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Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, published as '''Jyhad''' in the first edition and often abbreviated as '''VTES''' or '''V:tES''', is a Multiplayer Collectible Card Game set in the World Of Darkness , published by White Wolf . The game was designed in 1994 by , and initially published by Wizards Of The Coast . After the 1996 ''Sabbat'' expansion, WotC abandoned the game, and in 2000 White Wolf took over development. It is thus one of the oldest CCG 's in existence. In 2004, . SETTING The game is set in the Role-playing Game . After the 'Gehenna' events that ended the official storyline of the WoD, the Vampire CCG is now considered a sort of 'alternative reality' of the setting, as it continues while no further official products for the roleplaying game are produced, according to publisher White Wolf . In VtES, the players take the role of a Methuselah, an ancient and manipulative Vampire . Each Methuselah will try to eliminate all others, by reducing their influence and power to zero. To that end, the Methuselahs will control and manipulate a number of minions (mostly younger vampires) to attack and destroy the other Methuselahs' resources. GAME PLAY The game is ideally played by a group of 4 or 5 players, but it can be played by any number of players from 2 up to Infinity , but groups beyond 6 players are usually rare, as an individual turn can easily take as much as 2-3 minutes, causing a slow game for all. Like in most other CCG s, each player will design his own Deck . Each deck is built with two components:
Most cards in the library can only be used in conjuction with vampires (drawn from the crypt). To put card from the crypt in play, the player must pay for it using his pool. The pool represents the player's influence, if it is reduced to zero the player is removed from the game. Thus care must be taken not to expend too much pool when bringing vampires or other cards into play. This continual choice between a certain margin of safety (remaining pool) and the need to invest in more game assets often makes for hard choices. Play proceeds in turns. Each turn one player controls his minions to perform a number of actions and attacks, which other players may intercept and interrupt using their own minions. Once a player wishes to perform no more actions, play proceeds to the player to his left. Each player attempts to remove (in game terms, oust) the player to his left from the game (his '''prey'''), while defending himself from the player to his right (his '''predator'''). If he is successful, the removed player's prey becomes his new prey. Ousting your prey earns you one victory point (or 'VP'), and being the last person left at the table earns you an additional victory point. This continues until only one player is left on the table. In tournament play, and sometimes in informal games, the game 'times out' if there is more than one player left in the game after 2 hours, with all the remaining players receiving half a VP in addition to any they may have received for ousting their prey. The winner of the game is the player with the most victory points. UNIQUENESS What sets Vampire apart from most other CCGs is the strong group play element. A player who succeeds in ousting his prey receives a strong boost every time he does so, possibly enabling him to ''sweep the table'' - oust every other player. Thus there is a tendency for other players to help weaker ones (even though those might be their own opponents) and try to frustrate the stronger players' dominance. This ensures that most players stay in the game longer, instead of the playing field being reduced quickly to those with the best cards and the greatest skill (which obviously still play a large role). These conditions create a game where, instead of waiting for their turn, the players are almost always watching (and interacting with) the other players for both short and long-term goals. Vampire is a game of negotiation as much as of skill and the right card deck. Deals and alliances, both for the moment or for the whole game play a big role. GAME EXPANSIONS
V:TES ONLINE In December 2005 V:TES Online was launched, an online implementation of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle developed and maintained by CCG Workshop. Based around CCG Workshop's gatlingEngine, players can create decks and compete online for a monthly fee. Currently, White Wolf has allowed CCG Workshop to release the Camarilla, Anarchs and Final Nights sets for online play. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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