A week and a half until the AGM....... a week and a half until the AGM!!!!!!! 😰
❗ Announcements ❗
🧠 The Quiz
Friday 12th March, 6-8pm, on our special Quiz Discord server and Twitch
It's the return of our Termly Quiz! Battle it out over 6 rounds of sometimes bizarre, sometimes Tabletop-themed questions to win the coveted Quiz Crown*. My intel (a small eavesdropping frog, aka me) has provided a teaser for the rounds-to-come:
- All Alchemical Absurdity and Aromatic Additives (James);
- The Society Does Not Condone Piracy (Jamie);
- Quotes (Benji);
- TBC but kazoo-less (shakes fist at pandemic) (Thomas);
- TBC (Anakin);
- TBC, but "probably something board game related" (Sol);
- and a ✨ bonus round ✨ Asmodee or Asmodon't (Alex).
There's no need to sign up in advance, and teams will be organised in the Quiz server (we have a #find-a-team channel for anyone turning up alone). There is no entry cost (and sadly, no prizes) - however, you can always make an optional donation to the society, which will go towards buying games and other equipment for when we can finally meet in person again!
* No physical crown included.
🎲 Tabletop Weekend
Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th March, midday-midnight both days, via our Discord and whatever tabletop gaming platforms you want to use (e.g. tabletop simulator)
Just over 2 weeks to go until our end-of-term Tabletop Weekend - keep your calendars clear on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th March if you wish to join us for 24 whole hours (or however long you want to come along for) of Tabletop fun from the comfort of your own computer chair. Board Games, Wargames, CCGs, RPGs, Jackbox... Whatever you want to play, this is the big weekend to play it!
We encourage you to organise any big games, tournaments, and/or RPG one-shots you want to host or play in advance (so that you can get together enough players) - please create an event on our website's Events page and post about it in the relevant Discord channel and/or the relevant Facebook group! You can also drop me a line and I'll be happy to advertise it on your behalf in a future newsletter and/or our Discord #announcements channel.
📢 The AGM Constitution-Changing Motion Deadline is THIS WEDNESDAY
Reminder: the AGM is being held on Wednesday 3rd March, 7-9pm, online over Teams (click this link to join the Team)
There is a full breakdown on how the AGM is working in a special edition of this newsletter - please go and read that if you haven't already.
The deadline for purchasing/verifying memberships in order to vote has now passed - but you can still watch the AGM if you are not a member, so please still feel free to join the AGM Team and show up to see what the future of the society will look like!
Additionally, you can still stand as a candidate for an exec role as long as you have purchased membership by the time the AGM begins. If you're looking to stand for a role, please consider going over to our AGM forum post and writing yourself a manifesto (that being said, you can also run on the night if you so wish!)
⚠ IMPORTANT: in order to for a CONSTITUTION-CHANGING MOTION to be considered at the AGM, you need to submit it by THIS COMING WEDNESDAY ⚠
- We have a society constitution! (gasp. In fact, all societies have to have one!)
- In order for any of the content of this constitution to be changed, the changes have to be proposed and voted on at a general meeting.
- We have a 7-day pre-AGM deadline for proposing these motions - i.e. THIS COMING WEDNESDAY
- If you want to propose such a motion, please go over to our AGM forum post, read the instructions on how to do so, and post your motion as a reply!
📝 The AGM Exec Low-down 6: RPGs, LARP and Quartermaster
Now, continuing on with our weekly low-down on the individual exec roles, this week brings details for the RPGs, LARP, and Quartermaster roles. Remember, if you want a breakdown of what each exec role entails, you can view this on the exec page on our website!
The RPGs Rep:
- Facilitates the running of RPGs
- Ensures that GMs and players are aware of the Events page on the website for organising games
- Promotes events and games that are being run, via Discord, the newsletter, and Facebook
- Books ad-hoc rooms when necessary for people to have RPG sessions in
- Keeps an eye on what’s being run and helps new players find games where possible
- Runs their own one-shots or campaigns to help people play RPGs
- Encourages diversity of RPGs, not just D&D
- Is responsible for the RPGs equipment and budget. This includes:
- Purchasing new equipment when needed (rulebooks, dice etc)
- Keeping an inventory of RPGs equipment that the society owns
- Keeping a record of items lent out
- Runs special RPGs-themed events, including:
- The Introductory RPG One-Shot events at the beginning of Term 1 and 2
- Special themed one-shot days, such as at Halloween, Christmas or Easter
- The Big RPG day
- Runs the RPGs Facebook group
- Facilitates ideas and works towards improving any RPGs related activities the society does.
Sol's testimony:
The RPGs role is very rewarding, especially as an avid GM. I get to see all of the crazy games being run over the year, and, in the case of Intro to RPGs events and booking rooms for campaigns and oneshots, I know that in some small part I helped to make them happen. RPGs are a great place to learn new skills, many of which are transferable to the role. Organisation is a key one that, as the exec, you must (and will) pick up very quickly. In the case of running other RPG events such as GM Q&As and the Big RPG, or participating in conversations with players and GMs on discord, you'll learn lots about story-telling, writing and even game design! If any of this sounds exciting, and you enjoy RPGs, then this is a great role for you!
