Cambridge University R|e-Playing Society Newsletter the Third 1994/95 The Moan of the Ancient Mariner "...I call it appalling GMing; I mean, there we all were, in the middle of the ocean, and there's that albatross, just one albatross, and I figure, why not test out my character's new crossbow, and the GM's looking worried, and I roll a critical success, straight through the heart; how was I to know it was some vital bit of the plot, he never said anything about not shooting any albatrosses in the background material, I mean itwas part of my character's background, 'intense hatred of all mari~e avians', -15 point disadvantage, I had to shoot it - and my character's a mariner, he'd have known it was going to be unlucky; the GM wouldn't even let me try a default veterinary roll, and that albatross should have had more than 5 hit points I'm telling you, have you seen the size of it; well, of course you have, and then the crew dying like that, not even a bloody saving throw, down dead, all of them, and the sanity checks for all those slymy things, well over the top if you ask me, and now this: I spent half my startup points on a charisma of 16, and now I've got a bloody great albatross round my neck, I mean what's the bloody point of carrying on with the campaign with me having an albatross round my neck, eh? he reckons I should have a modifier on my sex appeal rolls now as well, something aboutwomen not fancying blokes with dead marine wildlife stuck to them, totally unfair, and not a single experience for iteither..." Weekly Meetings The reoaining weekly meetings for this term (and probably for the rest of the year) will all be in Clare Buttery, at 7.30pm on Tuesdays. We will be starting again next term on Tuesday the 17th January (the very first day of Ful| Term!). As an added attraction, the second weekly meeting next term (the 24th of Jan, for those of you doing maths) will be set aside as a one-offs evening for people to try other systems etc. Mark it down in your diary! The weekly pub meetings are still happening every Thursday at 7.30pm, in Catz bar. However, these will be moved, starting next term> We0restart after the Christmas break on the first Wednesday of Full Term, the 18th of January> Many people have been complaining that Thursday is not a good night for them, so now is a good chance for you to make your voice heard. We are looking for suggestions for alternative venues and evenings for the pub meet. Please let us know your preferences so the committee can, in true democratic fashion, completely ignore them! Best offer so0far is a Wednesday, place unspecified. Christmas Party The annual Christmas Party is on for the 3rd of December in the Lati}er Room, Clare College. It has officially been designated a Kersplatt! free zone. As we will not be able to se|l tickets on the door, please find a committee member at one of the weekly meetings (or elsewhere, if necessary) to buy your ticket. They cost 3.50 and come in a very pretty shade of green. There will be the obligatory seasonal food and drink, including some mulled wine, all included in the cost of the ticket. (We're cutting our own throats! etc, etc.) Several suitably silly games have been organised, including Clay-o-Rama, Paranoia and a mission to kill Santa Claus. (I seem to remember doing that myself last year, but the wily old bugger appears to have rematerialised!) The President will (un?)fortunately be elsewhere for the remainder of term, so we will have to cause our own mayhem unaided. Campaigns Directory As yet, there are 8 known GMs still looking for people to play in their campaigns: GM Title System When? E-mail Contact address Simon Staines AD&D (Ravenloft) Monday, 7.30pm sfs1000@cam 46 Lensfield Road (Stephen Ball ( (Dragonlore (Tuesday, 7.30pm (smjb100@hermes (Emmanuel College (Michael Anderson ( ( ( (94msa@eng (Jesus College Steve McIntyre (me!) The Evil Uprising AD&D 2nd Edition Tuesday, 7.30pm sam1007@hermes Churchill College Richard Harris AADA Championships 2042 Car Wars - one offs 29th Nov - 2nd Dec rdh1000@phx Emmanuel College Richard Harris Jaiman - the Land of Twilight Rolemaster / GURPS Thursday rdh1000@phx Emmanuel College Andrew Martin D&D Saturday, 2pm acm1001@phx Room 3, 25 Grange Road (Marcus Bucci ( (Star Wars (TBA (OSC94MBB@va.anglia.ac.uk Anglia (Alan Beckett ( ( ( ( 33 Rock Road Bryan Tookey Vampire TBA bdt1000@hermes 2 Pembroke Street Contact them direct if you are in|erested. If you want to run a campaign yourself, please let the Vice-President know so we can keep the campaigns directory up to date> Can the GMs also let us know of any changes to their campaign details as well, please? It does help us greatly. The last two are not society members, but have promised to join if we can find them some players, so please help them and us. Update on Chris Watts' Warhammer campaign: Isn't it fun when your party chooses some bloody stupid skills for their characters. I managed to get through about 4 of the party's fate points. This now leaves most of the adventure to go, with a couple of characters with NO Fate Points. This is compounded by the fact that the priest of Ulric (War God and so likes going into battle), only has Cure Light Injury, a spell that only has effect on those with more than 2 wounds. Also, none of the bloody idiots thought it wise to get the healing proficiency, so they spend lots of time bleeding to death, because nobody knows how to staunch the blood flow. What's better, is the now they have spend Fate points and taken critical hit rolls, they are on the verge of gaining insanities. I wonder if I should give one of them Berserker, or better still Heroic Idiocy ??????? Video Evening This went astoundingly well and was agreed by all to be a "very good thing". Some old hands nearly had heart attacks on the spot as they saw the large attendance. Keep up the good work! The quote of the night had to be a shouted "yes!" from David Damerell as some Ewoks were killed in Return of the Jedi. His CUWoCS presidency is starting to show. Annual Dinner We are starting to organise this for the end of the Lent term. It didn't happen last year due to general apathy and too high a price. So0this time we want suggestions and requests from you lot. If anybody knows of a suitable venue with a private room available for a fancy-dress dinner at the end of next term, without being too expensive (about 15 max per head), please let us know. This week's committee is: President Mark Mackey (The Tasmanian Devil) Trinity Hall mdm1004@cus.cam.ac.uk Vice-President Jon Rabone (The Friendly, Happy Person*) Churchill 93jkr@eng.cam.ac.uk Secretary Steve McIntyre (Planning? What's that?) Churchill sam1007@hermes.cam.ac.uk Assistant Secretary Ian Lewis (The Wanderer) Emmanuel no e-mail Junior Treasurer Paul Killworth (Who?) Trinity no e-mail External Officer Rob Wilcox (The Novice) Clare rjw1005@hermes.cam.ac.uk Steve McIntyre 24/11/9<. Thanks to Paul for the "Moan" * TM