From February, 2010
Know Your Kindred – La Viuda Blanca
Name: La Viuda Blanca
Clan: Harbingers of Skulls
Generation: 8th
Embrace: Unknown
La Viuda Blanca (or the White Widow) has spent an eternity trying to understand the secrets of the universe hidden from man. Not long after her Embrace she came to the Shadowlands and saw first hand the terrible storm at its center. Innumerable years later the storm swept her back to the lands of the living.
The White Widow feeds only from the blood of infants, as they taste the sweetest to her. She has now teamed up with a Tzmisce scholar named Esteban del Agua y Tierra. He found her wandering Mexico City delirious. He gave her shelter and blood, helped her piece together the realities of the modern life and unlife and told her of the approaching Gehenna. This belief and the circumstances of her discovery helped baptize her bloodline as the Harbingers of Skulls.
The Widow and Esteban have grown close together and bonded through Vaulderie. They broke into the Chantry of the vanished Tremere antitribu to study their libraries and laboratories. The Widow has opened a vast array of Thaumaturgical research and clan secrets. She believes the Tremere were working to forestall Gehenna, but suspects they may have played a role in the lead up to the Final Nights.
As a prominent Harbinger in the Sabbat’s epicenter, the White Widow has significant influence over the sect’s occult circles. Unknown to the sect’s elders, she is recruiting a variety of neonates she believes will play a role in the coming apocalypse. She now spends her nights preparing for when the end truly does come. She hopes by then to have the unique insight to be ready.
Like all Harbingers, La Viuda Blanca is a horror to behold. She is 70 pounds of dried leather hanging off an ancient skeleton. She wears long white robes and a hood over her face. Her eyes are pitch black and her mouth is full of needle-pointed fangs.
– Source: Mexico City By Night, pg. 75-77.
Know Your Kindred – Qawiyya el-Ghaduba
Name: Qawiyya el-Ghaduba
Clan: Salubri
Generation: 5th
Embrace: 636 AD
Although few of Saulot’s line remain, those who still remember know that his favorite childe was Samiel, who single-handedly launched the warrior’s path from within the clan of healers; who founded the Code that bears his name, and who was killed by the same monstrosities he swore to destroy.
Before leaving to face the Baali in their unholy sepulcher, the infernal acropolis at Chorazin, Samiel called those of his line together and warned them of dark times to come, and urged them each to remember the Code as he had instructed it. It would be his last known appearance.
What few know is that Samiel made a single stop on his way to Chorazin – a stop that would change the warrior caste for all time. Samiel found himself drawn by a vision to a small village. The townspeople had fallen under a terrible plague. Those who remained had lost all hope and abandoned their homes and their unburied love ones. – All but a single soul, that is.
Samiel found a lone Arab woman single-handedly moving the corpses of her infant son, her two brothers and her dead husband out to a pyre and watched those closest to her vanish in flame.
Enthralled, the warrior asked the woman why she alone chose to stay, when everyone else moved on. She simply replied it was her duty that the dead be buried. She knew the source of the plague was the Devil, but so long as a single soul stayed and tended to the dead with the same unshakable faith she tended to the living, then the Devil could never truly claim the town as his own. Lucifer would be foiled by one woman of faith.
Now Samiel, the greatest warrior of the Salubri, was shaken. He recognized God’s work before him. He had been guided to this woman and knew his journey to Chorazin would be his last. Knowing this, Samiel entrusted the woman with two great responsibilities: First, he Embraced her into the warrior line, making her the heir of his legacy. Second, he gave her his first-hand copy of the Code of Samiel, penned by himself centuries ago. This was hers to protect… and to remember.
Six hundred years later, the last chide of Samiel returned to Jerusalem after she had seen both her sire and her sire’s sire destroyed. She launched a campaign of brutal justice against the Tremere, raging through the Holy City like the wrath of God, laying waste to the Tremere. Before the year’s end, she had removed them from the city and put a plan into action to keep them out of Palestine forever.
She set up shop in the old Tremere chantry, where she invited all the neighboring princes. After a week of deliberations, an accord uniting the region. A new era of peace and determination began in Palestine. Although Qawiyya holds no title, there is no doubt among its residents who holds the reins of power and righteousness in the Holy City. This Muslim warrior Salubri is now known as the “Lioness of Jerusalem.”
An aged Salubri healer named Nahum ben Enosh assisted her early efforts before passing the torch and slipping into torpor. He was laid to rest in a crypt he designed and Qawiyya watched over him as vigilantly as she protected her copy of the Code of Samiel.
– Source: Road of Heaven, pg. 46, 92-93.
