Changing the card text template to make entry easier

So I have been going on about modifying the card text templates to reduce the barrier to entry for a while now (generally falls to death ears on the old google groups) and since Ankha was talking about simplified cards for new players , I thought I would bring the topic up again.

Held a demo game recently for a couple of friends and the main feedback I got was that the cards had too many keywords that were not explained, making it difficult to learn the cards while learning the rules at the same time.

I propose (as I have, time and again) to put simple little explanation of certain keywords on the cards themselves. Specifically on crypt cards (because, while I like the way Ankha puts explanation text for action modifiers, political action cards, etc, I think space may be an issue).

Really, how hard can it be to put "(title, x votes)" next to every bishop, primogen, magaji or cardinal and "(unique title, x votes) next to every prince, archbishop, justicar, inner circle or regent? Of course all these will only appear on new cards or reprints.

This immediately makes a few things easier:
1. Cards that require titled vampires (those that say "Require a titled vampire" or "Only usable by a titled vampire") or require a non-titled vampire no longer require explanation beyond "RTFC"
2. The number of votes each vampire generates becomes immediately obvious
3. Titles that are unique are also immediately identifiable

I think, with all the talk of bringing in new players, this is a good step for the future and now is a good time to start.

Space. Most ICs and Cardinals already have a paragraph of tech. It gets worse on ADV minions (i.e. ADV Karsh, ADV Sacha Vykos, ADV Melinda Galbraith, etc)

I tried to keep the cheat-cards from the PreCons around for newbies. I've also thought of making some 3.5" square cards with things like the Titles listed on them to hand to new players (as well as a Turn Sequence or Combat Sequence**).



** I'd want to have a complete turn sequence that does include all of the possible windows that exist implicitly by cardtexts/rulings and aren't listed in the CRR or Rules. Ironically the Rules & CRR have woefully short and incomplete combat sequences.

Juggernaut1981 wrote:

Space. Most ICs and Cardinals already have a paragraph of tech. It gets worse on ADV minions (i.e. ADV Karsh, ADV Sacha Vykos, ADV Melinda Galbraith, etc)

I disagree. Look at vampires like Lambach ADV and Syneosis - the extra "has two votes" on them do not impact significantly on the readability of the card text, if at all.

And the merged text for ADV vampires is a straw man, since most of the merged texts start on a new line that just says "[MERGED] <Sect> <Title>".

Juggernaut1981 wrote:

I tried to keep the cheat-cards from the PreCons around for newbies. I've also thought of making some 3.5" square cards with things like the Titles listed on them to hand to new players (as well as a Turn Sequence or Combat Sequence**).

I always do that. It doesn't work as well because you have to look at two different sources just to know one thing that can be made intuitive.

I am not pulling this out of thin air. I replace the card text area of titled minions to add explanation text when preparing for demos and the new players always pick up the game faster than when I do impromptu demos (using the cards as they are)

Don't expect this to happen. In V:tES players expect their opponents to recognize every card they play just by announcing the name of the card as it is played.

When we say "Muaziz bleeds with govern" it's expected that you know govern = "Govern the Unaligned," which is a bleed action at +2 bleed, and Muaziz has +1 stealth.

In reality, you are supposed to announce "Muaziz bleeds with Govern the Unaligned for 3 at +1 stealth."

Players are expected to know how many votes each title grants. And VEKN is so afraid of making changes to cards already printed, they will never change the format of a card to include more information.

Common sense changes like you propose won't happen. Vampires don't change and change is bad.

Of all the things that perhaps should be changed or clarified, I wouldn't rank titles or ammount of votes each title provides very highly in need of a change. In my experience, even begginer playes don't have that much of a problem remembering which title is worth how many votes or calculating how many votes are on the table...

Well... do you remember that card that came inside every deck with the disciplines, clans, etc?

Create a mew one and just add the titles...