THE PEAL SESSIONS
  >An ongoing series of interviews with some of the more interesting and creative players in the world of VTES.

Age: 33
From: Paris, France

For how long have you been playing V:TES?

Since it came out. I think it was...'96.

It was actually '94.

'94, yeah.

Why did you come to GenCon?

A lot of friends here! You among them, and a lot of guys from White Wolf I know.

Where else in America did you visit on your trip?

What is you favorite clan?

Gangrel.

What is your favorite deck?

My favorite deck is a voting deck with Ventrue and Obfuscate. Very simple now, but after two year's of V:TES it is not so played at this time.

How does your local metagame affect your deck design?

Well, my local metagames...I think the other games I play - card games, I mean - are one-on-one, so I make no comparison with V:TES. There is a lot of metagames in V:TES and the tactics are quite different - you can't compare to other card games.

What other games do you play?

Well, for card games I'm playing a little bit of Lord of the Rings. I've played 7th Sea, which is dead now. Magic, of course, but a long time ago.

That's how we all got started.

Yeah...I play a lot of board games, and also tennis.

How do other games help you play V:TES?

Well, for Magic, it means a lot because I play a little bit of tournament Magic and I'm curious about what the other guy is doing, in deckbuilding, and mechanics.

What other hobbies do you have?

Tennis, a lot of movies. I like to go out for a show in Paris - there are a lot of shows and movies and theater things - and museums. I love paintings!

What are your favorite bands?

Telefon - it's a French rock band. In English, I love Eric Clapton. I like old kinds of music. I don't like house music. It's too repetitive.

Tell me about your comic collection at home!

I have a lot - more than a thousand comics. A lot are from the school of French and Belgian guys who make a lot of very good comic books. I have some comics from the USA - some superhero things. But quite a lot of other things. Some are just for fun, some are romantic, adventure. Here in the US, you have some very good writers of comics who are not very well-known because they're not writing comics like superhero things.

What did you think of the NAC?

The NAC?

Here!

Ah, yes, here! Sorry! I love it to be at GenCon, because you can do a lot of things on your own. There is a special mood when you're playing in the tournament because you're in such a huge room with thousands of people playing and you can think you're one of a thousand people playing V:TES, even if we are only a hundred!

What would you like to see in V:TES?

Well, hard to tell. I think Gehenna is a good extension with a lot of
new things. But what I would love to see are vampires who are anarchs.

How often do you travel to play V:TES?

I would say about 5 and 7 times in Europe.

What decks do you have currently built?

The last one was an Anarch deck, but really for fun, but not in tournaments because Anarchs are impossible to play in tournaments.

Why haven't you killed Kamel?

Because he is my best friend, sadly. We used to make a lot of big jokes of each other, because some jokes you can only do to your best friend.

Tell us about the V:TES scene in Paris.

Paris a very huge group of players. We can divide it into two parts. We have a lot of guys who are making tournaments in a regular manner, coming often. And there are people who don't play tournaments - just for fun - but we don't know a lot about them. We know 100 people, but there are 200 more who never make it to tournaments - just playing in little groups with friends. In the tournament scene we have such a big group because we have a shop where we can play and sit together - that's a very important thing for the game, having a meeting place.

What was it like to be the back end of the cow behind Andreas?

Yeah! It was quite a good thing! We all learned something - never make a bet when you're drunk, especially with Mike Tinney when you're playing pool!

How was your day as a fairy?

It was a lot of fun, because I think I should have been the most popular guy in GenCon. I encountered 78 pictures taken of me. It was impossible to walk because every 10 seconds people stopped me. "Why are you wearing this?" "I lose a bet!" I wish I had a microphone like you! It was quite funny.

Does this mean your new favorite clan will be Kiasyd?

*laugh* No! Never!

End of Interview