Hunters Hunted Inquisitor
by Forest Nielson
Hunters Hunted Inquisitor
I. Fiction - Clickity-click
II. Hunter - Jake Washington
III. Library Cards - Left for Dead
IV. Deck - Allies
V. Gehenna Preview: The Unmasking
I. Fiction - Clickity-click
Jake Washington slid out from the covers of his bed and into his wheel
chair. As was his usual routine, he wheeled over to his aging
computer with a dial-up modem to his university student account and
logged on as Bookworm55. He scanned his Hunter-Net.org messages and
emails. There seemed to be an increase in the number of humans
becoming aware of the monsters around and they are turning to him for
advice. Sometimes Jake regretted writing the article at Witness1's
urging on what he has learned about the monsters, but it was also a
compliment to his research skills and the world needed to know.
After showered and dressed, Jake wheeled back to his computer. Since
school wasn't going to start for another month, his work writing
research papers, thesis, and dissertations for other students was not
very heavy, just some simple summer session essays. As a lower
socio-economic minority with an exceptional GPA, Jake had no problems
getting a scholarship at the university, but since becoming imbued,
his own studies have fallen off. He resorted to writing papers for
others for some quick money. This line of work allowed him to take
classes and continue his research on the monsters. It was also good
for someone without legs to hide behind a computer away from the
monsters.
Jake continued his routine by checking his news sites- the usual "hard
news" had very little of importance to him or the Hunter-Net, but the
relevant articles have been increasingly showing up on these sites.
He also examined the latest on the conspiracy theory sites and
personal blogs. One article from Wichita, Kansas, caught his
attention. It was about a Wendell Delburton found dead in a wheat
field outside Wichita. The description of Wendell as a traveler,
former marine, and pro-life extremist piqued Jake's interest, but the
description of Wendell's death confirmed his suspicion. He was
impaled through the throat with some kind of stabbing implement.
Jake's nerves began to shake. He thought about the vampire who took
his legs and left him for dead. If she discovered he still lived, she
would come for him. As one of the original Hunter-Net members, he
could not allow himself to be taken and refused to die at the hands of
a monster. Jake slide his hand down to the syringe, hiding at the
base of his amputated leg, reassuring himself it was still there.
Although it is not wise for a member to know other members'
identities, Jake knew from the description of Wendell and his
photographic memory, and analytical mind that Wendell was also one of
the original hunters. Probably Crusader17. Although he wasn't sure,
he put a call out for Crusader17 and let the Hunter-Net know that
Crusader17 might be gone. Other hunters might be able to put the
pieces together as well and confirm their loss.
For the next two months, Jake's monitoring of the Hunter-Net and the
news, led him to the conclusion that the signs of an impending
apocalypse were real. Other humans were seeing the signs. The
Hunter-Net was filling with people scared and searching for answers
faster than he or any of the experienced members could keep up.
Blood cults or Vampires were revealing themselves to humans. But yet
most news agencies carried tame interpretations of these events. He
could not continue without trying to warn the world of the end. Maybe
there was something humans could do. It would mean a great risk to
himself, but he decided to call a live nationwide radio broadcast of
the Charlie Krongold Show.
Surprised they put him through; he knew he would have to speak quickly
before being cut off. He began, "They say the end is coming - and it
is - but what if we can stop it from really being the final, game-over
end? We can fortify ourselves. We can be good people. Lead by
example. Monsters flourish like germs. If we keep a good, clean
environment, the beasts can't get a foothold. We've let them go too
long, and now the conspiracy is entrenched. But we can stop it!
Society can still heal. These don't need to be our last days. The
tunnel is going to be long and dark, but we can make it through to the
other side. We can find our virtue to stop the monsters." Jake then
heard the clicking on the lines. He had either been cut off or they
were beginning a trace. Either way he said what he wanted. Time to
leave. It was the Time of Judgment.
II. Hunter - Jake Washington
Jake Washington (Hunter) [FN:R2]
Cardtype: Master
Unique master.
Put this card in play. While in play, this card represents a mortal
ally with 1 life, 0 strength and 0 bleed . During your untap phase, you may burn Jake to move up to
4 blood from the blood bank to a ready vampire with no blood.
Jake Washington is a free minion that can basically give you four
blood. He is useful as a speedbump to block a heavy bleed or combat
deck and Tzimisce players have a preference to sacrifice him to War
Ghouls. Jake is the only minion who can act the very first turn, as
he is not an ally card, but rather a master card, he can act the turn
he is played. Although he doesn't have innate bleed ability, Jake can
let you bleed the first turn if used with computer hacking. Since he
is not clan-specific he can be played by anyone. Because Jake is
unique, if more players realize his potential and play him, he will be
contested more often.
