The 'Zine of Malkav #7c August 2003 _______________ Delectable of Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Fiction (or is it?) 3. V:TES stuff 4. Et Cetera & So Forth 5. To Be Continued ______________________________ 1. Introduction ______________________________ Here it is at last! the third, and final, installment of the Malkavian Combat extravaganza. I'm sure you're all waiting to see just how and WHY anyone would be using Dementation/Dominate solely for combat. But Malkavians can do it! They can do anything because they're just too darn crazy to realize they can't! I'll most likely be switching back to the once-a-month-Newsletter format for next month. I tried the three-times-a-week-Newsletter this month to help pace myself, but I think all I ended up doing was making three fairly lengthy Newsletters and giving myself much more to do than usual. :) As usual, post a response or send me an email if you have anything to say about this Newsletter, or VTES in general. t!MmY, the Mad !nker Timmy@e-garfield.com ______________________________ 2. Fiction (or is it?) ______________________________ "What is that?" Todd asked, look up and behind him. "Wings!" Brian said and shoved Todd, trying to get him to move forward, but it wasn't doing much good, the sidewalks were too crowded. "Outta the way," he said and pushed a man over with so much force the man was thrown into the person next to him and they both toppled to the ground. "Assault! That's assault and I'll sue!" the man shouted with so much anger and embarassment his face flushed red. Brian turned to the man and curled his upper lip revealing sharp, predatorial fangs. He hissed and the man went from beet red to sheet white in a matter of seconds. "What about the Masquarade?" Todd exclaimed. "Screw the Masquarade!" Brian shouted and lifted a man over his head and tossed him forward scattering the crowd like a flock of pidgeons. "Death's coming for us and I'm not sticking around." Suddenly there was a loud commotion. A woman shrieked, cars screeched to a halt, people were shouting in loud voices. Waldo looked over his shoulder and saw that a black cloud of bats had descended on the streets and people were running wildly, trying to escape the dreaded beasts. "Come on!" Brian said and started clearing a path in front of him, bowling any pedestrian over who happened to be in his way. "Who was it who thought we'd be safe in a crowded area?!" Todd asked above the din. "You did!" Brian roared. "Look out, here they come!" Todd stopped and turned around. He knew there was no way to out run the bats, even with Brian's help. Better to face the onslaught head-on. "Get behind me, Waldo!" Todd braced himself and watched as an especially large battalion of bats came flapping toward them. He pulled out small gun and held it at the ready. "What good is that going to do?" Waldo asked, almost dreamily as if unaware of the chaos around him. "Just watch," Brian said. The gun fired quickly and accurately taking down two bats in one shot. Todd changed his aim with inhuman speed and emptied the gun of all its bullets rapidly, never missing once and downing at least a dozen bats. He had already reloaded and began firing again before the next rank of bats had taken their fallen comrade's place. But the entire swarm of bats seemed to have now pinpointed their targets' locations. They all began wheeling and diving toward the three vampires with an intense ferocity. "There's too many of them," Todd said all while reloading, emptying the cartridge, reloading, then firing again. Waldo saw that Todd had many bullet cartridges hidden about his person, but it might not be enough to mow down such a large number of bats. The Malkavian seemed to become aware of his surroundings as he narrowed one eye in a peculiar fashion, almost thoughtful if it weren't flooded with the look of insanity. Gazing back up to the bats, he kept his stare steady. Several bats squealed like mice in a blender. They began frothing at the mouth before losing control of flight and spiraling to the ground. They lay there twitching and staring at nothing. Several more bats seemed to have gone completely beserk and began to tear at the other bats around them with their sharp teeth; some chewed at their own wings. "That's it Waldo, let 'em have it!" Brian wrenched a pipe from the side of a building and began swatting at the few bats that had gotten past Todd's gun. Waldo was lying down on the sidewalk now, supporting himself with his elbows and hands under chin. He laughed as he watched some of the bats doing what appeared to be the congo. "Waldo, get up!" Brian shouted, pulling at Waldo. "But the bats are dancing!" he pouted. "I don't care! Do you think that's all the excitement we'll see tonight if we just lounge around here?" Brian accented his question with a deadly stomp on a downed bat. Todd's gun gave a dry clicking noise before he shouted, "I'm out!" A sewer lid blew up into the sky as if extreme pressure had popped it like a cork. It came down directly on a man's head and buried itself into his cranium. A deep rumbling roar came from under the streets, almost menacing