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THE VTES HISPANIA SCENE (January 8th, 2006) Article for VTES by Ginés Quiñonero (aka Damnans) >"One of the great hotbeds of V:TES gaming in the world – if not the hotbed – is Spain. With approximately 600-800 players and consistently large tournament attendance, the growth of the V:TES scene in Spain is one of the great success stories for the game. I asked Ginés Quiñonero (aka Damnans), who is the Spanish National Coordinator, what he and the Spanish V:TES community did to promote the game there." - Ben Peal |
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Why are there so many players in Spain?
I think there are many reasons by which there are so many V:TES players in Spain. And, according to the opinions given by some Spanish players on the V:TES Hispania Yahoo! Group, all those reasons have to do both with the nature of the game, the Spanish idiosyncrasy and several local factors.
Reasons related to Spanish idiosyncrasy:
Most Spaniards are sociable, so they feel attracted to a game which allows a great deal of social interaction, such as whining, dealing, asking, begging, arguing, manipulating, helping, blackmailing, betraying, boasting, bluffing, etc.
Local factors:
The fact that V:TES is a multiplayer game for 4 to 5 players makes V:TES a game suitable to be played in bars, where bigger tables are suitable surfaces to play the game. And there are lots of bars in Spain.
Many Spaniards love playing strategy games (such as Warhammer).
Vampire: The Masquerade is already one of the most played role-playing games in Spain (note that V:TM sourcebooks and supplements have been published in Spanish), and many V:TM players felt attracted to V:TES because of it.
Reasons related to V:TES nature:
V:TES is a social and cooperative game. It is not a direct confrontation between two players, but a confrontation of each player against complex game states. So a player's empathy becomes more important than playing the cards in the "right" order. Therefore V:TES helps build better human relations, because it encourages players to be polite to each other, since no one knows whose help you will need as the game unfolds.
It is not a professional game, so people in V:TES tournaments play in a more relaxed way, since they mostly play to have a good time. They also treat new players well because they would like to see them play again in subsequent tournaments. Besides, playing V:TES is cheaper than playing other collectible card games; and expansions are released at a lower rate.
It is also important for Spanish players that no V:TES expansion has been banned from tournament play, which allows them to build their decks with cards from any V:TES expansion/set. So you have access to new strategies, while old ones are not overrun.
There are many winning strategies (as well as many clans and disciplines), but there is no ultimate deck/strastegy. Every deck/strategy has its nemesis.
What do you do to promote the game?
1. IN THE BEGINNING...
I started to play Jyhad/V:TES in 1994-95, but I did not begin to do things to promote the game (other than playing V:TES, of course) until it became harder for me to find players to play with (which happened during the V:TES Dark Ages –the period of time between the release of Sabbat by Wizards of the Coast and the release of Sabbat War by White Wolf, where no V:TES expansions were released). In those dark times, I helped keep V:TES alive in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca by running tournaments and setting up a fix place in Barcelona for card trading, which became a meeting place for V:TES players. That was also the time when I discovered Potomac Distribution (i.e., a cheap way to get V:TES cards), which meant that my playgroup would get lots of cards, and that players who had no cards yet would get some (at that time, as I still do nowadays, I lent my decks to players, so that everyone who wanted to play the game had the chance to do so, regardless of the amount of cards they owned).
2. AS A TOURNAMENT ORGANIZER
2.1. Local events
During the V:TES Dark Ages I helped organize several tournaments in Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona).
Since I came back to Palma de Mallorca, in 2000, I have been cooperating with the V:EKN Prince of Palma to organize every single tournament.
Since 2001 I have been running and funding a special tournament held once a year in Palma de Mallorca –The Camarilla Conclave–, where 7 plaques are given to the top 7 players as prizes (granting them the titles of Justicar) and 3 other plaques are awarded to the 3 worse players in that tournament (declaring them Anathema). In addition to those prizes, 1 booster pack is given to each player per Victory Point he or she gets during the event. The Camarilla Conclave tournaments have always shown a remarkable deficit, but they have become the most important V:TES event on our island, and a major event in Spain.
2.2. National events
I cooperated with Marco Cortijo, Xavier Abad and others on the organization of the first Spanish-Portuguese Continental Qualifier held in Hospitalet de Llobregat (2001), and on that of the second Spanish Continental Qualifier held in Hospitalet de Llobregat as well (2002).
2.3. International events
I co-organized the European Championship held in Barcelona in 2003 and its Last Chance Qualifier and side events.
3. AS A TRANSLATOR
After the release of Sabbat War I was asked to revisit the Spanish translation of the V:TES Rulebook, which was going to be published by Distrimagen (a Spanish distributor), and which had already been translated by Álvaro Isorna (former V:EKN Prince of Madrid) and Xavier Abad (former V:EKN Prince of Barcelona). Since then, I have been revisiting and translating the subsequent versions of V:TES Rulebooks and made them available on my website.
I have also translated the following V:TES resources into Spanish, and I am still trying to keep such translations up-to-date: V:EKN Tournament Rules, V:EKN Judge's Guide (former V:EKN Penalty Guidelines), V:TES Frequent Asked Questions, V:TES Frequently Offered Clever Suggestions, Judges Notes, V:EKN Rating System, How to run a tournament, How to use Deckbot (VTES by IRC). Another document I have helped translate is the V:TES Official Clarifications, Rulings, and Errata.
So far, I have been helping translate into Spanish 1,491 library cards (and I have verified the translation of 802 of them) and 808 crypt cards (and I have also verified their translation).
In addition, I have created a V:TES English-Spanish dictionary of V:TES Terms.
