Vampire: the Embrace (initiation cards)

i like this angle in some regard. when i would teach new people how to play magic years ago, it would be all vanilla creatures, simple instants and sorceries, and mono color decks.

what i don't like about this angle is its by itself. this should be game 1. then add the rest of combat (presses, addiditonals, maybe dodge, but maybe not s:ce, it takes away the attrition purpose of combat). i've found combat easier to teach than politics with vtes.

then with the third game, add disciplines. this would basically mean the players add more combat cards to their decks after the first round of the demo, and switch out their deck for the full rules demo going into the third round. maybe winner gets an actual starter or something if demos are done at a convention. its nearly impossible to get a full grasp on the game in less than a few weeks, and way longer to really comprehend it. but getting all the basics down in the course of a few hours would probably draw in more players than just using demo decks and having the whole mess on their plate at once.

masters etc could be taught later, since "you play one each turn right after you untap" is simple enough for those, and pool gain is self explanitory if they've played a few simplified games already.

I wouldn't have them "hovering over and directing every decision" but more of a "1 per player vizier" where you can. If you can't, then get another player (just one more) who can be the "vizier" to the others. Just someone to point out stuff like "You can't play that one right now" or "Yes, the card does what you just whispered to me", etc.

I think that having the "vizier" gives them experience of the 'real game' with help. Instead of like the old "D&D for beginners" and "D&D Advanced"...

I wouldn't remove disciplines from basics. This should be implemented from the very begining. It's one of the fundamentals of vtes. If it's too complicated for your players remove inferior/ superior but stick to discipline requirement