[The room is silent. Suddenly, a massive crashing noise. Finnbar enters stage left. Their clothes are tattered, and they have multiple scratch and bite marks. I guess this is a continuation of last time...]
Finnbar: (obviously reading from a script held up by a nearby Benjamin) Oh, hi, I didn’t see you there! Sorry about that, was dealing with a bear. But anyway, welcome to your mid-holiday newsletter! I understand that everyone may be very slightly distracted by the global pandemic, but that doesn’t mean that the exec haven’t been working hard to introduce some sweeping changes to how the society is going to operate this year! Sadly Ares can’t make it to this particular newsletter, but hopefully they’ll be free once the next newsletter needs to come out.
[You hear some brief Ares-like muffled screams from a nearby cupboard; more anger than anything else. Needless to say, Finnbar is likely to die after this exercise.]
These are quite big changes, but a non-negligible proportion were discussed within exec and were decided to have a positive effect on the society as a whole, even if they may not look like it. Some of these will be only coming into place once we get back to in-person events, so if you have any thoughts on them, please send them to this unmonitored mailbox: no@notlistening.bye
. Thank you!
The Website
If you’re reading this on the website, you may have noticed a few changes that we’re trialling. We liked the purple highlights in the previous newsletter so much that we decided to apply similar colours to the entire website! We like to call this “graphic design is my passion theme”, since graphic design is indeed our passion. I hope you like it! If you don’t, you can either click here, or click Account on the top, View Profile and then Edit Profile.
The New Membership System
As you know, we are an excellent society where members and non-members alike are allowed to enjoy the games that they love in a friendly environment. However, we’ve fallen on hard times with the SU not giving us as much money as we’d like, and we believe that some members are of course more equal than others. As such, we’re introducing a tiered membership system so you can contribute more and get more out of your society experience. The tiers are as follows.
- d4 (wet paper) tier: Regular membership, so you get a society die, and discounts to our paid special events.
- d6 (clingfilm) tier: You get to spin the wheel once at a Society Quiz, and I’ll compose a tiny tune on the melodica for you. You can also choose one board game, and we’ll put it in Other Bag (Best Bag’s less good cousin).
- d8 (dry paper) tier: We’ll put your face on one of our events slides. (Visibility of said face cannot be guaranteed.)
- d10 (ceramic) tier: One of the exec will draw a proxy card for any card found in any game, or make a proxy component. We can’t promise it’ll be an exec member that’s good at drawing or making things.
- d12 (wood) tier: Same as above, but we’ll do it for you in colour. Also, we'll get our sponsors, Pocket Workshop, to print you a trophy!
- d20 (resin) tier: You get first pick of games during any session, and your name inscribed into Best Bag. You get one free natural 20 roll (even in a d6 system) once per session of any society RPG. You get one free random pack (yes, even one of your opponent’s) in a draft. I will come over to your house and play any board game with you. You get to be an exec member. We’ll glue a LARP weapon to your arm. We’ll buy you a puppy. I’ll give you (searches through pockets) fourteen cents and a jelly baby.
We’ll be releasing details on how to purchase higher tiers than your current one (d4) soon, so stay tuned!
On RPGs
As many players of D&D and other d20-based systems know, a natural 1 is the bane of our existences. They appear just as a perfect plan is put in place to ruin everything you've done, taking your wonderfully crafted character and stomping them into the mud. As such, the Society is banning the use of d20 dice in RPG systems, not just because they keep betraying me and natural 1s make me look like a dumbass but because of the calm and sensible decision to try and improve player enjoyment and retention by removing this barrier to success. Our recommendation as an exec is to use d12+8 in place of any d20 roll as d12s are undeniably the best die. We will not stop you from using other combinations of dice however, such as d10+10, d4+16 and of course, a magic 8 ball.
On LARP
The Unity system has seen incredible success in our tight-knit LARPing community in the past years, but as with all good things, it must come to an end. In order to focus on our more traditional fishing roots, LARP is becoming CARP, or Crime Action Role Playing. In this amazing turn, we’ll be focusing on the stories of detective fishermen and their accomplices as they try to find criminals and get their next big catch! I’m incredibly excited for this new event and I hope you are too! Stay tuned for the rules of CARP, which our LARP reps (the SU haven’t accepted the name change yet) are working hard on.
As a final farewell to the Unity system, we are releasing a secret version of Unity, version 6.9. In what critics are calling “nice”, this version introduces the desperately needed Memelord class and a number of new calls such as Asbestos. You can find out about these and more in the full rulebook here!
And Finally, A Word From Our Sponsors
You’ve almost certainly heard about one of our sponsors, Pocket Workshop. However, after much discussion with Alex “Enter the Code TABLETOP at the Checkout” Dixon, we came to the agreement that our deal could be taken one step further. As such, we’re incredibly proud to announce that Pocket Workshop has bought out the Society!!
I’m incredibly excited about this venture, so look out for more 3D printing, more discount codes and more corporate overlordship in the near future! Please don’t be worried though, as your authentic Tabletop experience won’t be compromised by this new sponsorship deal.
Right, that’s all from me for this year, so thank you very much for reading!
Enter TABLETOP at the checkout for a 20% discount,
Finnbar "Sponsored By Pocket Workshop" Keating (they/them)
President, The Pocket Workshop Society for the Playing of Tabletop Games and Role-Playing at Warwick University
Second only to Alex Dixon, Pocket Workshop (our overlords!)
https://www.warwicktabletop.co.uk
https://thepocketworkshop.co.uk