From: Theresa Verity (CMS0009%UWF.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU)
Date: Wed 19 Jun 1991 - 09:56:33 EEST
Okay - hows about this? I represent a largish RPG gaming group in
the southern Alabama and northern Florida area, called the WarGamers...
Well, for the past year we have noticed that our existing Archival Tomes
Library is one of the largest private club collections ANYWHERE, it as
of now consists of mainly books bought on ALL RPG's... We are wanting
to extend this library farther - into the computer spectrum, and this
is what we are planning: I have gotten in touch with all of the Major
RPG discussion areas on Internet and Bitnet and spoken to their respec-
tive owners about a small favor - we send you disks and you copy your
files onto them and once we get all of it we would like to start a
disk subscription service going... Every month (or every 720K) after
we have received all of your files we would like to be able to get the
UP TO DATE files *IF* our plan about becoming another Net node does NOT
work...
Either way, if we become a node or not the new software wing of the
library will be able to be checked out and copied (as additional source
materials or gaming ideas for our GM's)... As a node we intend on rotat-
ing the archives each week (with a schedule for rotation), one week is
AD&D the other is RuneQuest, after that is Traveller - we have enough
room to do that... OR as an addition to our home club libraries (or our
off shoot groups in other states) people can check the disks out for a
week or so and be free to copy without penalty... We make no money at
all off of this and the author's work can be spread out to a new audien-
ce... I have tested this idea and is DOES work - ALL of the files that
I currently own are in DEMAND...
We will send the disks to you (however many you specify in IBM 720K
format OR Amiga 880K formats) and pay for postage and a lunch for you
(a $5 lunch)... That's all we can offer now, because there's about
7 major discussions going on now (Traveller, Ars-Magica, AD&D, GMAST,
yours, Flashlife, Champions, and others we might find later) - and that's
all we can afford... IF we become a node - or have a permanent address-
I will send you the node location and you could dump all of it there -
later of course 'cause you're busy...
My personal off-net address is: WG'er new office (in May) address:
Theresa Verity The WarGamers
130 E. Nine Mile Rd. Apt 25 10 Marshall Rd.
Pensacola, Fla Pensacola, Fla
32514 (new) (?????) not there yet.
PLEASE send me your address IF you want to do the floppy shuffle after
April (becaus after April 20 or so classes stop here and they kill our
accounts on the BitNet)... Thanx ahead of time - Theresa
I'll be sending you some info on us soon...
This is a little something I quickly wrote up - please note, not ALL
information on the WarGamers is present, but it's what's in the works now.
If you are interested to get more info OR if you live from Lillian, AL to
Destin, FL gimmie a hollar: Current address: 130 E. NIne-Mile Rd. Apt 25
Pensacola, FL 32514 / Office address (NEW - in May) 10 Marshall,
Pensacola, FL 325??.. If you want ALL info and not another teaser send
a SASE BIG envelop and $3 for postage... In the next week I'll try to
send more info over the net...
Theresa the Founder & Playtesting Dir.
Satellite WarGamers:
--------------------
Obligations to membership:
Satellite dues: Universities and colleges
are to send $30 semesterly.
Student dues: Dues for individual students
are usually set at $3-5 per
semester.
Please send us an up-to-date
listing of members.
Responsibilities: Mainly we just just need for
the group to keep with our
'10 commandments' and the
constitution.
Activity: We do not require super-human
activity from the groups, simply
because students are already
expending mondo amounts of energy
in college life.
Meetings once a month (or more
frequently are allowed and encour-
aged) are manditory.
Other frivalties: Notifying the WarGamers about
tourneys, conventions, and public
functions of the sort.
This is also asked for any other
functions that might be viewed by
the public as questionable.
Other functions, that are normal
for gamers, should be put in a
small journal/flier and sent to
the WarGamers.
Explanations: About notifying the WarGamers about tourneys and conventions,
we are not implying that we take away any of the creative control or
decission-making power away from your group. We just want to know what
is going on, and might possibly pass this info on to other groups to
advertise.
When you guys plan something on the same line as challenging
a local church/clergy, or otherwise causing emotions to flare, CALL us|
Speak to us BEFORE you do something like this, we definitely need to
know about it and discuss it with you. About 75% of the time we will not
condone it, simply because one slip-up and all of the WarGamers/WarGroups
could be easily implicated in what your group did.
Normal functions and meeting minutes should be logged and a copy
sent to the WarGamers. This is to keep a tab on group actions. If you
would like to know our actions, you may request a copy of what we are
up to.
Members should be kept track of. For mailing new info we need to
have either the group address (ie: University Station/Post Office) or
have member's individual addresses (not necessary) sent to us. We
request that members have some sort of info sheet (like our own), or
application for your records. All we need other than the specification
of the above is the names, ages, game preferrences, occupations, and
college level of the individual members. In the future this will turn
into statistical information that can be used for either general info
or as a population study of the Gamers to be used for source info in
papers written by members (proving points on subjects).
Now, some of the goodies:
Privilages of group membership:
Ordering through our main RPG shop: Labyrinth will get you 20% off
on ALL orders for comics (any title), role-playing game books/materials,
and strategy games/materials. Materials: Dice to maps and miniatures to
primer -- anything.
