First and most welcomed was the resumption of the Havoc.......Bravo on the fine works submitted and arranged, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Secondly was the disappointing end to talks between myself and some of the government types of the AAMC and the Spring1942 organizations. I had pursued opening some discussions in order to foster some good natured competition in response to a few requests for joint tournaments and other cooperative ventures. But after a few e-mails it became apparent that inter-government cooperation was not welcomed by either of the two mentioned organizations. Sorry everyone, I really tried to get some positive things going, but I couldn't even really get anything discussed.
But on a positive note, we held our Third Annual Convention in Fredericksburg Virginia. Attendance was 22, a little more than our previous cons, but still far below what we could expect for a group as large as ours. We will continue the tradition, moving it once again to try and bring it close to our members. I'll be asking for input in a formal questionairre as to where to hold the next one, the Midwest and the West coast have still not hosted a con yet, so perhaps those should be up next in the rotation.
As is tradition, we held a tournament for bragging rights until next year, and this time opted for a double elimination tourney. When the clock ran out on us, only two games remained to be played, ToddVomit vs Rewstr, and that winner against PaleRider for the title. Stay tuned as the Rewstr and ToddVomit fight it out for the honor of being next on PaleRider's list of victims. He was virtually unstoppable all weekend, let's see if he can continue his streak.
Many games were played, as well as some expansion kit playtesting. There was a pretty cool expansion kit on display, that got some top notch reviewing. Also there were many members sporting their hand painted games, which helped alot in picking up, since we knew which set the pieces went to. How many of you out there have customized your boards and peices? Also I noticed that virtually everyone is using tackle boxes to ssort and transport their units, I guess the styrofoam trays just don't cut it anymore huh? Look for the release of the expansion kit from RDBaker soon, when he completes the Beta Testing, it has alot of cool new units and rules options for the adventurous players.
Now for a little bit of boring club information:
GMing, has always been a service we voluntarily provided to one another, simply out of the goodness of our hearts to our fellow club members. Every so often we run into a member who shirks his duty and creates problems for others. We have a simple rule in the IAAPA, if you use GM services, you must provide GM services. Since somebody took the time and effort to GM for you, it's only right for you to do the same for someone else. We assign one game for you to GM for every game you play using a GM. Never more than one for one. Since everyone begins their membership with a play by e-mail game with a GM in their rookie outing, that means you will have at least game to GM in your lifetime. If the pain of GMing is simply too great for you to stand, I recommend you play only GMless or Live games, so you won't owe anybody anything. Please don't shirk your responsibilities, GM for the games you're assigned, and repay the debts you owe. I really hate the "or else" rules, so let's all do our share.
The benefits of IAAPA membership should not be abused. We are fortunate to have had several major contributions made by IAAPA members in the form of software, server space, and database administration and e-mail forwarding and routing being done by volunteers. Recently there have been many cases of IAAPA resources being used for things other than gaming. There have been some guys playing around with the dice server trying to hack it, or see if they can jam it up. Also there have been some guys monkeying around trying to figure out the formulae used to generate the validation numbers. These kinds of actions only point to people, your potential opponents trying to figure ways to cheat you. That's right, there really are guys trying to figure out how to doctor the dice roller. Also there is a growing wave of members who are really AAMC members, who want to use our dice roller instead of irony's. It seems that they simply obtain dual memberships, and use the great IAAPA die roller for their AAMC games. This ties up our server for our IAAPA members, and creates alot of undeliverable mail that needs to be sifted through manually on our server and forwarded or cleared. Steps will be taken to make the roller easier to use and less helpfull to those rolling for fictitious games. If you are one of the dual-membership guys and are making up game numbers just to get the rolls done, we shall deactivate your account here in IAAPA. If you're going to play in both organizations, do it right, play only other IAAPA members, request a game start as per the standard rules, and then your game can count in both leagues if you wish.
I have no problem with you belonging to multiple A&A organizations, so long as you respect our rules in exchange for the services we provide you.
OK, now that that's said, let's move onto my favorite project, local chapters. We've been trying to figure out how best to get together with our neighbors and play some good old fashioned face to face play. Local Chapters is the best way to go here. I'd like to ask each of you to update your personal information on the web-site and list your true identities and addresses. That's how we'll figure out who lives in what areas of the World, and we'll e-mail you in groups to help you get organized and in touch with one another. So go remove all those bogus names and addresses you put in as a joke and get the real stuff put in. That way maybe you can spend a night or two a month having fun like you used to when you first learned to play this game! I promise, I won't give out the info to junk mailers, or the government, or extraterestial medical experimenters, exwives, taxcollectors, or religious cults.
If you want to organize a local chapter of the IAAPA, contact me ToddVomit@aol.com.
Elections will be held this July 31st to elect President and Minister of Members. Also I shall be reinstituting the Chancellor posts we used previously, as elected volunteer servants for the club to handle various aspects of the organization. More info will be distributed in the weeks to come, only serious people with time to spare should run for office. It is not a popularity contest, it's alot of work, so be sure you want the job before running for any offices. This will come as a shock to many members who think the government is some kind've elitist fraternity, but we're really looking for any help from anyone out there, and really accept nearly anyone who volunteers. Hopefully voter turnout will be greater than the dismal 10-15turnout we've had in the previous outings.
Governmental structure will be changing again this year in response to the slow withering away of our appointees. We just don't get exposed to very many volunteers through the appointment process, so we're going to open it up again to elected persons in many areas. We'll keep several key slots as appointed slots for continuity and stability, but hopefully we can attract some energetic souls this way. Stay tuned for a new governmental structure to come down the pipeline in a few days.
That's about it for this month, good luck to everyone in their gaming.
ToddVomit
President of IAAPA
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