As you pass through the doorway into the fabled chamber of the Sage of Dice, a trail of purple flames, levitating slightly off the ground, ignite in sequence towards the back of the chamber where you see, lit up in an eerie purple glow a huge stone face and a simple pedestal, glowing purple, with the insignia of a sword embedded into an icosahedron. You’re drawn to the pedestal and, as if a mage hand takes your own, you place your palm on the symbol. The eyes and mouth of the stone face light up with the same purple glow from the flames and a voice booms into the chamber:
“SPEAK THEE NOW, YE WHO SEEKS ADVICE, FROM THE GREAT AND MIGHTY SAGE OF DICE!”
You explain you’re a new student at the local university and have come seeking information into the renowned Warwick Tabletop Games and Roleplaying Society that you had heard about at the societies fair and they had sent you here for more information.
With that the blinding purple glow of the stone face dims out and electric lights turn on all over the chamber, revealing cardboard pillars and small purple coloured fake candles. A tall but slim bespectacled man in a purple hoodie, bearing the symbol seen on the pedestal, steps out from behind the face, turning off a lecture mic pack and placing it to the side. “Hey, I’m Luke! I’m the ‘Sage of Dice’, but most people know me as my far less mighty title of communications officer. I write these newsletter things each week to tell you about what’s happening in the society, hopefully you’ll find this one very useful for getting into the society and knowing what events we have running this week. Check back here each week for more details on what’s going on! Anyhoo, without further ado, let’s get right… INTO THE NEWS!”
NB: Also welcome back to any returning faces, good to see you all again! :D
Announcements
Welcome Back!
Yes, it’s that time where we all get stuck back into out studies, or start them for the very first time, in what is now the 2019/20 academic year. I hope you’ve all had an enjoyable and restful summer and are ready to get back into board games, roleplaying games, card games and wargames… and, you know, do that studying thing we should probably also do from time to time… This is the Welcome Week edition of the newsletter. There are no specific announcements as such this week, hopefully this week will serve as a chance for newcomers to get settled in and work out what the society is about and allow returning members a fix of what they’ve surely been craving all summer before term starts for real next week!
A Word From Our Sponsors: Zatu Games
We are pleased to continue our existing sponsorship with Zatu Games. When joining the society you get access to an exclusive discount code (EDU99) which gets you 5% off all items on the Zatu store. Make sure you use them for any board games or card games you intend to purchase this year, it's cheaper with our discount code so lets be honest... why wouldn't you?
What’s happening this week? (What actually goes on in the society for those that don’t know!)
Wargames – Mon 23rd Sept - 5-10pm – B2.02 (Science Concourse)
Wargames are tabletop, turn-based strategy games, including systems such as Warhammer, Warmachine, Dropzone, X-Wing and Star Wars: Armada. For those of you that already play these and have your own armies, bring them along and get stuck in. For those of you new to wargaming but wanting to learn or try it out, we also have our own society armies that you are welcome to use, as well as a number of exec and society members that will be more than happy to show you how to play.
Magic: The Gathering Draft – Tues 24th Sept – 6-10pm – LIB1 (Library Ground Floor)
Those of you with any idea as to what ‘Magic: The Gathering’ is will already know far more about it than I do. To my knowledge, MTG is a deck building, card-based game similar to Hearthstone (although I’ll probably get screamed at for suggesting that). The society runs regular drafts for you to get involved in. The welcome week draft will be M20, with an £8 buy in, reduced by £2 for each pack you supply yourself. Our drafts are also sanctioned, so bring your DCI number with you if you're new (and if you don't have one, we'll give you one!). Make sure you turn up no later than 6:30pm as that is when we will begin. There are pack prizes for winners so pay the faction a visit and see what it’s about. If you have never played Magic before, we suggest going to CCGs on Thursday as this is a far more casual environment to learn a rather complex game.
Board Games – Wed 25th Sept – 2-10pm – B2.02 (Science Concourse)
Our most popular event is board games every Wednesday afternoon, and is the perfect afternoon for casual games, allowing you to meet people within the society or use as an opportunity to get to know people in your halls over a game that makes that first interaction far less awkward. With over 150 games for you to choose from there is plenty to do, and more variety than a Walker’s variety pack, so get involved and enjoy.
Casual Card Games – Thurs 26th Sept – 4-10pm – LIB2 (Library Ground Floor)
Oh yeah, it’s all coming together… A menagerie of different card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, Netrunner and casual Magic: The Gathering for you to play with other collectors or learn from a dedicated community of commander players there to support you. For those of you have been collecting for a while, come and show off your mighty deck, and for those of you that have never touched a deck in your life, we have society decks for you to try out! (Note: Don’t read this paragraph in a New Zealand accent, it becomes very... different.)
Intro RPG One Shots – Sat 28th – 12-7pm – Social Sciences Café
For those of you who are used to RPG systems, or those that have seen Stranger Things and want to see what all the fuss is about, we will be running introductory one-shots including Dungeons and Dragons for you to try out. You needn’t bring anything other that your good self and a good imagination. Make sure you sign up online and arrive before 12:30 to ensure you get into a game.
Pub Social – Sat 28th – 7pm-Late – The Varsity Pub
A good chance to meet many of the exec and new/returning society members if you hadn’t already. Come along for a drink/dinner/chat if you wanted to. Not much more to say on that, it’s a pub dinner, it’ll be fun… yeah.
LARP – Sun 29th – 12-6pm – OC0.05 (Oculus)
Live action roleplay (LARP) is somewhat similar to RPGs in many ways except YOU are on the adventure. LARP begins indoors for a briefing and gearing up from the society’s armoury of things before heading into the local woodland to play, this means you will need to arrive before 12:30pm or we may have left without you. This week’s adventure will introduce the lore and rules of the UNITY system as well as an introduction to LARP in general. All skill levels are welcome, as mentioned the society has gear you can use but feel free to bring your own. Maybe leave the 6ft claymore at home, can’t say campus security will be best pleased with that being swung around…
I hope those of you new to the society have found this informative and do get stuck in with all our events during Welcome Week. If you have any questions at all about the society feel free to contact myself or another member of the exec either in person or via email and we will do our best to answer them. Other than that, I’d like to wish you all a successful year at Warwick and a very enjoyable year with the society.
Much Love,
Luke Scriven (Communications Officer)
L.Scriven.1@warwick.ac.uk
Society Website
Society Facebook Page
Discord Shortlink: xdDZnYQ
Wargames Facebook Group
Card Games Facebook Group
Board Games Facebook Group
RPG Facebook Group
LARPs Facebook Group
Our Sponsors, Zatu Games