I've finally watched all of the original six Star Wars films and waddya know? They're actually quite good! Who'd have thought it?! Anyway, that's largely unrelated to the rest of the newsletter but I can pretend it's connected thanks to both it and the Megagame sharing common themes such as incomprehensible geopolitical chaos, aliens, and people called Anakin.
❗ Announcements ❗
🌍 The Megagame Happened!
I truly cannot condense the 7-odd hours of absolute chaos that was the Megagame neatly into a little segment here, but I will do my best to share some of the highlights. Please feel free to check out the News that was written during the game here if you want an insight into how everything unfolded.
Some highlights in list form (and in no particular order):
- Being in the middle of a UN meeting and having Lewis come in to tell the US Foreign Minister that America has just declared surprise war on Russia, an act that surprised the entire US team.
- The world being very confused and angry every time the news accused them of funding anti-alien terrorist organisation EXERT... Only to find out later that the people they had been buying tech off on the "Grey Market" had in fact been terrorist organisation EXERT and thus they had in fact been funding them the entire time.
- The French being friends with EXERT, only to find out that they were a terrorist organisation and immediately launch two weapons of mass destruction into orbit to threaten them. This directly lead to the assassination of the French Head of State by EXERT as it turns out that people don't like being threatened with WMDs.
- Half of the scientists being willingly abducted by aliens in the middle of a Scientific Conference.
- China developing anti-mind control technology after getting a tip-off that the aliens had mind control technology, only to find that this tip off was from anti-alien organisation EXERT and that the aliens had nothing of the sort and were genuinely coming in peace.
- The aliens being absolutely certain that the US was behind a governmental coup in Greenland (they had nothing to do with it) and thus having the US on a kill list for most of the game.
I would also like to say an enormous thank you to everyone who came along and played - it was a fantastic experience and you were all absolutely amazing. An especially big shout and and thank you to Control who not only had to rewrite basically the entire game make some significant edits to make the game more playable and fun but also facilitated everything brilliantly on the day.
🧠❓The Quiz is this Friday!
This is your requizite reminder that the quiz is happening this Friday! Teams can comprise up to 4 people and you're welcome to organise them beforehand or just turn up and we'll be happy to sort you with folks to quiz with!
- 🗓️ Friday 24th June, (that's this Friday!)
- 🕙 7-10pm
- 🗺️ OC0.04
- 💰 £1.50 entry fee
Some important aquizitions have been made for prizes so come quiz it out to find out who is the Most Tabletop(TM) in all the Society.[1]
This term's quiz rounds:
- Something's Wrong with the Music Round
- RPG Abilities - Find the Fake!
- Board Game Release Dates
- Fantastic Curses and how to Dispel them
- Knock-off magic items from media
- The round made by a computer
- Bonus round - What Happens Next?
[1] This is not a Tabletop Society endorsed accolade.
🎶 Music Donations are Live for Tabletop Radio!!
In an attempt to give our band a chance to learn the tunes you want us to perform, you can now donate £9 to ask our band to [try our best to] play some music you like! The earlier you donate, the longer we'll have to learn your tune and thus the better our rendition will hopefully be. We've only got a small set of instruments so can't promise a perfect rendition, but hopefully it'll still be good fun.
There are twelve donation slots available, although another donation incentive for tunes performed by just Finnbar in a bonus stream will be made available at a later date.
You can donate on our Tiltify page - It's a bit barebones at the moment, but will be updated with the rest of our donation incentives soon!
♟✨Tabletop Extravaganza
- 🗓️ Sunday 26th June - Tuesday 28th June
- 🕙 10am - 10pm (including overnight!)
- 🗺️ B2.02 and B2.04/5
Our three day long gaming spectacular, Tabletop Extravaganza, begins this Sunday at 9am! You can turn up and play just about any tabletop game that the society offers, but if you are looking for something specific there are a few bigger events running, some of which have signups listed on the website already in order to help everyone be organised. I've collated those that I know about below but do keep an eye out for more events going up on the website throughout this week!
- Alvis' Twilight Imperium game - there are 3 slots still available!
- Warhammer tournament - there are 5 slots still available!
- Reylynn’s model painting competition
- NetrUNner v0.2 - The Netrunner Unset is set to be played a couple times over the Extrav. I am not a Netrunner player but I have seen a lot of the art and it looks extremely cool.
- Finale LARP - This is the final LARP of the academic year and I've been informed that it's going to be bigger and better than ever! Normal LARP place (B2.02) at normal LARP time (12-5pm Sunday)
⬅️ CCGs moved to Wednesday for Week 10
Just an early heads up that, due to Tabletop Radio which is happening all day Thursday and Friday of Week 10, CCGs will be happening on Wednesday 29th June in Week 10. It will be in B2.02 from 5-10pm as normal.
🏳️🌈📡 Tabletop Radio
Tabletop Radio is hurtling ever-closer and we have an incredible line-up for you all! The timetable will probably drop this week as we are just having to make a final few scheduling adjustments so keep your eye out for that!
There are also still events available for you to sign up to!
Tabletop Gameshow - Team setup changed and there are two spaces left!
We’ve still got two spaces left for our first ever live Tabletop Radio Gameshow! Expect all manner of mysterious variety rounds, featuring several game show based rounds such as “countdown” and “carrot in a box”. Furthermore, the initial idea of a wargames and non- wargames team has been eased, so if you’re a non-wargames player who saw the non-wargames team was full, fear not, you can join! We will decide on the teams after we receive enough players - here’s the signup.