Ability to become a playtesting group for our sponsors. We will send
you the applications we received for people who are interested in the
area of playtesting games. NOTE: This is a very busy job, the companies
require their playtesters to be quite knowledgable about their systems
and have a knack for problem solving. Although this area of the WarGamers
is a very rewarding (not monetarily) job some might get burnt out before
long. Reason: Playtesting sessions on a major games go from a year to
five years, and people who are looking at becoming playtesters need to
be aware of this. For months or years of working on a single project
a tester MIGHT get mentioned and MIGHT get a free copy of the finished
product.
Example: I personally helped work on GURPS CyberPunk for close to a
year and a half. In that time I received three precopies of the game,
submitted an estimated 50 pages worth of notes on that game alone, and
bugged the company about getting a copy of the finished book. I did
get mentioned in the book and did get a copy, but in the end I had
worked my buns off. At the SAME time I was commondeered for two other
SJ projects at as well as had been in on Mythic Egypt with ICE. I guess
the wise word to the fool is: You have the right to decline for a job
and if not, stick with it like it were an obligation.
Now for the other hand: There ARE dry periods in jobs for playtesters,
some that last as long as an average session or longer. Don't panic
because this is normal.
Applying to be a playester: All applicants have to go through applying
directly with the company (preferrably Bard, SJ Games, or ICE). We will
supply the applications, but you have to send them in and wait. Not all
applicants are accepted, in fact there is a less than 20% acceptance
ratio from one company and even less from others. Applying for playtesting
is JUST like applying to get a job. Unfortunately, none of the companies
call or send a note confirming acceptance of prospective testers. It's
usally not until you get a call from a company rep asking if you would
like to test a product (and this may take months, or never).
============================================================================
Dues:
Permantent Gamers: Temporary/Military Gamers:
------------------------------------------------------------------
$20 up front for the year $5 per quarter (3 months)
due at beginning of quarter
with 10 day grace period
1 free pass to a Labyrinth tourney no free passes
1 membership ID card/laminated 1 temporary paper ID card
Both get: - 20% off (with ID card) for Labyrinth role-playing merchandise
and comics, and 10-15% off (again, with ID card) for Koby's
gaming materials only (no Hallmark stuff).
- The ability to get in contact with each other for game masters
and game players (We do not have the obligation to find a
game for eachand every Gamer. Gamers will recieve the appropriate
information in order to find their own games|)
The Archival Tomes - The WarGamer library. It currently sports over 40
different gaming systems including over 45 individual games. It also
holds the largest public collection of Dragons (anywhere that I know)
from issues 45 to current (skipping a few in between).
Ability to playtest/edit - for Steve Jackson Games, Bard Games, etc.
============================================================================
Facts:
We are supported by the following: Bard Games
(RPG Companies) Talislanta - Atlantis
P.O. Box 7729
Greenwich, CT 06836
FASA Corporation Game Designers' Workshop
BattleTech - Star Trek MegaTraveller - Europa
1026 W. Van Buren P.O. Box 1646
Chicago, IL 60607 Bloomington, IL 61702-1646
(312) 243-4847 (309) 452-3632
Hero Games Iron Crown Enterprises
Champions - Danger Int'l MERP - RoleMaster
Same as I.C.E. 108 Fifth St. SE
P.O. Box 1605
Charlottesville, VA 22902
(804) 295-3917
Palladium Books Steve Jackson Games
Heroes Unlimited - Robotech Car Wars - GURPS
5926 Lonyo P.O. Box 18957
Detroit, MI 48210 Austin, TX 78760
(313) 843-1275 (512) 447-7866
We are also supported by: Koby's Hobbies/Hallmark
(Local Shops) RPG - Holiday Cards
110 S. Palafox
Pensacola, FL 32501
(904) 434-7606
The Gold Dragon
Comics - Games - Gifts
3970 Government Blvd.
Mobile, Alabama 36693
(205) 661-4060
AND by: FTL Games
(Software company) Dungeon Master - Traveller
6160 Lusk Blvd.
Suite C-206
San Diego, CA 92121
(619) 453-5711
I forgot to mention in the WarGamer info that I sent to you that the
'Gamers have been around for 4 years. We have 6 officers: one for each
of our most busy sections of interest: Role-playing, Strategy/Board Gam-
ing, Playtesting, Computer RP/Strat, Finance, and an editor for the
Untitled magazine... We are currently awaiting 2 things: approval from
the Feds that we ARE a recognized Non-Profit Organization, and our
move to the office we have set up.. We are in no way controlled by any
of our sponsors and act independantly from them (the before mentioned
RPG stores and the companies themselves) - sort of like a VERY free and
VERY open RPGA... We enforce no strictures on WHAT game is played - tho
we do not sanction open live-action Role-Play...
We offer discounts (working on a couple of other stores in the Arizona
and outer areas), comradery (if that's a word), ability to playtest, use
of the local libraries of RPG Source Material (and that's why I've hit
you guys up for your archives - they will be going into our library), and
many other things... I've put out a request at UWF to allow the WarGamers
or the student UWF Gamers (our first spouter group) to have a permanent
node address so that we can get an edge in to keep in constant contact
with gamers from all over - we WANT to grow LARGE and we WANT to FURTHER
gaming...
Please feel free to write to me or the WarGamers at the following
addresses: Theresa Verity The WarGamers (in May)
130 E. Nine-Mile Rd Apt 25 10 Marshall Rd.
Pensacola, Fla 32514 P-cola, Fla 325??
In May we will be moving into the new office (yeah|), and in mid-April
I will be moving into a new apartment (904) 484-0578....
Give me some responses - PLEASE...
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