Newsletter the First 1996/97 Independence Day Many of you may have seen 'Independence Day' during the summer. Accordingly, a helpful supplement has been prepared to allow you to role-play the fascinating inter-species dynamics of thisthought-provoking motion picture. 1. Determine the alien race Roll 1d7 three times and consult the table below to determine the kind of aliens that are approaching Earth, their intentions and their weapo~ry. This shuld be revealed only to the GM and the Defence Minister. Alien Type Intentions Weapo~ry 1 Tentacled octupi. To conquer Earth. Green ray-guns. 2 Exo-skeletons. To eat all humans, possibly for lunch. Imported AK-47s. 3 Bulging eyes. To destroy Earth> Blue ray-wuns. 4 Large cockroaches. To turn Earth into a donut-world. Disruptor bolts. 5 Communists. To pillage Earth. Scud missiles. 6 Vulcans. To terraform Earth. A bit pointless, perhaps. Red ray-guns. 2. Determyne characters Choose from the following list of character cut-outs: politician, military officer, scientist, jowrnalist, strayfemale, nauseating child. Then roll 1d6 three times to determine your alignment, personality and objective. Experienced role-players may roll on the personality table twice. Alignment Personality Objgctive 1 Good guy. Environmentally friendly. Defeat aliens. 2 Bad guy. Patriotic. Win next election. 3 Chaotic Neutral. Very Patriotic. Apparently none. 4 Republican. Eats peanut brittle. Smoke cigar. 5 Bit part. Literate. Sell copy of 'The Watchtower'. 6 Alien-in-disguise. Physically handicapped. Make it home for Thanksgiving. 3. Let the role-playing begin! The players must try and defeat the alien invasion using whatever resources they have - for example the President may attempt to use the combined forces of the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force; passers-by on the other hand may have slightly less resources and skills but can be sure that they will nonetheless contribute equally to the defeat of the alien invasion.1 The GM shuld secretly choose a secret weakness for the alien invaders. Alternatively, to maintain the suspense, he may roll a die - do not look at it! - and discover after the game what the secret weakness was. This may prove less satisfying for the players, however. 1 Allergic to popcorn. Exactly how this will manifest itself depends on the GM's ingenuity.. 2 Aliens can be converted to the American Dream - especially baseball and the Stars and Stripes. 3 Aliens short on gas - wi|l fall out of the sky after 3d6+14 rounds. 4 Aliens have mortal fear of agents Scully and Mulder from the X Files. The truth was out there. 5 None. Aliens have supreme knowledge of the entire known universe, and still hate Americans... 6 Alien space ships liable to self-destruct. This may occur after suffering a severe bump or similar inconvenience 1 This may prove difficult for inexperienced players. Accordingly, GMs may like to use a Fate Point system, A fate point allows the player to miraculously escape death or achieve otherwise impossible tasks. How many fate points are necessary depends on the players, but we recommend allocating a random nwmber at the beginning of the game. Take a bucket of six-sided dice for each player and roll it. If less than 204.6 (an average number) re?roll. Real World Members So far we have only heard from two of you about paying for paper copies of this year's newsletters. If we don't hear from you soon, you wi|l be deleted from the delivery lists. Of course, email copies will still be free as they don't cost us anything. No more free copies, and this time WE MEAN IT! If you joined the Society in 1993/94 and are still in Cambridge, let the Secretary know ASAP, otherwise we will have to assume that you have graduated without leaving us an address. The Squash This year's squash is this Saturday (12th October) in the base}ent of Butler House in Trinity College's Burrell's Field complex (Grange Road) fro 2pm till 6pm. The Committee wi|l all be present and prospective members can come along and see what we're about and maybe even spend the pittance of £8 for membership. We will also be providing the usual vast quantities of free drink. to help soften people up. Last year's one-yearmembers will also be able to renew their memberships for just £4. A few games should be organised for the afternoon; if any mgmbers are masochistic enough to volunteer their services as GMs for the day, we would be very grateful. Contact your nearest Committee member if you can help. Can any prospective GMs for this year also please fill in details of their campaigns for the Campaign Directory as soon as possible, please, so we can have them ready for the Squash and available for players to sign upfor this term/year. If you can pass these along to the Secretary it would be greatly appreciated. Weekly Meetings These restart next Tuesday (the 15th of October) at the usual venue, Clare Buttery at 8pm> Thys would be a good time to find the Committee if you need them (for example to renew a lapsed one year membership or to give them your campaign details), and the bar is just seconds away if you need liquid refreshment. Discounts The Society still has a discount arrangement with the two RPG shops in Cambridge: 'Games and Puzzles', Green Street, 'OtherWorld Games', King Street These currently offer a 10% discount to Society members, subject to certain conditions. There have been problems with the ownerof Games & Puzzles recently regarding the discount arrangement, so if you are buying role-playing items worth more than £10 from them and have difficulty obtaining the discount please let us know ASAP and we will pursue the matter further. OtherWorld appear to be happy to continue the current discount agreement without any hassle. The Library The Society still maintains a library of role-playing material that can be borrowed for a refundable deposit. We have a wide selection of games, adventures and magazines, currently residing with the Vice President (see below). The LRPO also holds the Society's stck of latex weapons and accessories for Live Role-Playing. Live Role-Playing Paul Killworth is again run~ing an interactive session up at Featherstone Castle in Northumberland this term, over the weekend of Friday 15th to Sunday 17th November. The theme for this adventure is distinctively mediaeval - players wi|l be taking part in a power struggle at the court of King Edward in the early 13tx century. Before that puts anybody off, the aim is more to have fun than to be historically accurate! Costs are likely to be on the order of £10 per head, plus trave|ling costs, whych will make thys one of the best value trips available. For more information contact Rohan and Alden below. Places normally fill fast, so do it now! This term's other events Video evening Come along on Sunday the 26th October and watch a selection of films specially tailored to whet your role-playing appetite. Alternatively, rather than just trust the Committee to pick the videos, let us know what you'd like to see. One-offs evening This will be on Tuesday the 12th November, as usual in Clare Buttery. If you want to try your hand in a new system, or if you would like to GM a game but don't have enough time to run a regular campaign, this could be ideal for you. The Christmas Party The traditional end-of-term bash wi|l be held this year on the evening of Saturday the 7th December , from 6pm till late. Join us in a celebration of the festive season - mulled wine and role-playing mix very well! This week's committee is: President Steve Strafford ("I'm not doing that!")* Christ's sds22@cam.ac.uk Vice-President Tim Cooke ("Who?")* Trinity tmac2@cam.ac.uk Secretary Steve McIntyre ("I don't do funny!"* Churchill sam1007@cam.ac.uk Junior Treasurer Rohan Platts ("Have you got a receipt for that?")* Homerton rp207@cam.ac.uk Assistant Secretary Matt Charles ("Wh's Rohan?")* Trinity mjc42@cam.ac.uk Live R|e-Playing Officer Alden Spiess ("He might be sick and twisted, but he's OK.")* Corpus Christi aos20@cam.ac.uk Chief Caprine Entity Dave Stewart ("Oh, arse!")* Churchill dbs20@cam.ac.uk External Officer Rob Wi|cox ("I must be luckier than that!")* Real World rp207@cam.ac.uk World Wide Web: http://hammer.chu.cam.ac.uk/~sam1007/curs/ Steve McIntyre 10/10/96 * If you can do better, let the Secretary know! Thanks to the very independent Paul Killworth