[Newsletter] Divine Sign: the Giovanni Newsletter
Fabio "Sooner"
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Divine Sign: the Giovanni Newsletter
February 10, 2005
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RISPETTO
Una Storia Della Famiglia
by Orpheus
Starring : Old Faces, New Faces.
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Somewhere By Night.
Isabel Giovanni had very nasty feeding Habits.
Every time Vittorio "Vitto" Giovanni, her cousin and current business
partner, had to watch her hunt and subsequently feed, even he was
filled with the undying equivalent of nausea. So that night, he had
waited in a nearby alley. He preferred the cleaner, if duller, thrill
of frozen blood, which he kept in a special cooler in their current
Haven.
Isabel was a killer, feared by many : the Camarilla, to some extent
the Sabbat, and even her own Famiglia. Vitto was more of a
businessman, cell phone and laptop computer being his weapons of
choice.
Having hunted, they went on to their evening's business, then headed
straight "home" for the rest of the nightly activities.
There, Isabel felt right away that something was wrong. The attitude
of her wraithly guards wasn't what it should be. And she was quite
certain she had left the door locked on their way out. Therefore, she
gestured silently to Vitto and they entered the house very cautiously,
ready for anything.
Except, maybe, what was waiting for them.
No trap. No hidden assassins in the dark. Just one broad-shouldered
man in a three-pieces suit sitting confortably in the salon coach, a
smaller man standing beside him.
- Benedict. Che cazzo fai qui?
Benedict Giovanni, known as "The Agent" for his hability to handle
dirty work, answered in perfect english, with just a slight trace of
accent.
- Yes, it is a pleasure to see you too, cugina. You'll forgive me, I
hope, for this intrusion, but I hate to stand uncomfortably in the
cold, and as your spirit allies saw no objection to my presence... Oh,
but where are my manners? Isabel, Vitto, let me introduce our cousin
Donatello.
The smaller man nodded and said "piacere" - pleasure.
- Oh - said Isabel. - You must be that newly-breeded Vitto told me
about. The guy with the Ninja Turtle name who understood so little in
nigromanzia that some took him for a Toreador impostor?
Donatello fulminated. Benedict gestured him to stay quiet, and he did.
At that moment, Vitto remembered why, for all their differences, he
appreciated and respected Isabel so much.
- This is beside the point, cara mia - said Benedict. - And as we do
have other things to do tonight, I'll get right to it: you have become
a nuisance to us. A Wildcard. We cannot tolerate this anymore.
- "We" meaning your current masters, of course ? And who would that be
now?
- The new direction of the Famiglia. We all think your behaviour to be
inapropriate, and contrary to our current politics. And I would advise
you not to use this tone with us: you know who I am, and whatever your
reputation may be, you are way outgunned here.
- Oh, I am, am I? Well, if your senses were more acute, you would see
my other ally here, and know that I still rule in my own house.
Benedict blinked, focused his gaze around her and tried to see
something he could not. Then, he saw the body of Donatello drop limp
to the floor, his neck twisted in an ugly fashion, and a very, very
big man appear where he was standing.
- Oh, but where are my manners? - Isabel asked. - Cugino, allow me to
introduce Ignazio Giovanni. One of my many allies, and certainly not
one you would want to fight; especially not with me in the room. Who's
outgunned now?
- But you... you...
- Oh, don't worry. I guess some old blood will repair your puppet
friend, to some extent at least. Know, my dear cousin, that no one
tells Isabel Giovanni what to do, except of course the elders of my
lineage of the family - and Uncle Auggie when he doesn't sleep, of
course. You represent nothing to me: not a threat, not a direct Clan
authority, just another dog on the leash. I hate dogs. Servile and
stupid animals, they are. Now get your stuff off of my carpet and GET
OUT!
- You will pay for this, Isabel. A very high price.
- Sure. One day, maybe. But for now: your faction isn't as strong as
you think. We of the "old breed" are many, and used to face danger.
We'll be ready for you. Ciao.
Benedict grumbled something in italian under his breath (sounded like
"sporca puttana?"), took the lifeless body of the Teenage Mutant
Giovanni under his powerful arm without getting to close to Ignazio,
and headed for the door.
Isabel had been very, very lucky that her meeting with their new ally
had occured tonight. Without him, the situation would have been much
worse. But then, she had the luck of the devil inside her. Now, she
would need to prepare her defenses and do some careful planning. But
she would manage. She always did. And as she already was very much
"nella merda":
- Oh, and Benedict ? I almost forgot. Please give another message to
your doggie masters for me.
She lifted her hand, middle finger pointing, and said "Nel culo!".
CONTENUTO
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0. What the f***?
