FOLLOWERS OF SET NEWSLETTER Volume 3, Issue 2 December 2001 Author: Wes ========================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Fiction Setite Tactics Vampire Analysis - Nehsi Card Analysis - Extortion Sign Off =================================================== INTRODUCTION It has been two months since my last confession... err... newsletter. I have decided it is best that I switch to a bi-monthly schedule for these newsletters for several reasons. First of all, it is a little harder now for me to find the time to write than it has been in the past. I hope you can all forgive the infrequency of my postings on this newsgroup but real life often tends to get in the way. I assure you that this is only a temporary lapse... The second reason for going bi-monthly is that I feel there are so many newsletters being written right now that it is almost overwhelming. I read them all, every month. They are all very well-written and usually applicable to the game in general, rather than just the clan of focus. After all, I don't want to learn how to just play Setites... I want to learn how to defeat everyone else! With Bloodlines, there are over thirty distinct clans... that's a lot of reading! Therefore, I thought it appropriate (for myself anyway) that I limit to writing one *great* newsletter every other month rather than inundating you with more and more reading material. Nevertheless, I hope that you find the Follower of Set newsletters fun to read and beneficial to your game. We all know that the Dark God is destined to win the great Jyhad and we must not let the impostor clans get one up on our Lord and Master in Darkness. =============================================== FICTION The Winter Saturnalia festival was upon them and the local Followers of Set of Detroit/Windsor had much to prepare. The local Temple was strewn with mistletoe, holly and vitae-tainted egg nog. The Santas outside the Temple rang their bells and took in donations for the Temple 'food bank'. Food (with special bonus addictive additives) were redistributed to the unfortunates of the area. Those lucky recipients would eventually need to come back to the Temple for second-helpings. The Dark Lord does not discriminate in his worshippers... all are welcome. Under the guise of a regular Christmas service, the Setites had replaced many of the more traditional Christian trappings with subtle references to the Dark God Set. The so-called 'Secular Humanism' of the modern era was a fantastic vehicle for the under-the-radar preachings of the value of Sin. Eventually, all such Sinners would worship at the temple of Set--how could they not? In late-hour shopping malls across Michigan and South-western Ontario, the Setites did all they could to encourage the capitalistic orgies of consumption that passed for a celebration of the birth of the false god. All references to the child were removed, and in some cases replaced with idols with a somewhat... ophidian appearance. "Mommy, why does baby Jesus have snake eyes?" Christmas office parties were infiltrated and the pathetic proletarian peons therein influenced through Setite Charisma (and not a small amount of lust) to indulge in vice and corruption. Workers drunk on Set-nog punched their arrogant bosses or told them where to go... thus finding themselves fired before New Years Day. Little did they know how they subtly but inevitably served the will of Set. Little children were given Typhon and Osiris action-figures, free with their hamburger-chain value meal purchases. Typhon is of course glorified by this idolatry--iconoclasts we are not! The 'toy' Osiris, like the hideous villain he was, falls apart upon repeated playing... and unlike the original, there is no conniving bitch of a wife Isis to put all the pieces back together again. Let it not be said that Setites are idle during the holidays... There is much work to do! =============================================== SETITE TACTICS The Followers of Set are arguably the most forward-going of all the clans. No upstreamers here! Generally speaking, however, we have little in the way of anti-predator defense, even with all the goodies that came with the Final Nights expansion. Obfuscate is completely useless when reacting to one's predator. Presence offers a bit of vote defense and the ability to untap with Majesty but little else of any use. Serpentis, though it gives us utilitarian cards such as Extotion and Ecstasy, is fairly limited in defensive scope. We have limited access to intercept with our inherent disciplines. Canopic Jar offers us a permanent intercept against *one* minion, along with a combat defense at the cost of burning the card itself. This requires an action to equip (or Pier 13, I suppose) and often tends to slow us down more than it helps. In general, most predators have little to fear from a Setite prey. At worst, they will lose a bit of blood to an Ecstasy here and there. Extortion and Set's Call are fantastic but fairly corner-case in their scope. On the other hand, Setites are among the most feared predators. What prey will not quake once they see the serpents hit the table, fearing that their own minions will be used against them? Heavy Presence bleeds under the cover of Obfuscate stealth cards is enough to frighten any bleed-vulnerable prey. Presence backed Free States Rant (for all intents and purposes a Setite card) have been the bane of decks of late. We are not without our offense, it is safe to say. So should we dwell on defense at all? Perhaps not... By focusing on going forward relentlessly, as Setites do best, we can be defend ourselves by adding 6 to our pool every few turns. We will