Next: The Bronze Rules
Bold highlights important words; italic is used for emphasis; caps are used for a word to take its here-defined meaning rather than its standard dictionary meaning.
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* SILVER 4 It is mandatory that all would-be participants not only read this webpage but also take it seriously.
Not having read the rules is not a valid excuse against getting thrown out of assassins games/events/societies for serious breaches of the rules.
* SILVER 5 Assassins is about the prevention and not the cure.
Past mishaps are heeded and much thought goes into avoiding all manner of mishaps ( not just repeats of past mishaps,
though those are the most asinine, particularly in the eyes of the Authorities.
This makes it clear that Silver Rule developments must rest on the Real-Life and not the Assassin Game perspective:
considering all real life Security problems that all assassin actions could be confused for, by
The Public/Security Personnel/Authority Figures, and considering all (personal and property) accidents that assassin actions could cause.
By these means real life places firm borders on what is acceptable assassin buisness.
* SILVER 6
All involved in Assassins Consent to Receiving Any Assassins Attack Allowed in the Game in Question.
This consent covers whatever `damage' the attack is usually expected to cause,
e.g you may receive a wet patch or be tapped on the back.
To minimize inconvenience, assailants should stop firing at you once you say "ok, I'm dead".
N.B. You must immediately admit you are a player if you are killed.
* SILVER 7
Each Assassin May Impose Personal Rules
If you are allergic to something, in fear for the welfare of your violin etc,
you can both ask for this to go specifically into that game's rules and
ask for reminders of these facts to be put next to your name and address on the "targets webpage".
* SILVER 8 The importance of "real life places bounds on assassin buisness" is lost unless assassin buisness is categorized.
Beware the indolence of thinking a Banned Weapons List is enough to avoid trouble.
The big no-no's for assassins can involve not only weapons/equipment and actions (collectively WHAT's) but also WHERE's and WHEN's
(and sometimes specific combinations of these).
Concerning attacking people with toy or home-made weapons.
*SILVER 9 It is essential for the well-being of all involved and of bystanders (who may be confused for assassins or accidentally hit by crossfire) to ban decidedly harmful weapons/attacks, and categorize the remaining ones so that any more capable of causing harm than others are earmarked to be used most restrictedly and/or responsibly.
<1 INDIRECT: an attack by leaving a `surprise' for the target. There are no such in Mayweek :-)
2 DIRECT: an attack in person. It is a
2.1 STRIKE: if the assailant is still attached to the thing which hits the target.
2.2 FIRING A GUN: if the assailant fires or launches a projectile with a second object larger than a rubber band which stays held by the assailant.
2.3 THROW: if it is thrown, with the additional stipulation of "as hard as you like". This will only apply to THROWABLES that are safe to be used without heed.
Flicking of or from a rubber band counts as THROWING.
MULTI-THROW (the powerful tactic of throwing more than one thing simultaneously from the same hand) is not allowed this term for Security and Fun reasons.
2.4 TOSS Not this term :-)
2.5 DROP if it is dropped, with the additional stipulation of "moving by gravity only, over a height difference no more than the height of a door".
2.6 ROLL Not this term :-)
* SILVER 9 What Weapons Are SAFE ?
This is gauged by: 1) BRUTALITY BOUND: Nothing which could cause cuts, bruises, welts or asphyxiation is allowed.
2) VULNERABILITY BOUNDS: Nothing which endangers the most vulnerable parts of the body is allowed. The weakness of the eye and the size of the eyesocket are important here: RISK OF BLINDING (taken to include partial and temporary blinding - anything at all capable of causing eye injuries serious enough to require emergency/ long-term treatment). The vulnerability of earholes, testicles, neck fractures and risk of choking turn out curtail relatively little more than the BRUTALITY BOUND, RISK OF BLINDING VULNERABILITY BOUND and the NO FORCE RULE.
For a preliminary understanding of blunt impact and piercing impact aspects of Eye Safety, see Eye Safety assessment
Safety categories for weapon/projectile types are:
FLUFF: as water, confetti, or gentle use of fluffy toys.
SOFT: as a foam-arrow or foam-ball THROWN or a rubber band FIRED from the other side of a fair-sized room. These have low mass. These have "crumple": they lose a lot of energy in an unharmful way on impact. Nor do these have "penetrating power".
HARD: as a tennis ball, a rolled-up newspaper [N.B. these examples are Banned except at Killing Events in Secluded Zones due to other problems] or a Toy Light-Sabre [Not to be thrown] Also closer range shots with Nerf guns or bands.
