There has been some recent discussion about what is more important pool, blood, or minions. Being able to determine which resource is most important at any given moment is something that is learned over the course of a great many games. I think this might shed light on the pool and blood aspect at least. I've been working on an article for a month or so that was going to show that the cardless hunt and bleed were the "base" minion actions by which all other actions should be compared against. Much like I did with Ascendance for the Master Phase. During this time I was playing an ARC system game and examining its basic mechanic as well as Jyhad's basic mechanic. The ARC system is essentially the playing card game "War" except that the "highest card wins" battles only take place when the attacker taps. In some ways the Jyhad mechanic is similar except that each individual battle causes both cards to lose a single point (exchanging hand damage) and eventually (after many battles or multiple rounds of battle) the card with the most blood on them wins the battle. Oops, I'm getting off track. Anyway, it was around this time that I realized that the basic mechanic of Jyhad gives some advantages to the small capacity vampires. [All this to somehow tie my article to the Caitiff newsletter?!] Caitiff are great at exploiting the inefficiencies and poor play of other players. Their inherent advantages allow them to move fast and take advantage when another player overspends on larger vampires only to have a library that can't efficiently use the skills they just paid for. Well, read on and let me know if this has enough relevance to count as my Caitiff newsletter for September, 1998. BLOOD AND POOL AS THE CURRENCY OF THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE The basic currency of V:TES is pool. It is what we spend to bring minions into play, locations, equipment, and various master cards. Its depletion also causes us to be ousted from the jyhad. The other currency identified is blood. Blood is used to keep our minions out of torpor and to play certain cards. I contend that there is a relationship between blood and pool and that both currencies are in fact equal. This basic truth of V:TES' game mechanic can be seen in this simple experiment. Imagine a two-player game in which one player has a five capacity vampire with 5 blood on it and 2 pool. The second player has a two capacity vampire (with 2 blood on each) and 5 pool. Players do not have libraries. Each turn a player has a few options. They can bleed their prey for 1 point, they can stay untapped and block the next bleed, or, if they are missing any blood, they may hunt. The game will end with the player who played first ousting the other player. Volker bleeds, now tapped, 5 Blood (Player B's Pool to 4) Normal bleeds, now tapped, 2 Blood (Player A's Pool to 1) Volker doesn't bleed, now untapped, 5 Blood (Player B's Pool at 4) Normal bleeds, now tapped, Normal=1 blood, Volker=4 blood, (Player A's Pool = 1) Volker doesn't bleed, now untapped, 5 Blood (Player B's Pool at 4) Normal bleeds, now tapped, Normal=0 blood, Volker=3 blood, (Player A's Pool = 1) Volker bleeds, now tapped, 3 Blood (Player B's Pool to 3) Normal hunts, now tapped, 1 Blood (Player A's Pool at 1) Volker doesn't bleed, now untapped, 3 Blood (Player B's Pool at 3) Normal bleeds, now tapped, Normal=0 blood, Volker=2 blood, (Player A's Pool = 1) Volker bleeds, now tapped, 2 Blood (Player B's Pool to 2) Normal hunts, now tapped, 1 Blood (Player A's Pool at 1) Volker doesn't bleed, now untapped, 3 Blood (Player B's Pool at 2) Normal bleeds, now tapped, Normal=0 blood, Volker=1 blood, (Player A's Pool = 1) Volker bleeds, now tapped, 1 Blood (Player B's Pool to 1) Normal hunts, now tapped, 1 Blood (Player A's Pool at 1) **Stop here for a moment. Notice that everything is now equal? One blood on each vampire and one pool for each Methuselah. Volker doesn't bleed, now untapped, 1 Blood (Player B's Pool at 1) Normal bleeds, now tapped, Normal=0 blood, Volker=0 blood, (Player A's Pool = 1) Volker hunts, now tapped, 1 Blood (Player B's Pool at 1) Normal hunts, now tapped, 1 Blood (Player A's Pool at 1) Volker bleeds and ousts Player B. Player A's smaller pool was not important to the outcome. The total of the pool and blood was the most important factor. Admittedly, a smart player knows that there are proper times for hunting, bleeding, etc. but the result of such actions are exactly the same. So, in the end, the difference between Blood and Pool is just its location in the playing field. THE GREAT DIVIDE During each game, fundamental decisions are made regarding the use of our one starting resource-pool. Pool is spent to purchase transfers that are moved to inactive vampires. Up until the time the full container takes a trip to the active region, the transferred blood can still travel back into your pool. However, once the trip to the active region is completed, the rules do not allow you to reallocate that blood back into your pool. This is the most important decision in the game-how we choose to distribute our pool. How much do we hold back as pool and how much do we wish to allocate for transfers (to become blood). The Great Divide that separates our blood and pool cannot be traversed by normal means and the decisions we make regarding pool distribution are essentially permanent. STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Think back to our sample game for a moment. Notice that the results would have been significantly different is Player A had one 8 capacity vampire and Player B had four 2-capacity vampires. Even though the pool and blood totals would be equal, the player with the most minions has a distinct advantage that would allow them to win the game. In the situation described just above, you'll notice that you receive 1 bleed per minion and not one bleed per 8 pool spent. If the game were to have stayed in this crude stage the base bleed may well have been based on a vampire's capacity. However, there was a good reason for not doing this--"disciplines". The increased disciplines (as well as the titles and special abilities) available to the larger vampires more than make-up for the numbers advantage forfeited to the smaller vampires. On the other hand, the larger vampires can only make up for this if full advantage is taken of the library cards relying on those disciplines. This is probably why newer players gravitate towards playing with small vampires and why an experienced player is more able to venture into the large vampire arena. Along these lines, it is much easier for a player to commit 1 pool to the blood side of the Great Divide than to spend 11 pool for an IC member. Since there is no retreat once the Divide has been crossed, the decision to influence a large vampire is a dangerous one. RULEBREAKERS Of course I can't end the article without listing the cards that break the rules regarding the Great Divide. Rulebreaker #1 - The world famous Minion Tap. Minion Tap allows you to return as much blood as you like back to your pool. This card allows a Methuselah to overallocate pool for minions and then get back the amount he feels he's overallocated. Rulebreaker #2 - Blood Doll. Blood Doll also allows you to move blood back into your pool. It adds the additional benefit of being able to move pool onto the vampire. Its permanence also allows a slow gain situation to develop when combined with a Hunting Ground. Rulebreaker #3 - Gird Minions. Gird Minions allows an amount of pool to be moved to any number of controlled vampires. Rulebreaker #4 - Tribute to the Master allows one blood to be removed from each of your ready vampires and for it to be placed in your pool. Robert Goudie Editor Official Caitiff Newsletter rrgoudie@earthlink.net Vampire: Elder Kindred Network http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/vekn ___________________________________________________________________ The Official Vampire: the Eternal Struggle Players' Organization