Saturday, December 10, 2011

VtES History: VtES Players Kit (2006)

The VtES Player's Kit (product code: WW2257 / ISBN 1-58846-899-2) was an introductory set for VtES beginners, and was released at the same time as the Third Edition expansion in 2006. It contained basically the material needed for 4 players to start with VtES and was sold for $24.99 (list price). The player's kit contained a number of different items:
  • Four 50-card introductory decks.
  • A large turn-by-turn instruction.
  • 120 blood tokens (red glass).
  • A Rulebook.
The four decks are actually halved versions of the Third Edition starter decks. Each of them had 44 library cards and 6 crypt cards. The decks were pre-stacked for use with the turn-by-turn instruction to guide new players through the game.
In addition, in each of these four decks there was one crypt cards, which did not show a colored (finalized) version of a vampire, but "only" the artist sketch. Here's a picture of the four "unique" crypt cards from the VtES Players Kit:
All the cards from the VtES Player's Kit are tournament legal (including the four special crypt card versions) and function in the same way as the "original" cards from the Third Edition.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately due to production issues weren't the decks in reverse order?

So in order to play the introductionary games, which was a great idea, you needed to draw the cards from the bottom of the deck.

-Lönkka

Anonymous said...

Lönkka is correct with his comment.
Another part of the general 3rd Edition issues....

- Hardy Range

Alex said...

I have seen this Player's Kit at a local game store and know, that the game should be quite good actually. Will I be able to play solid games with my friends using these decks or should I opt for something heavier? Understand, that I have to interest in actually collecting all the cards. I would just love to play the game from time to time, so playability and re-playbility without it getting boring due to repeatability is quite important to me. Thanks!

Erik said...

Hi Alex,

If you have the possibility, buying the regular (full-size) pre-con decks would be a better way to start if you have serious interest in starting and demoing the game.

50 might be a bit small.