Know Your Kindred – Nahum Ben Enosh
Name: Nahum Ben Enosh
Clan: Salubri
Generation: 4th
Embrace: 216 CE
Nahum was a Talmudic scholar, studying and arguing all the fine points of Jewish Law. One evening, while heading home, he said he regretted the fact he was getting older and approaching closer to death. He mourned the fact that he would not have enough time to acquire all the knowledge he wanted to. Saulot overheard Nahum’s comments and so he Embraced him.
Nahum spent the following centuries learning and passing on his knowledge to others. He gained the reputation as a scholar of considerable repute. He didn’t much care for the blood feeding requirement to be a Cainite, but he reconciled that it must be God’s plan for his life. Unable to imagine his life as a Salubri warrior, Nahum followed the healing path instead.
With his inquisitive nature, Nahum turned his attention to studying demon pacts. What are demons exactly? Why does God allow them to exist? What purpose do they serve? Is it possible for a mortal or Cainite to control one?
Nahum appears as a harmless old man in his sixties, dressed in traveler’s robes and carrying a walking staff. His hair and beard are quite white.
Since Saulot’s destruction Nahum lost most of his enthusiasm. Tired with the world and unhappy at the direction his clan had taken, Nahum retreated to torpor, where he vanished from the pages of history.
– Source: Jerusalem by Night, pg. 98-99
Ten commandments of VTES demos
Ten commandments of VTES demos
I think the two most frequent demo problems I see are that 1) people often try to teach from the rulebook, and 2) demo-ers get caught up in explaining the details of play for this or that card. The Rulebook is great as a collected reference, but as a such, it isn’t organized to run through the basic concepts of the game quickly (nor should it!)…
The basic principles (the Ten VTES Demo Commandments) I try to teach are (in order)
- Setup
- How to Win
- how to play a master card (introducing concept of pool cost)
- How to influence vampires
- how to take, and resolve, an action (first a simple bleed, later other actions; equip, rush, retainers, etc.)
- how to block
- how to resolve a simple combat (no maneuvers, strikes for hand damage)
- Stealth/intercept concept, which segues nicely into
- action modifiers and reaction concept(s).
The absolute VTES timing rules (ie. there is no ‘interrupting’ another person’s card play)
The above gives a framework that is sufficient to play a game with the demo decks, and is a foundation upon which the player can categorize more detailed card play (equip actions are just like any other action; something your minions do to generate a game effect). The first four are absurdly simple concepts, which take all of three minutes to explain. Items 5, 6 & 7 go hand in hand, and take about ten minutes. 8 & 9 are another five minutes. 10 is a one minute explanation, but is important enough to merit its own Commandment.
From there, I generally focus a little more on “why” you would do, or not do, any of the above in a given situation (ie. why you won’t generally spend yourself down to three pool). As others mentioned, I’d leave off on political actions for the first session, but then roll them in quickly.. Given more time to demo, I’d elaborate on combat phases, and show what you can do there to get various combat outcomes. If it comes up as a result of play, you can address things like political actions, contesting, etc, as needed. Let player questions be the way to raise the niche issues, rather than trying to voluntarily address them all of them yourself.
Regards,
DaveZ (former Prince of Boston and Charlotte)
Atom Weaver
atomweaver // at \\ sbcglobal.net
Know Your Kindred – White Lily
Name: White Lily
Clan: Malkavian antitribu
Generation: 6th
Embrace: 1776
Almost nothing is known about White Lily’s past. The story is that she was Embraced by a powerful Black Hand assassin, who trained her. She is one of the Hand’s best, most reliable agents, and has also maintained an identity within the Camarilla. She travels the world, destroying anyone who is a danger to the sect.
Lily looks like a woman in her mid-twenties with blonde hair in a blunt-cut bob and has a beauty mark near her mouth. She wears a padded black leather jumpsuit with high-laced combat boots. She has many pockets sewn into her leather jacket to accommodate her many weapons – sniper rifle, pistol with silencer, silver bullets. She wears round sunglasses and moves like a panther.
Source: Midnight Circus, pg 116.
Know Your Kindred – Joe “Boot” Hill
Name: Joe “Boot” Hill
Clan: Assamite antitribu
Generation: 7th
Embraced: 1881
A tall, lean gunslinger from the old west, Joe “Boot” Hill became a vampire after getting into an argument with a fellow named Bernard del Gado. Joe was tired of hearing Bernard’s boastful remarks, so he shot him in the chest. But Bernard got up and reminded Joe it was rude to shoot an unarmed man. So Joe shot him again and mopped up the floor with his head.
