OFFICIAL VEKN HARBINGERS OF SKULLS NEWSLETTER VOL. 1 NO. 1 DECEMBER 2001
In this issue:
I. Introduction
II. Clan Lore or From What Underworld Did These Vampires Come From?
III. Vampire of the Month
IV. Card of the Month
IV. Deck of the Month
V. Conclusion
I. Introduction
"Nothing - nothing - burns as hot as the wound left by the knife of
treachery, especially when it has been left to fester for eons." -
Harbinger of Skulls, The Guide to the Sabbat.
Welcome to the first issue of the official VEKN newsletter for the
Harbingers of Skulls, a.k.a. The Ritual Mask of Death and Decay [until
we find a better name that is :-) ]. I was originally going to
publish the first issue last week, before the Bloodlines pre-release,
but it would've been a bare bones newsletter. A certain person, who
wishes to remain anonymous, wisely suggested I wait until after the
pre-release and get some HoS cards in my hands. I'm glad I took his
advice.
This newsletter will be committed to detailed discussion of the
Harbingers of Skulls bloodline for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. So in
the days and months to come, you should prepare yourselves for decks
featuring the HoS, read strategies that highlight this bloodline's
strengths and ways to avoid their weaknesses, discussion of cards and
minions that work tightly with their disciplines and abilities, and if
we are lucky to receive any good ones, some fiction as well ;).
We begin the first issue with a brief introduction of the HoS,
spotlight on Egottha and The Slaughterhouse, and a deck that uses both
featured cards to the best of their ability.
II. Clan Lore or From What Underworld Did These Vampires Come From or
A Possible Story of the Clan's Genesis
Vampire lore is as murky and dark as the world they inhabit. Trying
to figure out who sired whom, and who diablerized whom, what is true
and what is false when it comes to clan mythos can easily deplete that
bottle of Tylenol you keep in your medicine cabinet. This is true
more so for the vampires who call themselves the Harbingers of Skulls.
The most information you can find
about them is in the V:TM Guide to the Sabbat handbook and that isn't
saying much. So here is a brief introduction to them.
The Third Generation of Caine's curse produced what is known as the
Antediluvians. In basic legend, there were 13 Antediluvians, who are
the founders of all 13 clans. One of the Antediluvians was
Cappadocius (Death) who founded the aptly named Cappadocians. In the
1300's Cappadocius Embraces a family of Venetian vampires, the
Giovanni, in order to gain more insight into the nature of death. In
1444 Augustus Giovanni diablerizes Cappadocius and purges the
Cappadocians claiming and renaming the clan after himself. However,
the souls of the murdered Cappadocians remained in the Underworld,
driven mad by their desire for revenge. These banished Cappadocians
were recently freed by the Cappuchin and are back in the land of the
living, likely through some deal made by a Cappadocian named Unre. She
joined up with the Sabbat and her clan is the Harbingers of Skulls.
There are roughly 31 known Cappadocians in V:TM and Bloodlines will
give us 5 of them:
- Agaitas, The Scholor of Antiquities,
- Anisa Mariana Lopez,
- Egotha,
- Gisela Harden, The Winnower, and
- Unre, Keeper of Golgotha.
The clan disciplines include Auspex, Fortitude, and Necromancy. White
Wolf Bloodlines web preview on the HoS hinted that they might be
high-capacity (ancient) minions with special abilities leaning towards
resource denial, and boy(!) did WW give HoS resource denial in VTES
:-)!
III. Vampire of the Month
Egothha
Harbingers of Skulls. 7 capacity
obf AUS FOR NEC
Sabbat: During your untap phase, if Egothha is
ready, your prey burns the top card of his or her
library. If that card is a master card, Egothha gains 1
blood.
At first glance Egothha seems like he has no disadvantages. For a 7
capacity vampire with all in clan disciplines at superior (plus
inferior Obfuscate for some stealth) AND a practical special ability
makes Egothha a real bargain. A minion you can easily bring out in 2
turns and start making your prey wish she were seated somewhere else
on the table is always a good thing.
Burning your prey's top library and gaining 1 blood if it is a Master
card makes having a Blood Doll on Egothha give you 1 pool every turn
("Burn the top of your library. aHA! Master card, Egothha, Blood Doll,
Me"); not a bad substitute for a bloodline that has no access to a
hunting ground. These days though, Methuselahs try to keep the number
of Master cards in their library to a minimum, 10-15 Master cards, so
gaining 1 blood on Egottha has a 11-14% chance of happening in a
90-card library. Not great odds if you ask me, particularly when your
prey gets to play a Master card every turn, thereby, reducing the odds
even more. The beauty of Egottha's ability is not in the blood gain,
but in denying your prey a valuable resource in the game, your prey's
library cards; and if it is a focused and combo-intensive deck,
getting rid of key cards makes ousting your prey a little easier to
do. You just need to keep Egottha "ready" during your untap phase;
and by having a Secure Haven or using Superior Fortitude to prevent
damage, that shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish [just be careful
of Banishments, I know these Cappadocians. I mean Harbingers of Skulls
don't want to go through all that again! :-) ].
However, discarding your prey's top library card in some ways could be
disadvantageous too. Just like Dr. Jest's ability, you could be
helping your prey get rid of cards she doesn't need. Helping your
prey cycle out undesirable cards and getting to cards that she really
needs more quickly can put a dampener on your plans by allowing your
prey to oust your grand-prey that much easier. Also remember that as
much as milling your prey out of library cards could hurt her, you
still need to oust her by making sure she runs
out of blood. Like most everything though in the World of Darkness,
everything comes at a price. but for a 7 capacity vampire with all in
clan disciplines at superior and a practical special ability, this
Methuselah would be more than willing to pay that price :-).
