\documentstyle{article} \title{The Assassin Survival Guide: All the Stuff Your First Commander Told You} \author{Compiled by Sherrian Lea} \date{\today} \begin{document} \thispagestyle{empty} \newpage \section{Introduction} In real-time, real-space roleplaying, ordinary things can become game-related challenges. Useful things to carry: Tape (to stick things up and tape your coins and zippers) Watch. Turn off the alarm. If you can't do this, think about picking up a *very* cheap digital to use during games. Bag. Many people prefer a beltpack or something similar. This is a good time to think about putting your backpack on with both straps; anything that can slide off your shoulder and mess up your aim, will. Pen or pencil and paper, unless these are restricted by the rules of the game. Money in small amounts, especially crisp $1 bills if you live on soda, juice and tunnel food. Make sure your coins are taped together or otherwise prevented from rattling if you want to move quietly. Kleenex if you have even the ghost of the sniffles. Aspirin or equivalent if you have even the ghost of a headache. If you are female, remember that changes in your stress level can make bodily cycles do weird things. Be prepared. Remember that night-shifting will affect the availability of food. It isn't a bad idea to carry chocolate or a sandwich to eat at 3am. The selection at the coffeehouse gets quite limited late at night, especially during IAP. In general, pack your pockets for not getting home when you thought you would and for being out later than you planned to be. It may not happen, but it beats being at a secret meeting with a headache and hunger pains. Assassin Problems and How to Avoid Them ---------------------------------------- The Plague. This happens most noticeably from second fall to first spring; it's the result of a hundred people hanging around a small space for ten days with their immune systems weakened by stress as well as lack of food and sleep. Take the same disease-control precautions you should in real life; wash your hands a lot and try not to spread the contagion around. Wear: Loose clothing. Pockets (perhaps a section on adding them to women's clothing, where I am told they are not common). Belts with things hanging off them (Dave Kern and Jim Quirk have great belt packs). test sneakers for squeakiness. Jump up and down to listen for zipper clank. Loose clothing in general. Carrying weapons: This isn't necessarily easy. Pants or jackets with big pockets are the obvious choice. For women who wear skirts, a loose skirt with deep pleats over the pockets works. Think about quick access and concealability; also remember that a gun-shaped outline under your clothes is likely to alarm a non-player as much as, if not more than, seeing your disk gun in all its bright orange glory. It's generally a good idea to find a good place to put your gun, and then carry it there for the duration of the game. A lot of people have died in games by reaching for the pocket their gun was in yesterday. NEVER NEVER NEVER load a disk gun in the dark unless you are absolutely sure that the only round objects in your pocket are disks. T tokens, Canadian nickels, pennies, and the cardboard things often used for in-game currency all fit; they will jam your gun and likely break the firing mechanism. Received: by ATHENA-PO-3.MIT.EDU (5.45/4.7) id AA22302; Fri, 6 Dec 91 13:20:48 EST Received: from M37-332-8.MIT.EDU by Athena.MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA04116; Fri, 6 Dec 91 13:20:43 EST Received: by m37-332-8.MIT.EDU (AIX 3.1/UCB 5.61/4.7) id AA02984; Fri, 6 Dec 91 13:20:38 -0500 Message-Id: <9112061820.AA02984@m37-332-8.MIT.EDU> To: salea@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: vague comments on Survival guide Date: Fri, 06 Dec 91 13:20:36 EST From: Robert "Xemu" Fermier Looks good. Some other useful things: 1) Read your "sheets" multiple times, and continue to re-read them throughout the game. This has made things "click" for me many many times, because the first time you read your sheets you aren't into the Mood of the game as the Gms have set it. By day 3, you probably are and can grok extra info sometimes. Highlighting parts of your sheet can be a win too, for mental clarity. 2) Organize your item/combat cards. Nothing ruins the "style" of a moment thanfumbling through 20 pockets to finally pull out your combat card ruined and unreadable. Actually Wes is the person I've seen who is MOST organized about this -- he has a little pocket thingy with little credit-card like holders sized just right for ability & item cards. These comments are less of a practical nature, they may not be appropriate. One thing that is? Remember that assassins are people too and as a night of gaming turns into an all-nighter and people get tired and stressed they tend to get cranky and bad-tempered as well. Try to keep the game in perspective and not let things get to you. -- Rob Received: by ATHENA-PO-3.MIT.EDU (5.45/4.7) id AA22531; Fri, 6 Dec 91 13:34:52 EST Received: from M34-501-14.MIT.EDU by Athena.MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA04976; Fri, 6 Dec 91 13:34:47 EST From: wes@Athena.MIT.EDU Received: by m34-501-14.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA14096; Fri, 6 Dec 91 13:34:43 -0500 Message-Id: <9112061834.AA14096@m34-501-14.MIT.EDU> To: salea@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: new-players guide Date: Fri, 06 Dec 91 13:34:40 EST A thought: Having said all these things, we should also tell you that Assassin is not always the high-stress game it may seem to be from the above advice. Perhaps more than anything else, it is important not to get all worked up over it. Not only is it only a game, but it is also a fun game if you don't get TOO paranoid. And anyhow, sweaty palms can be a hint that you have an itchy trigger finger, and that's usually a bad idea. The high-stress times in Assassin games are usually only moments long. Don't worry about them; just be prepared for them by keeping as alert and relaxed as possible and by preparing just a little in advance, as per some of the suggestions above.