* SILVER 20.3 (Owen-Garnett-Anderson) NO Powder due to TERRORIST Bio Attacks and Paranoia Thereof. (formerly, chalk/talc/flour was used as contact poison in letters, notepads, on projectiles, or as flourbomb representations of grenade). Assassin contact poison should either be BANNED or be an immediately identifiable substance -- toothpaste being a far better candidate than less habitual products like vaseline or more variable products such as jam. At present Umpire Pewsey has banned all indirect attempts; this may be creating an undesirable void for some peoples' preferences and talents however.

YELLOW ALERT: Guns, as defined above: launchers of projectiles, that might be confused with its real counterpart, however faint the chance: Supersoakers, Nerf guns and crossbows, toy blowpipes. despite their specific design as toys for public recreation in the USA, can look dodgy. [Moreover, c.f. pre and post 2001-designed supersoakers...]

Holding an unrealistic everyday object bellicosely: as if it were a gun or knife.

GREEN LIGHT: THROWN projectiles (incl flicked or launched from a standard band), everyday non-suspect objects, tiny or mediaevally huge `blades'.

Explanation of how this General Ruleset is making several safetynet rulesets: the first we make cuts out all RED ALERT practises, whether by total bans or WHAT-WHEN-WHERE bans. This is the ruleset we presently recommend. Other rulesets we make are more stringent, in anticipation of the public and authorities becoming even less tolerant. We hope this draft when finished will suffice to be the common ancestor of all these rulesets.

Indeed, All Involved Shall Watch Out For Each Other. As regards TROUBLE, this means accepting that Porters/Police may challenge someone on assassin buisness for being near one of your haunts. Porters/Police are trained to ask "what's you're buisness here and with who?", and a very natural defense for the challenged people is to say they are there to see you (regardless of whether they are visibly mischievous). While you do not and should not accept responsibility for any misdeeds that person was caught at, it is nevertheless of correct politeness and placatory value to all involved for you to acknowledge, if said Porters/Police subsequently challenge you over the incident, that this person is a `friend' or `acquaintance'/ that you `are open to many visitors on private and social grounds'. Similarly, no-one involved in assassins should ever denounce anyone else involved for doing assassin-related things. Assassins are your welcome guests (even if they are killing/besieging you), and as such you will not Porter any people on assassin buisness. Helpful here (for an assassin attacking a college) 1) knowing the target's name and room number. (Without having to look it up on a long list of addresses entitled "Mayweek Assassins 2006").

2) if you can get away with it, saying "see" is better than "play a practical joke on" is better than "kill as part of the assassins game." What you can set away with may depend on how subtly you are going about assassin buisness, as well as on previous incidents involving the person/staircase being visited, and the porter's own experience of such.

3) Remember, porters have every right not to know, or want to know, or put up with, assassins. Only the occasional porter will find assassins a big laugh, so don't count on it.

If challenged by Porters/Police in a place you are not entitled to freely misbehave in, if challenged, calmly and briefly apologize and get out, if you have the option to. Do not return there.

* SILVER 23 (Nehme-Wakeling-Gill): No Authority Or Staff Figures Shall Be Impersonated By Assassins In lying to get into your target's room: NO Porters/Bedders/Maintenance Men/Supervisors/DOSes/ Porters/Police... For you could be rather directly in very serious TROUBLE if you refuse to believe/let it these people. Particular provisos: 1) Say "I'm the *Guild* police" or "We're the *Assassins* police if you are openly declaring your membership of that to someone. If you *are* an Assassin and a Supervisor, your kills are void if your accessing the victim specifically involved you saying you are the Supervisor. St John's Ambulance volunteers are off bounds while in uniform for work. They may not wear their uniform for anything else, nor may anyone else dress up in Ambulance uniform to evade attacks.

Because the Umpire may well be about sorting out TROUBLE, the Umpire also cannot be impersonated.

(Founders-Anderson-Holzhauer-Garnett-Pasi-Warner-Johnson-Cripps-Brackenbury-Biltcliffe-Allcutt-BairdFraser-Lester-Gibson - poss. incomplete creditation) This serves not only to avoid TROUBLE but also to make assassins something a wide range of people would consent to being invoved in i.e GOLD 2.1 and 3 again.

The default in all these circumstances is that there should be no assassin related activites there at all. Some exceptions are pinned on this list, but assassin attacks are never allowed here -- No killing/attempts here counts, while it could easily get you thrown out of assassins and in real life TROUBLE too. Some of these circumstances have milder cousins mentioned later on, allowing some kinds of restrictive assassin moves. Only do any of these if you are sure it's the milder situation and you know what the restriction is.

