Proposal for a new set: 'IV'

While I'm a fan of making things easier and would be happy if some mechanics/ cards would be removed from vtes, I don't think that such a big limitation of available clans/ disciplines/ cards is a good idea. IMO it would just make things uninteresting for experienced players. My proposition would go more toward removing tricky/ clunky/ cornercase/ underused mechanics than limiting clans/disciplines, etc.
I would start with removing f.e.
- all Imbued mechanics and cards
- Research Area
- slave mechanic
- cold iron vulnerability
- red list mechanics
- burn option
- maybe anarchs
- maybe events

Those are the elements which, when removed, would make vtes more easy to play and are not bringing much value to game (at least in my opinion - not countung anarchs)

Extra credit: Choose cards such that this would work for 2-player V:TES.

alek wrote:

While I'm a fan of making things easier and would be happy if some mechanics/ cards would be removed from vtes, I don't think that such a big limitation of available clans/ disciplines/ cards is a good idea.

Those are the elements which, when removed, would make vtes more easy to play and are not bringing much value to game (at least in my opinion - not countung anarchs)

This is a different idea than that of the OP. You would like to get rid of mechanics you don't like and that are, frankly, extraneous to the basic game, but, as a long-time player, you don't have to worry about learning a bunch of new cards, which is the essential problem that new players face. You would prefer to be able to play with the entire set of cards you have acquired, minus a few.

What you are talking about is a revision to VTES as a whole, not creating a limited format that is friendly to new and casual players.

The huge card pool is the biggest obstacle to new players and also to fast play by established casual players. It gives established players a huge advantage over newer players. When I started playing again in 2008 after a 12-year hiatus, I felt this serious disadvantage. It took me about a year-and-a-half of constant play to get almost caught up. Eurogames and video games offer a lot of replayability, complexity, and fun without the immense learning curve of VTES. A limited format would just make VTES more fun. Limited doesn't have to mean limited options, it can mean a reasonable number of options.

This is a different idea than that of the OP. You would like to get rid of mechanics you don't like and that are, frankly, extraneous to the basic game, but, as a long-time player, you don't have to worry about learning a bunch of new cards, which is the essential problem that new players face. You would prefer to be able to play with the entire set of cards you have acquired, minus a few.

It's really not that different if the goal is to make vtes easier for new players.
You don't need to know exacly every card to play and be competetive (but it helps of course) but you need to know the rules and every bit of extra rules is a problem for new player. In my opinion number of those rules is bigger factor when atracting new players than big card pool (among other factors).

You can of course combine both and not only limit mechanics but also clans/ disciplines/ cards. I just feel that Disco_stu proposition is to restrictive. I would keep all the cards but limit number of clans. That would make a lot of cards not available.
For start I would just stick to basic camarilla + sabbat + independent clans. So no laibon, bloodlines and imbued

Hi Jadasc,

Yes, in this set there is no Thaumaturgy. It's got cool effects but without a clear design brief beyond 'do cool stuff that many other disciplines can't'.

Cheers

Disco