Cloak & Dagger The Assassins' Guild: Administrivia


This page describes the small amount of administration that the Guild has for people who are interested in how it is run and how to get involved.

Umpires

The umpire for a particular game makes all the decisions related to it. Rules and weapons are decided by him/her. If you have any questions, suggestions or weapons queries you should ask the umpire—he/she will be happy to answer any questions.

Umpires of previous games will often be around to offer help or advice to the current umpire if they ask for help with any problems; they aren't on their own if they need help.

How are umpires chosen?

The past few umpires (those who are still around, many will have left Cambridge) discuss who would be a good umpire based on recommendations from each other and from players.

If you are interested in umpiring, then the best thing you can do is talk to people who have already done it. Umpiring requires a lot more work than many people expect, and they need to know you will be able to do it. They want to find out what your opinions on rules and decisions are. Please don't, for any reason, assume that you can't be an umpire. Ask about it if you are interested. It might turn out that you are wrong, and even if you don't umpire the next game it will certainly give you a better insight into the game. There will be other games to umpire.

What is looked for in an Umpire

The things which make a good umpire can't really be written down in a CV—a lot of it is about your opinions on things and so on. The sort of things which are looked for are a good understanding of the rules, why they are there, how they evolved, and how changing them affects the game play. Some of the more important rules are the more subtle ones. The umpires want to know what people think of rules decisions, whether they agree or disagree and justification of why they would have done it differently.

An umpire should really have done well in the type of game they want to umpire—for a main game they should have lasted into the end-game (around 20 or so) because the game has a very different feel at that point.

Technical competence is not much of an issue now (see autoumpire), but you will have to be able to update the website and use the mailing list management system. Umpiring does, however, take up a lot of time. Umpires will need to be able to dedicate a substantial amount of time to it, particularly in the first week of a Michaelmas or Lent game.

Finally (but still importantly), the Umpire is the official face of the Guild to both the authorities, and to new players. Its essential to have someone who will deal well with both of these.

Who manages the technical aspects of the Guild

The website for the current game is updated by the current umpire, although previous umpires still have access and occasionally correct spelling and grammar mistakes and so on. The mailing list is also updated by the current umpire.

The game is run using the Autoumpire software, which is maintained by the Autoumpire Team, who are always on the lookup for people to help. The autoumpire is designed to require a minimum level of technical competence from the umpire.

How else can I get involved

There are lots of things you can do, from organising mini-games to events and Varsity matches or helping to run the police force. The Social Team generally organise events and would love people to get involved and help them. Drop them an email if you have an idea for a game or a party, or if you want to join the team. They can advertise events on the website or arrange no kills with the umpire, they'd love you to do that and can provide lots of useful advice.


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