Pedantry concerning WHERE's: A kill does not count, and may constitute an assassin or even real-life offense if any of you, the victim or the piece of space through which the attack is launched is within a zone in which that attack is BANNED.

SILVER 24 Assassins Is Not In Any Way To Disrupt University Teaching

Absolutely no assassin activities of during the course of a Lecture (from the instant the Lecturer enters until they say that's all for now). Ditto Examples Classes/Outdoor Practicals/Supervisions/Seminars/DoS meetings/Tutorials.

No assassin attacks or BRANDISHINGS can ever be carried out on the premises of any of these. However, if the teaching is publically open and impersonal (as lectures are) you may attend in order to avoid assailants outside or to spy for targets inside (No Photography).

SILVER 25 Absolutely No Assassin Activities in Religious Buildings Or Ceremonies. (Now, unlike lectures, extreme offense can be taken from just `pretending to attend' a service in order to play a game. Thus it is not acceptable to attend just to have people pointed out or to follow them out. It is however nobody's buisness why you attend so long as you act respectfully therein and have no visible or unsubtly concealed assassin props with you. So conceivably you could seek sanctuary in there to avoid pursuit. Likewise, you could wait outside a place of worship for a target within). All this includes nonreligious rooms such as toilets, kitchens and indoor hallways on the religious building's premises.

Silver 26 Assassins is Not To Disrupt Sporting Activities, Shows Or Other Social Activities.

Sports: No attempts on Sports Halls, Pitches, Tracks, Pavilions incl. on members of the crowd or in the changing-rooms. Boaties are additionally off bounds while carrying boating equipment.

Shows: No attempts in Cinemas, Concerts or Plays (incl in rehearsals) nor at the CUR Radio Station. Fire jugglers are off limits whenever they show the intention of lighting up, up to the radius to which they attract attention to (mostly a Mayweek rule).

Social Activities: No attempts in College Formal Halls or any other eateries food is served to the table (O Leary-BairdFraser) Nor in Society meetings with designated rooms and/or guest speakers.

Your spying/having targets pointed out to you at such places needn't be silent if it is etiquette for the crowd to speak about whatever they like -- or yell -- at this activity.

.

While a lot of killing is in Colleges/University buildings, most of the worst can go wrong elsewhere (and not including elsewhere in the playing zone easily slips into excluding people, limiting modes of meeting i.e. would run against GOLD 2-3, and must thus be fought hard against). So, will cut back to colleges After this section. Particularly relevant here:

(Section instigated by thoughts of Hogg)

INNOCENTLY HOLD: to openly carry a recognizable and innocent everyday object in an ordinary nonbellicose fashion*, when this everyday object is actually nonostensibly labelled as an assassins weapon.

* C.C.T.V. at most ranges can't tell the difference between a banana and a gun or a pen and a knife. If that's how you're holding it, that's how Porters/Police monitoring the cctv's may see it.

BRANDISH: to deliberately FIRE, pose or move bellicosely with or have visibly strapped on weapons, or to openly hold toy weapons. Posing or moving bellicosely is an additional aggravator as it can cause you to look like a real criminal even if a highly nonrealistic weapon is in use. Thus assassins should not do this; fighting styles that do not look realistic should be favoured by the rules: multiple optimal weapon types rather than "guns only", and allowing blocking or shields are routes toward this, as is regular weapons practise (where many optimal moves that look nonrealistic will be in evidence even within no-blocking rules).

SECURELY HOLSTER: to have one one's body concealed non-bulging and properly fastened-on weapons. Benefits from asking close friends if they can tell you're carrying anything. Benefits more from being tested out over long periods of time and/or consulting a genuine master of the subtle half of the game.

LOOSELY CONCEAL: bulging or not properly fastened on weapons or weapons in open bags. The traditional problem with these being that they may fall out or be seen in inappropriate circumstances.