Orbital Blues RPG - three spaces available, look out for an event being posted tonight!
Do you want to be an interstellar outlaw? Do you want to rob a bank? Do you want to be sad in space? Do you want to help a sudden segment? If you answered yes to all of these, our Orbital Blues RPG section this Tabletop Radio may be for you. Orbital Blues is a rules-lite, rp-focused rpg where vibes are king and sadness is experience.
Jackbox - There are 4 spaces left! If you're interested, sign up to the event, or shoot Scarlett (@ORCH1D
) a message!
Mao - Sign up to Mao, there are 2 spaces left!
Chess 3000: The Next Generation Deluxe - Sign up to Chess here, there is1 space left!
✨ Thank you to Reylynn!
A huge thank you to Reylynn for donating this beautifully painted Necron combat patrol for Warhammer 40k, their brilliant gold carapaces will surely dazzle the competition!
❔ What's happening this week? ❔
- Monday 5-10pm: In Person Wargames - B2.01 and B2.02
- Tuesday 6-10pm: In Person Draft - B2.02 - Personal Cube - Free - No need to sign up to take part this week
- Wednesday 2-10pm: In Person Board Games - B2.02 and B2.04/5
- Thursday 5-10pm: In Person CCGs - B2.02
- Friday 7-10pm: The Quiz - OC0.04
- Sunday 9am onwards: Tabletop Extravaganza! - B2.02 and B2.04/5
- Sunday 12-5pm: Finale LARP! - B2.02
Remember, you can always find an up-to-date timetable of what's going on on our website's Schedule page, and you can see special events (including RPGs) and sign up to them via our Events page.
💭 What happened last week? 💭
Buckle up for more wargaming content that I will do my best to interpret and condense (and a reminder to check out #highlights if you want the unedited versions!)
To the left we can see some mech size discrepancy. In my opinion small mechs should be described as Mechro and that is mostly all I have to say on the matter.
Mick had the high ground this week when she opted to oversee the battle from a tower. This turned out to be a smart move as a fellow Sister died to a Dreadnought (visible in the background) but once again Mick managed to survive!
A highlight from Adam and Alex's "Gobbo v Gobbo" Bloodbowl game! The great Doom Diver gobbo, picked up by their troll teammate, is about to be thrown across the field in order to let the Doom Diver score an equalising touchdown.. was the Diver able to swoop their way to scoring..? Result: Disaster! In a clear fit of confusion, the troll ended up throwing Doom Diver gobbo the wrong direction, causing him to fall flat on his face and losing the ball! And this is only in the first half!
Extra Bonus End Bit
After the drama and intensity of the last few sessions, you’re ready to start a new arc. Not wanting to drop a bunch of exposition on you players as they enter a new town, you realise this is the perfect opportunity for a unique guide who is local to the area and who has some particular interests and goals of their own to add some depth to this new location. A list of... Unique npc guides is available for you below:
- Derek - a little-known author who looks just like you would imagine a Derek to look, sounds just like you would imagine a Derek to sound. As GM you should simply refuse to elaborate if asked for further details; the players will likely find this very suspicious but sometimes people are just some guy called Derek and that's their main defining feature. Some of the stuff he says will just be lies, for no reason at all other than because he thinks it enriches the world.
- Teeth Pianists - these melodious fey creatures will take up residence in your party's mouths, with the aim of having a symbiotic relationship, much like that of the hippo an oxpecker bird. In this case however, the Teeth Pianists will install what are effectively musical braces and will benefit from the enrichment of playing music, and you party may struggle to chew efficiently BUT they will have cool backing music wherever they go so I think it counts as a win. The Pianists are also excellent at sensing intentions so if the music becomes more menacing your party will know that a the seemingly innocent old lady they are talking to may have darker objectives than she's letting on.
- Duo the Barista - Duo is a technomagician with an unhealthily high caffeine tolerance and a pet owl. They dumpster dive for old pastries and beaten up bits of tech, all of which will inevitably end up as some complex feature on their ever evolving masterwork of a coffee machine. They know some dubious folks (it's hard to get a legal owl-ownership permit) as well as all the hottest spots for a hot drink in the entire town.
- Ampersand - this genderqueer spectre can and will appear when your party least expects her, drifting through walls and floating slightly ominously in the corner of your vision. He does have a way of getting under people's skin but can be extremely helpful if your party gets itself into any tricky situations as they trail sand after them which can be useful in the event of a beach episode or having to escape a labyrinth.
- The Unmatchmaker - This person knows everyone's business, especially how all the townsfolk feel about one another, and xe is hell-bent on orchestrating elaborate "meet-uncutes" in which two (or more) people meet and instead of falling into insta-love, they become arch-nemeses. Xe wears odd socks and shoes and will muddle up any matching sets of crockery, jewellery, or anything else that they may see.
- Laura "Ghostslayer" Johns - A very enthusiastic ghost tour guide and LARPer, Laura knows the town like the back of her hand but will insist upon regaling the party with more and more elaborate stories of hauntings and how she has single-handedly saved the community time after time. When asked, the townsfolk will say that they've never had any ghost problems, but nor have they ever known anyone called Laura Johns...
Wash your hands, stay safe, and come play some games with us 💛
Lils (they/he, Communications and Operations, delighted by unexpected gender euphoria)
@ArtemisForest#9741 on Discord
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