V:EKN Malkavian Newsletter July 1998

V:EKN Malkavian Newsletter July 1998

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)

Vampire: Elder Kindred Network
madnessnetwork.hexagon.net

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