I. Edition's quote
II. The Brand New Stereotypical Italian Dictionary
III. Cousin of the Month
IV. Asset of the Month
V. Tried Tactics
VI. Bitch's Last Words
0. CHE CAZZO?
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Welcome to the new incarnation of the Giovanni Clan Newsletter!
Though I'm not a real member of the family - that means, the Giovanni
didn't incorporate the Macedos yet - I've been trafficking... erm...
dealing with them for a while now and feel very comfortable to offer
some insights.
It's been little more than a year since this newsletter's last edition
and the precendent set by Orpheus won't be forgotten. That means: you
won't see renewed digressions about the old necromancy cards in here.
I'll assume most Giovanni players had already tried them in the
"traditional" fashion (i.e., not combined with new cards released from
Anarchs onward). If you're a new, recently Proxy Kissed member of this
clan, please take your time to shuffle through the past:
http://www.necrobones.free.fr
Now on to some (hopefully) new stuff...
I. CITAZIONE DELL'EDIZIONE
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"Of the wealth of the world each has as much as they take."
(Italian Proverb)
II. IL NUOVO DIZIONARIO D'ITALIANO STEREOTIPATO
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Know how to call Carlotta when she attempts to retrieve a Conditioning
from the ash heap and you're out of intercept or bounce:
"Sporca puttana" - Dirty whore, dirty hooker.
Note: "Puttana" can be used in the literal sense of "prostitute" and
figuratively to refer to a sexually dissolute person (male or female).
Be careful when addressing the average tough bodyguard, though. Chas
won't suffer it even once...
III. CUGINO DEL MESE
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Baldesar Rossellini
Clan: Giovanni (group 4)
Capacity: 8
Disciplines: DOM POT aus for nec
Independent: Once each turn, if Baldesar is ready, he can reduce the
cost of a location or of an equipment you play by 1 pool or blood. +1
strength.
Rarity - Gehenna:U
One of the first two new cousins to be recruited on group 4, Baldesar
has plenty of reasons to be chosen when looking for variety on
Giovanni decks. If you're damn hooked on big caps with all three
in-clans at superior, he won't be your first choice - but what the
heck, sometimes we need tough bastards to protect the necromancers!
And Baldesar is one damn tough bastard indeed. Like Ignazio, he has +1
strength and access to Fortitude - one more guy to punch, endure and
Disarm any *cornuto* who crosses your businesses. Like Donatello, he
has Auspex. This leads to a bunch of fringe strategies, from
aus/pot/dom intercept combat to Giovanni/!Ventrue pacts. But we should
not forget why Baldesar has been initiated in the clan on the first
place: you want to control an specific part of town or get some handy
tools, he knows the right contacts.
His special can be useful in a number of ways. First of all, a handful
of interesting but not that effective clan cards can be reconsidered
under Baldesar's care. The Tower of London always required a good
bunch of Necromancy actions to pay off; spending only 1 pool on it
makes its inclusion on less dedicated necromancy decks acceptable.
Given the simpathy Baldesar has for anarchy, a few Gear Up and a Tower
could make for a rather useful combination. Similarly, the Mausoleum
comes for free, which somewhat mitigates the Ventrue Headquarters
disadvantage; even a single vote for free never hurts. Why Vox Senis?
Baldesar knows better and won't give votes off to everyone. And what
to say about the Sargon Fragment for naught?
It would be counterproductive to list here the multitude of locations
and equipment one could put to better use under Baldesar's scrutinity,
but some of those with no clan requirements are worth the mention.
Carver's Meat Packing and Storage for free in a combat-oriented,
*mafiosi* Giovanni deck featuring Baldesar and Ignazio is nothing to
sneeze at. Channel 10 for 1 pool is too good to be left behind when
building some weird necrowall deck - not to mention that he can bring
out two more intercept locations for free: the Rumor Mill and WMRH.
The Creepshow Casino for only 1 pool is a must when building
non-dedicated stealthy decks... Specially if you intend to use Gear Up
or equipping a lot, which is almost a given when dealing with
Baldesar's basic skills on Necromancy. Still through the Anarch
Railroad, it won't hurt to get even more stealth for less pool. And
finally, he seems to have wandered a lot through Sunset Strip, which
allows you to save even more pool when giving a call to the Mortician
ally. Two precious pool you can now spend to summon Felix Hessian and
tell'em ain't no location safe if it's not mine!
