I. Introduction II. Card of the Month III. Vampire of the Month IV. Deck of the Month V. Conclusion I.Introduction I know it isn't October yet, but then again who wants to wait for October to get the newsletter. You're special. You're not like all the other vampires who have to wait. Waiting is for the masses. You deserve to get your newsletter early. Just like Christmas. Why should you have to wait for some silly date. Everyone opens their presents early, but no one tells you that is what they did. Stick with me. I'll let you in on all the secrets. You'll be in the A crowd in no time. I can make things happen for you. Everyone will love you. I am going to make you a star. What do you want? I can get it for you. Hey, we're pals. We can take care of each other. Sure, once upon a time I was just like you: just some neonate who just got booted out of the nest with nowhere to go and no place to hang, but if you stick with me, then things are going to change. Trust me. We are going to use our game plan to put you at the top of the social order in no time. Need your own hunting grounds? I can arrange that. How about that waterfront for some hunting grounds? Pretty nice isn't it? I know, I know, some Gangrel controls the waterfront. Just stick with me . I have it all figured out... ---------------------- Card of the Month Heart of Darkness 2 blood Put this card on the acting vampire. Aggravated damage taken by this vampire is change to normal damage. Any minion may burn this card as a D action. Sup- As above and prevent 1 damage to the vampire each combat. What can I say? This card rocks! It is like a semi-permanent Skin of Night. Gangrel, Assimites, Flame Throwers, Forget about them. They're just going to have to do it the old fashion way. Even the old fashion way gets a little tough when you play it at superior. Ta Da! Instant flak jacket! Sure combat damage prevention is great but that isn't even the real beauty of this card. This card even changes unpreventable aggravated damage to regular damage. Rutor's Hand, Force of Will, Sunrise Service, all of these are now just a walk in the park and another blood burnt, rather than the oh so questionable trip to torpor. Want Something? Take it. Need to do something? Do it. In fact let me help you out by putting this card into a deck that specializes in this type of business. You know, the good kind of business. -------------- Vampire of the Month Kemintiri Follower of Set Superior Serpentis, Superior Presence, Superior Obfuscate, Superior Thaumaturgy, basic Auspex, and basic Dominate. Those pesky Ventrue getting you down. You know those guys who show up to every tournament saying, "We've got presence and titles so we control voting. We've got Dominate so we can power bleed you and bounce your bleeds wherever we want. We've got Fortitude so you can't hurt me." This vampire not only has 10 points worth of disciplines, but also clips Ventrues like a the pompous shrubbery that they are. +1 Bleed and +1 stealth if they are your prey, and then a +1 stealth rush action to plant their bleed bouncing and power bleeding vampires into the ground. If that is to your liking then slap a fortitude card on her, and she works like over-caffinated steam engine, and that is exactly what the following deck does. ------------------- Deck of the Month Mardi Gras Partying (for those of you who haven't been to Mardi Gras, you party all night-long and all day-long until you run out of juice) Crypt Saqqaf, Keeper of the Grand Temple of Set (Follower of Set, 9) Kemintire (Follower of Set, 10) Lalitha (Follower of Set, 2) Dedefra (Follower of Set, 5) Khalil Anvari (Follower of Set, 3) Muaziz, Archon of Ulugh Beg (Tremere, 7) Brooke (Tremere Antitribu, 3) Heinrick Schlempt (Tremere Antitribu, 2) Ian Forrestal (Tremere Antitribu, 8) Lazar Dobrescu (Ravnos, 3) Julius (Caitiff, 1) Low Crypt-8 High Crypt -34 Library Master Cards Serpentis x 3 Fortitude x 2 Thaumatugy x 2 Blood Dollx 4 University Hunting Grounds Temple Hunting Grounds The Path of Typhon x 2 KRGC News Radio The Rumor Mill, Tabloid Newspaper The Barrens The Realm of the Black Sun Information Highway Infernal Pact Minion Cards Lucky Blow x 4 Pulled Fangsx 4 Trap x 5 Undead Persistance x 2 Arsonx 2 Restoration x 4 Bastard Sword x 3 Ablative Skin x 3 Hidden Strength x 1 Burst of Sunlight x 1 Lure of the Serpent x 1 Rapid Healing x 2 Convenant of Blood x 1 Form of Corruption x 2 Rutor's Hand x 5 Infernal Familiar x 1 Temptation x 2 Sunrise Service x 1 Force of Will x 7 Heart of Darkness x 7 Gargoyle Slave x 2 Succubus x 1 Nephandus x 1 Wake With Evenings Freshness x 5 The point of this deck is to get a Heart of Darkness on each of your vampires (usually after adding a skill card to younger non-Setites), and then Force of Will/ Rutor's Hand each of your vampires so that they may take multiple actions each turn. The is a surplus of actions and permanents that you put into play before your bleed action, therefore either putting permanents into play or by drawing out their blockers and then bleeding them once they are unable to react. -------------- V. Conclusion I hope that you have enjoyed the first of my newsletters. I certainly enjoyed writing it. Please post any questions or email them to me. Comments Welcome, Norman S. Brown Jr. XZealot Archon of the Swamp