As usual we would like to welcome all those new members or all those members who are renewing, to join us for another few months. As of this newsletter all members should now have membership cards with expiry dates on them - they are currently available in the club rooms, on the filing cabinet. Ask a keyholder to let you grab yours if you haven't already.

   We will try to remind those members whose memberships are due to rejoin, but you should also keep tabs on when you need to pay - look at the card and save for that day. You can pay at the club, or at either Tactics or GameQuest. Both sponsors will willingly take your money on our behalf, so their are no excuses.

   The only way our club can be fair is if all those who use the club pay their dues - with cards being issued and reminders being given their is no longer any reason why those in the club can't pay. And the more the merrier - remember that friends can visit three times, without paying to check out our club, try a new game or be a part of a short campaign. We encourage you to get more people in the door - it is how we survive.
 

   Some people ask "When are club meetings?" or "How can I tell what the hell is going on with the club?" The simple answer is "I don't know, and if I don't, how can you?", BUT the honest answer is pay attention to the many signs and notices. You're reading this newsletter, and that's a good start. The main white board in the club changes almost every week and most members should at least glance at it once.

   Also the Committee notice board holds the club minutes, and important formal communications from committee to the club members. If you want to know the duties of an official look there. Copies of the Standing Orders and club Constitution should be found in that area as well.

   Pay attention to the posters that go up around the club - a common complaint about movie events is "I didn't know it was on" - only the blind have an excuse not to know . . . Upcoming events have posters, games can be found on our notice boards. Look for changes there and you'll know as much as anyone.
 

   Remember that both GameQuest and Tactics serve as "branch offices" for our club. They can take membership money, sell movie tickets for our club events and sign out key sets during opening hours.

   As well as offering sponsorship and supporting events held in the club (like previous Maelstroms and Magic tournaments), both stores provide members with another shop front, making our club more accessible even to those with very little time, or those who spend all their time at the club gaming and can worry about membership in their lunch hour.

   The Adelaide Gamer's Association thanks both Tactics and GameQuest for their continued support into the new year, and we hope the relationship will be stronger in '99.

   "I don't need keys - the people I game with, have them" - standard response from someone who applied to be a keyholder and then opted to not be one. The Committee of the Adelaide Gamer's Association would like to point out to its members their advantage in taking on the responsibilities of being a club official and the advantage to the club, which has little to do with the signing out of keys.

   Maybe the emphasis of the name is wrong - "keyholder" is just a title, chosen because that is one of the functions our non-Committee officials carry out. The club would like those some people to look at the advantages to being a "keyholder" and perhaps reconsider their role in the club.

   If you never need keys because you believe there are already enough keyholders, please try to remember that when you start complaining about the club not being open when you want it to be. If the club has trusted you with the authority to open the club, then you can do so, whenever you require the facilities for gaming. Your current group may not require you to have a keyset - another might. The bureaucracy in taking people on and off the registry as games start and end is a waste of time and effort. Think carefully if you have been given the option to use the keys, and consider a little more than your immediate future.

   Also, being a club official allows you the freedom of access to the bar facilities - and a share in  the responsibility in staffing it. If only one person in a gaming group has the ability to serve, it can seriously tie up that one persons' time, to cater to the needs of others. Some club members should take on the responsibility themselves. Letting the responsibility fall on others, can make some of them resentful and less interested in being part of the club.

   By taking the pressure off the few existing keyholders, members are more likely to receive better service from their club, officials are more likely to be able to handle the things that need doing, and our club becomes a better place to be in. Yes, it does require a fully refundable deposit (taken to insure keys against loss) of $25 to become one of our officials, but it is hardly too much to ask from most.
 

   Keyholder's do need to be given respect in their efforts to keep the club open and enforce club rules.

   Over the coming weeks, if keyholders require periodic membership checks among those people they don't recognise, or if a keyholder wants to close the club because they are leaving, don't give them any grief. The work they do in keeping the club available to members should be respected and if you don't appreciate them, they will eventually stop opening the club when you expect. Remember that even if you disagree with a keyholder's enforcement of a rule - go along with it. If any member feels that they have a grievance against an official they should place a complaint in the Committee notice book or pigeonhole, or attend the monthly meeting.

   Finally, gossip and rumour are not productive and do nothing to enhance our club, or our profile with visitors. Complaints should either be sincere and worth proper time and attention, or forgotten.  Members should feel free to stand up for their opinions and rights, if they so choose, but no one has the right to destroy others' reputations based on hearsay and innuendo.

   The Adelaide Gamer's Association Web Site is now up and running.  The site, located at https://members.tripod.com/~adelaidegamersassoc/, is designed to resemble a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document to inform those people who don't know who or what the Adelaide Gamer's Association (AGA) is, and what we are all about.

   Links to a vast number of gaming related web-sites can be found on our Links Page, including links to most of the major gaming companies who produce Card Games, Role-playing Games and War games. The Campaign list, which is regularly published in the AGA clubrooms, can also be found on-line, demonstrating the types of games running in our club. A New Games Page also offers members a chance to see what games are starting up through the AGA, that they may choose to be a part of.

   Further information listed on the site includes a list of Upcoming Events, electronic copies of this newsletter you're currently reading and the AGA's Charter and Standing Orders.

   The Web Site is part of the Ring of Australian Role-PlayING (ROARING), an organisation hosted by the Necronomicon Convention Group based out of Sydney. Through this webring members will be able to find a lot of information on gaming within Australia, national conventions, other gaming organisations, and general gaming material hosted on the Internet.

