It´s time! The upcoming Fifth Edition Hecata preconstructed deck for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is now available for preorders. The official release date is February 28, so now is when you talk to your favourite store about stocking up.
Above you see preview art by Anastasiia Horbunova for the card Spectral Sentinel – for the actual card preview, more previews and the full decklist, check out the Fifth Edition Hecata product page.
Words by Ben Peal, product director of Black Chantry Productions:
Greetings, fellow Kindred! With the new year approaching, it’s about time I gave you a product roadmap update for the Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (VTES) releases slated for 2024 plus a production update for 2025.
2024 was a lighter release schedule for us, seeing the releases of the 30th Annivesary set and the Fifth Edition Lasombra pre-constructed deck. We also had the launch of print-on-demand in Europe via Gamepod, helping meet a critical need there. 2025 is shaping up to have a much busier release schedule.
The Hecata pre-constructed deck was planned to be released alongside the Lasombra deck, but we felt a fourth round of playtesting was needed for it. Translation work the Hecata deck into French, Spanish, and Portuguese has been completed, the print files have been sent to the printer, and the Hecata deck is presently slated for release at the end of February 2025. We’ve had a couple of sneak previews for it already and we’ll have more of them coming soon.
Playtesting for the New Blood decks for Ravnos, Salubri, Tzimisce, Lasombra, and Hecata also concluded this year and we anticipate a Q2 2025 release for those. For logistical reasons, we’re likely to split their release into two waves: Ravnos, Salubri, and Tzimisce in one wave and Lasombra and Hecata in the other wave.
We are currently in Round Two of playtesting of the Sabbat pre-constructed decks. It’s an ambitious project, exploring the Sabbat in much more depth and in ways that encompass previously-published Sabbat kindred, so we may need a fourth round of playtesting for it. As it stands, we’re aiming for a release date timed with the Week of Nightmares in Columbus, Ohio in June of 2025.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I strongly recommend reading the Fifth Edition Sabbat book to get an understanding of how the Sabbat are currently being handled in Vampire: The Masquerade. The main thing – the core principle – is that the Sabbat largely discard any clan affiliation and instead adopt a Path-aligned ideology. So instead of having clan-themed pre-constructed decks for the Sabbat, we’ll have four Path-themed decks: Path of Caine, Path of Cathari, Path of Death and the Soul, and Path of Power and the Inner Voice. These decks will have crypt cards that are keyworded for their respective path and library cards specific to those paths. Separately from those decks, we’ll also release cards that give Paths to existing Sabbat kindred. If you don’t have a copy of the Fifth Edition Sabbat book, I recommend the Vampire: The Masquerade wiki’s page on the Sabbat as a quick primer.
Symbols of Sabbat paths: Caine, Cathari, Death and Soul, and Power and the Inner Voice.
Following the Sabbat decks, we’ll move away from pre-constructed decks to a pair of themed releases: Brazil By Night and Shadows of New York. With Brazil By Night, the release is a personal one, as we lost five members of the Brazilian VTES community to COVID-19. We’ve decided to honor those players with crypt cards and we’re going to explore the nation more in-depth with additional library cards and crypt cards. With Shadows of New York, we’ll cover the characters and events of the Shadows of New York, Coteries of New York and Reckoning of New York visual novels for Vampire: The Masquerade. Across both of these sets, you can expect to see additional crypt and library cards for the Camarilla, Anarch, and Sabbat sects. We anticipate a late Q3 2025 release for them.
That largely covers the releases for 2025. Looking past the horizon into 2026, I think we can expect to see New Blood packs for the Sabbat Paths, at least one more themed set like Fall of London, Brazil By Night, and Shadows of New York, and possibly another Path-themed pre-constructed deck or two. But there’s plenty of work to do for 2025 before I can give firm commitments to 2026.
Regarding the current tournament metagame and the possibility of errata, we certainly keep an eye on the tournament scene and its trends and we’re very aware of the concerns with Anarchs. Generally-speaking, there are three ways of addressing this: banning cards, issuing errata for cards, and developing new cards to counter/interact with the problem cards. In terms of banning cards and issuing errata for cards, I think we’re largely done with those methods for addressing issues. We do have cards on our internal watch list and we may still exercise those methods to address them – and there are two specific cards I’ll mention in a moment – but I think we’re pretty close to our comfort level with the existing legacy VTES cards and the newer Fifth Edition VTES cards.
