Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
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World of Darkness |
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Vampirism |
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Masquerade society |
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Masquerade Mythology |
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Masquerade History |
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Requiem |
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, published as Jyhad in the first edition and often abbreviated as VTES, V:TES or V:tES, is a multiplayer collectible card game set in the World of Darkness. It is published by White Wolf, Inc.
The game was designed in 1994 by Richard Garfield and initially published by Wizards of the Coast. After the 1996 Sabbat expansion, Wizards of the Coast abandoned the game, and in 2000 White Wolf took over development. It is thus one of the oldest collectible card games in existence.
In 2004, Inquest Gamer Magazine picked VTES as the all-time best multiplayer collectible card games.
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[edit] Setting
The game is set in the World of Darkness, drawing mainly from the Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game. After the events of Gehenna ended the official World of Darkness storyline, VTES is considered a sort of alternate reality of the setting, as it continues though White Wolf, Inc. publishes no further official products for the roleplaying game.
In VTES, each player takes on the role of a "Methuselah", an ancient and manipulative vampire. Each Methuselah will try to eliminate all others by nullifying their influence and power. To that end, the Methuselahs will control and manipulate a number of minions (mostly younger vampires) to attack and destroy the other Methuselahs' resources.
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Overview
The game is ideally played by a group of four or five players, but it can be played by any number of players from two or more. Groups of more than six players are rare, as an individual turn can easily take two to three minutes, causing a slow game for all. Two-player games (and to some extent three-player games) suffer from lack of opportunity for the kind of inter-player allying and backstabbing that is a large feature of the game.
As in most other collectible card games, each player designs his or her own deck. Each deck is built with two components:
'Crypt' - containing cards representing vampires that the player may control during the game.
'Library' - containing cards generally representing assets or actions to be taken during the game.
Most cards in the library can only be used in conjunction with vampires. To put a card in play, the player must pay for it using his 'pool' or the blood on his vampires. Pool represents the player's influence, and if it is reduced to zero the player is out of the game (each player starts the game with 30 pool). Therefore, players continually have to make decisions based on how much they want to invest into assets in play and how much to retain to stay alive, especially against other players capable of sudden dangerous 'bleeds' (direct attacks on the players pool).
Each turn one player directs his minions to perform a number of actions and attacks, which other players' minions may intercept or interrupt. Each player attempts to 'oust' (remove from game) his 'prey' (the player to his left) while defending himself from his 'predator (the player to his right). This continues until only one player is left on the table. Ousting one's prey is worth one victory point, and being the last person left at the table is worth an additional victory point. However, ousting one's prey also nets the player 6 pool, and thus makes him stronger and more dangerous to the next prey. This is one of the reasons why other players may suddenly start helping a player in a weak situation, or even gang up on a player who seems to be going for a 'table sweep', making shifting alliances part and parcel of the game.
Games can take anything from half an hour to three or more hours (for a 5-player game). In tournament play and in some informal games, a time limit may be imposed, after which all remaining players receive half a victory point in addition to any they may have already received.
[edit] Playing styles
There are many ways to win in V:TES, though they all depend on eventually wearing down your prey's pool. The most common styles are:
- Bleed / Stealth Bleed - this deck concentrates on causing as much pool loss as possible, either as quickly as possible, or by bleeding heavily during a moment of weakness. It usually has some way of ensuring that bleeds are more likely to slip past the defenses, the classical way of which would be playing 'stealth' cards.
- Combat / Rush - this type of deck is based on attacking opponents vampires, rendering them incapable of acting, or destroying them outright. After the defense has been whittled away it then starts bleeding normally. It also defends itself by attacking individual vampires (mainly of its own predator) which pose a threat.
- Political - this deck is geared to take advantage of the political system inbuilt into the game. It concentrates on having as many votes (usually via powerful vampires) on the table as possible. It is then able to call and pass its own political actions, which classically include those directly damaging its own prey.
- Build - this deck attempts to survive during the early game while it builds up to later on control the table via these accumulated assets, be they vampires, large amounts of reserve pool, votes or other cards. It is usually combined with another style.
- Intercept / Wall - This deck, often combined with the 'Combat' or the 'Build' style, tries to intercept the vampires of the prey when they act (and then likely attempts destroying them). Alternatively, it may be a defensive deck slowly building its strength for the late game, using its intercepting abilities to stop itself from being ousted in the meantime.