But unless you plan to make his hands dirty through direct punches and
run through a lot of Fortitude prevention, consider giving him a gun
and a free Flak Jacket. As a good *mafioso*, he knows firearms are
more reliable in the long run. Some underused guns can have some
utility when in Baldesar's hands. The Sawed-off Shotgun works fine for
quick, big damage for the price of a mere Saturday Night Special. With
Fortitude, who needs maneuvers? With +1 strength, who needs to use a
gun more than once? (No, really... Maybe I've read too much about
Short Chain Combat). Save some Scattershots for the non-resilient,
pack Thoughts Betrayed for those pesky whiners who duck and weave from
his bullets and you have a moderately useful combat module. Twist it
all you like - Trap for continuous combat pressure, Mighty Grapple for
presses and effectiveness under anti-gun tech, Disarm for extra
wackiness ("Wow! I shot his arm out!")... Your choice. There's lots of
room for funny combos if you're the sort of Methuselah that prefers
casual play.
Personally, I'd like to see him and a bunch of dom/for anarchs getting
Berettas every turn to Trap passerbys at Dawn from High Ground, and
Baldesar's all too happy to Gear Up back those burned through Dragon's
Breath Rounds. Earl, Charice Fontaigne, Edward Neally and Joseph
O'Grady are ideal candidates to side him. Just remember to Taste the
Vitae and forget about concealing the guns - Baldesar cannot earn you
a discount if you buy them secretly. But more on that on another
issue.
IV. BENEFIZIO DEL MESE
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Gear Up
Type: Action
Requires: anarch Necromancy/Presence/Vicissitude
Cost: 1 blood
+1 stealth action. Requires a ready anarch. If successful, untap this
anarch.
[nec] Move a card from your ash heap to your hand.
[pre] This anarch gets +1 stealth for the remainder of this turn.
[vic] This anarch gets +1 strength until your next untap phase.
Rarity - Gehenna:C
Ever felt that you just can't leave Carlotta aside? Gear Up is your
antidote, *cugino*. Sure, permanent effects are the best resources,
but this move offers something that even Carlotta can't match: a free
untap to use RIGHT NOW, with the same minion if possible, the asset
you've just fetched back - not to mention that its cost can be reduced
if your minions pay attention to the Path of Bone, something that
Carlotta just can't understand (*ma che???*). Anyway, now you can
leave the other lessers to do more stuff for you.
Even its Presence effect can be useful at times. Stefano or Donatello
could turn to be quite successfull Barons, given their extensive
knowledge on Kindred Coercion and Pulling Strings to maintain
hard-earned status; giving them free stealth to call the vote you need
is neat. Can't say the same about the extra vicissitude strength,
unfortunately; both Andrea and Silvia are too big and could do better
from plain Potence strikes. You won't use the card to stay untapped
and block anyway, will you?
But the most interesting thing you can do with Gear Up is to provide
your cousins the chance to get back what you really need at the
moment, which goes a long way in boosting anarch toolboxy strategies.
Note that you could theoretically do the same with Carlotta, but
reducing overall crypt size and/or eliminating the need for [NEC]
(bye-bye Whispers from the Dead) helps a lot when going anarch unless
you plan to use her extra Obfuscate. Through 1- to 6-cap range, one
can find a good spread of minions with non-Giovanni disciplines to be
combined with inferior Necromancy: from Celerity to Auspex to
Fortitude... Which in turn lead to a handful of spare anarch
capabilities, including additional strikes, equipment disposal and
cheap prevention, none of these easily available to "normal" Giovanni
tactics. Just keep in mind you won't be able to build a full crypt out
of any of these combinations, so splash in a few skill cards and/or
play your anarchs with caution, and your opponents are in for a
surprise.
To exemplify the usefulness of Gear Up through an anarch Gios gang,
see below a rather thematic deck built by Ramon Moure, from Vitoria,
Brazil. I haven't tested it myself and the scheme seems rather
sketchy, but it got 2nd at a tournament so it couldn't be total crap
either. Considering that it uses the hated Anarch Revolt to achieve
something with the family, the surprise value gets even higher.
V. TATTICHE PROVATE
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Here's a deck that combines Carlotta, Pochtli and Gear Up for maximum
effectiveness in card recursion.
Myself, I'd go for a smaller crypt, more Summon Souls -
non-threatening blood/pool gain until you try it for the 10th time, at
least in my metagame - and more combat defense. But the concept is
interesting anyway: why dedicate efforts to maintain the Revolts
rampaging the strees, or even pack 10+ angry mobs with extra master
actions gateways, when you can simply get them back to the fore after
they're dismissed? This kind of Anarch Revolt play also ensures that
your immediate prey (and sometimes your grandprey) will always be the
ones to suffer the most unless the rest of the table does not want to
let the vote pass when your prey tries to call it. Of course, there's
one major drawback: you must wait one turn to put it on the table
again... But inspiring Anarch Revolts *every* turn are somewhat
threatening nonetheless. If you're into that sort of thing, run to the
Parthenon to avoid excess master actions and guarantee you'll put an
AR in play every other turn without too much hassle.
