Author: geas

Hello everyone!

This is to let you all know that our booking for Wednesday has been altered slightly. The pitches will be starting at 6:30 on the dot, and from 6:30-7pm Geek Retreat will be closed for us so that we can have pitches without interruption. Therefore if you are wanting to be at the pitches you will need to arrive before 6:30.

Also, Geek Retreat does sell food and drink and you will be expected to not bring in outside food or drink (especially alcohol because of licensing issues) unless you have dietary requirements that are not met by the food and drink at Geek Retreat. We would also like it if you support the business that has been kind enough to give us this space, as if there are no issues we may be able to have far more regular room bookings with them than we do with EUSA.

Finally, just a small reminder for those unsure, Geek Retreat is located at 30 Nicholson Square

Thank you all in advance, and I am looking forward to seeing you at pitches tomorrow!

For the glory of GEAS,
Logan C. Anderson.

Hello Everyone!

This is an update to let you all know that our Wednesday Pitches will be happening at 6pm in the Geek Retreat at 30 Nicholson Square. Aside from the change of venue there will be no differences between this and our previous pitches. They will be held at 6pm, so be sure to try and get there on time!

The session as a whole will be run from 6pm to 10pm and just to clarify as I have heard some confusion over this in the past, once you have pitched your session you will generally be expected to start making characters and potentially running the game that night.

For the Glory of GEAS,
Logan C. Anderson.

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the new decade, I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday season. This email is primarily to let you all know about the game pitches and when they will be taking place. They will be on Wednesday the 22nd and Sunday the 26th of January, We will be in the Dining Room for the Sunday pitches, but due to the predictably poor room bookings from EUSA we unfortunately do not yet have a room booked for the Wednesday pitches. Furthermore repitches this year will be five weeks after our first pitches (26th of February and the 1st of March) breaking the semester up into two 5-week blocks for games. We will be sending out an email as soon as we can find a room for the Wednesday pitches, so please keep an eye out for that.

Also, for those interested in shaping the future of our society our AGM will be taking place on the 15th of March between the Sunday afternoon and evening games. At this AGM we will be voting in the new committee and voting on any other proposed changes to the society. This date is currently provisional, but we will be confirming it closer to the date and reminding you all at repitches.

Now, next up we have our new anti-harassment policy and complaints procedure put up on our website at the following links:
http://geas.org.uk/about/anti-harassment-policy/
http://geas.org.uk/about/complaints-procedure/

Lastly, Conpulsion is fast approaching! If you would like to be involved and help make things run smoothly then please volunteer to be a blue shirt. You’ll get a free blue shirt, admission to the event, and it will be a great piece of experience to put on your CV! The link to sign up is below:
https://forms.gle/uBjHxjEm2TJ8Gssg8

I hope to see you all at pitches, and may your games this semester be full of fun and adventure!

For the Glory of GEAS,
Logan C. Anderson

Dear Grand Adventurers,

I am writing with an update to all our members following our last Emergency General Meeting on 24 November 2019.

The Society voted to enact the anti-harassment policy and a complaints procedure as per the meeting papers that were circulated. These policies have been uploaded to the Society’s EUSA Profile and are now in effect. We on the Committee recognise that, given that our society has grown substantially, any community this large requires robust measures in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its members. These policies are a first step in our ensuring this, and we hope that the implementation of these measures will make all of our members feel able to participate without fear of discrimination or harassment, and that they shall be able to seek redress should they have any concerns. In particular, we hope that these policies will mean that all our members are on the same page about what kinds of conduct is acceptable and what kinds of conduct is unacceptable at the Society.

Copies of these policies have also been posted on our web site. I would like to remind our membership of these policies, which can be accessed at the following links:

Anti-Harassment Policy: http://geas.org.uk/about/anti-harassment-policy/
Complaints Procedure: http://geas.org.uk/about/complaints-procedure/

If you feel you have been harassed or bullied at the Society, or if you would like to make a complaint, you may do so by emailing me at geas.welfare. We will endeavour to ensure that our members feel safe and supported. We will deal strictly with any instance of harassment, bullying or any discriminatory conduct. In addition, as per our Constitution, Geas has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and violence, and any complaints about these matters will be escalated to appropriate authorities.

