National Student Gaming & Roleplaying Championships
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NSGRC National Student Gaming & Roleplaying Championships 12th-14th of April, 2019 nsgrc.co.uk Facebook.com/StudentNationals [email protected] V3 21/11/2018 NSGRC Brochure What is the NSGRC? Why, it’s only the National Student Gaming and Roleplaying Championships of course! An annual convention for student (and non-student) gamers from all across the gaming spectrum! The NSGRC features a dizzying array of events, with each attendee signing up for a ‘main event’ — one activity that they will take part in and that will form the backbone of their experience across Saturday and Sunday. Options include a wide range of Roleplaying, Card Gaming, Wargaming, Boardgaming and Video-Gaming Categories. In addition, a variety of open activities will be offered on the Friday and Saturday evenings, from Pub Quizzes to Magic Drafts. But for participating students, there are additional stakes: though the entire weekend may be run as a light-hearted tournament, with student members winning points here and there for their societies, everyone who attends the Nationals knows that 2nd Place is the true 1st Place as the winners get first refusal to host next year! Alas, while we will recognise the achievements of Independents, you will not be able to win points for any of the universities. At its heart, though, NSGRC is a charity event, and across the weekend we will be raising money for charity via the sale of charity re-roll dice, special NSGRC-branded T-shirts and a variety of other sources. Our Charity this year is the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity who are the fundraising arm for Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Children. Dice Science Conference 2019 1 NSGRC Brochure Who are GUGS? GUGS stands for Glasgow University Gaming Society and is a callback to a classic monster from the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game. Based at Glasgow University’s Queen Margaret Union, we have facilitated Roleplaying and Boardgaming for our members since time immemorial. It’s been 10 years since the Nationals was hosted in Scotland, and 20 since it graced the banks of the Clyde, and GUGS are proud to host it, especially on this, its 30th anniversary! Credit goes to Edinburgh and Stirling Gaming Societies who fought hard last year. After discussion, Glasgow offered to host on their behalf. We have a strong collaboration with our local geek societies, many of whom are contributing to this event. If you would like to come visit us we meet on Tuesdays and Saturdays and welcome all local gamers, students and non-students alike. More information can be found at our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/GlasgowUniversityGamingSociety/ Dice Science Conference 2019 2 NSGRC Brochure This Year’s Theme Our Theme this year is Mad Science and we are presenting this event as the ‘National Dice Conference.’ Some sections will not be themed (such as this opening piece) for the sake of clarity but I think it’s time to properly introduce you to the Dice Conference... National Science of Dice Conference Dice science is an exciting and fast-moving area of research. Most Dice Scientists tend to be gamers and as such are all interested in discovering the most ethical ways to improve otherwise random, and entirely unhelpful, results. A recent breakthrough by the Laboratory for Experimental Dice Engineering has improved the rate of Natural 20’s by an astonishing 3%, but we believe we can do more. We are hosting this Dice conference to present our work and to invite like-minded scientists, doctors and professors to join us in research across a range of gaming activities. We are being headlined by the renowned Professor R. N. Giles, Head Lecturer of the Department of Dice Engineering. He will take you through an introduction to Dice Science before you head to your chosen area of research. Finally, we would like to assure you that despite the persistence and prevalence of rumours and articles to the contrary, our association with the dreadful Dr. Dodecahedron is now consigned to history. After his arrest and incarceration in the Glasgow Asylum for the Criminally In-scienced, we have broken all ties with the bad doctor. Dice Science Conference 2019 3 NSGRC Brochure How to Sign Up (Pt. 1) Attendees are welcome to participate as part of a group or as individuals. Groups should purchase tickets via our website or by paying via bank transfer (Details at www.nsgrc.co.uk) If attending as a group please fill in the attendee preference form. This is available from our website. If you are attending as an individual (or group of individuals that don’t want to enter as a team) please buy a ticket from our ticketing site. Bank transfer is available to individuals as well but if so, you will need to email us your preferences. If buying via our ticketing site, you should be asked your preferences on the website. You will only be asked once so if purchasing multiple tickets please list the preferences of your entire group. Cost of attendance is £25 per person. If purchasing via our ticketing site there is a ticketing fee of 88p per ticket. (The signup fee is slightly different via Smash.gg if signing up for eSports) Attendees need not be students. Attendees must be 18 or over. Each group may delegate their points to another group from the same University. This means that if your university has a separate roleplaying and boardgaming society, they can attend under their own society’s banner but pool their points. You may not delegate your points to a society from a different university. All groups being pooled will be treated as a single group for determining event allocation. Dice Science Conference 2019 4 NSGRC Brochure How to Sign Up (Pt. 2) There is a limit of 2 group members for most events. Wargaming events have a limit of 3 group members. Card gaming and Video Games are uncapped. Irn Gamer is limited to a single attendee per group and is not available to individual attendees. Attendees assign a first, second and third category choice. We will endeavour to assign as many players their first choice as possible but we cannot guarantee this. The exception to this is Smash and Magic the gathering. If you select Magic as your first choice we will guarantee it. For eSports, we will guarantee your selection if you signup via Smash.gg More than two/three people from the same group can assign the same category as their first choice but only two/three people will be assigned that category. This rule may be waived by the organisers in situations where an event would have to be cancelled due to insufficient players. Refunds will only be offered in specific circumstances (such as a player becoming a GM). Tickets are transferable to other members within the same groups, though, they retain their first, second and third choices. Please contact [email protected] to let us know. Individuals can transfer tickets as well but only to other individuals. Some events have additional loadings to cover prize support (some Video Games) or product for drafting/sealed (some Card Games). These loadings will be paid on arrival during registration as you could be assigned these categories as a second or third choice. Some events may be withdrawn due to insufficient numbers and in this case you will be assigned a different one of your selections as appropriate. Dice Science Conference 2019 5 Available Categories Roleplaying Categories We at the Department of Dice Engineering are big fans of Roleplaying and can see no better way to test the results of our advanced dice-science research. We are offering a number of different categories that will allow you to experi- ence all manner of adventure, from grand Fantasy to gritty Sci-Fi. Roleplaying Categories primarily fall into two groups: Thematic Categories and System Categories, though many have elements of both. After each Cate- gory we will provide a few examples of the systems you might be playing should you select this category. This list is by no means exhaustive and are simply suggestions to help you understand what to expect. Thematic Categories may simply state ‘Thematic Category’. This means that you could play almost any system as long as the game’s story or themes are appropriate to that category. Action • Thematic Category As men and women of Science we should also be men and women of action and also per- haps adventure. Action and adventure spans a variety of systems but whether you are play- ing Cartoon Action Hour or Hunter the Reckoning you can expect explosions and excitement abound. Anime • Thematic Category Mad scientists are not exactly unusual in Anime. Sharp lab coats, spikey do’s and crazy inventions are certainly something that personally appeals. I can’t promise gravity-defying hair, physically-impossible weapons and a Gainax ending but I can try. Dice Science Conference 2019 6 Available Categories Call of Cthulhu • Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green etc. Delve into the depths of madness with roleplaying based on the writings of HP Lovecraft. With non Euclidean Geometry abound, perhaps we can investigate borrowing critical successes from parallel universes. Dark Future • Shadowrun, CyberPunk, Warhammer 40k etc. I’m not sure whether Mad Science would be better or worse in the dark future. On one hand, brains and other homunculi reagents are easily available, but on the other hand, in the dark future, mad scientists tend to end up dead. More re- search is required. Darkness, Chronicles of • Changeling, Vampire, Werewolf, Mage etc. You could write your dissertation just on the background of Chronicles of Darkness’s name.