occasionally pay for it with a lost vampire or a large pool loss, but if we keep our eyes on the prize, ie winning, this will do little to stop us. =================================================== VAMPIRE ANALYSIS - NEHSI Nehsi Capacity: 10 OBF PRE PRO SER aus for Nehsi has 2 votes. Nehsi gets an optional maneuver each combat. Aside from having cool tattoos, is Nehsi a good vampire? Yes! Nehsi has all clan disciplines at superior, always useful. His 'for' at inferior may not see much play, but could synergize well with Saqqaf or Aabt Kindred. Freak Drive comes to mind--with OBF it is likely that his actions will be successful, so all we need is inferior Fortitude to perform another action. Also, a few Skin of Steel can be added to hose the Potence people. His 'aus' is shared with five other vampires (Sir Marriot, Aisha, Sarrasine, Khay'tall and Nefertiti). It might be hard to work this into a deck concept, though cards such as Revelations might conceivably complement a OBF-PRE bleed deck by flushing out Deflections. Nehsi also has Protean at superior, disciplines shared with two other vampires, Mirembe and Amisa. Protean gives the Setites access to some scary combat options, something that we are sorely lacking in. It also provides, via Form of Mist, an alternative way to get our Temptations/Forms/Enticements into play. Block me, I keep going at +1 stealth. Both Nehsi and Amisa also share votes, which gives us a bit of an edge for Free States Rant votes (with 5 and 4 'damage' respectively!) as well as a significant vote block for defense. Nehsi's size, at 10, can be a bit of a problem... The three turns on average that it takes to get Nehsi out may be disastrous depending on what kind of predator we have behind us. This is something that anyone who plays with large vampires has to contend with however. Nehsi's optional maneuver is a welcome defense. Most of the time, this will mean that Nehsi does not get hurt in combat. A dedicated rush deck will probably have enough maneuvers to out-race Nehsi (though don't forget to pack some Swallowed by the Night and Quick Melds!) but against most types of deck, this built-in maneuver will save us a lot of grief. In a recent Detroit game, Nehsi had a Blood Hunt card placed on him. I wasn't at all concerned. Each vampire that rushed him ended up waving at him and Nehsi survived relatively unscathed. The maneuver could also be used in an offensive capacity, with Wolf Claws and Skin of the Adder but this seems a bit unwieldly other than as an occasional surprise to an unwary opponent. ============================================ CARD ANALYSIS - EXTORTION Extortion Reaction - Serpentis 1 Blood Only usable when this vampire successfully blocks (play after combat, if any). Usable by a tapped vampire.Put this card on the acting minion. The minion with this card burns an additional blood to untap during his or her untap phase. A Methuselah can burn the Edge to burn all Extortion cards he or she has. The acting minion's controller takes control of this card (put this card in play). The controller of this card burns 1 pool during his or her untap phase. He or she can burn the Edge to burn all Extortion cards he or she has. As mentioned earlier, the Setites are not exactly what one would consider a reactive clan. This card, however, does not have to be used in a reactive fashion. It's safe to say that most of the time, if we are blocking, we will likely be blocking our predator. Do we have a vested interest in making our predator lose pool? Well... yes and no. We do not want to *oust* our predator (yet), but we do want her to feel enough pain to keep her off-balance and off our back. Also... one thing can be said about a deck that goes relentlessly forward--eventually, our predator *will* be our prey. A prey that loses one pool per turn for each Extortion on her will be hurting badly, especially if they never manage to get the Edge. (See Edge Vitiation for details). The inferior of this card is... well, inferior. It isn't completely useless however. If you tend to use Temptations/Forms, this card can help keep a vampire's blood at a reasonable level for stealing. The lower the vampire's blood level, the easier they are for us to take, generally speaking. The same can be said for Free States Rant type tactics... vampires that are empty of blood are very little threat to us. You will be unlikely to make a deck based around Extortion, but if it is played at the right time, it can be a devastating addition to any Followers of Set's arsenal. ========================================== SIGN OFF I had an interesting experience with a Setite 'Happy-Families' deck this past weekend. My Aabt Kindred ended up with Atonement, a Sport Bike, the Crimson Sentinel (with 5 tokens) and made it to 6 capacity. It was a beautiful thing... though rather unusual. The Aabt Kindred's natural Flak Jacket ability helps with the frequent blocks, making the combo a little easier to pull off. Don't ask me how a non-sentient snake with no opposable thumbs operates a motor vehicle, a bladed weapon and manages to atone for its sins (as if a Setite would)... I'll leave that to imaginations more fertile than my own. I hope you have enjoyed this newsletter. You can send gushing praise to this newsgroup, questions/comments to this newsgroup or privately to ghost(at)mnsi(dot)net. Flames and death-threats can be sent to any other newsletter editor but me... The Dark God will not tolerate any unworthy heathens bad-mouthing his most loyal servant. Save such insults for those who deserve it, like the Giovanni! Hiss! All praise Sutekh! Cheers, WES
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