There are a lot of room for improvement in this decklist, but I'll
leave it up to the readers on what to swap. As said above, it is a
sketcy deck made mainly for casual play; many cards are there just
because his creator wanted to use as many anarch cards (and Anarch
cards - the ones that just happen to have "Anarch" in their names) as
he could.
Deck Name : Revolution Never Dies
Author : Ramon Moure
Description : This deck is basically focused on Anarch cards,
necromancy to fetch the Anarch Revolts back and various ways of
gaining blood (and pool) back - Dolls, hunting, Govern down, Cooler
etc.
Crypt (12 vampires) Capacity min: 4 max: 10 average: 6.92
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2x Silvia Giovanni 10 ANI DOM NEC POT for vic Giovanni:2
1x Ignazio Giovanni 9 DOM FOR NEC POT obf Giovanni:3
1x Enzo Giovanni, Pen 8 DOM NEC ani pot tha Giovanni:2
1x Pochtli 8 NEC OBF POT cel dom Giovanni:2
1x Andrea Giovanni 7 DOM NEC pot vic Giovanni:2
1x Carlotta Giovanni 7 NEC POT dom obf Giovanni:2
1x Kanimana Belghazi 7 AUS DOM NEC pro Nagaraja:2
1x Vittorio Giovanni 5 dom for nec pot Giovanni:2
1x Francesca Giovanni 4 dom nec pot Giovanni:2
1x Gloria Giovanni 4 DOM nec Giovanni:2
1x Ingrid Russo 4 DOM for !Ventrue:2
Library (90 cards)
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Action (17)
5x Gear Up
6x Govern the Unaligned
4x Scouting Mission
2x Summon Soul
Action Modifier (9)
5x Call of the Hungry Dead
4x Seduction
Action Modifier/Reaction (6)
6x Spectral Divination
Ally (1)
1x Leonardo, Mortician
Combat (4)
4x Spiritual Intervention
Equipment (8)
1x Aaron's Feeding Razor
2x Body Bag
1x Cooler
1x Palatial Estate
1x Seal of Veddartha
2x Unlicensed Taxicab
Event (1)
1x Anthelios, The Red Star
Master (26)
1x Anarch Free Press, The
1x Anarch Railroad
7x Anarch Revolt
1x Anarch Troublemaker
7x Blood Doll
6x Galaric's Legacy
2x Secure Haven
1x Smiling Jack, The Anarch
Reaction (18)
2x Car Bomb
6x Deflection
2x Friend of Mine
5x Mole, The
3x Wake with Evening's Freshness
Crafted with : Anarch Revolt Deck Builder. [Fri Feb 11 00:14:02 2005]
Next month, our *Consiliere* Orpheus will provide a strange alliance
with those pricks... erm, those honorable leaders of the Camarilla and
even a few defectors from the Sabbat. Don't miss it!
VI. ULTIME PAROLE DELLA PUTTANA
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"I've never been that good at it... but never had that much trouble
bringing back these *cadaveros* either!"
- Patrizia, The Bastard Ragazza, trying to rescue some Zombies after
the 10th Anniversary Release
No, seriously. How could she get any worse? Now it *costs* more for
her to employ dead retainers?
(Changed text: from "burn 1 extra blood" to "cost increased by 1
blood")
Challenge: build a successfull deck around Patrizia Giovanni. That
means, put at least THREE copies of her in the crypt. Explain which
actions she's intended to attempt. Don't even bother to use her to
rescue retainers from the afterlife; her discipline spread is
challenging enough. The best attempt - to be judged by the newsletter
editor and fellow necromongers - will gain a copy of Ascendance (isn't
that appropriate for her?) and the undying respect[*] of the whole
V:TES community.
[*] Not to be extended in the afterlife. Business is business. You
die, you're ours. *Capisce*?
See ya later,
Fabio "Sooner" Macedo
V:TES National Coordinator for Brazil
Editor of the Giovanni Clan Newsletter
Overseen by Orpheus, Giovanni *Consiliere*
www.necrobones.free.fr
Fabio "Sooner" Macedo
V:TES National Coordinator for Brazil
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now a "luminary", whatever it means:
http://www.thelasombra.com/WhosWho/fabiomacedo.htm
Orpheus
, without the www
Congratulations, necrobro, on that superb first newsletter.
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Orpheus, consiliere
Fabio "Sooner"
But the most important:
it's
http://www.necrobones.free.fr
The first entry missed the www part.