Additionally, we have the Hecata pre-preconstructed deck and the Ravnos, Salubri, Tzimisce, Lasombra, and Hecata New Blood packs being released over the next 2-4 months, and we’d like to see the overall impact on the tournament environment after those cards are released before we make any errata decisions, mainly because it’s a lot of cards in a short time span. As for the aforementioned two specific cards, they are as follows:
Baba Yaga:Baba Yaga will be replaced with a new card named Gorgo with new artwork but otherwise the same stats and special abilities. The Russian mythos in the World of Darkness is still being worked on and the V5 canon may end up not permitting us to use Baba Yaga as a character in VTES. In the interests of having a published card instead of PDF-only we’ll release Gorgo in an upcoming anthology set in 2025 (release date not yet determined).
Major Boon: The present wording of the card has it playable only after a bleed action has been resolved – after priority has been passed on any action modifiers and reactions – but it also creates a window for playing additional action modifiers after that resolution. That doesn’t work within the mechanics of the game, so it’ll be re-issued with updated card text in an upcoming promo pack in 2025 (release date not yet determined).
Many thanks to the playtesters, the event organizers, and to all of you as players! I look forward to the next year, packed with new VTES releases!
Ben Peal Product Director Black Chantry Productions
The preview card in this article is from the upcoming Fifth Edition Hecata preconstructed deck. Lenelle, Mambo of Birmingham has art by Ken Meyer Jr, illustrator for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle since 1994!
Words by Vincent Ripoll, rules director of Black Chantry Productions:
It has been 30 years of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (VTES), and we want to dwell a bit on how the rules of the game have changed in this time. A good way to look at this is by the “eras” of the three main contributors:
L. Scott Johnson (“LSJ”) played a pivotal role in establishing the rules of VTES as we know them today through various rulings and errata. His work spanned from 1998 to the end of the White Wolf era in 2010, starting with collecting answers from the official net.rep of Wizard of the Coast at that time as well as house rules, then becoming the official net.rep himself and releasing the quite legendary RTR 7-7 which paved the way for the game we know today.
Pascal Bertrand contributed greatly to the rules between 2010 and 2016, especially focusing on naming concepts and fixing typos. His rulings defined the finer aspects of card interactions, such as the “impulse” as well as redefining official formats for tournaments when the game was no longer published. His clarifications greatly influenced the official VTES rulings, helping streamline game design and card effects.
Vincent Ripoll’s rule changes, particularly from 2018 onward, focused on consistency in the wording, defining some of the most technical parts in a logical way, as well as simplifying or making certain mechanics more intuitive.
Original version.
Original version.
Banned from tournament play.
Changes by L. Scott Johnson
Back in 1998, VTES rules were a mess. It was the early days of CCG, and although the game mechanics were sound, many interactions were ill-defined, and many cards were not clear enough or consistent enough. There were a lot of house rules back then, because it was much harder for players to find information about games. The Internet was very different, and players had only USENET servers to communicate, so messages could be easily lost based on their retention policy.
LSJ “started with a small dusting of corner-tidying cases” (such as restricting the duration of combat effects to the round – Immortal Grapple used to last the whole combat) before releasing one of the first “Rule Team Rulings”, but undoubtedly the most influential: the 7-7 RTR. It defined what (D) actions were (before that, you could have (D) actions directed at yourself that no one could block), limiting vote cards one could discard during a vote, the way aggravated damage worked, but also errata such as Fame’s current card text. It also included some changes that would later on be reversed (such as not being able to play combat cards after a combat ends). The third RTR that year gave the general targeting rule (basically: targets must be appropriate) that would lead to “you cannot attempt what you cannot do”.
