New Player: Basic Game or Advanced Game and / or Variants

Kraus wrote:

Oh my god, what is this, original Jyhad rules? I've never heard of these! To be fair, it sounds really fun as an idea, but I would definitely not use them when learning the game.

It is the original Vampire the Eternal Struggle (1995 or 96) Rules actually!

Kraus wrote:

Jyhad only decks can be super fun, I've heard, but you'll have to make sure everyone has enough Blood Dolls and Minion Taps to have a proper grip of the game.

How much is enough for 5 decks?

I have some leftover master cards I can use as proxies . Going to give some use to those Ventrue and Tremere master cards

I guess I will have to proxy some more cards since some need errata

P:S. I noticed that in the expansions the Malkavians have instead of Should I errata my group 1 vampires to have ?

Have the G1 use as it's their discipline. is used only for the later groups and that's fine.

If you proxy, I suggest you print out proxies with Amaranth! It's a great tool!

I'd say for toolboxy old school decks 5-6 blood dolls isn't even overkill, since you really want those early to mitigate those pool costs. If everyone's running roughly the same amount (before you take on deck building yourselves), it's all fun and games.

Once you get the basics of the game down, I'd urge you guys to start deck building or modifying Amaranth quickstart decks or Self's demo decks. It's great fun to see what others cook up, and making all those mistakes with your own designs deepen your understanding of the rules. You'll sort of learn by doing, trial and error, and with a peer group it's probably the best way to learn.

Rules and basics first of course, though.

Where are you located, btw?

Thanks for the reply dude!

I am from the Caribbean, Dominican Republic

Yikes, that's kinda in the middle of nowhere - sorry about that, but regarding organized play.

Ben Peal would know best about the game groups and tournaments in the US, and Brazil has a ton of games I heard. Neither of them are exactly close, but they would be the closest.

Good luck mate! Would love to hear how your practice goes, and if things pick up down there!

For the love of Caine I can't recall Jyhad having any kind of basic or advanced rules you talk about there. Can't verify since I don't have my VTES stuff at hand (actually stashed away all different versions of the rulebook but all these are hidden away for the time being).

At least we never used anything except the full game.


If you want the best way to introduce the game to new players the new cheat sheet Ke put together not long ago is brilliant. You can find it at the downloads section of this site: www.vekn.net/downloads


"New Player Guide / Cheat Sheet
Ke Carlton has put together a cheat sheet / new player guide which is clear and doesn't contain too much noise. It's not meant to be a replacement for the rules, but it should be enough for a new player to get up to speed with the core mechanics of the game and when to do what."

And here is the direct link:
www.vekn.net/images/stories/downloads/vtes-new-player-guide-a3-rev-2-english.pdf


Cause and Effect did a big number of highly thought out videos regarding VTES playing. Most are more or less about advanced game not not necessarily introductionary material:
www.youtube.com/user/causeampersandeffect/videos

jamesatzephyr wrote:

As soon as possible.

The distinction between the basic game and the advanced game in the rulebook from the V:TES base set from 1995 isn't one that caught on at all. It makes a few things in the game work really oddly, and nothing really expects you to be playing it. Pretty much all cards and strategies are designed for the full game.

Similarly to Magic the gathering and its special " portal " expansion (simplified rules and card text aimed at beginners), simplified rules will merely create MORE confusion than reduce it, as players start to transition between simplified and advanced version of the game. (Portal for example featured sorcery-speed counterspells... imagine the confusion)

In other words: I would try to avoid simplifying rules.
Its better idea to create starter decks with simple cards that don't create much rules conflicts, and use these when teaching the game to beginners. (See demo decks in another thread). Ie. simple decks with which you don't need to delve deep into the rules, rather than simple rules.