* SILVER 27 (Police Broadcast; Anderson-Lester) The last 2 of these are now subject to the BULKY COAT PROBLEM, which may be the biggest problem everyday life games of assassins has ever faced. While in principle we could have taught you all to SECURELY HOLSTER with cheap materials rather than LOOSELY CONCEAL to avoid dropping guns while in shops etc,^* bulk is harder as some coats by themselves are bulky, both Town and Gown PUBLIC PARANOIA will cause somesuch to be Reported, and the ARMED POLICE may now SHOOT TO KILL suspicious moving people in bulky coats. The best `pre-advice' we have is [based on press releases by the Police] 1) don't carry much if anything at all on you. Use sleeve-drawn knives, joke squirters and foamballs from within the closed hand for kneejerk response, and carry nerfguns/waterpistols in carrier bags for attacks and for quick if not instantaneous defense (though there are carrier bag draws modes that are just as fast as chest, hip or lower-back draws from one's person.) 2) don't wear a large coat on a day nobody else seems to be. 3) don't act in a way the public doesn't understand (running/lurking/looking paranoid) while wearing a bulky coat. 4) never load or otherwise fiddle with weaponry inside your coat in public. Here SECURE HOLSTERING makes a comeback as better than LOOSELY CONCEALING: if done up that way you won't be pressurized into fiddling by the stuff being about to fall out in a compromising place. 5) No strings or wires sticking out of coats, pockets or bags [a number of assassins have had such before -- sensors, broken holsters, dead man's switches, supersoaker tubes up their sleeves, weapons drawing systems, instant appearence changers like retractable skirts or quick summons wigs for confusing pursuers... There is now a new standard of subtlety to be met with all these things. If your `weapons system' becomes dodgy through breaking down in the field, retreat to the nearest place where it can be fixed without drawing TROUBLE. Three protections here are drawing a blatently fake weapon to demonstrate harmlessness, having a big enough bag (backpack or folded carrier) to dump everything into if your weapons system breaks down, and having a strike partner with you to help out while themselves looking normal.

Another problem is that if too many weapons only work in certain zones due to SECURITY/NONDAMAGE restrictions, then one may tend to carry different optimal weapons for each zone on one's person. Or carrying many waterbombs/tennis balls with intention of not running out in prolonged fights. But these things are very prone to leading to a BULKY COAT... This ruleset does not yet find a solution to this ugly problem. This is hard and depends both on the wishes of the wider assassin community and on how the different real world pressures change the balance of factors. What we roughly and not necessarily uniquely suggest is BANNING assassin fighting/BRANDISHING/LOOSE CONCEALING totally rather than partially in zones which people do not need to traverse in order to go about assassining buisness, shops being the prime example. Then equate the following: room attacks: often non-water, dodginess irrelevant: use band-gun; streets: use waterguns as these trash bandguns anyway and waterguns look less dodgy. These can be deployed just as fast from shopping bags as from coats if one knows what one is doing (which could be made publically available information) while common and effective bandgun models are very unbulky. Use non-ALERT, non-MESSY TOSSING weapons-cum-stabbing-and-pinging weapons, and deploy these from shopping bags/light sidepacks. In preplanned attacks, you may deploy other things such as bulky Nerf-guns from a backpack once at the location, while room defense can employ all manner of things which are hard to carry or hide.

TRANSPORT SEALED-OFF: to have weapons sealed in a backpack compartment such that there is no reason whatsoever to open that compartment in places where those weapons are inappropriate. This is to be a useful "weapon" in designing some of the Safetynet Rulesets.

*SILVER 28 (Advice from Porters) Losing A Bag/Backpack In A Compromising Place Can Cause The BOMB SQUAD To Be Called Out. Being chased away from it by an assassin will not count as a valid excuse...[call TIMEOUT if you are chased away] Covering the end of a CPS sticking out of your backpack `with a sock' is also suspicious. No assassin letters should be bulky, no form of assassin fake bombs whatsoever should be readmitted to the game.

Things not to leave behind on a raid: raiding can involve lying using props and/or overt pieces of equipment. You may NOT LEAVE BEHIND what were formerly mostly buzzy/flashy `detonators' lying around deployed as motion sensors, (or deploy such in a public place), the string you tie to doors to extend the range of the no-force rule, periscope constructions or walkie-talkies, or large props like inflatable armchairs or stereos. It is OK to leave behind small excuse props like survey-sheets, C.I.C.C.U. leaflets, blutacked spyholes, and simple blutacked mirrors. Plus: don't necessarily count on the O.K.ness of leaving worrying-looking or worrying-labelled equipment in your own room as a variety of bedders and maintenance staff may visit this while you are out. Some Such Have filed Serious Complaints.

JUMPING: a sudden and final attack in which the first thing the victim knows is the killing blow. Most commonly an ambush round a corner or an attack from behind.

FIGHTING: if a JUMP is botched or there is a head-on chance encounter, there may be a protracted firefight. this has a much higher probability of causing TROUBLE than a JUMP. If it's meant to be a fight, the venue should be chosen to be as nonoffensive as possible. You can always "take it outside" if TROUBLE looms.