There is no real downside to Jake. The closest things to weaknesses
are he is unique, fills a master slot, does not have innate ability to
bleed, does not have strength, does not last long in combat with only
one life, and can not play discipline cards. Although Jake counts as
an ally when in play, he is not an ally card. He is a master card and
as such he is not eligible for Shambling Hordes requirement.
There are substantial benefits to playing Jake. He can act the turn
he comes out. He can block actions of minions. He can sacrifice
himself to give four blood to a ready vampire without any blood or to
bring out a War Ghoul. Although he can not play discipline cards he
can still play Computer Hacking, Dodge, Weighted Walking Stick, etc.
There is really no reason, other than master slot priorities, not to
play Jake.
III. Library Cards - Left for Dead
Left for Dead [FN:R2]
Cardtype: Master
Master: out-of-turn.
Only usable as an ally is burned in combat. Combat ends. Put this card
on that ally; that ally is not burned. Put 1 life on the ally from the
blood bank if he or she has no life. Tap the ally. If the ally with
this card enters combat, he or she is burned. Burn this card instead
of untapping the ally during his or her next untap phase.
One thing that needs repeating with "Out-of-Turn" master cards is that
if it does not say "useable on your turn", you can not play it on your
turn. Thus, during his/her turn a Methuselah can not rush an
opponent's minion with an ally and hope to play this card if the ally
is going to be burned. The same applies to the ally being blocked
while taking an action on his/her turn.
Because allies often lack the ability to play discipline cards, they
can rarely prevent damage. Many allies have only a little life, so
one good hit or two and the ally is toast. Left for Dead is a good
surprise live saver, especially since it rarely sees play.
There are some allies that can still use their special ability even if
tapped, like Jake Washington, Courier and Guardian Ghoul, and there
are also some allies that can benefit by being kept alive for a little
longer by "regenerating" during untap phase, like many werewolves and
Hell Hound.
Left for Dead does have an added weakness: if the ally enters combat
again while the card is on him, he is burned. So if the opposing
minion plays Psyche, Telepathic Tracking, or another card that allows
the opposing minion or another minion to re-enter combat, the ally
will be burned. The same applies to a successful rush by an opposing
minion.
Left for Dead is an ideal card for Jake Washington and is probably
based in large part around Jake Washington's back-story. Left for
Dead allows a Methuselah to block an action with Jake Washington and
keep Jake around long enough to activate his special ability for a
gain of one blocked action and four blood at a cost of zero pool and
two master phase actions.
IV. Deck - Allies
An ally deck is built around allies. Although the number of "good"
non-clan allies is growing, most ally decks will be based around a
clan because clan-bound allies often have a strong benefit. If the
focus is truly on allies, the deck will use small vampires to get out
allies quicker. As mentioned above, allies also often have the
weakness of not being able to play discipline cards, so the decks tend
to use non-discipline cards, especially for combat, like Dodge, Fake
Out, and Lucky Blow.
Deck Name: Hunters
Created By: Forrest Nielsen
Description:
Crypt: (12 cards, Min: 10, Max: 16, Avg: 3.17)
----------------------------------------------
2 Richard Tauber AUS tha 4, Tremere Antitribu:2
2 Brooke dom tha 3, Tremere Antitribu:2
2 Saiz aus dom 3, Tremere Antitribu:3
2 Thelonius aus dom tha 4, Tremere Antitribu:2
2 Heinrick Schlempt tha 2, Tremere Antitribu:2
2 Ember Wright aus dom 3, Tremere antitribu:3
Library: (90 cards)
-------------------
Master (19 cards)
3 Blood Doll
1 Charisma
5 Jake Washington (Hunter)
1 KRCG News Radio
1 Left for Dead
3 Memories of Mortality
1 Millicent Smith, Puritan Vampire Hunter
1 Society of Leopold
1 Specialization
1 University Hunting Ground
1 WMRH Talk Radio
Action (23 cards)
1 Bum`s Rush
21 Computer Hacking
1 Harass
Action Modifier (6 cards)
3 Change of Target
3 Conditioning
Reaction (9 cards)
3 Deflection
2 My Enemy`s Enemy
4 Wake with Evening`s Freshness
Combat (21 cards)
2 Burst of Sunlight
8 Dodge
4 Theft of Vitae
2 Trap
3 Weighted Walking Stick
2 Wind Dance
Ally (12 cards)
1 Gregory Winter
4 Nephandus (Mage)
1 Order of Hermes Cabal
1 Rafastio Ghoul
2 Succubus
1 Talaq, The Immortal
1 Vagabond Mystic
1 Wendell Delburton (Hunter)
In designing this deck, I wanted to go vampire-less. This is illegal
and difficult to do. First, it is illegal because the rules require
that one have a 12 card minimum crypt deck. Second, it is difficult
to do because there is only one way to get the first minion, who then
can recruit future allies, and that is Jake Washington. It would
require that Jake Washington come up early, that he not get Sudden
Reversal'ed, or that he not be contested. If any of these things
happened, the Methuselah would be in for a rough ride.