Anything HARDER is quite simply Banned under all circumstances. In particular, Nothing which is Metal, Stone or Wood or has Components Thereof can be THROWN/DROPPED/FIRED FROM A GUN
* SILVER 10 Not this term :-)
*SILVER 11: THROWABLES. I. SPHEROIDAL: All Hard Spheroidal throwables are Banned, principally due to RISK OF BLINDING if below 2.5 cm radius and BRUTALITY if they are only slightly above that size. Thus this term, onions/shallots/hedgehogs (rubber balls) are BANNED.
HARD Shells above 2.5 cm radius (like pac-balls and tennis balls) look to be highly Safe (but may be seen as Unsafe or Alarming by the public, so are presently secluded zone killing events weapons only pending further investigation). Parked cars and windows also preclude tennis balls from open play. In their favour safetywise: tennis players and ball-boys do not wear safety specs and we do not see them getting blinded - compare with the smaller and more solid ball situation in Squash. Likewise, at least 10-20 years ago many thousands of schoolchildren played with pacballs, again not inflicting any notable amount of eye damage.) Some Specifically Investigated smaller HARD Shells may also be OK: the pingpong ball (again, we are not presently aware of notorious eye damage to pingpong players). SOFT or FLUFF spherical types investigated look ok: the foamball, the absorption sponge waterbomb, small teddies. The Planet is a new weapon of this kind we are considering licensing as the foamball is insufficiently competible outdoors with waterguns. It is a foamball mantle glued around a small hedgehog core, giving something of the range and speed of the rubber ball while keeping the overall mass well below BRUTALITY BOUND and the radius above the 2.5 cm stipulated by EYE SAFETY.
II. LINEAR: THROWING pens, and THROWING carrots are Banned. THROWING L.A.R.P. knives is subject to further scrutiny - what constitutes a Safe such could be misinterpreted (particularly by non Larpers). The guideline we give for a Safe linear THROWING-weapon is the THROWN Nerf dart/Nerf arrow.
III. DISCS: These appear to be out of use, so we will not stipulate Safety measures for them until there is demand otherwise.
* SILVER 11 B: Catapults are BANNED through being known to unwittingly boost the impact of even harmless looking and sounding objects such as grapes to hospitalizing strength.
Also, due to substantial increase of impact in moving from stationary to fast and oppositely moving people, on EYE SAFETY GROUNDS we at least temporarily ban Nerf guns from Fight Events and from use by and against assassin cyclists. *We will try and fix this one with experiments*
* SILVER 12 A) You are discouraged from Aiming At or Near the Head, Especially with HARD or at POINTBLANK POINTBLANK: we still define this as in earlier assassins rules as "at 1 metre or less" the difference being we're BANNING outright what is Eye-Unsafe inside that range.
To the head, it is likely that xp supersoaker water is Safe outside 1m range, we have indications (albeit not yet a convincing body of evidence) that rubber band guns and nerf guns using intended ammo throughout are also Safe outside 1m range, C.P.S. we currently do not know about. Nerf has not been sufficiently vetted, nor have rubber band rifles been looked at at all yet. We currently quarentine all of these to our Safety Testfire Range.
(Notes: outdoors, air flow slows the darts at longer range; modifying darts so as to avoid that is Banned as is using knotted rubber bands or rubber bands that substantially outrange standard 3 or 4 inch types). Can avoid these issues if at an event in a truly secluded zone in which all present are wearing safety goggles.
It is through the Damnable Practise that people expose the head to see and then do not even try to dodge fire if it does not count as a hit that headshots will continue to count as kills so long as they do not inflict injury (a banning offense) nor at all seriously risk inflicting injury (which could result in a ban, a warning or being barred from using that kind of weapon again).
* SILVER 13 NO STRIKE Attacks To The Private Parts. Try not to FIRE there either, particularly not with HARD or at POINTBLANK. [Is tied to GOLD 2.1 consent threshold being low enough for a wide range of people to acept it, as per GOLD 3.]
General Point about "not aiming": it's only as good as one's aim, the nature of the toy and how the opponent moves (incl whether those behind them will receive the shot instead, courtesy of sidestep/weave/duck). Trust us, the error boxes are very big for very many weapons over very many ranges even if the weapon is being used optimally by an expert. That is why we're taking the route of BANNING things in preference of stipulating no headshots.
* SILVER 14 No POINTBLANK Range FIRING OF GUNS or THROWING At All is furthermore recommended. Instead, say "ping" while pointing the GUN or THROWABLE-in-hand at the target.
