Preview art by Ginés Quiñonero.
Greetings fellow Methuselahs,
The second wave is over us, so of course activity is low. The VEKN ask you to be careful with live VTES events – make sure to follow local regulations and recommendations. But while things are as they are, please contribute to the community online, discuss cards, rules and strategy, and try VTES on Lackey or Tabletop Simulator. Stay safe!
RECENT GREAT VTES CONTENT
• V:TES Mexico is a very nice site in Spanish by and for the Mexico community, with articles, decks, tournament results and more.
• KGS Cards is a US VTES store and distributor that also has a blog with articles about VTES strategy – most recently Karl Schaefer wrote a piece about the upcoming Toreador Fifth Edition deck, and how to modify it!
• The French VTES blog Information Highway (written in English) did a preview article of the Fifth Edition Nosferatu deck – great insights by Serge Cirri!
• The massive and very useful VTES One blog has some new material, for example the article “Banned Cards in VTES (2020 Update)”.
Have you seen any other new good VTES content? Share at VEKN.net forum or VEKN Facebook!
AT LAST, A NEWSLETTER INDEX!
Sometimes search engines act strange, so we created a index page for the VEKN newsletters at VEKN.net. It will be completed with additional tags, but for now, use Ctrl+F in your browser to search the headlines for a specific interview, tournament report, article, etc. The blue title is the link! Some older newsletters might be added later.
WE NEED NEWSLETTER CONTENT!
Do you want to create content for the VEKN newsletter? Things that might be interesting to publish are:
- tournament reports
- strategic articles on a deck or deck archetype
- player interviews
- just about anything else that relates to VTES that is reasonably well written and not too long (2,000-6,000 characters including blanks seems about right)
BLACK CHANTRY SUMMARY: OCTOBER 2020
• The official release date of Fifth Edition had to be postponed to November 30th, which means the new cards in the set will be tournament legal on December 30th.
• Printing proofs of Fifth Editions were received, and Black Chantry CEO Hugh Angseesing was kind enough to do some sneak peek unboxing videos.
• All new cards for Fifth Edition have now been spoiled, and there was quite a bit of discussion about the Nosferatu card Creeping Sabotage. What do you think? Please tell, for example at the VEKN.net forum, VEKN at Facebook, or by mail or social media.
• Playtest round 2 of the next four preconstructed decks (Banu Haqim, Brujah, Gangrel and The Ministry) is soon to begin.
• A small, yet unnamed new expansion set (with a possible accompanying storyline) has been sent to the playtesters. These cards are generally more advanced than the ones in Fifth Edition.
• As stated since 2018, it is the aim of Black Chantry to make as many old VTES cards as possible available for you to buy, as soon as possible (see the updated FAQ). In particular, many players ask for the “VEKN print sets” to appear for sale soon. However, none of this is as easy as it sounds. Currently, art director Ginés Quiñonero is processing all available artwork files. Some art cannot be used, either because the files are lost or corrupt, or because the art is deemed not appropriate. For the VEKN print sets, Black Chantry want to make sure that yet unpaid artists are paid for their work before printing – that was a reasonable chunk of money to save up for. At the top of this newsletter, you see a new piece for a card that needed replacement art, by Ginés himself.
Then rules director Vincent Ripoll is updating card texts to the most recent wording template, and these changes are proofed both inhouse and by selected playtesters. And then the cards will be fitted into reasonable batches to appear on print-on-demand at Drivethrucards and/or in upcoming store products, as deemed appropriate by product director and lead designer Ben Peal. As you see, this is a somewhat protracted process – Black Chantry appreciate your patience!
• Some products (Heirs of Blood bundles, Sabbat precons, etc.) are sold out and are being reprinted. Some card texts in these have to be changed slightly, so the team is reproofing those files.
• Currently these Black Chantry products are available through Drivethrucards.com and other stores:
- Lost Kindred bundle
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1
- Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 1
- Heirs of the Blood Reprint Bundle 2
- Den of Fiends Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Libertine Ball Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Pact with Nephandi Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Parliament of Shadows Preconstructed Deck (Also Spanish, French)
- Anthology I bundle
- VTES Card Creator (Drivethrucards only)
- 25th Anniversary
- First Blood: Malkavian (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Nosferatu (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Toreador (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Tremere (Also Spanish, French)
- First Blood: Ventrue (Also Spanish, French)
- VTES Legacy Card Singles (Drivethrucards only)
- Promo Pack 1 (Drivethrucards only)
- Promo Pack 2 (Event promos only)
- VTES "Parity Shift" playmat
- VTES card sleeves
Do you have opinions or questions for Black Chantry? Start a topic on the VEKN forum, or contact the company by e-mail, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
RECENT NEWS IN THE WORLD OF DARKNESS
Some highlights from the last month:
• A teaser trailer for a yet unnamed Vampire: The Masquerade-themed computer game was released. It is set in Prague and developed by the Swedish company Sharkmob.
• There is now a Vampire: The Masquerade mod for grand strategy game “Crusader Kings 3”! It is called “Princes of Darkness” and allows you to play or encounter many iconic Dark Ages characters, such as Hardestadt, Mithras, Montano, Vladimir Rustovitch and Augustus Giovanni.
• The previously unannounced “The Orpheus Device” is now out, playable on many devices. It is a voice-controlled horror game by Dave Grossman and Richard Dansky – completely free!
• The visual novel RPG video game “Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest” from Different Tales was released on October 13.
• A brand-new official World of Darkness merchandise store is up. Buy t-shirts, pins, blankets (!) and other stuff with your favourite Vampire sect or clan symbol at store.worldofdarkness.com
CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
Follow local regulations on what physical events are possible. Notice that online tournaments are possible - just note "ONLINE" in the event name when you add the event to the calendar!
For more information on upcoming events see the V:EKN Event Calendar.
CONTACT VEKN
You can contact the VEKN Inner Circle members using contact forms at VEKN.net. Also follow the VEKN Facebook group, the official VTES Facebook page Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and the official VEKN Twitter account @VEKN_VTES
"Youth is wasted on the young."