CHANCE MEETING: to attack on sight without prior plan. For chance encounter attacks and for defense, carry "all round useable" esp. as regards WHEN-WHERE dependent SECURITY or DAMAGE hazards. Water with care weapons indeed used with care are often a good option; bandguns in indoor places likely to have C.C.T.V. or complaining bystanders are actually often a bad option, though they are a good option for residential corridors.

PREPLANNED ATTACK: you have rather more scope here to choose methods that not only are likely to get you a quick, accurate JUMP kill, but also are unlikely to cause TROUBLE given WHEN and WHERE the preplanned attack is to be. If it's a first try, you may consider the option of not attacking if you discover unfortunate features of the place you planned the attack e.g a C.C.T.V. watching a lecture theatre door where you were going to try to attack with two rubber band guns or a plodge having line of sight to where you were going to stand openly with a C.P.S.

LURKING: if you know where they are going you may wish to JUMP them at either endpoint or on what is a probable part of the route.

* SILVER 29: (Anderson-Lester) LURKING Is RED ALERT through public/police/porter suspicion, for it is part of what many kinds of criminals/maniacs do.

Precautions: You may not lurk in any area above that is NO RED ALERT. You may not lurk far away from whom you are visiting without either looking like you belong there or if you look like an assassin i.e you are blatently bearing toy or labelled weaponry which furthermore itself is not in violation of that zone's ALERT status.

If you are not doing any of these things, you may NOT LURK more than the 5 minutes a normal person would hang around on finding their visitand out. If you have no University I.D. (or companion bearing such) you may not lurk more than 5 minutes in a given university residence corridor even if you are bearing assassin weaponry.

If you suspect you have aroused suspicion while not bearing arms, unless there is POOR LIGHT or (poor resolution prone) C.C.T.V., you may choose to demonstrate harmlessness by drawing a blatently fake toy weapon, smiling, or declaring you are intending to play a prank on a particular friend of yours.

* SILVER 30 (Police Broadcast) (NO LURKING Like A TERRORIST Might) Do NOT LURK Important Buildings, or places with a High Person Density. That includes not pacing to and fro in front of such places or repeatedly circling them.

LYING YOUR WAY INTO A ROOM The use of fake identities and stories (sometimes backed up with props) in order to get into someone's room. Conversely, if an assassin approaches their room to find assassins outside, they may pretend to be a neighbour, a marauding C.I.C.C.U. rep etc. in order to lever advantage.

SPYING Looking for a target, having them pointed out to you, finding out details about them, sketching their face, estimating their height, listing items of their wardrobe, who they are friends with. Is intended to be subtle: either done by liars or done silently from a distance. In the case of doing this in a zone where assassinn attacks are disallowed (where better to do it?), you may additionally pounce on them when they leave the zone or when the activity preventing assassin attacks (e.g society meeting) ends. You are advised to know well how the space and time boundaries are defined if you intend to operate just outside these.

SUBTLE PRANKS Discovering, stealing, unloading or booby trapping unattended weapons if there are other assassins about, improvised weapon building by labelling.

* (One Phrasing of) the Anderson-Lester Uber-Rule: Silver 31 WHERE and WHEN relevant, Do NOT Look Like A Burglar, A Mugger, An Armed Robber, A Pervert/Wierdo/Stalker Or a Drinks Spiker. Nor Is Assassins A License To Trespass, Computer-Hack, Commit Motoring Offenses Or Cycling Offenses.

To help with WHEN and WHERE, the following concepts are useful. For many purposes, these (time) zones are different.

IN COLLEGE (defined as being on portered premises) or otherwise is also a highly significant distinction.

(Anderson, based on long study of Student Press and talks with Porters about why changes in the closing times of gates)

SILVER 40 The Fauna of College Criminals, real and perceived, differs from those in town. Brutal break-ins and muggings are not expected. Sneak thieves however are aplenty, whether targetting open rooms or lockpicking. Wierdos are also expected, including some that are, or are feared to be, a threat to ladies.

Kings' and Trinity staff have been known to suspect loitering students of being criminals, while Kings can shut when it pleases and often demands any guests be met by college members at its gates. New Hall has a "no men without a welcoming host present" in many of its residential corridors. Newnham requires a signed note from the host in order to exit premises after midnight. In any college which shuts overnight, it is unwise to get locked inside.