* SILVER 15 "IMPETUS" (Safety and Nondamage): massive or fast things may hurt. May also knock things over. Nothing which is over 80-100 grammes is allowed to be thrown unless it is FLUFF or "OVERSIZE and of very low density". Our L.A.R.P. investigation team reveals that in unarmoured combat, projectiles weighing up to half a pound (227g) which are almost invariably SOFT in our categorization are considered Safe but only if they are of radius greater than about 7cm. That is a density of 0.2 g/cm^3. Certainly nothing HARDer or of more IMPETUS than Footballs (HARD) should *ever* be considered for THROWING, and with *severe* restrictions on WHERE. Larger things [like large cardboard boxes, beach-balls, inflatable armchairs labelled `fridge' `piano' or `boulder' must never be HARD, and can only be DROPPED or gently TOSSED rather than THROWN. THROWN oversizes will be Banned from many zones on No IMPETUS grounds. Sufficiently large waterbomb DROPPING is capable of breaking someone's neck and is therefore Banned. Say none bigger than a half-pint at present.
N.B All NO MESSY Zones (defined below) are automatically also NO IMPETUS (for spillage, let alone breakage is messy).
Safety of STRIKE weapons: Choose one of: ban on L.A.R.P. weapons. Or ban only nonproficient users - it may be a massive precedent from L.A.R.P to bring in rules that various top-range weapons require a Safety and Proficiency Course. But we are not doing that this term. (also possibly: ban on cheap melee weapons though shatterability impalement risks).
*SILVER 16 Safety of Unaware Target Cyclists: take care not to startle these (or any bystander cyclists) due to possibility of very serious injury. Do not use HARD or IMPETUS.
* SILVER 17 CARS IN MOTION you may not fight in or out of these or with moving traffic in the crossfire zone.
[N.B. motorists have little patience, in addition to the seriousness of car accidents].
More elaborate car rules are provided in the rules options. These are Important for anyone who uses cars concurrently with playing assassins.
*SILVER 18 Allergies to INDIRECT "poison": not relevant: no INDIRECT in Mayweek.
* SILVER 19 N.B. The `Anyone' In Safety Statement Includes Yourself. An assassins attempt, let alone the middle of an assassins fight, is not the time to figure out for the first time whether you can roll around on concrete, shinny up a drainpipe, jump out of a first floor window... If you really are an expert in such matters, it's your buisness and your risk (in the case of climbing upon structures, that includes ensuring the college-legality of your stunt as well as your Safety; as a proviso, it is *widespreadly* a Sending-Down Offense to be Caught on the Roof of a College, excluding the few, obvious open-access "picnic roofs"
Whether a weapon is Safe does not necessarily correlate well at all with whether the public sees it as Safe or Alarming. In particular, a substantial portion of the public do not view bandguns and dartguns as Safe, and may not be prepared to believe you are there to get a specific consenting person or your ability to do so accurately (esp with large waterguns).
Such public perceptions cannot be ignored in setting up the playing of assassins public places. Public perceptions are an inherent part of Security issues as they are a major contributor to official complaints.
* SILVER 20 Of vital importance to the surivial and justification of the game of assassins, DO NOT USE REALISTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF WEAPONS for they Shock, Alarm and call down all manner of College and Police Trouble.
Where to draw the cut? 20.1 Banned Weapons List - Those Banned on Security Grounds for being Realistic. Note that some of these and some in the Safety section above are also Banned on Safety Grounds:
NO Real Weapons!
NO Air-Rifles, B.B. (Ball Bearing) Guns Or Paintball Guns!
NO Replica Weapons, However Poor The Replica, for The Law Bans Carrying these In Public. This Includes NO Rubber Pellet Guns, NO Firewheels Models Of Rubber Band Gun, No Capguns, and NO Cheap Designs of Waterpistol or Spudgun That Look Like Any of These Either.
Unlike Once Upon a Time, NO `FAKE BOMBS' are allowed Both The word/label itself and the fake object call down evacuations and disposal squads. No Thank You!
20.2 BANNED Non-Weapons List
Good assassins use additional non-weapon equipment. However, NO Laser Pointers are to be used by assassins in public places [paranoia about snipers].
No Private Motor Vehicles to be used concurrently with playing assassins unless both you and your umpire are adhering to something like the cars rules in the Options.
* SILVER 20.3 NO Powder due to TERRORIST Bio Attacks and Paranoia Thereof.
(formerly, chalk/talc/flour was used as Indirect: poison -- irrelevant to Mayweek, but also as
flourbomb representations of grenade: BANNED).
