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MARCH 18, 2000 |
THE STORYTELLING TEAM
Sunrise/Sunset Info: Twi: 7:00 am, Sun Rise: 7:20am, Sun Set: 7:20pm,
Twi: 7:00pm
For tonight, OOC time is 9:00pm, one hour later than (mangoes) IC
time.
Observers and Interviews
Please contact Jill before bringing your friends, family, puppies, etc.
to games. We love having observers at games, but we do not like being
surprised when people show up unexpectedly. We need to know what
to expect (and whom to expect) when we are planning games. Saskatoon by
Night is an “invitation only” game; our regular players have regular invitations
to attend. It is like going to a house party. It is rude to
assume that one can invite one’s friends to an invitation-only event.
Observers that come to the game will not automatically be given NPCs to
play. Sometimes we may need a spare cop or 'innocent bystander',
but more often than not, observers will be expected to be non-participants.
Observers are not to interact with the players. They are expected
to remain 'on the sidelines' and...well...observe. That means if your room-mate
comes, she isn't to sit with you and ask you "why is he wearing those ugly
boots?". If your boyfriend shows up, for the love of all that's holy, DON'T
wander around holding hands, snuggling, smooching, etc. in the IC areas.
If your parents come by, they're not to use the spit rag to wipe dirt off
your face while you're IC. No interaction with players IC means **NO**
interaction with players IC. Players in violation of this will be
docked experience points, given verbal warnings, and, in extreme cases,
may get a strike for disruptive behaviour. It not only disrupts your
character’s actions, but all the character interactions of all the characters
in proximity to you. Guests in violation of this rule will be asked
to leave the game.
As most of you know, people interested in playing in Saskatoon by Night
must first undergo an interview with Jill. This is a non-negotiable
condition for playing in our game. Every new player must complete
the interview. Players under 18 must also have their parent or guardian
fill out a permission form before they are permitted to play in SbN.
Interested players are expected to set up the interview themselves; that
is to say, Jill will not chase them down. Interested parties can
contact Jill by telephone or by email as listed above. Jill does
not do interviews on game nights. There is enough to co-ordinate
on game nights without having to interview potential players. If
someone is truly interested in playing, they will take the time to telephone
or email Jill to set up an interview. If this is too much work to
do, chances are, the commitment to the game really is not there.
Coffee Scenes/Aftergaming
Saskatoon by Night is run in ‘realtime’. Therefore, please be advised
that when the game is ‘called’ for the evening, all IC interactions should
stop. There is nothing wrong with having IC conversations during
the weeks between games, over the telephone, over email, choose your poison.
You have an entire month between games to talk to one another…and five
hours at each game to get your hobnobbing done. The game itself stops
after it has been called. That means we do not do scenes at coffee.
We do not hang around in the parking lot after we have been asked to leave
the restaurant to finish a scene. We do not loll about outside the
University buildings ‘finishing scenes’. When activities have been
stopped for the evening, players are expected to stop playing for the evening.
As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, game freezes are not sanctioned
unless the ST team calls them. The consequences of this are as follows:
a) If you can not attend a scene/game, your character does
not attend a scene/game.
b) If you leave a scene/game, your character leaves a scene/game (no,
you may not inform a ST that “my character is actually sitting in that
chair, but I’m going out for a smoke”).
c) If you are at a scene, your character is at that scene (that means
no hanging around with moose horns saying you’re OOC because your character
left but you want to stay and watch).
These are the consequences of LARP, guys. It’s called Live Action
for a reason. This is just the way things have to be in LARP.
Doing otherwise just causes too many IC/OOC reconciliation headaches.
So, in short…when the game is called, all scenes are over (unless the STs
say otherwise…for example, the Sabbat hunt in January). You may approach
the ST team and ask them if you may complete a scene, do another scene,
etc., however, be prepared for the ST team to tell you that you will have
to do the scene another time.
Weapons / Weapon Cards
For the record, weapons acquired with the Underworld/Street influence are
not legally obtained weapons. This means that they usually do not
have the correct serial numbers, and often they don’t have serial numbers
at all. Some of them may have been used in criminal activities.
They are illegal weapons. If you want legal weapons, you should be
looking at bureaucratic or legal influence. If you are caught with
weapons obtained using Underworld or Street influence, chances are you
will be charged with owning/operating illegal weapons. Don’t be surprised,
then, when the police search your home, business, mother-in-law’s underpants,
and fishtank for more illegal weapons and/or other incriminating material.
Weapons in Saskatoon by Night are represented in two ways: props (no
real weapons are permitted, and realistic looking weapons must be altered),
and, more importantly, by weapons/equipment cards. These cards are
usually brightly coloured and need to be signed by a member of the ST team.
If you do not have a weapon card for your weapon, then for all intents
and purposes, you don’t have the weapon. If you lose the weapon card,
you lose the weapon. If you accidentally wash the weapon card with
your character’s costume, you lose the weapon. If you give or lend
the weapon away, you must give the weapon card as well. If you borrow
or acquire a weapon, you must also acquire the weapon card. If you
find a weapon card, you find a weapon…is this becoming redundant?
If you have a prop gun, it is only a prop gun IC unless you have an accompanying
weapon card. Other equipment is represented by equipment cards (armour,
flak vests, security bugs, etc) which operate in the same manner.
Exceptions are not made for people losing/washing/eating their weapon/equipment
cards.
Influence
The way you use influence in Saskatoon by Night is to send email to the
ST team with the word “influence” in the subject field. The peccata_mundi
account we used previously is not currently set up to forward influence
to us, so please send your influence requests to the ST team directly.
Currently, Jill is doing influence, so it is best to send it directly to
Jill and Cc it to Mitch. Do NOT send your influence requests to the
listserver. If you do not have access to email, please talk to Jill
and arrange otherwise.
XP Reminder
Hopefully, this is the last reminder we need to do. The way you spend
experience in Saskatoon by Night is to submit a character sheet at each
game with changes highlighted on it. You are responsible for keeping
your character up-to-date. You are responsible for having copies
of your character sheet at each game. Again, we stress how easy it
is to use the Grapevine Program to keep track of your character.
Also, keep in mind that if you show up without a character sheet to a game,
you may not play. We are not responsible for having copies of your
character sheet at hand. If you have any questions or concerns about
this, please contact the ST team.