4. AS A DESIGNER OF UNOFFICIAL V:TES RESOURCES
On the 10 th of July 2000, I decided to publish on the Internet all the custom cards I had been creating aver the years ("Damnans' V:TES Page" was born). My website now contains other unofficial cards made by V:TES players from all around the world, as well as several card creation tools.
4.1. Unofficial V:TES cards
During the V:TES Dark Ages I felt the need to create my own cards to explore new ways in the game by turning characters from the Vampire: The Masquerade RPG into crypt cards, and by bringing new clans and their disciplines to the game. I built some decks based on those clans and new vampires and played them in our friendly games, and lent it to other players to test them and have fun.
On the 1 st of February 2001, I published my first unofficial allies designed as crypt cards: 11 Demons, which were followed by 9 Mummy crypt cards on the 10 th of March 2001 (http://www.almadrava.net/damnans/othercreatures.htm).
On the 6 th of February 2002, I published a new card type series on my website: the Antediluvian cards (http://www.almadrava.net/damnans/antediluvians.htm).
4.2. Card creation tools
I have designed the following tools so that anyone who has FileMaker Pro can easily create cards: V:TES Cardmaker and V:TES Cryptmaker, which allow you to create library and crypt cards of your own, respectively.
My website also contains other card creation tools for Photoshop or any other program alike, such as scans of library and crypt card templates, card backs, V:TES symbols…
4.3. Transcription System for V:TES Games
On the 9 th of September 2001 I published the first version of the Transcription System for V:TES Games I developed: which is intended for those who want to immortalize their V:TES games, and which has been simplified as much as possible to enable the transcriber to record the course of a game real timely. For that purpose, card names have been abbreviated so that anyone can transcribe them (given just a few guidelines) without having to memorize the abbreviations of each V:TES card.
4.4. V:TES Online projects
I have been involved in several unsuccessful VTES online projects, such as Jack Crow’s VTESC (2002), or John Barclay’s V:TES on Thoth Engine (2003), by providing digital images or retouching them.
5. UNITING THE SPANISH V:TES COMMUNITY
5.1. V:TES Hispania
On the 23 rd of February 2001, I created the "V:TES Hispania" Yahoo! Group, a Spanish forum dedicated to V:TES, which currently has 555 members. Everything V:TES related goes there, but the most frequent posts are rules questions and decklists for review. That Yahoo! Group has proven to be an excellent way to get in touch V:TES players from across Spain with each other.
5.2. VTES.NET
This huge national interactive website was conceived and created by Miguel Pascual (current Prince of Barcelona) in December 2003, who used me as an advisor, as a verifier of card translations, and as a provider of contents.
Through VTES.NET, users can:
VTES.NET currently has 1,100 members (1,010 from Spain, 54 from South America, 19 from North America, 15 from other European countries, 1 from Australia and 1 from Africa)
5.3. Answering rules questions
Since I created the V:TES Hispania Yahoo! Group, I have been answering lots of rules questions posted there, as well as those received by email or telephone call.
6. AS A PLAYTESTER
May playgroup and I have playtested three V:TES expansions.
7. AS PRESIDENT OF THE HISPANIC CONCLAVE
On the 10 th of November 2002, Gonzalo Cámara (Madrid), Marco Cortijo (Hospitalet de Llobregat), Ricard Díaz (Barcelona), Sergio García (Hospitalet de Llobregat), César Márquez (Logroño), Raúl Perfecto (Zaragoza), Francisco Rojas (Córdoba), Raúl Rojo (Salamanca) and me (Palma de Mallorca) founded the Hispanic Conclave (the Spanish V:TES Association), which I preside since then. This national organization's goals are promoting V:TES and organizing and supporting tournaments across Spain.
In order to keep all the Hispanic Conclave members in touch with each other and informed about this Association’s activities, I also created the Hispanic Conclave Yahoo! Group.
Among my responsibilities as President of the Hispanic Conclave are:
8. AS NATIONAL COORDINATOR OF SPAIN
In November 2003 I became the National Coordinator of Spain. Since then I have been helping organize national tournaments, helping direct prize support to such events, discussing with other National Coordinators and White Wolf about a new Rating System (the current one), about the number qualifying players in Continental Qualifiers, about the two-day format of Continental Championships…
On the 9th of November 2003, I created the CPEVEKN (V:EKN Conclave of Spanish Princes) Yahoo! Group in order to coordinate the Spanish V:EKN Princes and keep them informed.
Before White Wolf appoints a new Prince in Spain they usually ask for my opinion about the candidate.
Some Princes (mainly those who do not speak English) ask me to be the messenger of their worries, suggestions and/or questions to White Wolf.
9. AS AN ILLUSTRATOR
I have recently made an illustration for the Masai Blood Milk V:TES card which has been published in Legacies of Blood.
10. AS A V:TES PLAYER AND FAN
I play V:TES as much as I can, trying to bring as many people as possible to the game. I currently play V:TES two days a week: on Fridays at our club, and on Sundays in a game store.
As I have already mentioned, I lend my decks to anyone interested in playing V:TES.
As a traveller, I have been at every Spanish Continental Qualifier and in two National Championships, and I have also been at every European Championship using the qualifier system (Paris 2001, Vienna 2002, Barcelona 2003, Heidelberg 2004 and Budapest 2005).
I have also written several issues of the Spanish Baali Newsletter ( http://www.almadrava.net/boletines/ )
And since the 22 nd of March 2002, I have been a #vtes regular on Sorcery.net (#vtes is an IRC channel for V:TES fans).
11. APPROX. STATS OF THE V:TES COMMUNITY IN SPAIN
VEKN
members (6th-January-2006):
1344 |
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