* SILVER 20 a
RED ALERT: Rubber Band Guns are clearly made out of wood (a few are plastic, some of these are Banned N.B., current assassins, there are at least 2 non-firewheel but plastic RBG makes...). However, these are a sight too gun-shaped for our taste. They may well look real from a distance, in poor light, to the eyes of one hateful of assassins or students, and above all through the `eyes' of C.C.T.V. Likewise plastic knives/shortswords with 3 inch to 15 inch blades. In Safetynet 1 rules, ALL OF THESE ARE BANNED. You may use a rubber band gun only if it is rendered highly non-gun-shaped by robustly adhering sheet plastic to it in the shape of the prototype in the following link.
YELLOW ALERT: applies to any gun as defined above - a launcher of projectiles - even if noway near gun-shaped.
These are discouraged through the now very faint possibility of being confused with the real thing.
Note however that esp with blocking allowed, optimal fighting stances look nothing like people handling real guns.
You are strongly discouraged from holding guns bellicosely.
This category contains: Supersoakers, Nerf guns and crossbows, toy blowpipes and the abovementioned heavily modified bandgun.
[To have an idea of standards of "not looking like a gun", c.f. pre and post 2001-designed supersoakers...]
GREEN LIGHT: THROWN projectiles (incl flicked or launched from a standard band), everyday non-suspect objects, mediaevally huge
`blades' like L.A.R.P. Longswords, or tiny `blades' like rubbers. For intermediate sized close combat weapons, use fluffy toys,
small cushions, aubergines, bread etc etc.
* SILVER 20 b Areas where kills are allowed have one of the following four water-and-messy statuses:
3 refer to Rooms and Indoors.
NO MESSY WEAPONS (NMW) "NO WATER WEAPONS OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, nor
anything which might leave a mark or is likely to knock anything over"] Is to be the Default in Non-Players' Rooms,
and available for the very prissy or "open circuitboards everywhere" Player on request.
NO UNLICENSED WATER (NUW) Then only sub 2 inch long low fire rate waterpistollettes licensed or distributed by the Umpire
can be used. The point is: this is extremally unlikely to do in electronics or make a mess (eg this has always been the basis of
Colleges' RAG assassins games) while it avoids potentially dangerous
point blank shots as well as complaints about people lurking with sizeable and ever so vaguely gun-shaped objects. The old No Water Weapons
came into assassins when computer ownership went up and before the Guild ever had any bandguns or nerfguns. It's time to realize
that the principal threats have shifted to security call outs over vaguely realistic weapons,
point blank shots with these new guns being dangerous/seen as dangerous/cause for a hit innocent to kick up a fuss, while today people
have *portable electronics* (so not room restricted so perhaps goodbye CPS - the WWC weapons being capable of *much* more pinpointed shots).
WATER WITH CARE (WWC) E.g. "Water with Care: Do not hit Computer, Stereo or Guitar".
Involves responsible use of relatively small waterguns - no CPS, no Storms above Mark 3, No Waterpistols that fire
simultaneously out of more than 1 barrel - and no waterbombs nor containers full of water;
Also includes no shots that would hit a specific endangered object if the target ducks. Is Default in Residential Corridors.
Since this status was introduced in 1998, and adopted by on average around 1/5 of players, no computer has been fried by having this room status,
though it does remain a remote possibility. Is also the default outdoors in the 3-horned extension of Gibson's Pink Triangle during the Tourist
Hours (9 am till 6 pm).
The fourth status is the default Outdoors. It was once an allowed option for your room, but then (some of) your corridor has to be full water too
for the return fire, and that looks a big liability with neighbours walking around in ballgowns/ carrying mobile phones/ opening their doors.
It also neatly sidesteps the predominant "round a doorframe" portion of point-blank (which some have claimed may be eye-unsafe to receive from a
CPS).
FULL WATER Allows full range of water weapons (but still be
responsible and careful, and if needs be mop up).
* SILVER 22 (Following from GOLD 1-3)
Assassins are your welcome guests (regardless of whether they are
killing/besieging you), and as such you will not Porter (or worse) any people on assassin buisness.
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.
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: 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.
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.
.
You may Additionally carry out Subtle Non-Attempt Pranks in informal-level sports crowds (watching the bumps or
inter-college matches), and the more laid-back society meetings (incl pubmeets). But don't `unload' water or messy
weapons by spilling them out unless the zone is FULL WATER.
If in a private room, you may also
BRANDISH or lean your gun on a table, although this may be unwise in that it could easily get you identified as a
threat and killed the instant the society closes.
