Getting into the game!

MaxO wrote:

Would it be wise to buy 1 of each starter, for both 3rd Ed and KoT?

It wouldn't be a bad idea, if you want 8 different decks. If you are going to buy a box of each starter display, that would be good too.

MaxO wrote:

Also, what are antitribu vampires? How do they differ to normal ones?

Antitribu is equivalent to Sabbat.

Toreador can play specific cards and have specific disciplines and are members of the Camarilla.

Toreador Antitribu cannot play the Toreador cards, but will have similar clan specific cards, and have disciplines similar to the Toreador, and are members of the Sabbat.

Comparison:
Magic = 5 Factions
V:TES = 40 Factions

So, it becomes much more important what things you buy together. If you have Camarilla vampires (7 clans), you want library cards that support them. If you have Sabbat vampires (15 clans), you want library cards that support them and don't want to spend money on Camarilla required cards.

www.vekn.net/index.php/what-is-vtes/vtes-symbols

Sect doesn't play a big role in the game (as you can mix and match to best result as you desire), but it does play a big role in the content of the base sets and expansion sets.

MaxO wrote:

Thanks for the detailed reply. Would it be wise to buy 1 of each starter, for both 3rd Ed and KoT? Because I got told that this might be a way to get variety etc and gives me 8 different start points, from which to build upon, or combine as it is suggested in
www.thelasombra.com/dbc/dbc.htm

Also, what are antitribu vampires? How do they differ to normal ones?

Max

A starter box is great because it gives you enough vampires(usually) to play 4 copies of one if you want them to be the star. Not only that, but having 2 copies each of 4 starters from that box means that you have enough of the important cards to run them in multiples. The Tzimisce deck is the best example. If you get 4x Horrid Form instead of 2x, you can reasonably expect it to show up in your games. War Ghouls are great, but only having one copy means often not seeing it or being able to play it.

Two copies of the same deck can do this:
www.thelasombra.com/dbc/lunaslave_tzimisce2.htm
www.thelasombra.com/dbc/ector_malk_anti.htm

If you end up with a box of KoT and a box of 3rd Ed starters, you can do things like this:

www.thelasombra.com/dbc/jussi_bandantib.htm

Deck Name : Malk/!Malk deck bash
Author : Brandon Haas
Description :

Crypt [12 vampires] Capacity min: 2 max: 8 average: 5.5

---

2x Persephone Tar-Ani 8 AUS DEM OBF cel pot !Malkavian:4
2x Morel 6 AUS DEM OBF Malkavian:4
2x Apache Jones 5 DEM aus for obf !Malkavian:4
2x Beauregard Kruelle 4 aus dem obf !Malkavian:4
1x Rodolfo 8 AUS DEM OBF pro bishop !Malkavian:3
1x General Perfidio D 5 AUS dem obf bishop !Malkavian:3
1x Uncle George 5 DEM aus dom obf !Malkavian:3
1x Cassandra Langely, 2 dem Malkavian:4


Library [67 cards]

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Action [10]
10x Kindred Spirits

Action Modifier [25]
6x Cloak the Gathering
4x Confusion
1x Elder Impersonation
6x Eyes of Chaos
4x Lost in Crowds
2x Spying Mission
2x Veil the Legions

Action Modifier/Combat [2]
2x Deny

Combat [4]
1x Behind You!
3x Read Intentions

Master [12]
2x Blood Doll
1x Coven, The
2x Dementation
1x Giant's Blood
2x Life in the City
2x Obfuscate
2x Vessel

Reaction [14]
1x Melange
5x On the Qui Vive
2x Precognition
4x Telepathic Counter
2x Telepathic Misdirection


Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Sat Jun 18 09:30:03 2011]


Antitribu are the Sabbat versions of what started as Camarilla vampires. Camarilla believe in blending in and more subtly controlling the kine (mortals). Sabbat are more bloodthirsty and want to dominate kindred (vampires) and kine alike, often violently. There's a lot more back story, but that's the gist of it.

Are right, ok. It's been a very very long time since I've played the Roleplaying game, but aren't the Sabbat....bad guys? Or am I being foolish. What are the difference between the Sabbat and non-Sabbat decks?

thanks for all the help guys!

Ok, I just ordered a box of 3rd Ed starters. I'm seriously looking forward to playing now! Just need to start a playgroup.......haha.

Yours,

Max

MaxO wrote:

Are right, ok. It's been a very very long time since I've played the Roleplaying game, but aren't the Sabbat....bad guys? Or am I being foolish. What are the difference between the Sabbat and non-Sabbat decks?

Well, in the sense that the Sabbat are more evil and homicidal monsters than the Camarilla are.

Camarilla and Sabbat vampire clans are often very similar (i.e. the Brujah and the Brujah Antitribu clans use the same disciplines and tend to do the same kind of stuff, for example), but for purposes of game mechanics, they are completely different clans; i.e. The Camarilla Nosferatu and the Sabbat Nosferatu Antitribu use the same disciplines and, again, do a lot of the same stuff, but they can't play each other's clan specific cards (master cards, locations, allies, etc.) Although there is nothing at all keeping you from mixing them in the same deck--you can have Nosferatu and Nosferatu Antitribu in the same deck and in play together at the same time, but you can't, say, play a Nosferatu Kingdom master card (that requires a Nosferatu Antitribu, or !Nos for short) unless you have a !Nos in play, and it can't give blood (which is what it does) to a regular Nosferatu, only a !Nos.

Camarilla clans tend to be better at Politics than Sabbat clans (due, mostly, to the Camarilla specific political cards being really good relative to the Sabbat specific political cards). Sabbat clans tend to have some weird but useful advantages available to them (mostly in the form of strong Sabbat only cards), and often have slightly "better" vampires for a given capacity.

Of the starter decks, the available Camarilla (Keepers of Tradition set) starters are generally better than the Sabbat (3rd Edition set) starters, and generally more straight forward. But both sets are perfectly playable (each set has 4 different clan starters--if you get one of each, sit down with 3 other friends, shuffle them and play, the game will work fine).

There are other sects you can get a hold of--the Independent clans (Settites, Giovanni, Ravnos, Assamites) are neither Camarilla nor Sabbat and have weird extra disciplines and are less straight forward than the Camarilla and Sabbat clans. The Laibon clans (Ishtari, Guhuri, Akunanse, Osebo) are the Kindred from Africa themed clans that are kind of extra weird and tend to be a lot harder to play effectively than the Camarilla, Sabbat, or Independent clans. They can be good and fun to mess around with, but hard to use well. Then there are the Imbued, which are only part of a single expansion (Nights of Reckoning), who are mortal Hunters who use all sorts of weird rules and are probably best to stay away from until you know the rest of the game.

Thanks for the fantastic reply bakija. I'm really glad that this game has such a friendly and helpful online community. I'm going to look into all the different clans you mentioned - The African and independent ones in particular. I like my "rebel" decks in fluff, so once I get the basics down I'd imagine i'll throw myself into them.

Could you give me any more detail on the independent and Laibon clans?



Thanks!