Who's Who in the V:TES Community

Vital Statistics:

Name:
Year of Birth:
Occupation:
Other Games Played:

Number of Cards owned:

Number of Decks ready to play:
Play in:

Tobias op den Brouw
1975
Business owner in IT
Catan, lunch money, computer games, risk, urland, tons of others
Enough to just not fit in 2 wine boxes for 3 bottles. Several thousand?
Generally somewhere between 2 and 4
All over the Netherlands, and everywhere holidays take us and they play as well. Organize for Deventer.

Q1: How (and when) did you begin your career as a VTES-player? Who introduced you to the game? Where did you play originally?
I used to play a bit of M:tG in the early '90s, and a little roleplaying in the world of darkness. By '94 I was studying in the Netherlands, but still taking regular trips to the USA. When Jyhad appeared, I bought some of it in my regular shop in Rockville, took it over to Enschede, the Netherlands, and introduced it to some other gamers there. They ran with it, and I supplied them with new stuff from the States. Around the time of Sabbat, we thought the new expansion was 'overpowered', and we stopped buying. Early 2000, the (now-defunct) Prince of Tilburg hosted one of the first tournament for a long time in the Netherlands - I had heard Storyline was coming up, and wanted to activate the Dutch scene, so I joined up. After that, some others became motivated as well, so now we have 4 active princes in the Netherlands.

Q2: Which of the Sets and Expansions to VTES is your favorite, and why is it your top choice?
I'm going to have to go with the original Jyhad, since I never had as much fun as those first games, and I appreciate all the things that were done right at that time.

Q3: What is your favorite deck to play, and why?
I'm fond of my 'tabledance' deck - Malkavian OOT seatchanging. A version of it is at http://deventerbynight.freewebspace.com/catalog.html, and I might've posted some. I'm also partial to Nosferatu, and anything odd or containing a new 'combo'.

Q4: If you could add something to the game, what would it be?
More players in my region, of course. A few custom vampires. And a new play location in my town to replace the one that got fire-damaged.

Q5: What do you do to help promote the game / why are you in this list of people?
Well, I'm the Prince of Deventer, de facto also of Enschede, and I think the longest-reigning (active) Prince in the country. My total domain contains about 12 not-so rabid players, of which 5 or so show up regularly for tournaments. I helped introduce it in Enschede - I'm not sure when or where other playgroups started in the Netherlands. Since then, I've gotten some more individuals involved, and I hope to start running demonstration games in the local shop soon. I've run both storyline tournaments, have encouraged and helped other starting princes, and am generally the contact for Belgian Princes and players. I'm sort of helping in getting an EC qualifier to the Netherlands, and am in the process of writing up a Harbinger of Skulls newsletter, if I don't step on any toes with that.
I sure as hell ain't in this list for my great play. :)

I've also written some tools and sites:

Vampire matchmaker: http://www11.brinkster.com/tobiasopdenbrou/vamp.asp

Deventer by night: http://deventerbynight.freewebspace.com/

Dutch Vampire forum (extremely low traffic):
http://www11.brinkster.com/tobiasopdenbrou/dvf/default.asp
I try to supply comments and creative thoughts on the newsgroup.

Q6: What is your favorite deck style for casual play / tournament play?
It varies too much, but generally anything including a new combo, or a deck using a clan's '4th(+) discipline'. I'll also play really unpopular decktypes without (too much) shame. In tournaments, I try to bring somewhat more focused and tried decks, but I don't get to play too much, so there's not too much difference in play style.

Q7: Is there a difference between your casual play and tournament play?
I tend to be very forgiving of mistakes in both instances, but in tournament play there are no 'takebacks'. I will generally screw people over more in tournament play.

Back to the index of Who's Who in V:TES.

Q1: How (and when) did you begin your career as a VTES-player? Who introduced you to the game? Where did you play originally? I used to play a bit of M:tG in the early '90s, and a little roleplaying in the world of darkness. By '94 I was studying in the Netherlands, but still taking regular trips to the USA. When Jyhad appeared, I bought some of it in my regular shop in Rockville, took it over to Enschede, the Netherlands, and introduced it to some other gamers there. They ran with it, and I supplied them with new stuff from the States. Around the time of Sabbat, we thought the new expansion was 'overpowered', and we stopped buying. Early 2000, the (now-defunct) Prince of Tilburg hosted one of the first tournament for a long time in the Netherlands - I had heard Storyline was coming up, and wanted to activate the Dutch scene, so I joined up. After that, some others became motivated as well, so now we have 4 active princes in the Netherlands.	Q2: Which of the Sets and Expansions to VTES is your favorite, and why is it your top choice? I'm going to have to go with the original Jyhad, since I never had as much fun as those first games, and I appreciate all the things that were done right at that time.
Q3: What is your favorite deck to play, and why? I'm fond of my 'tabledance' deck - Malkavian OOT seatchanging. A version of it is at http://deventerbynight.freewebspace.com/catalog.html, and I might've posted some. I'm also partial to Nosferatu, and anything odd or containing a new 'combo'.	Q4: If you could add something to the game, what would it be? More players in my region, of course. A few custom vampires. And a new play location in my town to replace the one that got fire-damaged.
Q5: What do you do to help promote the game / why are you in this list of people? Well, I'm the Prince of Deventer, de facto also of Enschede, and I think the longest-reigning (active) Prince in the country. My total domain contains about 12 not-so rabid players, of which 5 or so show up regularly for tournaments. I helped introduce it in Enschede - I'm not sure when or where other playgroups started in the Netherlands. Since then, I've gotten some more individuals involved, and I hope to start running demonstration games in the local shop soon. I've run both storyline tournaments, have encouraged and helped other starting princes, and am generally the contact for Belgian Princes and players. I'm sort of helping in getting an EC qualifier to the Netherlands, and am in the process of writing up a Harbinger of Skulls newsletter, if I don't step on any toes with that. I sure as hell ain't in this list for my great play. :) I've also written some tools and sites: Vampire matchmaker: http://www11.brinkster.com/tobiasopdenbrou/vamp.asp Deventer by night: http://deventerbynight.freewebspace.com/ Dutch Vampire forum (extremely low traffic): http://www11.brinkster.com/tobiasopdenbrou/dvf/default.asp I try to supply comments and creative thoughts on the newsgroup.	Q6: What is your favorite deck style for casual play / tournament play? It varies too much, but generally anything including a new combo, or a deck using a clan's '4th(+) discipline'. I'll also play really unpopular decktypes without (too much) shame. In tournaments, I try to bring somewhat more focused and tried decks, but I don't get to play too much, so there's not too much difference in play style.
Q7: Is there a difference between your casual play and tournament play? I tend to be very forgiving of mistakes in both instances, but in tournament play there are no 'takebacks'. I will generally screw people over more in tournament play.