 in G3/4). I suspect that the same goes for most disciplines. Yeah, adding, what, another six or seven 4 caps with pot (or whatever-- Nos, !Nos, Bru, !Bru, Las, Gio. Do six clans have Pot as an in clan?) to each group certainly will have *some* effect on something, but I don't think it would be particularly drastic one way or the other. -Peter

bluedevil

On Jan 29, 10:26 am, Peter D Bakija <p...@lightlink.com> wrote: > You honestly think the "Go Anarch" mechanic is a good one? You > wouldn't want to see an improvement of some sort? I'm satisfied with it, because across a pretty good number of games I'm rarely bitten by any of the problems you site (about as often as I get randomly screwed no matter what deck I play). I just want to see better Anarch cards. -- David Cherryholmes

Wookie813

[ quoted text not captured ] Remember you have to consider that no group, or "group 0" is EVERY group in this proposal. At one per clan you are adding 13 vampires to EVERY grouping. Every clan in every grouping would have a perfect utility vampire, and for clans that share a couple of discs, maybe two. Throw in the Anarch trait as an added Anarch Revolt defense mechanism. It would expand the possibilities for weenie crypts dramatically. I'm not one of those guys that crunches numbers, but occasionally somebody will pop on here and figure statistics that give me a headache trying to absorb, so if one of those guys wants to chime in, please do. That's not even talking about the insta-anarch weenie crypt this would create. A crypt full of 4 caps unhindered by the need for go-anarch tech would be strong. Too strong? I dunno. The potential for dial-a- crypt abuse becomes WAY to accessible, IMO. The "pick-a-vamp and add 8 anarchs" deck would be strong. Choose your favorite vampire to run Anarch tech with, add 8 groupless vampires who are already anarchs. I don't think that's the intention with the Anarch trait. Like I said earlier, I think it could be done ONCE, very carefully - one vampire who ignores grouping rules. Otherwise, creative texts for ootb anarchs with disadvantages is the way to go, IMO.

Meej

On Jan 30, 1:54 pm, Peter D Bakija <p...@lightlink.com> wrote: > Yeah, adding, what, another six or seven 4 caps with pot (or whatever-- > Nos, !Nos, Bru, !Bru, Las, Gio. Do six clans have Pot as an in clan?) Guruhi and Osebo, too. (Ignoring Bloodlines for the time being.) But I'm still ticked at this thread, 'cause although Google Groups claims my witty post was sent, and it shows up in the tree, it's just not there. *sigh* - D.J.

Peter D Bakija

In article <0b6a81fa-b310-40f5...@j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com>, Meej <dj...@comcast.net> wrote: > But I'm still ticked at this thread, 'cause although Google Groups > claims my witty post was sent, and it shows up in the tree, it's just > not there. *sigh* Yeah, I noticed that. Weird... [ quoted text not captured ]

