FOLLOWERS OF SET NEWSLETTER Volume 3, Issue 8 November 2003 Author: Andrew 'Wes' Weston ========================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Fiction Strategy - In Defense of Subterfuge Card Idea - Conference Room Contest Sign Off ========================================================== INTRODUCTION Welcome to the November installment of the Followers of Set newsletter. If you are not a worshiper of our Dark Lord, then please stop reading now. These newsletters are not for infidels. If however you are interested in attending one of our services, we have open houses at the Temple every Saturday (noon for mortals, midnight for immortals). No children under the age of twelve please. ========================================================== FICTION The streets of Marrakesh were busy, despite the late hour. Many open-stall markets never closed in this part of the ancient city, and certain businesses thrived more with less light exposed upon them. The Westerner opened the curtain to the dun-coloured tent which he had been directed to by a legless street urchin. A man with skin the colour of ebony sat alone on a spiral carpet in the centre of the tent, observing the entrance as if expecting him. A houka-pipe dangled from his bearded lips, odd-smelling tobacco aromas filled the interior of the tent. He wore a plain white cloth robe and turban and except for his blackened skin, he looked like every other inhabitant of this dirty city. "You are Denis Bujold of Toronto", it was more a statement than a question. His English was slow and heavily accented, but otherwise perfect. The Westerner nodded, and was motioned to sit down by the tent occupant. "My name is Zahir. I represent Alamut in this matter. You seek my clan's services in... removing a certain Ventrue problem. We must speak on this and come to acceptable terms before my clan will consider this matter further. Tell me more sir, if you will." Bujold looked around him nervously, gauging the level of privacy the tent afforded. "Before I begin, Zahir...", Bujold began, "I need your assurance that my being here will not be revealed to anyone." "The Assamite clan is not in the habit of revealing our contracts to outsiders, my friend. We would not make very effective assassins if this were the case", an ironic smile and Zahir passed the houka pipe to Bujold. Bujould waved away the pipe as his temper flared. "If this were to get out in Toronto, I would be seriously fucked!". "Calm down my Brujah friend", Zahir said. "I have given you my assurance. Do you doubt it? It is not wise to call to malign the honour of my clan by doubting our integrity. We are deadly, yes... but we are not kafir infidels incapable of keeping our word. The Assamites do not lie." Apparently mollified by the indignity he had inspired, Bujold relented. "Her name is Violette. Violette Prentiss. Yes, she is a Ventrue... a rising star in the Toronto Camarilla. I... my associates and I rather... would like to see this rising star plummet." A silence ensued as the dark-skinned vampire sucked on his houka-pipe and considered the situation. Bujold brought out a pack of his own cigarettes and lit one. Zahir ignored the unintended insult and instead remained staring into the westerner's eyes. "We can do this, young Brujah", Zahir intoned. "I will need a photograph of the Ventrue woman as well as any information you know about her habits... especially her feeding habits, since we are talking of the Ventrue. I will also require several things from you specifically." Zahir slowly and calmly drew a small ornate dagger from his robe and an archaic-looking parchment. He then withdrew to second area of the tent and returned with three small empty vials. "You must sign this contract, in both ink and also in the traditional blood. And you must leave me three vials of your own vitae for my clan. This is traditional payment for such a chore. We shall consider it a down payment for services to be rendered." Zahir handed the objects to Bujold who took them nervously. He signed the parchment and then slit his left hand open with the dagger in order to pour the darkened vitae into the vials. Once sealed, he handed the items back to the dark-skinned vampire sitting across from him and rose. He withdrew a business card from his jacket and presented it to Zahir. "There is a cell phone number where I can be reached.", Bujold said as the other received the card. "When will you... when will this be done?" "The matter will be resolved in two week's time should all of your information be accurate. Do not worry, my friend. The Assamites' word is worth more than gold." Satisfied, Bujold nodded, stamped out his cigarette on the floor and left. Zahir waited for a few minutes before he rose. He removed the turban and robe and reached into a dark corner of the tent for a change of clothes. He dropped the image of having black skin for his true appearance, that of light European features with bright copper-coloured hair. He put on his light gray pinstripe suit and topped the ensemble with a fedora, giving him the appearance of a 40's gangster. He picked up the contract and the vials