107 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
107 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
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IFGS Information Summary
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By Dara Naraghi,
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Central Ohio IFGS President
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IFGS stands for International Fantasy Gaming Society, and it is based
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on a group of the same name in the novels DREAMPARK, THE BARSOOM PROJECT,
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and THE CALIFORNIA VOODOO GAME by Larry Niven and Steve Barnes. This is a
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non-profit organization that promotes, designs, and runs safe LIVE role
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playing games, complete with rules for combat (with foam padded weapons) and
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other fantasy elements (e.g. spell casting). Our emphasis is on having fun
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and role playing, not beating other players or hoarding treasure. After all,
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these are fantasy GAMES, and we want everyone to have a great time. Safety
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is also a key word, as each chapter has a Safety Officer who checks weapons
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construction, fighting styles, and game sites to make sure they are in
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accordance with the IFGS safety guidelines. In addition, before a game is
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run, it goes through a sanctioning process by the chapter which checks game
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design, logistics, and safety. All players in an officially sanctioned IFGS
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game are also covered by the society's insurance policy in case of an
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accident.
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The IFGS was started 12 years ago in Colorado. It now has 15 chapters
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and provisional chapters in Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia,
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Massachusets, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin, and Washington DC.
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The IFGS has a complete Rules Book that covers all aspects of a game:
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creating characters, costuming, fighting, magic, spell casting, and the eight
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character classes. Weapons are made from a bamboo or fiberglass tube core,
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covered with closed cell foam. Weapons that can catch limbs or other weapons
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(e.g. tridents) are usually not allowed, and neither are weapons with chains
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(e.g. nunchakus). Shields have to be covered with foam, on the face and the
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edge, and we never fire any arrows or bolts of any kind. Armor is represented
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by a patch of cloth of a specific color (e.g brown patch = leather armor). We
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do not recommend wearing actual armor because it is not necessary as far as
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safety goes; in fact, certain types of armor could be barred from a game by a
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Game Safety Officer if they are deemed to be unsafe to the wearer or other
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players. Also, actuall armor can prevent you from feeling a touch during
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combat, since our weapons are lightweight. This can cuse problems because we
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go by the rule that "every touch does damage", to prevent people from really
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bashing each other.
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Combat rules are very simple. Each weapon does a base amount of
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damage, plus any bonuses from character level or magic. It is your own skill
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that determines whether you hit your opponent or not, but once you hit, you
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call out the damage, and your opponent takes that amount of damage, minus
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armor or any other protection. Each character class has a base number of life
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points, and this goes up by level. You also have limb points, so it's possible
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to lose an arm or a leg. You keep track of your own life points during a game,
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but there are score keepers with each party who also record damage.
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Throwing stars, flasks of acid, oil, or holy water, and certain special
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abilities are represented by a specific color of bean bag. Once again, your
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skill determines whether you hit someone or not, and the range is as far as you
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can throw the beanbags. Arrows and spells work on a system that is
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based on costume color. Each character's costume has to be 80% one color,
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and players on the same party can't have the same color costume. When a
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player calls out "Arrow, red" the player wearing red is informed by the game
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master if he was hit by an arrow or not, and how much damage he takes. Spell
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casting works the same way, the spell caster chants for the appropriate
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amount of time, calls out the name of the spell, the color of the costume(s)
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affected by the spell, and the damage (or other effect).
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Player characters have eight classes to choose from: Fighter, Ranger,
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Knight, Magic User, Cleric, Druid, Thief (Rogue), and Monk. Each character
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class has distinct abilities which are gained at each level. The IFGS
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Registry keeps a record of all characters, including experience, level, gold,
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and items found. This way, you can play any of your characters in any IFGS
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chapter. You can also decide to play a Non Player Character in a game, or
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help as a Game Master or Score Keeper and still get experience that you can
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apply to any of your characters. Above all, though, the emphasis of the
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IFGS is on role-playing and having a good time doing it, not hoarding
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experience points.
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Membership is $5 for one year, with an optional $5 for a
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subscription to the IFGS newsletter, THE CHAINMAIL. Non-members are
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entitled to 2 "trial" games, but after that they must become members in order
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to play in more games (this is to keep the IRS happy with our tax exempt
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status.) Membership in local chapters is not mandatory, but it is recommended
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because most chapters give members discounts on games, and their newsletters
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contains info on upcoming games and events. Central Ohio chapter membership
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is $10 for one year, and that gets you 10 issues of our newsletter,
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ARTIFACTS & ARTIFICTION, and $1 discount on all games you play as a PC.
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*****************************************************************************
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If you are interested in learning more about the IFGS, write them at:
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IFGS
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P.O. Box 3577
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Boulder, CO 80307-3577
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If you live in or around Ohio and want more information about the Central Ohio
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Provisional Chapter of the IFGS, e-mail me (Dara Naraghi) at:
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dnaraghi@magnusug.acs.ohio-state.edu
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or write us at:
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Central Ohio IFGS
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P.O. Box 14142
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Columbus, OH 43214-4142
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*****************************************************************************
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