The LARP Rep:
- Runs the weekly LARP session on Sunday
- This includes welcoming and teaching new players how to LARP
- Is responsible for planning out the weekly adventures
- Handles player downtime between sessions
- Is responsible for updating and balancing the Society’s UNITY system
- Together with the Quartermaster, is responsible for the LARP equipment and budget. This includes:
- Purchasing new equipment when needed (clothes, weapons, armour etc)
- Keeping an inventory of LARP equipment that the society owns
- Moving equipment to and from storage
- Runs extra/alternative LARP events, including:
- Murder Mysteries
- The end-of-year Kenilworth Castle LARP
- A trip to Empire
- Runs the LARP Facebook group
- Facilitates ideas and works towards improving any LARP related activities the society does.
James' testimony:
So, you enjoy playing D&D, do you want to take it further?
Why not be LARP rep!
I’ll be honest, I haven’t exactly had the ‘usual’ experience as rep, considering the pandemic drove LARP into the ground, though being part of the exec has been a wonderful experience. I was able to flex my creative muscles in coming up with potential storylines and creating new materials for the UNITY system. I also received plenty of support from my fellow exec giving feedback on ideas and helping to test them (even if they had to be scrapped due to changing circumstances).
The Quartermaster:
- Helps the LARP rep run the weekly LARP session on Sunday
- Together with the LARP rep, is responsible for the LARP equipment and budget
- Helps the LARP rep run extra/alternative LARP events
- Helps run the LARP Facebook group
Nathan's testimony:
If you are interested in LARP but want to take a more supportive role or have an interest in the equipment side of LARP, then the Quartermaster role is for you. You’ll be looking after the pointies you can’t poke with and the pointies you can poke with. Pandemic permitting, you can even run your own LARP sessions as well alongside the LARP rep where you get other people to do the poking in your stead. Don’t dismay, you even get the chance to run around and wack folks with said foam forged armaments. All you need is a spot of creativity, an interest in LARP
and a durable skull. There is also plenty of support from the other exec when it comes to testing ideas relating to LARP. While you will mainly be supporting LARP, there are opportunities to help support other events within the society too.
❔ What's happening this week? ❔
It's the first week in a while that we don't have any special events running, so take advantage of the brief rest and charge your batteries before the Week 8 AGM chaos 😉
- Monday 5-10pm: Online Wargames
- Tuesday 6-10pm: Online Draft - Lorwyn - free! (as it's online) - you must sign up here to take part
- Wednesday 5-10pm: Online Board Games
- Thursday 5-10pm: Online CCGs
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? 💭
This weekend was our "design your own game" event collab with the Game Design society! The theme of the event was "box", and some really inventive games on this topic (and some not on this topic) were created by members of Tabletop. You can see some examples in the image to the right...
- Top: Alex Dixon's game, ported to Tabletop Simulator in the last 5 minutes of the jam by the efforts of Finnbar and Jon - "DUCKHORSE", a wargame where you answer the question about 100 duck-sized horses vs a horse-sized duck.
- Middle: Jon Cheah's "Battle Up To Resolving Newton", which is an inertia-based wargame about fighting ships! Finnbar and Jon playtested this together (check out
#highlights), and Finnbar made many new and short-lived friendships in the shape of torpedoes. - Bottom left: Artock's Box Game, a game about picking goods from a random bag and trying to fit them into a box (sounds like my weekly supermarket trip)
- Bottom right: last but certainly not least, Finnbar's "All Boxed In", a game about boxfish (dice) fighting over control of an area, and when they got too stressed (their number became higher than six) they release poison and scare off neighbouring boxfish (this is a true fact about boxfish in real life). Funnily enough, Finnbar got trounced by Jon in the playtest!
We also had an exec meeting (woah). We discussed upcoming events (like the quiz), the AGM (😰) and SU elections. While the full minutes have not been written up yet, we have some provisional minutes available, as we want to make our stance on endorsements for the SU elections clear - the society will NOT be endorsing any candidates in the SU elections this year.
On that last point, I'd like to heavily encourage all of you to vote in the SU elections this week (please)!! The new societies offer will directly affect how societies are run, which is really important to us here in Tabletop society, but also the other candidates will be influencing what the SU does in the coming year, which will have a direct impact on your University experience. Voting is open from midday TODAY (Monday 22nd), is open throughout the week, and you can view the candidate's manifestos and vote on the SU website.
That's all from me this week. Join me next week, for what is arguably the most important week of the whole year for Tabletop soc!
Wash your hands, stay inside, and come play some games with us (online) 💛
Ares Osborn 🐸 (Communications and Operations, my bet is on the 100 duck-sized horses)
@dovahbutt#7544 on Discord
e.osborn@warwick.ac.uk
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