and the hidden tape recorder he had planted for extra measure. He withdrew his own cellphone and made a secure call to a different Toronto number than he was given. At the tone of the beep, he left his message: "Mistress Amisa, I have all of the information you asked for. The idiot thinks that he has a binding contract with those insane Assamite killers. This information should be quite valuable to Violette Prentiss. I'll be back to Toronto on the next flight out of Morocco". He clicked his phone off and chuckled to himself in satisfaction. "Assamites always keep their word, yes. Your problem, Bujold, is that I am not an Assamite." He laughed, opened the flaps of the tent and was swallowed by the Marrakesh night. ========================================================== STRATEGY -- IN DEFENSE OF SUBTERFUGE There has been a lot of talk lately on the subject of keeping deals. It seems that some people feel that a player who does not keep his or her deals is dishonourable and a disgrace to the game. If so... colour me disgraceful. I don't much go for the regular kind of card games. I find most of them completely insipid and unimaginative after being exposed to CCGs (mostly just V:tES but I have experimented with many different games). But there is one regular card game that has always appealed to me and that is Bullshit (also commonly called Cheat). When I have played Bullshit, there has been only *one* rule. You must try to get rid of all of your cards. Any kind of "cheating" or lying or hiding cards in the bathroom when other players aren't looking is allowed. Basically *anything goes* so long as you win the game. You win through deception. Honour gets you nowhere. The game therefore becomes a contest of subterfuge. Nobody accuses anyone else in Bullshit of bullshitting because it would be redundant. Cheating and bullshitting is *expected*. V:tES is, on many levels, also a game of subterfuge. In fact, this is probably the aspect of the game that I enjoy the most. Subterfuge makes the difference between Go Fish and Poker. Chess and Diplomacy. It is part and parcel of what makes V:tES such incredible fun. V:tES may be just a game, but it is a game with established rules and an established goal for each player (ie to win the game). There are no rules in the rulebook suggesting that someone must keep a deal (or even make one). Not only do such rules not exist, I would make the argument that this game would be much worse if such rules did exist. Breaking deals is fun! Watching an opponent's dismay as they realize that you will not rescue their vampire as promised and instead bleed them out of the game is an enjoyable experience, so long as you are able to shake hands after the game. Betrayal and deceit in any other aspect of your life is frowned upon. Let this be one area where it is not! Of course, I also see a lot of deal-making at tournaments and a lot of it is *not* very fun. I have seen plenty of important games weighed down by many many many minutes of talk, establishing deals, setting terms, and what-not to the point where these games often time out, often benefiting no one. While I enjoy a good negotiation, this game should never play like a litigation lawsuit. I would argue that the best antidote to this kind of deal-making is to break as many deals as possible, in the hopes that those people won't waste valuable time the next time you play each other. The game must go on... and while I can appreciate a good deal, I would also prefer that games are actually won or lost at some point. Timeouts are bad for this game, in my opinion and there have been way too many timeouts of late. Timeouts are much worse for V:tES than deal-breaking. Time is running out and the point of the game is to win, so break those deals! And hurry up about it! Breaking deals in a game of V:tES does not make you less honourable outside of the game than someone who does keep deals. Your "game personality" need not reflect on who you are as a person (Gah, I hope not). I will happily lie to your face in a game of V:tES, but this does not mean I would do so outside of the game. In fact, I strive to be honest and trustworthy in "real life" as much as is possible. But give me a V:tES deck and some pool counters and I become a ruthless, conniving bastard of a player. You should see me play Bullshit. If Machiavelli were around today, he would spend all of his time playing V:tES. Well, either that or he would be a member of George Bush's cabinet. But that's a different game of liars. Let's face it... when the goal of a game is to win, this effectively means that *winning is everything*. Do not be ashamed of your drive to win and do not let petty morals and virtues get in the way of this goal. You have the rest of your life to be an upstanding citizen. If you cannot separate morality from this game, then take up a more honourable pastime like... ummm... badminton. Please note that I am *not* advocating players role-play the part of a Methuselah. I realize that the theme of this game, ie warring ancient vampires, might make it seem as if I am suggesting that we act as if we were Methuselahs but frankly, if you