Specific Requests for No Assassin attempts or no assassin activities at all may be made by societies which are
both seriously disrupted by these and greatly attended by assassins. Recent examples include:
the entrance hall of Laserquest being a no-kill zone, no assassins at all in the corridor in which the Mayweek
24 hour dungeon roleplaying society meeting is done. More widely, obvious, heavily burdened organizers may be exempt
to attack on arrival/departure to societies.
SILVER 27 NO Assassin Activities At All WHERE's:
Security: 1) on Property of the Emergency Services, the Armed Forces, Government/Council
Offices or in the immediate surroundings of Laboratories/other Areas Targetted by Animal Rights Fanatics.
2) In Public in London -- a common party or
shopping spot for Cambridge students where the
situation with TERRORISM, ARMED POLICE, PUBLIC PARANOIA and ARMED GANGS
is currently far worse than in Cambridge --
3) On Public Transport vehicles and railway stations.
5) CARS in Motion: you may not fight in or out of these or with moving traffic in the crossfire zone.
More elaborate car rules are provided in the rules options. Is Important if you at all use cars
concurrently with playing assassins. ***[already said elsewhere, tidy up]***
Security/Nondamage:
6) Fellows' Private Parlours/Private Gardens, Museums
7) Offices belonging to non-assassin people,
In (and if the work so requires it) around the workplace of anyone
doing a proper job.
Included are Bar-Stewards and people in the act of running an Ent.
Conference Facilities in Use,
8) All Constituent parts of Libraries (including the UL locker room,
foyer and outside steps).
9) Non-student Leisure Boats.
Exception: you may read gamenews/report/plot by email/umpire from
any computers you have rightful leisure access to therein
(likely to be limited to libraries, London, laboratories or
friends' offices.) You are discouraged from publically using at all realistic vocabulary
during this unless you are sure you will not be heard by real-life paranoid people not in the know of the assassins game.
10) Totally Out Of Bounds WHEN-WHERE's: Anywhere near places cordoned off by the police (or with very high police
presence like closing time at Witherspoons). Incl. staying away from Official Visitors to Cambridge likely to have high Security.
If there is a fire alarm, let alone a fire. Ditto Medical Emergency.
11) Public/Uni/College/Dept. Computer Rooms (as opposed to one's own room) and the Offices of Players are no assassin activities 9:00--5:30.
These are those whose primary purpose is computing. Due to past problems, those doubling as libraries are permanently out of bounds.
See also the Lesser Restrictions section for further but partial bans on Assassin activities.
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:
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 The last 2 of these are now additionally subject to the BULKY COAT PROBLEM, 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.
The way out we choose: ban CPS (perhaps partially). It itself is big enough. Then simplify the zone types, to avoid bulkiness through people carrying several weapons systems all at once. Do this conveniently by banning RED ALERT, and by banning any kind of ranged fighting from public places where waterfighting isn't acceptable, like in shops or pubs. That means there are "knife zones", a few no messy zones and water with care zones. The bandgun is slightly bulkier in exchange for being presentable in town and affording equal throwable/band/dart blocking ability to a watergun. Thus people need at most have 2 medium calibre weapons in their coats, while additionally the watergun is far superior in the streets and the bandgun is far superior in attacking rooms, so it is plausible that people who do carry both to have one sealed off in their backpack at any one time.
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 "device" in designing some of the Safetynet Rulesets.
*SILVER 28 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.
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/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 by staying in ambush there for a long time
* SILVER 29: We put caps on this practise. E.g. max time not moving. E.g. require visible excuse for your presence. E.g. A cannot lurk for B in colleges neither pertain to. *Still under construction*
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 (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.
* Silver 31 WHERE and WHEN relevant, Do NOT Look Like A Burglar, A Mugger, An Armed Robber, A Pervert/Wierdo/Stalker. 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.
Is it AFTER DARK ? should be a consideration in planning raids to reflect where and how it is sensible to raid.
UNSOCIABLE HOURS 22:00 to 8:00.
Not good for random assassin room attacks, particularly noisy or prolonged ones (disturbing the assassin or
neighbours, arousing suspicion of illegal or inappropriate behaviour).
Nor attacks on non-college residential areas (may bring calls to the police about either noisy intimidating louts
or about silent, loitering burglars/muggers)
And most colleges shut at midnight (a few earlier). Don't get locked in -- some colleges then don't let people out without
help of the person being visited!
BEDDER HOURS Within 8:00 -- lunchtime is common.
Bedders have been known to report both obvious pranksters and subtle loitering "burglars", or even "drug dealers",
"food-thieving/squatting tramps" and "gangsters/real-life murderers".
Do "see if people are in", but both lurking and prolonged fighting can bring TROUBLE in BEDDER HOURS.
