VEKN Official Clan Tremere Newsletter Dec. 1998Volume 1, Issue 2 December 1, 1998 Again, welcome and good evening. Direct correspondence to Xian, as I wrote all of this stuff. It may be complete junk, but it's my complete junk. Short FictionShort Fiction With the pounding bass of "Paninero," Ulugh Beg glided though the club, effortlessly parting the crowd. More than a few of the dancers were openly admiring of his exotic looks which was intriguingly complemented by his Victorian dress. Crossing the floor to a dark, secluded table, Ulugh's piercing gaze detected the hideously warped Nosferatu lurking in the shadows. At last. After much searching, another piece of lore was about to be reclaimed for his master. The Nosferatu licked what remained of its lips with its long, scabarous tongue. Its right eye lolled horrifically in its socket, a sight so grotesque that it would have caused a lesser being to flinch. "Do you have the text," Ulugh queried? Reaching slowly toward a pocket, the Nosferatu hissed in the affirmative. "However, first, my price...I require information on the Council of Seven." "Most daring," Ulugh replied. "I would like to examine the merchandise first." The need to comply with this order overwhelmed the Nosferatu. Its hand retrieved and offered the packet as quickly as a used car salesman offers a handshake. Staring down at its suddenly traitorous hand, the Nosferatu grumbled, "Now, about my price..." "I'm afraid you won't be learning anything new today, slimy. But I think I'll keep the book," Ulugh responded. "Why you rackafracka..." As the Nosferatu leaped at Ulugh Beg, he suddenly stopped in mid-air and reversed direction, crashing through the thin wall, into the back room. A number of the drug-hazed occupants were surprised but not terrified of this interesting new development. Ulugh strode through the hole in the wall as his foe writhed in the torment inflicted by his mighty magics. Moments later, merely paces apart, the Nosferatu leapt up and struck Ulugh square on the chin with all of his formidable strength. Unmoved, Ulugh grabbed the Nosferatu's other hand, stared into his eyes, and laughed a cold laguh. As he strode away from the pile of ashes, Ulugh Beg was heard to mutter, "You lose your money and your honey..." A Brief Listing of Important European TremereBlythe Candelaria aus THA 3 Etrius AUS DOM OBF pro THA 11 Inner Circle Javier Montoya ani AUS cel pre THA 9 Prince of Barcelona Rebekka, Chantry Elder of Munich AUS pot PRE THA 8 Elisabetta Romano dom pro qui that 6 Primogen Muaziz, Archon of Ulugh Beg aus dom for THA 7 Mustafa Rahman dom 2 Spiridonas DOM pot pre THA 9 Prince of Athens Focus on a CardSince last month's newsletter provoked some discussion of the matter, I thought I'd try to find something nice to say about Cauldron of Blood. Hmm...tough one. Okay... 1) Unlike the steal blood strikes, it does actual damage. 2) It does a lot of damage. 3) Useful as a follow-up or a precursor strike in a celerity-thaumaturgy deck. Especially with Shotgun Ritual. Mmm...Shotgun Ritual, Theft of Vitae, Blur, Theft of Vitae, Cauldron of Blood. Beyond that, maybe Joshua is right. It's not that cool. Although 5 damage is pretty good, all in all. Sample DeckTitle: Bestial Bosoms Believe in Burning (or something...just came up with this on the fly...) Updated version (5/20/99)
Crypt Total: 85 Avg: 7.08, Worst: 37, Best: 20 (though this would be the worst possible draw for your game...) Library (90) Notes: The beautiful thing about this deck is that for the most part, you only need the inferior levels of each discipline for it to operate effectively. Superior thaumaturgy is the most important discipline to have, then celerity. You don't really need animalism at superior, but it certainly doesn't hurt. I think it's pretty apparent, but I saw that the three Tremere also had Animalism in addition to the Tha/Cel, and I wanted to see what I could do with that. I also enjoyed the DotB/Terror Frenzy combo. Admittedly, it's not the greatest that you still generally want to maneuver to range, but you should be able to tailor your combat to what range you want, by picking who you attack and then using the appropriate Ani card. This could do without the Cat's Guidance, I suppose. More Psyches would be useful, as would more Walk of Flame. Unfortunately, I have used the kitties quite effectively in JOL76, and couldn't bear to part with them, even though I know I generally tap out with either a lot of attacks or bleeds. (Note: this is not the exact deck I'm playing in JOL76, as that one has 105 cards in the library...) The kitties were in the original incarnation of the deck, have proven exceedingly handy, and it's hard to get rid of them. The basic combat combo for this deck is DotB/Terror Frenzy (or both!) + (maneuver if necessary) + Theft of Vitae + Flash to press + (Blood to Water) + Walk of Flame. Throw in additional strikes for spice. The deck does poorly (I imagine...haven't run up against one yet...) against well-designed combat decks, with the exception of Gangrel combat decks, which it was specifically engineered to defeat. It does fairly well against them. Celerity almost always gets you more maneuvers than Protean. Well, that's about it for this month. I hope everyone enjoys all of this, and I promise to post a non-rush deck next month. It might still be combat-oriented, but... |