enjoy role-playing... go play Vampire: the Masquerade and not Vampire: the Eternal Struggle. I also play Chess, but this does not mean that I consider myself a general when I am playing Chess. I am also not advocating cheating. I do not consider deal-breaking to be a sin in this game, but I do consider cheating to be one. All players must strive within the rules of the game to win. I believe that part of the problem with the "Machiavellian" philosophy of playing V:tES is that not everyone subscribes to it. The people who hold in-game honour in such high regard are generally the same people that feel so insulted when *other players* fail to meet *their* standards. Therefore, I believe that we should all strive to be on the same page where these things are concerned. Just like every game group should have it established just how strict things like forgetting pool for the Edge or forgeting your master phase, I think that everyone should establish just how much people care about upholding deals. Having different expectations will lead to strife that could easily be avoided. Along those lines, I have noticed that problems with deal-breaking often occur when different playgroups mix, notably for tournaments. Everyone in my playgroup expects me to break deals, and hopefully they don't hold it against me. However, when I travel to other cities or play with a different playgroup, my philosophy is often not met with the same appreciation. At this point I have pretty much labeled myself as a deal-breaker, but this isn't news to anyone who plays with me so I'm not too concerned. Nevertheless, I am heretofore putting everyone *else* on notice that yes, I do break deals, and furthermore... I *enjoy it*. I also am the first one to laugh when someone else breaks a deal with me. In fact, I always plan for this to happen. No matter how good a deal sounds to me, I always try to cover my rear. But there have also been many times when I have benefited from other players' honesty and integrity to the point where I would have lost the game had they actually been devious about it. The moral of this story therefore is that you should always do unto others *before* they do unto you. It's only rght. Don't feel guilty about betraying my trust in a game of V:tES. I'll still respect you after the game. Possibly even more! ========================================================== CARD IDEA -- Conference Room Conference Room Master: Unique Location Cost: 1 pool Card text: Tap this location and choose a titled vampire controlled by another Methuselah. If the targeted vampire votes with you on the current referendum, that vampire gains 1 blood and the controlling Methuselah gains 1 pool. The idea behind this card is to encourage negotiation and diplomacy with other Methuselahs, an element I feel should be explored more in this great game of ours. Although there are many ways in which deals can be made using other cards and resources, I think it would be interesting to see more cards that specifically provide means for deal-making. With this card, you are basically given a permanent Bribes effect though you can only indirectly benefit from it. This card helps vote decks, but only if another Methuselah at the table wants to support you. Just like Bribes, occasionally the pool from vote support is not worth the cost of helping a successful vote deck to roll over people. And unlike Bribes, this card can specifically target who you want to assist (read: finagle). It also indirectly assists Methuselahs playing with elder vampires since those vampires are the most likely to have titles. ========================================================== CONTEST This seems to be the only section of my newsletters that people are actually reading lately. So here's this month's question: Design a card similar to Conference Room that encourages negotiation and diplomacy (preferrably without slowing the game to a halt). As the editor of this newsletter I will choose the card I feel to be the best, even though there are hundreds of players on this forum that are more qualified than me. So what, I ask? Think of your own damn contest! Write your own damn newsletter! *pant* Bonus points will be given to people who actually read the rest of my newsletter and comment on it. Newsletter writers appreciate feedback people... keep it coming! Official Disclaimer --> All cards (including Conference Room above) are assumed to be non-copyrighted and available for use by White Wolf with the understanding that it would be really really cool to have our cards printed. It is also understood that we are basically all fanboy (or girl) geeks who would consider it sufficient payment just to be able to brag to our V:tES buddies that we actually had a hand in designing a card. It is also understood that there is probably no chance in hell that anyone who counts will ever even see these card ideas and thus all work will be for naught *sigh*. ========================================================== SIGN OFF I hope you have enjoyed this most recent installment of the Followers of Set newsletter. As always, questions and comments are appreciated. Cheers, WES