In 1999, most changes were card errata (such as the first errata on the VTES version of Parity Shift that allowed you to reallocate the pool after the referendum passed) or bans (Return to Innocence was broken beyond repair), cleaning up card text and answering what would appear as weird questions today such as: “what happens if a vampire banishes themselves in Daring the Dawn”, but clarifications were also made about where Embraces end up when they get banished, or the first definition of block-induced combats (leading later on to the “block resolution”).
In 2000, combat steps were reworked, and it became possible again to play end-of-round cards after a combat ends. Many things were not clear yet in Scott’s mind, with a lot of back-and-forth changes on cards (for instance the Tomb of Ramses III), but the general direction was becoming clearer. Cancellation was clarified (you could cancel cards brought in play through exotic means such as Disguised Weapon). Self-contest was clarified in 2001; in 2002, Eagle’s Sight as well as “play as if” effects were properly defined. Note that the NRA rule was only added to the rulebook in the Camarilla Edition, even though it was already effective as a tournament rule years before (because players were complaining of bleed / Earth Meld decks already).
In 2003, how costs of cancelled cards would be paid (or not) was defined as it is today, leading to many “(no cost is paid)” errata, and the use of non-reminder text between parentheses.
In 2004, Seeds of Corruption was errated a last time (before being banned years later – sometimes clarifying a card as best as possible isn’t enough). More interestingly, any effect could now be used during damage prevention step (but not during the “as played” window). It started with The Barrens (because it’s quite natural to try to draw cards to prevent damage) and ended up years later into being able to reciprocate to before-range-is-determined damage from an Outside the Hourglass with another Outside the Hourglass. Oh, and dodge would now protect from Catatonic Fear, whereas two Catatonic Fear would both inflict damage.
In 2007, LSJ would teach us a good math lesson by defining which mathematical operations should be done first when doubling or halving costs, and increasing or decreasing it by a fixed amount.
Of course, Mask of the Thousand Faces would be changed in 1998, 2003 and 2004, but never banned because it’s a cool card 😊
Banned from tournament play.
Latest printed version.
Banned from tournament play.
Changes by Pascal Bertrand
After White Wolf ceased publishing the game, the player organisation VEKN took matters into its own hands and appointed a new Rules Director. Pascal was keen to dust off some old concepts, removing some oddities (such as combat cards played outside combat) and fixing some cards released in Keepers of Tradition (the last “core” set published by WW).
In December 2011, the RTR encompassed ballots, how multiple actions introduced by the same cards were handled, some templates such as “During X do Y”, early stages of replacement effects, how Villein would no longer penalize the whole table, as well as the legality of VEKN cards and what PTW meant in the final round. Pascal started working on the complete rules reference, an unfinished work.
In 2013, the concept of “impulse” was introduced, Lilith’s Blessing was banned and clarifications about additional strikes were made, and tournament rules were changed to accommodate the player base slump.
In 2014, the “finish the action or phase upon time limit” was introduced in tournaments, and in 2016, proxies were officially allowed in some tournaments “as long as the game is not under production” (but still stands today as all cards have not been reprinted yet).
Much of Pascal’s work was not made visible until years later, especially the overhaul of the card texts, thanks to subsequent reprints.
2018 was as busy as 1998, with three RTR released. The first one focused on removing some unnecessary quirks such as the influence phase leading to suicidal self-contests and not matching the intuitive way of playing cards, controlled allies in the uncontrolled region, or Caitiff not being a clan. The second one defined Anarch as its own sect, introduced the hunt value, and moved the non-cumulative bleed modifiers (“limited”) from the card to make it the default rule (and making the analogy with additional strike sources). Templating started to be also more consistent with some terms (such as immune) no longer being used for different things. Villein was also errated a second time to limit it to 5 pool. The third RTR focused on some niche concepts such as “cold iron vulnerability” or the research area which were moved from the rulebook to the few cards that were using it or removed from some cards, scarce penalty which was lightened and introduction of the block resolution definition. Many cards were changed with tournament rules in mind, such as making blood or pool gain optional (reducing the need of rollback in tournaments) or revealing “fetched” cards.
Many cards were reworded for consistency following guidelines, and all these changes were made possible by the various reprints done throughout that year, and the print-on-demand that allows us to bring updated cards to the market with greater flexibility.