* SILVER 32 NOT LOOKING LIKE A BURGLAR:
Factors contributing toward being reported as a (realistic) burglar
Being in a Residential or Commercial area...
with a low witness density (so that getting away with lockpicking/smashing windows at some stage looks plausible to the occasional onlooker)
If you are LURKING *without* highly visible blatently fake toy weapons out.
If you are trespassing.
Commercial area: during closed hours. Commercial or Residential: AFTER DARK, and more so the more UNSOCIABLE HOURS it
is.
Having huge amounts of equipment concealed in bags.
Looking scruffy.
If it is a security guard, neighbourhood watch, or actively-watched cctv area.
Especially so if this place, a nearby place or a place patrolled by the same staff has a history of previous break-ins/thefts.
* SILVER 33 NOT LOOKING LIKE A MUGGER Is a factor AFTER DARK and even more so in UNSOCIABLE HOURS while NOT IN COLLEGES.
Aggravated by: 1) remoteness from frequented areas of town.
2) there being several assassins/accomplices preparing the attack.
RE 32, 33: Recommended practises: look like you have a real life legitimate reason to be there -- that should be part of the plan.
Look like students not hardened characters...
Turn around looking like a gang into using each other as a reason for being there:
talk about something as far removed as possible from assaulting old ladies/the killer game.
Groups including girls will cause less suspicion.
Two pairs of people somewhat apart who show no indication of knowing
each other looks less intimidating than a gang of 4 and no witnesses.
Moving in a slow circle rather than lurking statically can help as most passers by won't notice the circle.
This is invalidated in high cctv areas or if there are other static lurkers -- tramps, drunks and townies-looking-for-a-fight being
good examples. Incidentally, assaults and carjackings are quite common in some town areas. Think of your own Safety.
If you are in a group, don't lose anyone real-life vulnerable just because another group of assassins attacks you.
* SILVER 34 NOT LOOKING LIKE AN ARMED ROBBER If we have our way and there is no fighting with guns allowed in commercial areas,
the remaining problem is that LOOSELY CONCEALED weapons often fall out or stick out, which may cause a Security Alert
particularly though cctv monitoring. The best solution is to not venture therein with any YELLOW/RED LIGHT weapons on your person
(TRANSPORT SEALED-OFF is fine). A second-best solution is to have any such SECURELY HOLSTERED.
* SILVER 35 NOT LOOKING LIKE A PERVERT/STALKER/WIERDO: most likely to affect lone male assassin, in UNSOCIABLE HOURS.
IN COLLEGE, this may be offset by bearing blatently fake toy
weapons, by being harmlessly friendly (not pushy, not intrusive) to passing neighbours.
If neighbours take badly to you, you should not turn up too often, even with toy weapons.
Optical instruments of use to assassins such as binoculars or
cameras may not be used for assassin purposes
in residential areas by people not well known
as a friend of a resident in those areas.
Mirrors, periscopes etc. may not be used to look into showers or toilets or the rooms of non-players
Elsewhere, it is aggravated by constantly staring in one direction or looking as if you are hiding.
Toy weapons may not help if people in this area are not used to it. They may note you as wierd for having those,
or fear/get aggressive over the possibility you intend to use the weapons on them/random passers by rather than on
consenting assassins.
* Silver 36 NO TRESPASSING
36.1 upon `people involved' (straying beyond consent)
Taking part in this game implicitly allows
people to enter your room through an unlocked door or open window.
Entering a room by any other means is Strictly Forbidden.
If you are playing and you don't want trespassers in your room, make certain they can't get in.
In particular, the following are Banned as means of carrying out attempts:
appropriating oneself of the keys of another's room (even if they
are your friend or partner), let alone picking locks or breaking in.
Entering via someone who also legitimately has the keys such as a Bedder.
Entering through attic lofts.
Entering through a broken window.
However, conning their room-mate or other friend who is in there to let you
in is just perfect... that way you enter through an open door...
Of course, beware, for they might actually be the player, or under very specific
instructions to let you in so as to expose you to attack from the player...
* 36.1.1 It's theroom-player's problem if their room-mate was not informed about intrusion
through open windows or open doors. If the room-mate says they're not having it, but the prospective
player is keen, then those are strong grounds on which that
prospective player should rather be some other player's
or group's accomplice [and so not give a consenting address].
If the prospective now-accomplice is new
to assassins and has nobody to accomplice, the Umpire should get the chief of police
to liaise between this accomplice and the police force. Another way out of
this mess or the mess of a real-life paranoid or stalked
neighbour is to permit playing or policing from the position of giving
detailed lecture and/or society meeting info instead of a room
address and commenting that the corridoor in question, even if
discovered, is Strictly Out Of Bounds.
