page_title: Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Vampire: The Eternal Struggle / Gameplay / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: An in-progress two-player game of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, formerly called Jyhad. Set up is a fictional situation between two decks (Ravnos and Tzimisce) after about 4 rounds of play. Note that games usually have 3-5 players, and that the two 7-card fans in the top and bottom rows would not normally be openly visible.
context_page_description: Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is a multiplayer collectible card game published by White Wolf Publishing. It was set in the World of Darkness.
context_section_description: The game is ideally played by a group of four or five players, but it can be played by any number of players from two up. Group play with more than six players is rare, as an individual's turn can easily take two to three minutes, causing a slow game for all. Two-player games (and to some extent three-player games) also suffer from lack of opportunity for the kind of inter-player alliances and treachery that are a large part of the game.
  As in most other collectible card games, each player designs his or her own deck. Each deck is built with two components:
  'Crypt' - containing cards representing vampires (and in some cases mortal allies) that the player may control during the game.
  'Library' - containing cards generally representing assets or actions to be taken during the game.
  Most cards in the library can only be used in conjunction with vampires. Some cards have no cost in resources to play, in other cases to put a card in play it must be paid for using 'pool' or the blood on his vampires. Pool represents the player's influence, and if it is reduced to zero the player is out of the game (each player starts the game with 30 pool). Therefore, players continually have to make decisions based on how much they want to invest into assets in play and how much to retain to stay alive, especially against other players capable of sudden dangerous 'bleeds' (direct attacks on the players pool).
  Each turn one player directs his minions to perform a number of actions and attacks, which other players' minions may intercept or interrupt. Each player attempts to 'oust' (remove from game) his 'prey' (the player to his left) while defending himself from his 'predator (the player to his right). This continues until only one player is left on the table. Ousting one's prey is worth one victory point, and being the last person left at the table is worth an additional victory point. However, ousting one's prey also nets the player 6 pool, and thus makes him stronger and more dangerous to the next prey. This is one of the reasons why other players may suddenly start helping a player in a weak situation, or even gang up on a player who seems to be going for a 'table sweep', making shifting alliances part and parcel of the game.
  Gameplay offers many options for alliance or betrayal. Short-term deals and trade-offs (with very fluid terms) are typical. Bluffing (appearing stronger or weaker) is also often used.
  Games can take anything from half an hour to three or more hours (for a 5-player game). In tournament play and in some informal games, a time limit may be imposed, after which all remaining players receive half a victory point in addition to any they may have already received. Standard time limit for a tournament game is 2 hours. Game time varies greatly depending on the number of players and the style of decks played.
caption: Sample setup of a two-player game.
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