So I had to pick a clan and disposable vampires once they have done
their job of recruitment. I found a couple of fairly good non-clan
bound allies, Talaq and Rafastio Ghoul, had the ability to play
thaumaturgy cards. Thus, maybe Tremere or Tremere Antitribu would be
a good clan to use. Looking at the clan bound allies available to the
Tremere and Tremere Antitribu, the Tremere have Thadius Zho and
Outcast Mage, while the Tremere Antitribu have Gargoyle Slave,
Succubus, and Nephandus. Since I wanted "hunter" allies that targeted
vampires, Succubus and Nephandus were ideal. Also, they had the added
benefit of not being unique, so there could be many in the deck.
When I first designed the deck there were not many choices for "small"
(4 capacity or less) Tremere antitribu. I had 3 copies each of
Heinrich Schlempt, Brooke, Richard Tauber, and Thelonius. In the past
couple of expansions, there were some new additions- Saiz and Ember
Wright, allowing me to put in 2 copies of each, and thus cutting down
on the chance of duplication.
In designing the library, I wanted cards that could be played by the
allies, including a couple thaumaturgy cards. In the end, all but 17
cards- University Hunting Grounds, Conditioning, Deflection, My
Enemy's Enemy, Wake with Evenings Freshness, Nephandus, and Succubus
could be played with only allies in play, and 6 of these cards are
allies themselves. The Conditioning, Deflection, and My Enemy's Enemy
were put in more as surprise cards that the little Tremere Antitribu
could play in a pinch.
Some of the cards were more thematic than required. Society of
Leopold, Millicent Smith, and Wendell Delburton being examples.
Although Society of Leopold was more of a thematic choice, it works
great with Succubus. The Succubus gets a vampire down to zero or one
blood and lay the Society on that vampire and if it can't get blood
from some where else like a Hunting Ground or Life in the City, it is
locked down.
A big problem this deck had was with intercept and blocking opposing
minions' actions. There are only a couple ways allies can gain
intercept. Even the non-discipline intercept cards require "reacting
vampire". The only cards usable to give an ally intercept are (were)
Sport Bike, KRCG News Radio, London Evening Star, and WMRH Talk Radio.
V. Gehenna Review : The Unmasking
The Gehenna set gave ally decks a huge boost. Cards like Night Watch
Commander, the Unmasking, and Flash Bomb Grenade are extremely useful
in an ally deck.
The Unmasking Gehenna. Do not replace until your next discard phase.
Allies get +1 intercept when attempting to block vampires.
Neighborhood Watch Commander (Hunter)2 blood Mortal with 1 life. 1
strength, 0 bleed. When an action taken by a vampire ends
unsuccessfully, you may tap this card at the end of the action to
inflict 1 damage on the acting vampire. Only one Neighborhood Watch
Commander may tap to inflict damage each action.
Flash Grenade Weapon. Strike: Combat Ends. If the opposing minion is
a vampire, he or she is tapped and does not untap as normal on his or
her untap phase. If the bearer is a vampire and the grenade is used
at close range, the bearer is also tapped and does not untap as normal
on his or her next untap phase. Burn this weapon after use.
Perhaps the biggest boon is The Unmasking. Not even vampires have a
card that gives all of them a permanent +1 intercept. Although
vampires have greater options for getting intercept, even individual
permanent intercept, allies were limited to Sport Bike, KRCG News
Radio, London Evening Star, and WMRH Talk Radio, making it difficult
to block innate +1 stealth actions, like hunt, rescue, recruitment,
equipment, and political actions. With The Unmasking, allies can
block these actions without the need for trying to find intercept,
(unless, of course, if the acting minion increases the stealth).
On the downside, it is an event card, so if it is removed from play
the effect will be gone and another one can not be played. However,
there are not many ways to get rid of an event card once it is played.
It is also only useful for blocking vampires. It does not give +1
intercept against other opposing allies. However, just as intercept
is difficult for allies, stealth is often difficult for allies on
their actions. So intercept is not often needed against allies. Like
all events, the effect applies to everyone, so if one's prey/predator
are also playing with allies or if the allies get taken, they will
have the benefit of +1 intercept, as well.
by Forrest Nielsen
dream lit com (at) yahoo [dot] com {with no spaces at all}
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