The Umpire should be most very accomodating of all these circumstances.
This is one very big reason why we provide a Charter of Accomplices.
* 36.1.2 Intrusion includes `intrusion upon nudity or intimacy' -- beware that
in playing assassins (or in agreeing to let your room-mate be an assassin),
you are consenting to recieve a momentary such intrusion if you are then
so stupid as to not lock your door and windows beforehand.
Of course, such intrusions can be very upsetting for the assailant too. The assailant should retreat at once from sight,
and under `TIMEOUT' if the first instinctive shot wasn't a definitive kill.
* 36.2 Trespassing upon people *not* involved.
Entering a block through the window of a non-consenting non-player
is RED LIGHT-to-BANNED. [some colleges have a balcony culture where
clearly empty rooms are willfully left wide open for such transits].
You may not lurk inside the empty open rooms of people you are not
certain are playing unless you are very close friends with them,
and even then it's between you and them if they're upset by it.
You may not lurk or hide in a toilet for the opposite sex.
You may not commit any prosecutable trespassing. Being there `to
see your targ... friend' is ok, being there on grounds that
it is one of the fairly direct routes an honest person might take in
order to see a `targ...friend' is also a fair reason to give
if challenged. Being many hundreds of metres from any such place or
route (be it through taking an ultraparanoid
diverted route or as a consequence of having just been chased by
assassins) and committing trespass in an area where trespassers are challenged, ejected or handed over to the Police will simply not do.
ABF says moreover that the default in such a situation is that you may be asked to leave but aren't prosecutable.
* 36.3 Because it is a source of innocents getting cross,
the address you give must be correct and to your reasonable knowledge unique. Both in what you
tell the Umpire and in that your house and room numbers themselves cannot be changed or placed furthermore on other houses or rooms.
Your doorbell, door pannel, door message notepad etc can contain whatever gross falsehoods you like. Assassins are free to attack the correctly
given roomnumber.
It is moreover unwise for a player to swap room's nametag or door-notepad with someone, so as to confuse assailants,
unless they have the consent of the person with whom they are swapping.
sign someone else up to play Assassins without their consent is even worse than giving someone else's address for yourself.
That will get you Banned.
In the case of genuine typos or insufficient info may also be
disqualifiable, but only if a complaint is generated by your
affected neighbour or by the person in the `other' B staircase Trinity
if you neglected to give a Court. Please be Thorough with
your address! *has overlap with trespass*
* Silver 37 Irrelevant as about INDIRECT WEAPONS.
* Silver 38 Things Not To Do To A Suspect Who May Not In Fact Have Anything To Do With Assassins.
This is a difficult/dangerous thing as Joe or Jane Public are not party to the consenting arrangements of some assassin game.
Such people should Never be dealt a STRIKE attack.
For this could get you beaten up or sued, since Joe or Jane Public may turn out to be Nasty or Easily Offended people
such as Townies with a Grudge against students, or members of University Staff with high self esteem and no
sense of humour whatsoever.
So kill at close range by saying `Ping' rather than stabbing, slashing, tapping or running them through.
Such people should NOT be attacked with a HARD weapon, nor a MESSY one.
WATER should be used at most "WITH CARE", Extreme Care.
No headshots.
Be polite, friendly and apologetic as required.
Be more interested in figuring out whether they are playing
rather than in whether your hit was definite enough. Most Fellows
will not give a damn if it was the main jet, nor most Townies
give a damn whether it was in the shoulder. Ideally the Umpire
should make sure all keen and paranoid types know how to kill
a target offering no assassin-resistance cleanly with one shot,
Especially any Wanted Criminals playing seriously.
A more advanced form suggested is watching the suspect react to the appearence of what is
clearly a toy or labelled weapon suddenly pointed at them from
within its reliable range. If they try to run or draw, click or splat right off.
If you ARE involved in assassins and you get killed, you must own up immediately to save the above aggro.
A further point raised by Raccoon: There are those who will consider
that pointing a toy gun at them, let alone firing it in their general direction, constitutes assault.
[whether or not this can be substantiated by law and realistically lead to arrests or prosecutions
is an issue not presently clear to us].
One response to this is "extend ping-kill to things like foamballs or toy raccoons".
It may come to pass that this will be the only acceptable way of killing a non-bearing
unsubstantiated suspect.
It is illicit to frame a non-consenting person. You will be made wanted for getting an otherwise innocent consenting decoy,
unless they are decoying for a criminal. It is illegitimate to both not declare a shared room and not have the consent of those that
share it with you.