In 2020, some cards that were on the watch list for being associated with real world racist caricatures were banned and replacement cards were later issued. The November RTR of that year coincided with the release of the Fifth Edition rulebook and got rid of default sect for clans (that was forcing players to keep up to date with the latest sect associations). The Fifth Edition rulebook also contained some name changes (Assamites, Followers of Set, Thaumaturgy) to align with Fifth Edition terminology.
There hasn’t been any RTR release since then, but various projects are gathering all the rulings (including those from after 2020) to make them easy to find.
We hope you enjoyed this little trip in time and the effort put in over the years to ensure the game remains fun, balanced, and as easy to play as possible.
At the top of this article you see some preview art by Raquel Cornejo from a brand new card that will be made available in the upcoming Fifth Edition Hecata preconstructed deck.
Word by Ginés Quiñonero, art director of Black Chantry Productions:
The artwork of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (VTES) has captivated players for three decades with a unique and alluring characteristic: its eclecticism. This diversity of styles has been present since the game’s first edition, evolving with each new release and attracting players from all backgrounds. Each has found a style they resonate with among the game’s illustrations. As VTES expanded over the years — especially during the White Wolf era — its artistic range broadened to include influences from comics, manga, fairy tales, and medieval fantasy. Today, although some variety remains, VTES artwork has crystallized into a signature dark horror atmosphere that is both dramatic and mature.
Throughout the history of VTES, two artists stand out for their near-continuous contributions from 1994 to 2024: Ken Meyer, Jr. and Lawrence Snelly. In their works, iconic characters like Zebulon and Anneke, capture the distinct styles of these illustrators.
In addition to this stylistic evolution, the game also experienced a technical transformation. In its early days, such as with the original edition and Dark Sovereigns, illustrations were created using traditional techniques like watercolors, acrylics, and oils. However, with the Ancient Hearts expansion, digitally modified photographs made their debut, thanks to pioneers like Lawrence Snelly and Max “Shade” Fellwalker, who added a new dimension to the game’s visuals with works like Bindusara and Praxis Seizure: Monaco.
In 2000, VTES took a further step into the digital age with Christopher Shy’s work in Sabbat War and later Chad Michael Ward in Gehenna (2004). These artists introduced photo-based illustrations with painterly finishes, creating eerie atmospheres that became the dominant style in Bloodlines (2001). Their contributions shifted the game’s art towards a haunting, cinematic aesthetic.
Another milestone arrived in 2013 with Danse Macabre, the first fan-made expansion, which brought fully digital 3D-modeled illustrations into VTES. Artists like Javier Santos and Martín de Diego Sábada left their unmistakable mark on this new phase, contributing to the ongoing visual evolution of the game. This type of art has become the dominant style in VTES today, with Carmen Cornet being its foremost representative.
In 2006, the Player’s Kit introduced cards featuring preliminary sketches — a technique that wouldn’t reappear until Direct Intervention was released with its sketched versions years later. More recently, in 2022, the first full-art card, Maila, illustrated by Noora Hirvonen, made its debut. Then, in 2024, Mythic Form became the first library card with a full-art design specifically conceived for VTES’s vertical card format. These innovations highlight VTES’s constant drive to explore new presentation forms and breathe life into its characters and settings.
Beyond these technical and stylistic developments, VTES artwork has also served as a way to honor key figures associated with the game—designers, illustrators, and even players. For many fans, the idea of being immortalized as a vampire has become an achievable dream, particularly for those who have won continental championships and other major tournaments. With Black Chantry Productions now at the helm, this tradition has been extended to a wider variety of players, allowing the community to see itself reflected in this unique game.
Anson – Anson Maddocks depicted.
Leon – Jason Carl depicted.
Paulo de Castille – Oscar J Garza.
Xaviar – Steve Wieck depicted.
Byzar – Hugh Anseesing depicted.
At the top of this article and on the card above you see a preview of Monica Giovanni by Mark Kelly from the upcoming Fifth Edition Hecata preconstructed deck, He started to contribute to VTES in The Unaligned set in 2014, and has so far illustrated 37 cards.