IV. Card of the Month
The Slaughterhouse
Master
Clan: Harbingers of Skulls (with Burn option)
Cost: 1 Blood
Master: location
Tap to burn up to 2 cards from the top of your prey's library
"Death and decay. Decay and death. But the soul survives, even in our
inhuman shells. Comprehending the passage of the soul through the
physical cycle requires accelerating the process whenever possible."
- Anisa Mariana Lopez, Harbingers of Skulls
Well was there ANY doubt as to what card will be featured first?! ;-)
The Slaughterhouse has probably been the most talked about card since
Bloodlines has been released; with many of those saying that it could
quite possibly be broken. Let's see why it is such a great card and
why many are up at arms.
PRO: In order to play it, you need to have a HoS controlled and ready,
so no problem there. It costs only 1 pool, and you can tap and have
your prey discard the top 2 library cards the same turn you bring it
out. It is non-unique, so you can have several Slaughterhouses out at
once. Just like Egothha, it denies your prey a valuable resource in
the game, her library cards.
DIS. It doesn't help you bleed your prey or reduce their pool; and
since the HoS are lacking any bleed punch you have to find some other
means to oust your prey. Having several Slaughterhouses out a time,
means that many more times you may want to defend it and being a
target of almost anyone on the table.
So is The Slaughterhouse broken? Powerful yes, but broken no, for
there are several ways to get rid of it (it's a location that could be
destroyed with Arson, Rampage or stolen with a Disputed Territory and
a Master card that can be discarded by a Sudden Reversal); and for all
the library burning it does, it still doesn't deplete your prey of
blood, which is what you need to do to earn that VP. nor does it help
keep your predator off your back.
V. Deck of the Month
Name: Revealing Death, Decay & Dementia
Description: The HoS are great at denying your prey of library cards,
with Egothha, Agaitas, and a couple of Slaughterhouses, you could
reduce your prey's library by 5 or more each turn. However, the HoS
are severely lacking of any bleed punch. Of the 5 HoS available to
us, only Unre has a +1 bleed modifier and at 9 cap, she is pretty
expensive to be used in that manner alone. So I looked elsewhere for
that much sought after bleed punch. The !Ventrue have AUS, FOR and
DOM, and would be an obvious choice to mix the HoS with, but I am not
terribly fond of Venture in whatever inclination, so I decided to go
with the !Malkavians instead, because 1) I wanted to keep the other
half of the deck simple, by using stealth-bleeds, 2) HoS and !Malk
share AUS (TMs, TCs, and Revelations), and 3) I've always wanted to
play with Escaped Mental Patient. Deck is simple, use the HoS, The
Slaughterhouses, and Le Dinh Tho to deny your prey of library cards
and the !Malks to bleed stealthily. Scrying Secrets and Revelations
are there to deny library cards some more. Remember that Kindred
Spirits give you 1 pool if the bleed is successful.
Crypt: (12 cards)
2 Agaitas (AUS for NEC, Harbingers of Skulls, 6)
1 Artemis (aus cel DEM for OBF, Malkavian Antitribu, 6)
1 Boy Toy (dem, Malkavian Antitribu, 2)
1 Claven (aus dem obf, Malkavian Antitribu, 4)
1 Dolphin Black (AUS DEM OBF, Malkavian Antitribu, 6)
3 Egothha (AUS FOR NEC, obf, Harbingers of Skulls, 7)
1 Gillian Krader (ani dem, Pander, 2)
1 Gisella Harden (aus dem FOR NEC, Harbingers of Skulls, Priscus, 7)
1 Le Dinh Tho (aus dom NEC, Nagaraja, 5)
Library: (90 cards)
Master (17 cards)
2 Auspex
3 Blood Dolls
1 Dementation
1 Institution Hunting Ground
2 Minion Tap
1 Obfuscate
7 The Slaughterhouse
Minion (73 cards)
5 Cloak the Gathering
3 Enhanced Senses
2 Escaped Mental Patient
5 Eyes of Chaos
3 Haunt
1 J.S. Simmons
9 Kindred Spirits
3 Lost in Crowds
3 My Enemy's Enemy
5 Revelations
2 Scrying Secrets
7 Skin of Steel
3 Swallowed by the Night
1 Tasha Morgan
2 The Call (!Malk version of Enchant Kindred/Govern the Unaligned)
5 Telepathic Counter
5 Telepathic Misdirection
3 Voice of Madness
6 Wake with Evening's Freshness
VI. Conclusion
Well I hope you enjoyed this first issue. The next issue should be
out in January 2002 (and hopefully a website to go with it), a lot of
time for us to play with the new toys given to us courtesy of
Bloodlines. It is quite obvious that when WW announced a new deck
arch-type with the release of Bloodlines, they meant resource denial
and they intended the Harbingers of Skulls to spearhead that effort.
Whether resource denial would be a consistent and winning alternative
to stealth-bleed, voting, or rushing remains to be seen.
Special thanks to Jason Liang and Ian Kemp for providing a lot of
background material on the Harbingers of Skulls.
If you have any deck submissions, HoS strategy, fan fiction, comments
or suggestions, send them to me at yoritomojiriki@hotmail.com. Until
then, put on your masks, wear your shrouds and cloaks, and dance the
ritual of death and decay.
J.A. Marbella