   The site is updated fortnightly to keep the information listed there as accurate as possible and in line with what's going on within the club. It is still under development, so please feel free to post me with your comments and opinions relating to the site.

   The Adelaide Gamer's Association email address is aga@adelaide.crosswinds.net. Anything club correspondence may be sent directly to that e-mail address, or you can communicate directly with Mark about his responsibilities.

   Email Mark at mark.philp@student.adelaide.edu.au for his role as Campaign Co-ordinator or Web Site Co-ordinator, or ICQ him, his ICQ number being 457862..

   Our club does not survive through the contributions of membership dues. It requires our bar to bring in regular profits, and the concern is that members have been bringing more and more of their own drinks and food into the club. While we will not prohibit people bringing in their own supplies, you need to know that every dollar spent elsewhere that could have been spent at the club, hurts us just a little. And for our membership fees to stay the level they are, members need to support our bar with sales. If we don't stock what you want, let us know and we'll see what we can do. But try to buy in the club when you can - we can compete with local traders, but not with chain supermarkets - Do us a favour, and yourself and keep our club going. Thanks.

   The Game Co-ordinator compiles a list of games that are being played in the club - those open to new members, and established games. They are listed in the club on the gaming noticeboards and some are listed here. If you are looking for new players or organising a game from scratch, get in touch with Mark and he will help you get word out about your game. Even those games not open to new players are listed, so that people can be aware of what we are playing.

   Mark can be contacted via his e-mail address, mark.philp@student.adelaide.edu.au, or via ICQ, his ICQ number being 457862.

   The Day of the Jugger challenge is a one day pre-season tournament to be hosted by Mark Philp at the AGA premises.  A precursor to Darren Perryman's 1999 Blood Bowl season, up to 16 teams will have the opportunity to vie for fame, glory, prizes to see who is the best Coach in the AGA . . .

   BloodBowl is a game set within the Warhammer Fantasy world.  Imagine rugby, Grid Iron or football where the rules are ignored.  Come play the game with rules that encourage blood to be spilled on the pitch!
No experience playing BloodBowl is necessary!  It is a game with simple, easy-to-learn rules which is a hell of a lot of fun for everyone involved.

   Look for details as to the date of this event to be posted at the club mid-December, for a January start.

   The Campaign follows a group of Magi sent by the Order of Hermes to the Emerald Isle of Ireland.  Times are tough in Europe at the moment. Viz supplies are hotly contested and guarded by the covenants who control them, leaving little or no room to maneuver for those new Magi interested in their Art. Hence the Masters of the Order have adopted a policy of expansionism, with their eyes set on lands further afield, lands filled with mystery, myth and legend . . .

   Brett plans to begin this game sometime in December.  For more information please contact the game master.

   In conjunction with Group North Wargamers, the club is tentatively considering setting up a weekend long camp sometime in the new year, where a large group of gamers can get together and game over the course of two-three days, in different surroundings and add a more social element to our gaming.

   Role-playing and wargaming primarily, with card games brought along for the quiet times in between games (?) Still ideas like this require the support of members to get going and to allow the club to devote time/effort to organising this sort of thing.

   Jeff Williams is obtaining some more details, and more information (costs) should be available soon, but we are currently interested in hearing from members who think the basic idea sounds interesting and something that they might participate in. Send us a note in the usual way to tell us how you feel . . .

   It was early. Morgan knew that much. The sun always shone in through the small prison window facing the east in that particular way just after dawn. Though the window was a good eighteen feet up and contained a crisscross of metal mesh stronger than titanium itself it could not keep out the morning sun from bathing the far wall in dapples of light and shade.

   Morgan sat up. It'd been a long night. Too long for his liking. But then again how many worlds had he visited? How many prison beds had he slept on? How many detention cells had graced his presence? They seemed beyond count now.
   Morgan knew they weren't beyond count. He still remembered each and every place as if it were yesterday... The soggy floors of  Tirrus; the stone beds of Kirrus XII; the squalid conditions of Kessel; Orinackra; the famous Xyston Hell-hole; Ghriil Minor; Kaal; Drokus...

   None of them had ever conquered him!

   Morgan had to admit though the Imperial Detention Centre was a new extreme in detention. The place was more like an Imperial Palace or a Five Star hotel rather than any kind of prison. There were far too many simple conveniences to use - from the luxuriously soft, relaxing, silken bed to the holographic viewer positioned against the north wall. Further along the same wall was the door that led to the private bathroom which occupied as much space as the living quarters Morgan currently occupied.

   All this luxury simply for stealing one of the High Imperial General's personal transports!

   Well... It wasn't really stealing. After all, the General got his sleek black ground car back in one piece, unscratched. Morgan had just tested what speeds it could get up to within a highly restricted Imperial military zone, is all!
   Morgan snickered to himself. It hadn't been easy getting past the Imperial Guard that circulate and patrol the main Coruscant military zone. He'd had to create a most interesting little cargo box and had to make sure it would NOT be inspected by anyone or anything prior to being opened from the inside... After that it was just finding the right thing to do to piss the right guy off!
   And he'd succeeded. Morgan was glad he still had the Golden Touch! Even after twenty years of thieving, escaping, and escaping again he'd never managed to lose that Golden Touch. It was his trademark. It was his life.

   Now it was time to get up. Now it was time to prepare for the day's events at hand.  Morgan knew it had been a long night. Now it was going to be an even longer day.
 

   Everyone is entitled to three visits without having to pay any fees - so come in and see what the club has to offer.  The club is typically open all day Friday, most of the weekend and various times during the week.  Ring ahead to make sure someone is there to keep the place open for you.