Sitting in his chambers, the doctor flicked lazily through a pile of magazines on his desk. "Sir!" came the cry of a female voice outside his chambers. "Yes, what is it? Can't you see I'm busy?" "Erm, no sir, I'm outside the room. But we have the prisoner for you to interrogate." He sat up, relishing the prospect of interrogating this special prisoner. "Bring him in then. Faster child!" The female ran into the room, holding the prisoner roughly by the arm. His dark, brown colouring contrasted against the paleness of her skin, though his eyes were as black and beady as hers. She pushed him into the chair, squeezing his arm tight and digging her razor sharp nails into him. The prisoner still showed no signs of pain though. She hurried over to her colleague sitting at his desk. "Sir, we need to get the information out of him. You know how vital it is to all our plans. Nobody else has been able to crack him but we know you're the right man for the job." "Of course I am," he blustered in his usual arrogance. "Now leave us." She stepped quickly out of the room, casting a glance at the prisoner and spitting out of him, before quickly pulling the door to behind her. From behind the desk, the doctor was able to study carefully this new prisoner. He tossed his copy of Farming Today to one side, leaving him free to concentrate on this individual alone. He looked closely. The darkness of this prisoner's skin contrasted with the paleness of his skin, just as it had with his female colleague. The prisoners small, black, beady eyes were unsettling. He had small tufts of hair on the top of his head. The doctor glanced down at his own hands, long, slender, with a quality almost like that of fine bone china, that slight translucency to them. He picked up a marble from a pile on his desk and rolled it from finger to finger, displaying great manual dexterity. Looking at the prisoner, he convulsed with pain - not out of pity, just out of sheer distaste. Neither of his arms had hands, presumably the result of some defect or operation when younger. He examined the prisoner's face more closely. His small beady eyes, small, quite high- set ears, a tiny mouth, almost a straight line rather than a mouth. Places where he'd had stitches were quite obvious. His expression was completely dead pan, completely unreadable. "You know," said the doctor, "I've been looking forward to this, you know. No-one else in our entire Clan has been able to extract the secrets we need from you. By being so strong-willed, you have given me the chance to shine again! But be warned, you will not have encountered one as strong as me before. I am skilled in powers beyond those of any other you will encountered so far. I am far beyond that. If you don't reveal the secrets I require, I *will* take them from you. If you do give me the information, though, I will be able to rationalise treating you well, as you could become a useful source of information for us. So, what do you choose?" Still, the prisoner sat there motionless. His expression remained unaltered and no sounds passed from his mouth. "You know, it really would be easier on you if you revealed your secrets now....." The doctor stood there in silence, his gaze fixed to that of the prisoner. Minutes passed. Quickly, the doctor dropped his hand to his side, reaching a small knife out from his pocket. Licking the blade with his tongue, he allowed a small nick of his tongue. A little blood slowly drained out onto the tiny blade. "One of my finest moments was with an Assamite, you know. Wonderful clan. All wound up in such high ideals as Honour, Community and the like. So easy to break too. Nothing like making enquiries of an Assamite.... a little work on one of them and they'll teach you the most intimate workings of their blood disciplines." His gaze flicked backed to his small knife, and then to his prisoner. Hoping for some glimmer of recognition of the power of the weapon he held in his hand, he worked hard to hide his disappointment as the prisoner still sat there, completely inscrutable. He stabbed the knife swiftly into the prisoner's arm. Surely that would cause some glimmer of pain in him? Still, the prisoner sat there, motionless, showing no emotion or feeling. "Of course," he said, "I do like the Tremere. They'd sell their own souls for a quick way out of here. Well, most of them have already sold their souls to some demon or other and I don't accept used goods. A few tricks of the trade, though, aren't that difficult to prise from them." The doctor sought deep into his own energy reserves. He felt the power well in the bottom of his stomach, growing, stirring up inside him. His thoughts fixed on the vitae of his prisoner, he willed it to him, hoping to steal his prisoner's power and strength. Nothing happened. Still, he concentrated, hoping to penetrate his prisoner's will. After many minutes, he was forced to concede. "My, you are a powerful fellow. I will have to go and consult some of my more arcane texts." He stepped swiftly out of the door, mouthing the words of a warding glyph set up by one of the more skilled thaumaturges in the Clan. Mr. Teddy sat motionless in his chair. His head rolled to one side, pulling away at the threads holding it together. Slowly, the head ripped itself off and tumbled onto the floor, leaving the stuffing all over the floor. *** This month, I'll take a look at some of the strengths and weaknesses of the cards available only to Malkavians in the basic set. - Asylum Hunting Ground: 2 pool Well, all of the clans have a Hunting Ground to their name. It is important to note, though, that like the other Hunting Grounds, this one does actually cost 2 pool regardless of the printing you have. Pity, would have been nice to get one up on those other clans ;) Well, Hunting Grounds are pretty utilitarian in nature. They don't do anything really funky but they do provide you a way of getting some blood back onto your vampires without having to waste an action hunting. Some of the big bleed cards available to the Malkavians do eat away at your blood - things like Govern the Unaligned and Conditioning - as well as cards like Deflection and Telepathic Misdirection when you're on the defensive. Having to hunt could ruin your day, especially as it is blockable by both your prey and predator - so you have double the chance of someone having intercept - whereas a nice bleed is only at your prey. Of course, you have stealth but do you want to use it on a hunt? There are problems with Hunting Grounds though. First of all, they have a quite significant cost - two pool. Would that pool be better spent on a little vampire like