* SILVER 41 NO MESSY NO HARD killing is allowed in:

(Wakeling) May Balls/Events, and (ask Mayweek Umpire First) some Mayweek Society Garden Parties (NO DODGY is also desirable in all these).

Public College Rooms that Contain Artwork, Antique Furniture or are TV rooms (If a Public College Room is merely Lushly Carpeted, it is just NO MESSY).

(Founders) In the rooms of people who are not involved.

(Nehme) In Attacking those openly bearing musical instruments or large electronic goods: additionally (Anderson-Wakeling) use 90 degree frontal attacks only so as not to startle target into dropping valuable fragile property. Such may not be carried merely as a defense against assassins.

(Implicitly Founders'; Anderson in writing) In Music Rooms [DAMAGE: Contain Pianos]. (Anderson) In Lifts [Poor aeration and SAFETY: no dodging space together with many closeby hard walls to flinch into...]

* SILVER 42 (2002ish in origin) At most WWC in:

outdoor components of eating outlets such as the outside part of the Gardies queue or the whole of the queue of the Van of Death. Cafeteria style service IN COLLEGES, but it's back to NO MESSY NO VERY HARD if the Cafeteria Service is located in a College Hall with Pictures.

College Bars but not Pubmeets therein of a Named Society.

Ents.

(MIT) Adjacent to Noticeboards.

Rooms that are primarily not computer rooms such as JCR's or Newnham corridoors are WWC if large enough that the computer is in no way endangered.

(Sharpened by Lester) NB Indoors is Never FULL WATER with the Exception of the areas surrounding the FULL WATER room of a player. If these are inappropriate, the FULL WATER status should be revoked.

*SILVER 43 Unrealistic Knives and Ping-kills from unrealistic objects only: A) (Founders) After the 5:30 pm total ban is lifted, COMPUTER ROOMS and offices of players.

* SILVER 47 (Pasi) "TIMEOUT": a call to be used if cross authority figures are descending, if somebody is injured or in other emergencies. [The current word `Ceasefire' is a poor choice because it is both an admission that there were things being FIRED, and because it could be misheard as the genuine panic call "Fire!" leading to alarms, evacuation and Firemen.]

* Silver 48 (Laycock): Carry your university I.D. with you if you have any, dont't do prolonged or porterable things in the first place if you have none and have nobody with you who has some.

The essence of assassins is not lost if the authorities ban this or that weapon or practise. Accept such decisions of theirs. And they should not have to repeat themselves, so indeed SILVER 4. [N.B They have `lifespans' in Cambridge considerably longer than students', and often assume their prior complaints are remembered/passed down.].

* SILVER 49 (Founders): (real life games only) If the authority figures are sufficiently cross with you, regardless of whether it was your fault, it may be advisable or polite to resign from the termly game to ensure no more TROUBLE happens around you.

That is another good reason for there to be Assassin Events, carefully thought out to be TROUBLE-free: the inclusion of people who are still illusioned with assassin things but know or fear that e.g their College doesn't want them playing or drawing in assassins on College grounds.

* SILVER 50 (Founders, given in a definition-free form to permit brief and unambiguous quotation for the passing of sentence): People involved who seriously, persistantly or unremorsefully: get into trouble, endanger/hurt people or damage neighbouring property shall be banned.

As bench indicators of trouble, official complaints to one's Dean almost certainly cause you to be disqualified. Wasteof Police time, incurring a large fine or being seen in public with BANNED REALISTIC WEAPONS will definitely cause you to be disqualified.

* Individual players may not speak for any Assassin Institution as a whole, and as such not use any Assassin Rules as an excuse for their behaviour.

The Umpire and/or other Senior Assassin Figures are responsible not to have any dangerous troublemakers on the loose. Such people may or may not merit a second chance by rehabilitation and this may or may not be taken on/risked by some senior assassin figure. Those currently BANNED for causing troble should never hide that fact from any Umpires under which they subsequently wish to play and re-admission is at each Umpire's discretion. This is cleanest if the rehabilitator is the current Umpire or someone trusted by the current Umpire. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Disclaimer: Anyone involved in an assassins activity is responsible for their own behaviour. So, A.S.A.S. is in no way responsible for anyone's misdeeds (nasty, inappropriate, unsafe, trouble-causing or damaging to property). That is to cover both activities that A.S.A.S. participate in and the activities of any independent societies who may choose to adopt some of A.S.A.S.' rules. That said, A.S.A.S. reserve the right not to admit those who perpetrate such misdeeds.