* SILVER 38 b Addendum: Someone BRANDISHING:
While if the thing a person is holding turns out to be an
assassin weapon you will not be penalized within the game, you MAY NOT
consider it reason to assume they are an assassin if they are carrying everyday objects that are also
canonical weapons, e.g rubber bands ore vegetables of types commonly used as knives.
Even if they are carrying a toy
weapon or an assassin-labelled weapon, they may not be an assassin.
Partygoers, People Having a Laugh, Parents, Children may
often be seen with toy weapons, as may be more rarely people who
have confiscated said item or beaten up the person who
recently used it on them. The last two are plausible for labelled
weapons also, as is the scenario of somebody finding an
everyday object they have a use for, which just mysteriously also
has something scrawled on it. As a proviso, if you engage
people who are *having a playfight* with toy weapons similar to that with which you then kill them,
they will not mind. This is not so clear with
everyday objects or labelled weapons, because e.g an innocent carrot buyer
in the Market might well `return fire' in anger if pelted with labelled carrots for "bearing".
* SILVER 38 c In fights, you shall not use members of the public whom you do not know as cover. If such people
are in the way (which includes in range along the line of fire *beyond* as well as in between combatents, as most assassin
attacks can be dodged), TIMEOUT should be called. If there is a hopeless stream of bystanders, the fight itself should be moved.
* SILVER 38 d High density places like central Cambridge streets in the tourist season are ill advised as places to try and JUMP an assassin
using C.P.S., let alone to have protracted firefights between several such. That should (at least) be part of Varsity, Generals' and Mayweek planning.
Consider here Gibson's Pink Triangle.
* SILVER 38 (irrelevant: Indirect).
*SILVER 39: no longer exists :-)
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:
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).
In the rooms of people who are not involved.
In Attacking those openly bearing musical instruments or large electronic goods: additionally 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.
In Music Rooms [Damage: Contain Pianos]. In Lifts [Poor aeration and Safety: no dodging space together with many closeby hard walls to flinch into...]
* SILVER 42 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.
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.
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) After the 5:30 pm total ban is lifted, COMPUTER ROOMS and offices of players.
B) CAR PARKS and PUBS/TOWN CLUBS also have this status at all times.
Especial effort should be made not to cause a disturbance in or near any of these. [all commonly have C.C.T.V., and either DAMAGABLE valuables or irate non-student customers].
* SILVER 44 Damage Sensitive Areas with exposed windows or parked cars or kitchen interiors are NO HARD, NO IMPETUS N.B attacks on a player room, regardless of its Water Status, with HARD or IMPETUS weapon should always be done with extreme care. [This par. ranges all the way up to Criminal Damage]. It will commonly be agreed for no HARD, IMPETUS weapons to be THROWN indoors or at all. DROPPING/ROLLING beach balls or cardboard box fridges however should be OK in the areas not Banned in this section.
* SILVER 45 WATER Can Damage Hidden Carried Objects Like Laptops Or Phones Thus water in excess is discouraged. If your laptop concerns you, or your clothes, you should never be bearing arms or actively assassining. (Exception: once in a NWW zone, particularly a ball-queue, you can have NWW assassin fun). If rather you are assailed in such a state, it should be ruled that the call `SURRENDER' means that you go down to the assailant who has the surest range without any shots required. If you are furthermore concerned about walking into an ambush or being JUMPED, you should carry a white HANDKERCHIEF OF SURRENDER held up high. While in this state you may not flee, hide or defend yourself and you will die to the first assassin that calls `PING' at you from within range. They can demonstrate the range while you are *not* standing in the path of fire. These rules protect the `clothes and better things to do' of the victim without prejudicing those who prefer to hunt assassins in the streets. They also encourage meetings... By carrying the handkerchief of surrender you may be killed by someone who wouldn't recognize you otherwise, but that means a new acquaintance, perchance even a new friend...
* SILVER 46 Assassins must always tidy up. By transferring from RED/YELLOW ALERT GUNS to THROWABLES, one is increasing how objectionable a trail assassin attacks leave behind. This could Cross Authorities or incurr Fines for Littering. Worse, following from 1.3.4, what if an irasicible nonplayer picks up e.g those labelled onions so as to take home and eat them only for some student twit to empty half a C.P.S. on them for `bearing'? Or what if a real vandal sees you THROWING things around, leaving some behind, and then decides to put these objects through a few car windscreens? These are good reasons why HARD THROWABLEs should never be labelled.
* SILVER 47 "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 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: (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 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.
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Next: The Bronze Rules
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.