And so, as Vampire: The Eternal Struggle enters its fourth decade, one thing remains certain: its artwork continues to evolve, surprising and inspiring players with its boundless creativity.
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and for the set commemorating this released earlier this year, we reached out to some of the card artists who were creating for the game in the very beginning. One of the most prolific contributors is the talented Edward Beard Jr. Let’s talk with him!
Ed, how are you doing today? – Ready to embrace the madness at all times with a zest for the next benchmark, so I guess “driven” is the word. The life of a self-employed artist is ALWAYS “organized chaos”. You must be ready to do battle with the gauntlet of creative energies and whatever life throws at you.
How about you background as an artist – how did it all start out for you? – I was kicked out of art class in 9th grade, told that fantasy, horror and sci-fi were not true art and mere commercial by default. After multiple “Failing grades” for daring to stick a dragon or gargoyle hidden within the boring fruit bowl and watching my teacher hang my work up at the school shows with all the A graded work so she could receive accolades from my work while giving me a failing grade, I brought her before the superintendent and called her out for her hypocrisy. That got me permanently banned from art for the remaining of my schooling. As such I was self taught.
What kind of illustrator assignments do you usually prefer? – The ones that require me to be challenged to capture a pinnacle moment or concept that most exemplifies what the clients’ desires and most of the time do not even know what that is.
What artistic techniques do you prefer? – I generally work in black/white and color tangible mediums such as graphite and acrylic paint. I use a combination of mixed media and base that decision on whatever the subject demands to achieve the best effect. I don’t try to force every subject into a standard medium.
We guess many who read this have seen your work for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. What else have you worked with? – I illustrated about 126 cards for Magic: The Gathering over my time with them from 1993-2005. I also did some work for Dungeons & Dragons. My largest body of works come from my licensing art done for over 1 000 different products over my 42 years in fantasy and non-fiction art for companies products like calendars for Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, Borders, cell phone covers, throw blankets, posters for many companies like Hot Topic and Spencer Gifts retail chain stores.
You did some work for the very first sets of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, including the iconic Pulled Fangs one that is reprinted in the 30th Anniversary. What can you tell us about that one piece, or in general about those early times? – I always loved gothic horror and vampires so when the chance to create some cool vampire related art came up with Vampire: The Eternal Struggle I jumped at it. I also created a self portrait of myself in that set on the card Praxis Seizure: Boston. Since I lived close to Boston, I thought it to be the perfect opportunity to sneak me into the set since I had not created a self portrait since the 1970’s.
– The most memorable experience I can remember was in 1994-95 when I was informed that the Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” TV show was condemning Vampire: The Masquerade role playing and card games along with other “evil products”. Evidently, he might have featured my work and several other cards on a segment condemning the set due to its anti-religious and what Pat deemed satanic evil nature. I was informed by multiple fans that the specific card that he deemed most offensive was Telepathic Misdirection, that I created, due to the repelling of the cross. His commentary focused on how in the set the vampires are stronger than God and can repel the power of God as featured in my art. Evidently Pat never heard of “make believe” and Hollywood. All I know is, it was a huge explosion for my website at that time and earned me thousands of fans of my art.
What other work do you have upcoming? – I am very excited to be working on game art for the first time since 2005 on the newly released card game Sorcery: Contested Realm. I was reached out to by the creator Erik Olofsson who was a fan of my work when he was young playing Magic: The Gathering. He asked me to create my own “mini set” featuring dragons. The reason I agreed was because ALL of the art for the entire game is always 100% hand painted, something we have not seen in the game illustration world since 1993.
Thanks Ed for this interview. To learn more about his work, check out www.edbeardjr.com and www.airbrushbybeard.com, and follow him on Youtube (Fantasy Artist Ed Beard Jr), Facebook (Ed Beard Jr, Fantasy Artist), Instagram (Ed Beard Jr), X (Ed Beard Jr) and Tiktok (Artist Ed Beard Jr).
The 30th Anniversary set for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is available in your favorite store and also from our own webshop. It consists of a powerful 100 card Toreador preconstructed deck we call “The Endless Dance”, plus an extra 20 cards, including new Camarilla Justicars and nice reprints. For full deck list and previews, check out the product page.