- Toolbox - this style attempts to be able to do as much as possible of all the styles above at the same time, mixing its cards. It is often a 'Build'-style deck at the same time.
All the above deck have various weaknesses, the most glaring being that a deck should theoretically be able to do ALL the above well, to take advantage of evolving game situations, and to counter other styles it may come up against. However, if it uses this 'Toolbox' approach too strongly, it may spread itself too thin, and end up being incapable of following through.
[edit] Distinct nature
What sets VTES apart from most other collectible card games is the strong group play element. In general a player will concentrate on the player to his immediate left, his prey, while there are other players in the game a player gains victory points for the defeat of his prey only. A player who succeeds in ousting his prey receives a strong boost, possibly enabling him to "sweep the table" and oust every other player. Thus there is a tendency for players to help weaker ones to frustrate the stronger players' dominance. This ensures that most players stay in the game longer, instead of the playing field being reduced quickly to those with the best cards and the greatest skill.
These conditions create a game where players are almost always interacting with the other players for both short- and long-term goals instead of simply waiting for their turns. VTES is a game of negotiation, skill, and deck-building. Deals and alliances, both for the moment or for the whole game, play a big role. A whole classification of cards, political cards, are designed with this in mind. When a vote is called each player casts votes, either by using votes granted from cards in play (typically from vampires with a 'title' such as Princes & Archbishops) or by playing cards from the hand.
[edit] Sets and expansions
- Sword of Caine (March 19, 2007)
- VTES 3rd Edition (September 4, 2006)
- Nights of Reckoning (February 10, 2006)
- Legacies of Blood (November 14, 2005)
- Kindred Most Wanted (February 21, 2005)
- 10th Anniversary (December 13, 2004)
- Gehenna (May 17, 2004)
- The Black Hand (November 17, 2003)
- Anarchs (May 19, 2003)
- Camarilla (August 19, 2002)
- Bloodlines (December 3, 2001)
- Final Nights (June 11, 2001)
- Sabbat War (October 31, 2000)
- Sabbat (October 22, 1996)
- Ancient Hearts (May 1996)
- Dark Sovereigns (1995)
- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (1995)
- Jyhad (1994)
[edit] Online
[edit] V:TES Online
In December 2005 "Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Online" was launched. It is an online implementation of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle developed and maintained by CCG Workshop. Using CCG Workshop's gatlingEngine, players can create decks and compete online for a monthly fee.
White Wolf, Inc. has allowed CCG Workshop to release the Camarilla, Anarchs, Final Nights, Legacies of Blood and Black Hand sets for online play. CCG Workshop has also announced the release of the 3rd Edition and Kindred Most Wanted sets for 2007.
[edit] Jyhad Online
Developed and maintained by George Fink, "Jyhad Online" hosts a series of VTES games over the Internet. Originally players emailed their actions to the players in the game, and other players responded with their reactions, with the deckserver dealing the cards. Each game was guided by a moderator who maintained the game page.
"JOL3", the new version released in 2005, uses a web interface. The deckserver still handles the decks, but the players can move cards and counters around through the web interface. Games can take place in real time if all the players are online.
[edit] References
- Robert Goudie, Ben Peal & Ben Swainbank, Vampire The Eternal Struggle Players Guide (White Wolf Game Studio, 2005, ISBN 1-56504-249-2)
- Andrew Greenberg, Richard Garfield & Daniel Greenberg, Eternal Struggle: A Player's Guide to Jyhad (White Wolf Game Studio, 1994, ISBN 1-56504-163-1)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Official Site
- VTES Online
- Jyhad Online (JOL3)
- The Ash Heap, a players' resource site
- Los Angeles VTES, featuring the eBay VTES single-card sales archive
- The Lasombra extensive fan-site
- Vampire (the Google group)
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Assamite · Baali · Brujah · Caitiff · Cappadocian (V:DA) · Daughters of Cacophony (V:TM) · Followers of Set · Gangrel · Giovanni (V:TM) · Harbingers of Skulls (V:TM) · Kiasyd · Lasombra · Malkavian · Nosferatu · Ravnos · Salubri · Samedi (V:TM) · Toreador · Tremere · Tzimisce · Ventrue |