Notes:

Many rulesets say "Exercise common sense." But that's a cop-out. We can quite assure you most of the best players have, between them, shown a lack of all known important kinds of common sense. That's one reason why this page has *many* topics...

[Newsgroup entry about further rules developments]

Backstory: Adam Biltcliffe suggests cutting various things. Tom Booth and Ed Anderson say each such cut would exclude a small number of people.

Next Phase: The rules cover a collection of lobes of various sizes. Examples ***: Indirect weapons. Water weapons. Throwables. Policing. Accomplicing. Lying one's way through doors. Duel rematches. Blocking. Criminality. Concealment. Disguises. Spying. Mafias. Vampiricity. Binding Social no-kills. Surviving. Attacking at the close of society meetings. Cars. Cyclebys. Lurking. Sneaking. Attacking houses. Firing through doorholes. Cutting out any of many such lobes partially cuts out several people, sometimes badly cuts out several people. Inclusion is based on not badly cutting out any known players and providing a wide enough selection of lobes to accommodate and encourage all manner of playing styles.

Some keys here:

1) there is no reason each game should have the same lobes. These can change in a termly cycle, and vary according to demand, security/safety pressure differences, and due to wish to experiment. Indeed, Mayweek typically has a different lobe structure (as do "Mafia" games), and that difference is traditionally there to break up the (other sort of) mafias that tend to aggregate in Lent games.

2) Each lobe has its own safety-and-security, strategy-and-tactics. Safety-and-security is a more important veto/relative lobesize determiner (being an inevitable consequence of playing immersed in the fairly intolerant real world) than strategy-and-tactics (which is about intrinsic gamebalance). Safety-and-security can cause lobes to be lost forever. Strategy-and-tactics should never have that effect - they should rather be archived as options not in use statedly due to frivolosities and not necessities. This is the difference between rubber pellet guns and rubber poison hedgehogs (at least historically and as a first-order approximation).

3) Some diversity constraints (whether or not aggravated by being peopled by known and/or keen players) are alternatives. That means there are certain properties possessed by subsets of lobes which mean that at least one lobe with such properties should survive. E.g. There should be at least one setting which requires substantial and attractive fighting skills. There should be at least one setting which allows for subtle rather than ham-fisted takedowns. There should be enough settings that everyone can do well in at least one of them which occurs (or can be plotted to occur) reasonably often - say once per killing phase. There should be enough settings that the sufficiently bothered can make many and varied attempts. There should be at least one "rehabilitation channel" wherein warned or banlisted assassins can work with experienced assassins (the police and the experienced accomplice/mafia godparent schemes are such). There should be at least one setting which allows for cheap/improvised weapons users to have advantage over the wielders of expensive toys. There should be at least one setting for coordinated group movements as these are major Varsity match win-or-lose things. There should be at least some settings, signposted, which a Fresher could use to outplay veterans; here it helps for lobes to vary sufficiently from game to game so that many veterans are effectively as inexperienced in those departments as the Freshers. Thus it's never *just* "should we bin this or that of the examples ***"

4) A good setup is for Michaelmas to have many lobes as catchment for new peoples, an Umpire who is an adept of a substantial number of lobes, advertises those lobes, is happy and competent to suggest different people try different lobes, and furthermore encourages people to diversify between lobes (thus lessening the impact on people of particular lobes being cut, whether by demand or trouble-related necessity). Ressurrection (player or police variety) may help people to experiment with more lobes, likewise killing events.

5) The more lobes, the less monotony, countering another drop-out cause.

6) Some lobes relate to killing form and others to killing game-context. permitting good fighting and good sneaking is prior to whether there's ressurrection or police, say, so such lobes should have a core jointly set up before the traditional termly/Mayweek/new Adam Biltcliffe... distinguishing game-context rules are built in.

Next let's step even one step futher back, before any specific lobes are considered. There are the following lobe-independent key elements.

I) Inclusion of different people by doing assassination.

II) Consent for any the attacks involved to be received by all.

III) No real-life nastiness whilst doing this, or as a justifiable consequence of doing this expressed while doing more of this.

IV) Safety and security based on lobe-independent maxims, on knowledge of the surrounding real world as relates to each lobe, on knowledge of all wrong that has ever happened within that lobe.

V) that I-III) are required to be in place to prevent some of the worst of IV) - assassins deliberately getting other assassins in trouble, assassin people hounding other assassin people off the safety-and-security discussion-table, assassins causing trouble through being unpleasent to assassins in public. And are available as a defense for when Dean of College X says "why the hell do you people keep on playing the fool" and as a mollifier for the assassins in such a position that they are to argue solely for activities that meet a reasonable balance between noble aims I-III) and the unpleasent face of reality IV).

