Giovanni Newsletter Vol 4, n° 1
February 2005
Editor-in-chief Fabio "Sooner" Macedo
CONTENUTO.
0. What the f***?
I Fiction
II Edition's quote
III The Brand New Stereotypical Italian Dictionary
IV Cousin of the Month
V Asset of the Month
VI Tried Tactics
VII Bitch's Last Words
RISPETTO
Una Storia Della Famiglia by Orpheus, starring : Old Faces, New Faces.
-----------------
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 amiss.
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!".
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 precedent 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://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... Especially if
you intend to use Gear Up or equip 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 (new improved Anarch version !) 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 sketchy 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)
------------------------------------------------------------
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*