If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to email me at geas.welfare. These policies and their implementation are due to be reviewed formally in the next academic year. Meanwhile, we would be happy to consider any feedback our members have at the AGM in the Spring.

My thanks to all of our members for their support in implementing these policies. The Committee has worked really hard in putting this together, and we hope that these policies embody our commitment to making Geas a place where everybody is welcome to the party.

Geas for all, all for Geas,
Vivek Santayana
Equality and Wellbeing Officer

Hi all,

This is just a reminder that the Christmas events are coming up very soon!

The One shot will be taking place on the 3rd of December 6pm-10pm in the study.
If you’d like to GM please just turn up to pitch!
The stickers unfortunately will not be available on the day of the event due to shipping issues, however there will be a way of signing up to purchase the stickers at the event. The charity re roll system will be used again & we will be raising money for Maggies.

The GM workshop on Getting into character will take place on the 7th of December In the study from 3pm – 7pm.
This workshop is about how to create a character, how to role play and different styles of role play. Please come along with your questions!
Look forward to seeing you all there!

Online materials for the GM workshops are now available in a shared folder on google drive. You can access this via the link below .

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vtSDam0ZnumyHs9SVDNoo6vi_tKaLVe7

For the Glory of Geas!
Robyn Higgins
Events 2019-2020

Greetings Grand Adventurers,

We at GEAS hope that your semester has been prosperous and merry, and also that your games have either kept burning or ignited your passion for roleplaying. To bring lectures to a close we shall be going to a pub and engaging in the rules-lite game of getting drunk! The social will be taking place at 7pm on Friday the 29th of November in Sofi’s Southside 42-44 Buccleuch St, EH8 9LP. For those who wish to be reminded of the event via the friendly not evil company facebook can find the event via this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1214375625430300/We do hope that you can make it! Also, a reminder that this Saturday we will be having another workshop in the Balcony Room on game safety. As it’s a Saturday night there could be room for some light merriment post-workshop.

Godspeed,
Jason Ebblewhite
Socials Coordinator 2019/20

P.S. As an aside, we have been asked that if anyone has any unwanted lego could they please get in touch with Aidan (at hurstaidan) – It’s not for him, as far as I can tell, a kid’s club in the local library are seeking donations for their lego horde. Thanks !

Greetings, Grand Adventurers!

In this email: 1) Notice of EGM on 24 Nov., 2) Playtest event for Medieval Call of Cthulhu, 3) Upcoming GM Workshop, 4) Mental Health and Wellbeing Week

1) EGM on Sunday 24 Nov. 2019, 5 pm at the Debating Hall.

We will be holding an EGM in two weeks’ time (Sunday 24 Nov.) in between games at 5 pm in the Debating Hall. Please consider this as two weeks’ notice of the General Meeting as per our Constitution.

We encourage all of our members who are able to make it to come along. If you can’t make it, you may also vote by proxy, in which case please do get in touch with the Committee by email. We need as many of our members, especially student members, there as possible for the meeting to be quorate.

We will be voting on important amendments to the Society Constitution, adopting an anti-harassment policy and complaints procedures, and a change to when we will be electing the Conpulsion Liaison for the following year.

The following documents are drafts of the motions being proposed for the EGM, as well as the draft policies that we mentioned above. Links to the documents are as follows:

List of motions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1hALFDXMbWvpBSFgfrYm9OpJk1QDnvW0PsQ79mNAyI/edit?usp=sharing

Draft Anti-Harassment Policy and Complaints Procedure: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lLOH6TWGp1rBualvGfmjWFbPEp-BJk1BcsGKdHXfc3w/edit?usp=sharing

Please note that these documents are currently provisional drafts, and we are due to consult the EUSA Activities’ Office on Tuesday, 12 Nov., for advice on the precise wording. We will be incorporating any updates in the documents that we linked to above and we will present the final versions at the EGM to be voted on.

2) Medieval Call of Cthulhu Scenario Playtest: Tuesday, 19 Nov. 7 pm.