VI) I-IV) are not to be bent.

VII) a *choice* of fun rules (all within the scope of I-IV) as befits public demand, which determine what is a kill (a hit? valid to the zonetype? with no mitigating circumstances?) and what consequences that kill has (competence? wantedness? points transfer? new pseudonym?), and such that safety-and-security sensible techniques are encouraged by ensuring that these are strategically-and-tactically superior *though what they count as representing*.

VIII) From here on, I only follow one such choice and do not reproach others for choosing differently. I choose to continue working with principles, because that is less confusing than tit-bits. I choose: i) The elements of the game (attempts, buildups, kills) are universally tasteful practical jokes. ii) There is an omnipotent and unbiassed Umpire. iii) Favour the Bothered.

The Umpire regulates I-IV as well as disagreements over VII. Part of being bothered is bending VII *not I-IV* for advantage, but the Umpire's omnipotence means they can bend you back, for "payback with interest". Favouring the bothered I illustrate in the fighting lobe for ranged weapons including its entwining well with the safety-and-security sensible techniques issue of VII (my progress with Matt Johnson's newsgroup question last year as to which ranged weapons I'd allow). In the present clime, I would choose to make the experience-cumulative xp supersoaker as strong as possible in what its effect represents. 4 subchoices among others which push in that direction are: limiting throwables, allowing blocking, counting it as a machine gun volley so all parts of sizeable (clusters of) holes of a specific size or above are unambiguously acknowledged as hits (in turn tied to knowing what cross-section a watershot presents over a wide range of distances and weather conditions, and stating this with specimen photos on the rulespage), and zonally restricting C.P.S. (not indoors, perchance not in a triangle in central cambridge, ever/during tourist hours/during tourist season). Allowing blocking is also one of two routes to improving the deal with bandgun security hazards - it would favour players to have large plastic blocking fins of nonoffensive shape turning them into rectangles by filling in the undebarrel-forehandle quadrant; and optimal blocking fighting is *very* far removed from real-life bellicose in posture. Is not perfect because *transparent* blocking fins are superior technically but not securitywise, so *opaque* would have to be inserted as a security-clause. The (weaker) alternative would be to demand bandguns be done up so, else they are game-invalid through being a security hazard. While the alternative of getting throwables that can outdo guns because guns may become security-unacceptable has been an interest of mine since my rehab start in M1997. One or more of multi, low air resistance and bouncy+ricochets-count (hedgehogs) is capable of doing this, though I always found the strongest combination along these lines was with xp coverfire with the off-hand (then one needs a smallish and minimally gun-shaped xp like a 240 if non-blocking or the very wide 270 if blocking). Factor in safety, which is the antagonist of low air resistance and, indirectly, cluster and b+r, and one loses the carrot, the (multi)throwing-pen, the (multi)onion and the (multi)hedgehog (these are all mine). Capture the Flag have substantial experience with the next level of optimality: Bjoern's tennis ball and Simeon's taped-up Cambridge Student. It should be said that these are likely seen as dangerous by the public (though they are not very), and they are capable of causing large-momentum damage in rooms/kitchens, even windows and windscreens. And, sadly, even bandguns outdoors, let alone xp's, can well hold a thrower sufficiently at bay that even what multithrow one can manage with these bulkier hollows is easy to dodge, again and again. the better LARP throwing daggers I've seen can vie with tennis balls, though they may be less rather than more appropriate. Safety problems (both actual and public-perceived) first go away with the foamball/Larp rock (untaped). But these are much easier to dodge than tennis balls - of those who have taken interest in fighting this term, only I and a certain other sportsman look to be able to get any hits at all with these in face-to face combat with offhand xp's. Should say at this stage we can throw them 26 metres outdoors fairly accurately but slow in flight, so they are 'but' of value to take out the unalert from outside gunrange. ie jump, flank, attack from behind. also to distract, and to break formation. They just won't outdo optimal fighting guns in a frontal fight (though of course, were security to dictate "no guns of any kind" a la Sheffield, one wouldn't need to worry about opponents with guns). They are also passable for room and corridor fighting, where ranges are oft small and line-of-sight sometimes absent) and more so if ricochets count. They could also be used to bangkill not necessarily correctly identified peoples (to avoid the pointing guns at people being assault issue i believe raised by Raccoon). I am currently building "planets". These are foamballs with hegdehog cores. These clearly fly further while not having the subeyesocket size or bounciness of the hedgehog. These will still be large momentum but are intended to be window-windscreen safe and therefore universally useable outdoors, while seeking to make some difference in watergun fights in the more-or-less present restrictions situation (safety-net 1: more restricted gun-use; safe throwables viable vs guns). While combining the planet (or possibly returning to the foamball) with "guns are ok in student residence corridors", "ban on many unnecessary indoors like shops as (full) playzones", and "transport guns between student residence corridors only in sealed-off backpack compartments" (to avoid Jonathan Hogg's point of guns falling out of coats/carrier bags while in shops), one has *Safety-net 2*. *Safety net 3* is the gunless state, with foamballs, thrown nerfdarts and flicked bands for "ranged" alon gside various hand-to-hand stuff. I'll add that this state certainly suffices still to well cover pretty much all lobes and carry out Aim I. Though it would not appear necessary to go there yet, and there is also as yet the option of preserving some gunnery uses elsewise, in killing events in carefully chosen secluded zones.

