Sessions of Ultimate Monster Battle Arena will be every other Tuesday of Michaelmas and Hilary Term in the Vernon Harcourt Room in St Hilda's College. Players can arrive from 7.00pm and sessions will start at 7.30pm with a briefing before time in.
During sessions you will be roleplaying your character at a League Conference held in the secure Vault belonging to the Arena. As per the details on those pages, you will not be able to bring your Monster into session, but may bring any other possession (within reason) with you - you will be provided with cards to represent these items.
You will also be provided with a stipend of money depending on your character's relative wealth. This will take the form of coin phys-reps and will be distributed at the start of session in an envelope along with your character's belongings. Please return all phys-reps including cards at the end of each session in the envelope!
There is no requirement to be in Costume or provide representations for belongings for Ultimate Monster Battle Arena, but some people choose to do so.
If you miss a session, you can still submit a turnsheet and make plans with people by email! If you know you can't make a session in advance then please email the GM team so we can make sure your absence is known in session to remind people to email you. Please don't post on the OURPGSoc Facebook Group or Mailing List if you can't make it.
Fighting is strictly forbidden by rules of the Vault and as such no IC weapons may be brought into sessions1) and anyone found fighting will be ejected from the Conference and punished severely by the Network (this will result in your character becoming unplayable).
Theft of other IC items is permitted in Ultimate Monster Battle Arena ONLY when items are left unattended. IC items will be clearly phys-repped by cards or by IC coins. Do not attempt to pickpocket - this is against our policy on contact - and do not attempt to take items from another player's hands. In order to prevent confusion, please do not store any IC items in your OC belongings! Any items you do not wish to have brought with you to the Conference please leave in the envelope you received them in - these envelopes may not be stolen even if left unattended.
Alongside politicking and arranging your actions for Downtime, during session there are a number of mechanical things you can do - almost all of these will require you to tell a GM at some point, and the best point of contact for that is the NPC Host which will almost always be played by the Head GM.
Every character with a Monster is expected to get into at least one Arena Fight per turn to satisfy League requirements, but Fights can be picked by the Monsters' owners. To declare a fight, you need to challenge your chosen opponent. Should they accept your challenge, report this to Host and it will be recorded.
If you wish to challenge someone who is not present (or they wish to challenge you), either email or talk to the GMs.
If you own a Monster and don't declare a Fight during the League Conference, one will be assigned for you by the Network.
Placing Bets on Monster Fights and other happenings is something that your character may well want to do. If the odds are offered by another PC then it is with them you should place your bets, and it is their responsibility to record this. If you wish to place a bet with odds published for NPC organisations then please bring your bet to Host who will take this for you.
Odds offered on matches will be declared by Host when they are published. If you wish to publicise that you are offering odds then please talk to Host who will make this known.
Host will be only too happy to announce the arrival of the esteemed guests to League Conferences. If you wish to be announced then please talk to Host. Bear in mind that where many guests wish to be announced at once, there may be a queue in order to allow guests time to make use of the ushed silence, and that priorities may apply to the order of the queue.
You do not have to be announced by Host to enter the League Conference, particularly at the start. If you wish to be announced at the start of time in then talk to the Head GM before the start of session.
Any questions you have should be directed to a GM or to Host. Bear in mind we may be busy!