Bernard took it poorly and dragged Joe from the back of his horse. He went a half mile before accepting Joe’s apology. By that time Joe had lost most of his teeth and a good portion of his nose. The two came to a truce and after Joe healed from his injuries, Bernard Embraced and buried him for the Creation Rites.
Joe still bears the scars from the horse incident, but from a short distance Joe’s still a handsome man. His jet blue eyes will stop a man in his tracks. No longer carrying six shooters, Joe prefers two Mac 10s and a Fiachi Law-12. Joe follows the code of the Old West, right down to keeping his well-trained horse retainer around.
Despite being a ruthless killer, Joe is very polite, holding the door for a lady and tipping his hat to anyone who recognizes him. Joe won’t spit in public and treats even those he is about to kill with proper respect. For Joe, manners are everything.
He earned his nickname “Boot” as a result of what he does to Kindred when they don’t listen to reason. Joe doesn’t believe in killing Kindred unnecessarily, but he will. Today his gang rides around Mexico, making sure the land is safe for the Sabbat. They’ve robbed banks, whipped up lynch mobs and destroyed whole towns in pursuit of their goals.
Joe and his gang especially like to hunt down werewolves and watching them burn when he fills them with silver bullets. He knows the ways of the Garou better than most Kindred and knows better than to wrestle with a werewolf without a gun (a lesson re-enforced when his pal Bernard was torn to shreds by an angry werewolf pack).
He is the Dominion of the Black Hand in Mexico City. Joe is very loyal to the Sabbat and expects the same from his associates. Everyone in Mexico knows Joe and no one ever gives him any trouble.
Joe is quite tall, standing 6 feet 4 inches in height.
– Source: Chaos Factor, pg. 55-56. Tails of the Trail: Mexico, pg. 83-84.
Know Your Kindred – Owain Evans, The Wanderer
Name: Owain Evans, The Wanderer
Clan: Ventrue antitribu
Generation: Maybe 6th
Embrace: 1053
Owain Evans has the power to heal others with his blood. He obtained this ability after he drank the blood of Joseph of Arimathea centuries ago. But he did not understand the true nature of this power until 1999 when the Kindred world was in the grip of a mysterious blood curse.
This blood curse was striking at Kindred, creating an uncontrollable hunger that would never go away, no matter how much the vampire tried to quench their thirst, they would still feel starved. Eventually the curse would trigger the Beast within them to rise up, until they were completely lost to it.
After discovering his power and understanding its origin, Owain became known as the Wanderer, and he traveled around the world seeking to cure any and all Cainites from the curse.
Owain is originally from a small Welsh kingdom called Rhufoniog. After emerging from torpor in the 17th century, he came to America where he became a prominent, but unobtrusive member of Atlanta’s Kindred community.
– Source: The Trilogy of the Blood Curse novels – The Devil’s Advocate, The Winnowing and Dark Prophecy.
Know Your Kindred – Spider Killer
Name: Spider-Killer
Clan: Ravnos
Generation: 5th
Embrace: Unknown
Very little is known about the vampire called Spider-killer. He haunts the cities and wastes of the American Southwest, wreaking chaos and destruction wherever he travels. His mastery of illusions is well known and very powerful. Many vampires have met their end trying to destroy him.
The earliest reports of Spider-killer date back to 1894. His goals are hard to understand from his reported actions, but it would seem his favorite targets are Setites and Mexican Sabbat, who he repeatedly and ingeniously disgraces.
His path wanders as far south as Mexico and as far west as California. Rumors say he travels with other supernatural creatures, like Werewolves and magi. The Ravnos elders think he may be a remnant of the “Ravnos Neve” – new, more idealistic Ravnos who allied themselves with Native Americans during their unsuccessful war with white settlers.
Some believe he is not Ravnos at all, but one of the Nuwisha, a legendary breed of coyote shapeshifters.
– Source: Clanbook: Ravnos (1st ed), pg 24, 67.
Know Your Kindred – Tsunda
Name: Tsunda
Clan: Laibon
Generation: Unknown
Embrace: Unknown
Tsunda was the magaji of a sizable territory in Kenya. His domain was granted to him by the Guruhi and circumstances had left him with a land populated by younger Laibon who were unable to influence him. Even the elders representing the Kholo (the local advisory council made up of the eldest members from each of the African clans) were mere children compared to Tsunda.
Tsunda was a bloodletting bastard, accustomed to violence and fond of dangerous demonstrations of power before the mortals. His actions made him unpopular with the Guruhi. Tsunda was abruptly dismembered before Laibon witnesses by a large lion. It is said such things do not happen by accident.
The domain is now held by one of the youngest magaji, Kisha, who has since been in frequent contact with the Guruhi.
– Source: Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom, pg. 11