Edward

(The above long par is intended to illustrate one important type of mentality to be applied to each lobe, in addition to how it may be applied to this particular lobe.)

Further consideration: If certain lobes are cut or cycled, killing events can complement them. e.g. CTF do blocking and one-hit-kill rather than limbwounds, the Inner Half do societal killing/timing/improvised weapon. rudiments of sparring and group tactics have been recently been covered ... elsewhere

What are the Great Simplifiers and their social consequences?

The carefully chosen secluded zone is the biggest simplifier, turning open play into killing events capable of great silver brevity. That's not a restriction as these complement not supplant main games. They lose "at any time", "passive involvement", much of meeting, of accomplicing, of subtlety and of defense. Though there are exceptional types of killing events that do not lose some of these.

Campus Only is the Sheffield. That will lose those living in houses (quite a Large Fraction) unless there is a compensatory scheme giving other targetting info. This measure also permits those with difficult or stalker-plagued neighbours to remain involved. It will also use connectivity of the playzone, on which most mayweek and mafia fun is based, lose subtlety, lose much chance encounter, make the corridor attack yet more prominent, heightening neighbour incidents and safety incidents involving accidental pointblank round doors.

Not in Campus. If the porters are more trouble than the townsfolk... the above reverses (and it becomes hard to provide "targetting wheres", as most timetabled where's are IN COLLEGE/in departments. A cut to be dreaded.

No Red Alert What/When/Where's: cut out those things which are deemed closest to the edge of trouble.

NWW.

wider weapons useage with safety specs and disciplined use thereof (and discipline in carrying stuff to and from the venue). Must be fully secluded as bystanders have no safety glasses. Is paintball (or analogue with assassin weapons, incl some otherwise banned).

small waterpistolettes only. Is called RAG assassins, and has much smaller silver rules. Typically also cuts fights out by not permitting defence (flee only). That is pretty unnecessary though, among people willing to read a conventional-length safety-security ruleset (forbidding defence being of course greatly spoilsport).

No indirect weapons. Counter: a few work well at parties, if certain cautions kept.

No criminal/police system. Need replacement inclusion in place of police. That is coverable by ressurrection. Is Mayweek/Adam's proposal. Have difficulty figuring out what to do about non nasty non trouble risking breaches of rules. Points penalties may answer part of this. Police is also a rehab channel for serious offenders. That can be countered however by distinct deployment of senior assassins - partner or accomplice the occasional person with no common sense till they get enough, you don't have to be the CoP to do that...

No accomplices. Cuts out people on the verge of being interested. Makes neighbours feel unwanted as well as intruded on, bad combination that. Should not be done in our opinion. Rather we should deal with this minor matter ourselves, as we care about it and know more about it than anyone else. Would then have some superbly designed paragraph appended onto otherwise bereft rulesets...

Only shooting people whose picture you are carrying. Cuts down on innocents and on "illicit kills". problem: may aid obsessives. may intimidate would be players to give name/address/photo to unknown people particularly if issue of people stopping unwelcome visits *after* the game is not stopped. incidentally, default multiple ressurrection interferes with this too in termlies.

Duels could have martially/spectatorially superior rules to the game, essentially becoming killing events in carefully chosen secluded zones...

To be continued (and trimmed).

2008 addendum: we're easing up about the bulky coat problem. There having been no further large and consequential violations of Silver since 2005, we now consider the three SafetyNets as somewhat too extreme. On these grounds, only SafetyNet 1 will be renovated, factoring in the various observations and mishaps between M06 and L09.