enough to make all the panicked people stop in their tracks. Out of the sewer crawled a large, white reptile. It was so large, that it just barely slithered its way out of the man hole. And it was long... so very long! It looked like the ghost of an ancient dinosaur and when it opened its mouth to roar the sound was almost deafening. The reptile began stomping toward the vampires with amazing speed for how short its reptilian legs were, and pouring out from behind was an army of rats. The rats covered the ground and overran corpses as they spread out and about. Many stopped to feast upon the dead, or the nearly-dead. "Todd, take the comic book and run." Brian said. "Waldo! Give him that comic!" "What about you?" "Take it and get it to the Prince! You're the only one who'll make it. Waldo! Give it to him now!" The reptile had closed in suddenly and made a lunge for Todd, but Brian tackled it and grabbed it around the neck. They both fell to the ground and Brian flipped it onto its back, but the beast used its tail for leverage and reversed the position. It obviously had the advatange over Brian and was trying to wrestle its neck free to get one good bite in. "Go!" Brian shouted, struggling to keep the animal's head in a lock. "Waldo! Can't you do anything?" Waldo jumped onto the palms of his hands and did a handstand. "Tah dah!" Brian's mind went into overload and didn't know what to do. He just stared at Waldo and watched, unable to think of anything. His mind didn't even register the car that came speeding around the corner. It screeched to a halt and the passanger side door was flung open. A man literally flew out of the car, flipped in mid-air, and landed on his feet next to Waldo. Waldo fell over from his handstand and started applauding. The man took no noticed. Instead, he made his way over to Brian. In one quick movement he reached the large reptile and grabbed it on the head like one would do to a bowling ball. Then he pulled. The monster gave a cry of anguish so loud it shook the very ground everyone stood on. Where its face had been was now bare bones gushing blood. Brian took this opportunity to shove the beast onto its back and pin it there. He looked up at the man who had just saved his life; obviously a vampire. "Finish it!" he shouted, and gestured with his head to the exposed underbelly of the beast. Whoever the stranger was, he seemed quite eager to finish the job. He punched a fist right into the reptile's chest and removed the still-beating heart, quickly and efficiently like a well-experienced surgeon. The reptile didn't roar this time. It simply went limp. "Who are you?" Todd asked. The stranger just said, "Get in the car," and took a big bite out of the pulsating heart he held in a clawed hand. ______________________________ 3. V:TES Stuff ______________________________ Dementation/Dominate - Not Just for Bleeding There are very few combat cards for these two Disciplines which brings the total of "combat-based Disciplines" for the Malkavians up to a grand total of zero. Combat cards for Dementation include: Coma, Deny, and Personal Scourge. Combat Cards for Dominate include: Absorb the Mind and Thoughts Betrayed. Well... Deny is only half-combat, but that's good enough! -Dementaion- Coma - one of the few effective combat cards available to Dementation Malks; send an opposing vampire to Torpor. As can be expected, it gets beaten out by Combat Ends and/or Immortal Grapple, plus it costs 3 blood, so you probably won't be doing it very often. Deny - Like Swallowed by the Night, but with a Press at basic and the +1 Stealth is at superior. I would think most Malkavian players would rather use Swallowed by the Night for Maneuvers and easier Stealth access. Personal Scourge - this is not played because it does a whopping 1 damage, and it's still not useable during an Immortal Grapple. The superior version does the same thing, but gives a press to end combat. The added effect of being unpreventable (from Fortitude and Equipment) and negating a weapon strike really don't make up for such a weak card. Maybe if you're surrounded by Salubri Antitribu... ha! -Dominate- Absorb the mind - [dom] Strike: Dodge. Yet another Dodge available to Malkavians. Unlike Quick Exit and Read Inentions, all you need is basic Dominate to play this card, however you lose out on a Superior Dominate usage. Thoughts Betrayed - The basic version of this is terrible (1 additional point of damage during normal strike resolution). So terrible, in fact, that opponents assume it is unpreventable damage, or that it hits them every round of combat. But it doesn't! It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't cost 2 blood. But it does! The superior version, however, is pretty nasty: "[DOM] Opposing minion cannot play any strike cards for the duration of this combat." Completely stops Strike: Combat Ends as well as pretty much any other strike that isn't a Hand Strike or come from a card in play. The only reason to use this instead of Immortal Grapple is that you remain unrestricted on what combat you play while your opponent is at a severe disadvantage. ----------------- Featured