We are collaborating with the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology to develop an expansion for Call of Cthulhu set in the Crusader States. For this project, we are running a one-shot event to playtest a Medieval Call of Cthulhu scenario for participants to get a feel for the system and setting.

This will take place on Tuesday, 19 November, in the Teviot Dining Room from 7 pm.

If you would like to GM at this event, please get in touch with us.

If you would like to sign up as a player, please feel free to register using this Doodle poll:
https://www.doodle.com/poll/7bagq6k488k4i5uy

3) GM Workshop : Saturday the 23rd of November 6pm in the Balcony Room

This month’s GM workshop will be covering the topic of game safety.
In essence : how to run a game in a way that is safe for the wellbeing of those at the table and how to navigate situations where perhaps something has gone wrong in game.
This workshop will focus on various safety tools, how they are used and our speakers experience in making games a safe space for gamers to play in.

If you would like to come along just pop along to the event, there is no need to sign up.
This will be taking place from 6pm in the balcony room at Teviot.

Hope to see you all there!

4) Mental Health and Wellbeing Week 11-15 November

Also, as many of you may have seen, the forthcoming week is mental health and wellbeing week at the University. Vivek, our Equality and Wellbeing Officer, has a quick message for everyone: It is normal for people to face challenges to their mental health for a multitude of reasons, and as the adage goes it’s okay to not be okay. Here at Geas, we recognise that for a lot of our members, our society, the friendships we make here, and the games we play together are important to their happiness and wellbeing. We on the Committee want to make this as friendly and welcoming a space as possible. If there is anything in the Society that you feel affects your wellbeing, please feel free to get in touch with Vivek at geas.welfare and he will help you find the support you need.

Vivek also wanted to pass on the following resource to our members: Dr Megan Connell, a psychologist and DM, has a YouTube channel on the topic of mental health and gaming. This is not a substitute to mental health support like counselling, medication or other therapies, and the point of this is not for each of us to take the role of a therapist. Rather, the purpose of these videos is to provide information so we can be more accommodating at the table. It makes a huge difference when friends look out for each other, and some of the most profound advice for all adventurers is from the Legend of Zelda franchise, ‘It’s dangerous to go alone.’ So here, take this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKZ5Ymwa8Wg&list=PL2IRUzcSUyX0yCWc4P2nyOvgvdwFPl8HM

For the Greater Glory of Geas,
The Geas Committee

Greetings Grand Adventurers!

I have some dates to remind you of, and a couple of exciting announcements!

To start off, we’ve reached repitch times! This is a chance for GMs to pitch six week campaigns to run from next week until Christmas. GMs can continue their games, or pitch new ones, and players can choose to move to new games if they want. Repitches will be taking place on the 6th of November at 18:00, and the 10th of November at 13:00 and at 18:00. All repitches will be taking place in the Debating Hall in Teviot.

We will be holding an EGM the 24th of November to discuss potential changes to the constitution. We encourage all our members to come along, as EGMs are a good opportunity to raise any concerns you have with any part of the society, and to ensure you have a say in how the society is run. The EGM will occur at 5pm in the Debating Hall in Teviot, and we aim to wrap it up in time for evening games.

I also want to remind you that you can still sign up for student nationals! The deadline date has been extended to the 17th of November, so if you want to come along and represent GEAS in what will be a fun weekend of roleplaying in Sheffield, please email us with your three top choices for games (we’ve attached the list to this email) by the 17th.

And finally, an exciting discount announcement! You can now get 10% off all items from Traveller’s Path! Traveller’s Path sell high quality battle mats in a range of sizes, markers and erasers for said mats, AND DICE!! You can order their products from https://travellerspath.com/ – just type in the GEAS motto with no caps or spaces (this can be found in the bottom right corner of your membership card) and you’ll receive 10% off your entire order!

For glory and GEAS!

Emily Booth

President 2019-20

Hello!

I have a quick update regarding our room bookings for the repitches on Sunday 10th, we have been moved to the Debating Hall for both the afternoon and evening sessions. This means that we have the Debating Hall for all our repitches, both on the 6th and on the 10th. We hope to see you there!

For Glory and GEAS!
Society Secretary,
Logan C. Anderson