Games - what are they, and how do you get into one?

If you have never played a roleplaying game, or never played outside of your group, you might not be entirely sure how things happen at MURP. Well, read on....

Which game do I want to play?

A lot of the time, that depends on the type of genre that you are interested in, as well as what is being offered. The genres that are common at MURP are modern horror and fantasy, with a sprinkling of science fiction and comedy.

Sometimes your choice of game might also be influenced by the sorts of system that you want to play. Some games have complicated rules to cover every eventuality, others have a more loose set of guidelines that the person running the game might stick to. Often the only way to find out which is best for you is to play them.

How do you get into a game?

Turn up on the first few Thursdays of a semester. It's that simple.

...Usually. Many games start in the second week of each semester, and rarely accept any new players for the entire semester. This can make it harder to get into a game if you join later in the semester.

However, there are always one or two folks who are running games that can accept new players, or run a different, short game every week or are looking for players outside of regular MURP nights, so its worth turning up or contacting us.

If you make it at the start of semester when the games start, what tends to happen is a GM (for historical reasons, the person who is running a game is called a GM) announces they have X spots for a system-Y game (eg "I have 4 spots for a Vampire game"). Players can then pick and choose which games they would like to try and get involved in.

You want to run a game?

The red carpet is rolled out, champagne is served... well, no, not really. But we are always looking for more GMs to run stuff on the Thursday nights, so don't be shy if you have an idea for a game that you want to run with a bunch of people.

Can't make it Thursdays, but still want to roleplay?

Many club members run games outside of the club itself, on the weekends or week nights. If you would really like to get involved, but have other committments on the Thursday, let us know and we can try to match you up.

Tournaments and Conventions

Even if you have played with a few groups before, tournament games can be a bit bemusing.

Infernal Torments

In the first week of semester and irregularily through the year, MURP hosts an internal tournament (infernal torment). Infernals always include free grub, especially the first one, which is held in the first week of semester.

For an infernal, everyone's name is thrown into a hat, and teams and picked randomly. Each team is given a GM, who has (hopefully) played or at least read the scenario, and everyone plays the same scenario. At the end of it all, the GMs try and pick out the best roleplayers of the night, and they are awarded prizes, like MURP t-shirts or chocolate.

These games aren't really competitive - the point of the evening is to play the game and have fun. Prizes are awarded more as a sort of "thank you" to those players who helped the GMs enjoy their time behind the dice.

External Conventions and Tournaments.

Melbourne is host to a large number of roleplaying conventions around the entire year - Conquest, Arcanacon and Unicon run from January through to October. As part of a tradition stretching back to 1984, MURP sends teams to all of these Cons, and sometimes interstate.

When you enter a Con, you can do so as a team with your friends, or as an individual. You pick a range of games you want to play, and send in your entry. If you enter in a team, you play the games you want to play with that team for the whole Con.

When MURP enters a Con, things are run a little differently. The club collects everyone's entries and tries to timetable everyone as closely to their wishlist as we possibly can. You will usually enter each game as a team, but you often get to play with a wide variety of people rather than the same group each game.