Peter D Bakija

In article <34947d91-347c-4722...@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, Wookie813 <veknp...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Remember you have to consider that no group, or "group 0" is EVERY > group in this proposal. Sure. > At one per clan you are adding 13 vampires to > EVERY grouping. Every clan in every grouping would have a perfect > utility vampire, and for clans that share a couple of discs, maybe > two. Every clan already has one or two of these available, and I don't see them show up that often (I can't remember the last time I used Sammy). > Throw in the Anarch trait as an added Anarch Revolt defense > mechanism. Sure, but at the cost of not being Camarilla (or whatever). Which in a lot of decks, would be irrelevant. But in others, would be a problem. And once and a while, having a random Anarch in the deck will help out, but you can always *make* a random anarch in your deck. Strikes me as a pretty minimal advgantage. >It would expand the possibilities for weenie crypts > dramatically. I don't know that it would, really--if you pick any grouping pair (ignoring the currenly under represented G5) and any common discipline, there are generally more than 12x four capacity vampires with that discipline (protean is on the short end, due to only 2 clans starting with it, as is tha). And 4 caps are on the upper end of weenie anyway. > That's not even talking about the insta-anarch weenie crypt this would > create. But what is such a crypt gonna do? Given the current list of anarch cards, having 12x 4 cap anarchs with random disciplines isn't going to be particularly effective at, well, anything. > A crypt full of 4 caps unhindered by the need for go-anarch > tech would be strong. Too strong? I dunno. The potential for dial-a- > crypt abuse becomes WAY to accessible, IMO. Maybe. Again, I'm not sold on this at all. But I have thought about it a lot, and the biggest problem, really, is that you'd need to print 20 unspectacular vampires that you don't actually need that many of. > The "pick-a-vamp and add 8 anarchs" deck would be strong. Choose your > favorite vampire to run Anarch tech with, add 8 groupless vampires who > are already anarchs. Not seeing it as all that useful, but ok. > I don't think that's the intention with the Anarch trait. Well, i think the *intention* of the anarch trait is that it enables interesting and effective decks. But I don't think it has lived up to that intention yet. [ quoted text not captured ]

Wookie813

On Jan 30, 5:46 pm, Peter D Bakija <p...@lightlink.com> wrote: > > Well, i think the *intention* of the anarch trait is that it enables > interesting and effective decks. But I don't think it has lived up to > that intention yet. > On that point, sir, we agree completely. Perhaps I'm just a bit more conservative in the fix approach. The groups are balanced to some (unquantified in my perception but assumed) standard, and it just seems to me that introducing "group arbitrary" has a greater potential to throw the system into a spiral than introducing vampires with the anarch trait acquisition cost reallocated (action and 2 blood reallocated to disadvantageous special text).

Peter D Bakija

In article <35b5cd8e-8353-4356...@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, Wookie813 <veknp...@yahoo.com> wrote: > On that point, sir, we agree completely. > > Perhaps I'm just a bit more conservative in the fix approach. The > groups are balanced to some (unquantified in my perception but > assumed) standard, and it just seems to me that introducing > "group arbitrary" has a greater potential to throw the system into a > spiral than introducing vampires with the anarch trait acquisition > cost reallocated (action and 2 blood reallocated to disadvantageous > special text). Sure. Maybe this is a possibility. But I'm still unconvinced that "Group Zero" ootb anarch guys are likely to have that big of an impact on things. But then, in the name of conservativism, you could throw in, say, 4 or 5 of them. Each with different discipline spreads. Or something. There is certainly tweaking to be done to the idea (and well, really, the idea is unlikely to go anywhere at all), but I don't think it is neccessarily a bad idea from the get go. [ quoted text not captured ]

I. M. Bur

> Sure. Maybe this is a possibility. But I'm still unconvinced that "Group > Zero" ootb anarch guys are likely to have that big of an impact on > things. But then, in the name of conservativism, you could throw in, > say, 4 or 5 of them. Each with different discipline spreads. Or > something. There is certainly tweaking to be done to the idea (and well, > really, the idea is unlikely to go anywhere at all), but I don't think > it is neccessarily a bad idea from the get go. How about making a single 4-cap anarch for each of the Laibon clans? This way they don't really fit into Laibon decks (they are not Laibon) and also don't really fit into other clan-based decks (they are strange clan). With this solution, you not only get ootb anarchs, but also help the Laibon clans, who could really use more crypt cards. Something along the lines of: Hoal 4-cap Guruhi Group X ani pot pre Independent Anarch. Any older vampire can take a D action to make Hoal Laibon and loose the Anarch trait for the rest of the game. This way you can include him in any Guruhi deck, having a built in action to revert back to Laibon, so he and you can play all those Laibon cards, but is well worth including in anarch decks, if only for the reuced cost of the built-in action. Comments? -- -bur This would really help -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

reyda

Wookie813 a écrit : [ quoted text not captured ] Nice and creative :D Let's print them !