Deck Deck: "Look Out! Here Comes Roxanne! Slam! Smash! Arghhhh!" Date Created: July 4th, 2003 Created By: Timmy Merrill Description: Auspex/Dominate/Fortitude/Potence Rush Combat. [Crypt: 12 vampires] 1. Roxanne - Rectrix of the 13th floor [pot] [AUS] [DOM] [FOR] [OBF] 2. Roxanne - Rectrix of the 13th floor [pot] [AUS] [DOM] [FOR] [OBF] 3. Roxanne - Rectrix of the 13th floor [pot] [AUS] [DOM] [FOR] [OBF] 4. Roxanne - Rectrix of the 13th floor [pot] [AUS] [DOM] [FOR] [OBF] 5. Aleph [dom] [AUS] 6. Aleph [dom] [AUS] 7. Zoë [cel] [obf] [AUS] 8. Dorian Strack [cel] [AUS] 9. Isabel de Leon [AUS] 10. Brazil [aus] 11. Brazil [aus] 12. Dieter Kleist [aus] [Library: 90] [Masters: 15] The Barrens Dreams of the Sphinx Fragment of the Book of Nod Haven Uncovered x2 Information Highway x2 Minion Tap x4 Potence x4 [Actions: 12] Bum's Rush x4 Nose of the Hound x6 Pulse of the Canaille x2 [Reactions: 8] Telepathic Counter x8 [Action Modifiers: 5] Freak Drive x5 [Combat 50] Telepathic Tracking x4 Thoughts Betrayed x8 Thrown Gate x8 Indomitability x8 Unflinching Persistance x8 Taste of Vitae x6 Well-aimed Car x8 How to Play This Deck: Bring out Roxanne. Look at your opponents. How do they respond? Common reactions: "Another Malk bleed deck", "Who's Roxanne", or "What the *#@$?" Minion Tap Roxanne to recoupe some pool (leave no less than 2 on her). Minion Tap her again if she regains blood from combat using a Taste of Vitae. Never announce a block against a "Sneak & Bleed" deck; use Telepathic Counter to reduce the bleed amount. This stagnates the deck when they're left with only stealth cards and no bleed modifiers. Be patient, you'll have time to make an example of them soon enough. Once you get a Pulse of Canaille on Roxanne, you can attack a minion or bleed at +2 (or both, with Freak Drive). Enter combat with your Predator if they persist in causing you Pool loss (especially through Political Actions). Remember you can Freak Drive and attack again with a different Action (don't forget Roxanne's special ability). In combat: Play Thoughts Betrayed to hamper your opponent's defenses (Aura Reading is there to help cycle cards). Now the opposing minion will likely only be able to use a Hand Strike. On the first round, use a Thrown Gate and Maneuver to Long Range and do 1R damage. This will keep you away from those hand striking decks (Potence, Celerity, Protean, etc). Use Unflinching Persistance for additional Maneuvers to make sure you get away from things like Torn Sign Post. Strike with the Torn Sign Post (or just wave if you went long without it). Press. On the second round of combat Maneuver to Long Range - at this point your opponent will probably expect another Thrown Gate, or, at worst, a Thrown Sewer Lid. Now, hit them with a Well-Aimed Car (don't forget to yuck it up). Use a Taste of Vitae, if you have one. Don't bother Pressing unless you really want them in Torpor; if you have made it this far, you don't ever need to get a Victory Point: hitting someone with Well-aimed Car is worth far more than winning a game. ______________________________ 4. Et Cetera & So Forth ______________________________ The Tzimisce Newsletter editor, Cameron "meshenka" Roberts, and I have been duking it out at the #vtes-game chat (and if you're lucky, you'll see a transcipt of the game posted on the News Group). I'm taking a liking to the "Melborne Fight Club" idea very much. Of course, I think it would be great to lay down some more concrete rules as to what makes a "Fight Club Deck" and what doesn't. My suggestions would be: #1 Ban all S:CE. There's never a good enough reason to run away from a fight. #2 Ban cards that allow a Bleed Action (even if they can be used for other things or don't actually increase the bleed, e.g. Enchant Kindred and Night Moves). #3 Ban all Action Modifiers that increase Bleed (even if they can be used for other things, e.g. Fata Morgana). #4 Ban all Political Actions that cause one or more Methuselahs to burn/gain Pool or that directly remove minions from the Active Region (e.g. Banishment and Protect Thine Own). #5 Each deck should consist of at least 20% "combat" cards (a "combat" card is a card that has the Combat Icon in the upper left corner, not a card that simply has a possible effect in combat, e.g. Fame or Fast Reactions). I leave this for others to chew on and comment upon, especially those who live in or near Melborne. :) ______________________________ 5. To Be Continued ______________________________ I urge everyone who read this issue to respond with their insight and opinions. Post a response or send me an email! Send any comments, questions, articles, salacious offerings, humerous anecdotes, deck ideas, Gangrel jokes, and delectable yummies to: Timmy@e-garfield.com -t!MmY, the mad !nker This newsletter was written by a ficticious person in a ficticious plane of existence. Any resemblences to any real persons or planes of existences is coincidential and utterly impossible. Those who chew upon any articles do so at their own risk. This newsletter may be archived, transmitted, stored, spanked, or copied in any way you wish as long as it is kept in its entirety.