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Greetings fellow Methuselah
Autumn falls, sweet darkness embraces us. What better way to spend these nights than around the gaming table? Secret schemes, diffuse deals and bold bleeding awaits! This month in the news: grand prix circuit revealed, cards for sale, artist in spotlight and don´t miss the event calendar - especially if you´re in South America. But first something about the Old World...

Europe
WELCOME TO THE V:TES EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT
The V:EKN, the Inner Circle, the National Coordinators and all tournament organizers involved are proud to introduce you the V:TES European Grand Prix Circuit 2017/2018 (“VEG” for short).

The VEG is a circuit where you can get great prizes for winning, get surprises, get ranking points, get direct qualification for events, but above all, gather five great tournaments in a general circuit for a lot of additional fun.

More details will follow in a larger announcement, but the places that will host the VEG during the 2017/2018 season are:
- Bologna, Italy (9 and 10th of December 2017)
- Brussels, Belgium (February 2018 – date to be confirmed)
- Madrid, Spain (28th and 29th April 2018) 
- Helsinki – Finland (Ropecon, end of July 2018 – date to be confirmed)
- Budapest, Hungary (to be confirmed)

The Inner Circle member in charge of the VEG is Organized Play Coordinator Orian Gissler (aka TTC_master). Keep your eyes open for more information within short!


Anthology sale
A NEW CHANCE TO BUY ANTHOLOGY!

World of Darkness Berlin is over but the organisers Participation Design Agency (PDA) still have some packs of Anthology that they want to sell to you.

Purchases started at the World of Darkness Berlin web shop on Thursday September 28 2017, and is possible until the stock runs out. Preliminary reports says the sale is going really well.

The price of each deck will be 30 EUR and, due to freight services being quite expensive in Sweden, the best way is to order more sets at the same time. Freight cost will be the same for up to 12 Anthology sets so find some friends and place an order together.


DESIGN TEAM NEWS
Design Team leader Ben Peal reports: 
The Bloodlines set is nearing completion. Round 3 of playtesting finishes at the end of this month. All artwork are finished. After that, Mike and I will make the final adjustments to the cards and then submit the set to White Wolf for review. White Wolf may have changes they want us to make, but otherwise we're on pace for a release in mid-to-late October.

For two new art previews from this set, see the interview below.



Riccardo Fabiani
ARTIST IN FOCUS: RICCARDO FABIANI
Once again we have the great pleasure to ask some questions to an artist that contributes to the upcoming official V:EKN expansion set. Previously Riccardo Fabiani of Italy created V:TES-art such as Missy Shillingford, Instantaneous Transformation and Darvag, Butcher of Rus. He is also a dedicated V:TES player that you might have encountered at many tournaments.

Hi Riccardo! What is your background as an artist? Are you educated or self-taught?
- My studies have always been in the art field. I did an art secondary school, then the Venice Academy of Fine Arts. I've learned a lot at school, but I reckon that many other things needs to be discovered on the field. When you start to work with other people you need to adjust your style, to compromise a bit, and it's not a thing that you learn on the books. 

Have we seen your work in other games, or at other places?
- I'm an illustrator now, but I work also as a painter and I draw a lot. My work can be seen in some illustrated books for the French market, and I work now as a cover artist for an Italian publishing industry: Cliquot.

What artistic techniques do you prefer? 
- I always work with traditional medium: pencil on paper, watercolor or oil on paper. I know how to tweak my paintings with digital post production, but I try to keep them very natural: sometimes digital paintings lacks a bit of that raw feel that I love when I see art of any kind.

Art by Riccardo Fabiani
Art by Riccardo Fabiani.


Tell us a bit about the two pieces of art we are previewing in this newsletter.
- Well, I need to say I'm a player myself, so when I work for V:TES and V:EKN I always think about the final result. I ask myself: Would I like to play with a card designed like that? Will I cherish the image when I build the deck? You know, all the seasoned players can recognize a card by a quick glimpse of the art, and I want to be in the few ones that you're happy to draw when you play, regardless of the card text.
    I'm a big fan of the old school style in the artworks, pieces like Smiling Jack (Drew Tucker), Aid from Bats (Melissa Benson) or Stanislava (Max Shade Fellwalker) are really cool even today because they have a unique atmosphere and they are not literal.
    So with these thoughts in mind I try to do my best for these new illustrations. I wanted them to convey a story which is not entirely told in the card. The horned vampire is not typical, I choose to put her in the wild, surrounded by a black forest where maybe she is celebrating some kind of ritual. But she looks a bit astray, sad or just nostalgic. The other illustration, the one with the woman with the burning sword, was probably one of the toughest I ever did. I tried to put a lot of information in it without clogging the composition. I wanted a dynamic image and the female punk in the foreground needed to look aggressive and confident at the same time, you know, she has Bellona on her side. So I put the scene in a dark hallway where the girl cuts the way out. My main inspiration for this piece was “Big Trouble in Little China”, one of my favorite movies as a child.
    Both these pieces are oil color on paper.

What kind of motives do you prefer? What kind of assignments?
- I love to work with some restrictions. I know it may sound a bit weird, but I think that illustrations are like cement that holds bricks together: the bricks can be anything, words from a poem, specifications or requests from the client. A good illustrator needs to melt between the cracks and the empty spaces and hold everything in place with a unique finiture. That's why I often use books, stories, legends or poetry for inspiration. And of course, the human nature. Most of the time I draw or paint people: portraits, bodies or body parts. I find it very natural and sometimes I need to force myself to focus on something different; I did a whole painting series of murder crime scenes without any people in sight and I've called "Human Disinfection".

If you are curious you can see some more of Riccardo´s work, not game related, at my web site: www.riccardofabiani.com He says it's not entirely up to date, but it hosts quite a few of his stuff. Also, you can follow his Instagram profile: riccardofabiani


CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
Sep 30 - The Final Night - Melbourne, Australia
Sep 30 - Crusade Toluca 2017 vol 2 - Toluca de Lerdo, Mexico
Oct 1 - Australasian Continental Championship 2017 - Melbourne, Australia
Oct 7 - Swedish National Championship 2017 - Stockholm, Sweden
Oct 7 - Elisyum - Reus, Spain
Oct 7 - True Love´s Face - Amadora, Portugal
Oct 8 - Finalmente ferias - Fortaleza, Brazil
Oct 12 - Recepção SAC 2017 - Caucaia, Brazil
Oct 13 - Classificatório SAC 2017 - Caucaia, Brazil
Oct 14 - SAC 2017 - Caucaia, Brazil
Oct 14 - 5th Hiekkaharju Nightmare - Vantaa, Finland
Oct 15 - Classificatório SAC 2018 (BR) - Caucaia, Brazil
Oct 21 - Powerbase: Ottawa - Ottawa, Canada
Oct 28 - Endless Nights - Bochum, Germany
Oct 29 – Liga "Nova Era" - The Uncoiling - Macapá, Brazil

For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.


CONTACT V:EKN
You can contact the V:EKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at V:EKN.net. Also follow the official V:TES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official V:EKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES

"Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make."