Ohanna or Normal, perhaps? Also, a Hunting Ground is quite delicate being as any deck could have an Arson in it. I know I often put one in, even if only as a prayer card. However, the metagame nationally in Britain and, from what I see of the newsgroup perhaps even world-wide, is a slight trend against locations. Because of this, fewer and fewer people are putting ways of dealing with locations in decks. Myself, I like to use Kine Dominance if I can since it has that duality to it. So, perhaps you will get the blood before someone has a chance to destroy it. And, of course, with a Blood Doll, you have a nice little pool gatherer. - Game of Malkav Well, this is an interesting little card if ever there was one. Whether it's useful or not depends a lot on luck and your deck. Before thinking about putting this in a deck, think long and hard about it, about your deck. Given that the card allows other players to significantly increase their pool, can you deal with that? The Malks could be being played as an intercept deck, or a silly deck instead of a bleed deck. Having your prey suddenly gain four or five pool could scupper your plans. If, on the other hand, you're playing a bleed deck, it might be worth it. Okay, they'll gain a few pool but you can bleed past it. The important thing is, it allows you to gain a bit of pool to defend yourself from the onslaughts of your predator and that could be a good thing. Also, the luck comes into it. Everyone sits round the table trying to outguess each other, working out what everyone can afford, the other people's playing habits, a bit of guess work, maybe seeing how big the other people's hands are when they hold them out and you're still choosing..... But unless you choose one pool (when no-one can go lower than you), there's the possibility of you losing that pool. If you're very lucky, you could do well out of it. But so could other people.... If you're looking to play a very competitive deck, maybe one to leave out. However, if you are playing more for a bit of fun and a memorable game, it could be fun to put in. It might not help you but it could drastically turn tables in the game and create a fun game for everyone. - Madness Network Well, the standard thing here since the release of Ancient Hearts has been Mad Masika's Harem. Drop a couple of Aching Beauty cards on him before you Clan Impersonate him to Malkavian and then have him untap at the end of each Methuselah's turn and then bleed people during at the end of the next Methuselah's minion phase. Good fun and very powerful, but you need to load him up to the gunnels to protect him. It would also work well in a swarm deck when pulling it out could be of great benefit to you because you can bleed now and then bleed later if it suited you, letting you peck away at your prey as and when you choose. This tactic would also work well with a few big vampires. If you're scared of your predator coming in and getting you, you might leave a few vampires untapped at the end of your turn. If, at the end of your predator's minion phase, he's done nothing to you, you might feel confident enough to take those untapped vampires out on a raid on your prey, say. Don't forget that action modifiers are now playable any time you're untapped so there are no problems there really. Of course, you might like to be able to protect it. I rarely see people take a stance against the card when it comes into play but watch it, people can and do have a go at it if it really annoys them. But the Malks have intercept if you want to protect it. - Malkavian Prank Well, a similar caveat emptor to Game of Malkav. Can you really deal with people getting pool and, if not, is it really worth it for the amount of pool it MIGHT net you? You can't even guarantee yourself one pool this time but you could nick a fair bit from someone else though. - Malkavian Time Auction Now, this card looks a lot better than it is quite possibly. When I was trying to get some hypotheses out of a Jyhad Mailing List for some course work I intend to do based on Jyhad, one of the suggested hypotheses was "On average, a Malkavian Time Auction will gain the Methuselah playing it one pool." Personally, I reckon this was a bit on the generous side. It does have its problems. First of all, it has to be a cool card that you control for people to want it. Second of all, it has to be something other people can use. Thirdly, they have to have the idea that you're not just going to oust them next turn and this is just a way of reducing their pool to start with. Hmmm..... a difficult one that. To get a cool card that people want, you're going to have to pay for it. The Malkavians might be able to steal something from someone else being as they have Grave Robbing, Far Mastery and Dominate Kine but, beyond that, you're going to have to pay for something and pay through the nose, at a guess. Now, to get something other people can use. Well, it has to be something that isn't really, really focussed on to your strategy then... difficult to justify something more general, though, because if the Time Auction doesn't show up you could be stuck with something you don't want or having to discard it...... And finally, the reducing the threat. If you can convince your predator or grand-predator to buy it, maybe, but your prey isn't going to want to deplete his pool for your stuff most of the time, now, is he? Of course, if he's already ousted a couple of players then you might get away with it but it's always going to be difficult anyway because if you go, so does the card (exceptions if you're playing JOL) because of the Golden Rule of Card Ownership. - Muddled Vampire Hunter Well, what isn't there to like about this guy? He's pretty cheap, has an inbuilt rush, hits first and hard and is generally cool. If you can afford to be generous, stocking up with a Leather/Flak Jacket would be nice, as would a Sengir Dagger or Wooden Stake. The latter is more debatable though because if you don't outright destroy them, you lose it. Oops. But he does have possibilities with something like, say, Pulled Fangs if you can do it because he'll do even more damage to the vampires. It is hard to protect him though. However, he can be a very playable card and a very FUN card in the right circumstances. And, after all, if you're not playing to win outright, a bit of fun is always cool. *** Well, that's it for this time. If you have any suggestions for future newsletters, let me know and I'll see what I can knock up, okay? -- James Coupe (Malkavian Mouthpiece) Change nospam to obeah to reply Vampire: Elder Kindred Network http://www.white-wolf.com/VTES/vekn.html