Oh, and welcome to The March, my nation at NationStates.


The name of the country comes from an incredibly long and over-complicated (yet with a totally linear ending) Fighting Fantasy gamebook I wrote a few years ago.

Hogshead Publishing is under new management.

Announcement following on their website on Monday, 3rd February.

As a prediction, it's possible that Games Workshop have spotted a profit-making company and bought it out. They've done it before with Sabertooth Games, who made their Warhammer 40,000 Collectible Card Game.

If this is the case, I'm not sure how I feel about it with regards to the future of WFRP. While it does mean WFRP will come back into print, it is also possible that it will be updated in a bad way - the background of the Warhammer World has changed drastically in the 16 years since its release, while GW have tended towards simplifying rules, occasionally going too far. However, at the same time, there are still a lot of the GW old guard at the Design Studio or surrounding departments who could work on WFRP, and if the current Hogshead staff are being kept on, steps might be taken to keep the Warhammer World (and most importantly, Bretonnia - once a corrupt, depraved den of child prostitution and decadent aristos, now a green and pleasant Arthurian kingdom) at least vaguely similar to how it used to be.

Just as an update:

Things are fine with me and the friend. She was incredibly busy when I informed her that she had messed up and needed to sort it out. Her reply was along the lines of 'I don't have time to waste', to which I said (and here's the major error): 'You fucked up, you should sort it!'

That was where she told me to 'Fuck off and stop treating me like a kid'.

We've smoothed stuff over.


Discussed the possibilities of changing the Guild with Emilie (the hardest working member of the exec by miles, and I am definitely nominating her for life membership - there, just done it). She's dead against the LitSoc merger, as am I.

She also pointed out that she proposed that we join with the Creative Writing department last year, but I overruled her. I'd forgotten about that. I think my main objection was that becoming a departmental society was 'uncool' (Emilie's phrasing, not mine, but it's probably a good summary), but now I'm not so sure.

The Creative Writing department that I knew back then was very hands-offish with its students, and I didn't want to be associated with them. This is probably because the only tutor I'd had was Jayne Steel (who was great as a tutor, and a nice enough person, but also worked across in the Literature department, so she didn't have time to socialise), but now we've got Paul Farley, who comes down to the pub with us a lot and organises extra-curricular stuff. He also wants to put together some sort of departmental anthology, but is facing opposition from other members of the department. An anthology is something the Writers Guild always wanted to put together, but never got around to doing.

There's also been a change in leadership - Linda Anderson has left, to be replaced by Graham Mort, who seems a lot cooler (from the one time I've spoken to him).

I'm definitely going to mention this stuff at my CREW 303 workshop on Thursday.

Things do seem to be looking up.

Actually, the lava lamp I got for Christmas is nicely soothing as well. Shame it takes a few hours to warm up, because unless it's already switched on when something horrible happens, I've usually gone through the pits of despair by the time it kicks in properly.

We've got the Writers Guild AGM on Friday, where we're sorting out stuff like life membership and exec elections.

I think that if anyone's in line for life membership, it's going to be me - founder, president since the founding, and so on. However, the regular membership (and the exec) seem to have really lost interest in the Guild lately, and I've a feeling we're not even going to reach quoracy at the AGM. Even if we do, no one's actually announced they're going to stand for election to the exec.

I know I'm still going to be in Lancaster next year, but I'm almost certainly not going to be a student, and therefore cannot be the president. Emilie did offer to cover both social secretary and my presidential position, if I don't get to do my MA, but she told me the other night that she's bored with social seccing so I doubt she's going to stand again.

As yet, there is one person up for election - me. I'm not even sure if I'm that good a president. I certainly don't have the respect of the members, and I'm not particularly good at getting my exec to do their jobs - the last time I tried, the execcie in question threatened to resign. The only reason I became president in the first place was because I set the Guild up.

It was suggested the other night that the Writers Guild should merge with the English Literature Society. I commented that (based on what Emilie - our social sec, their president - has told me about their member attendance) it'd be a good thing to stop LitSoc from dying. Anny (our acting-secretary, their something-on-the-exec-that-I-can-never-remember) said it was more likely that it'd stop the Guild from dying on its arse.

The thing is, I agree.

I'm currently trying to remember a time I ever organised something that didn't die prematurely. A Resounding Tinkle last term was a disaster (although that wasn't entirely our fault, or indeed anyone's fault, in several of the crises), now it looks like the Writers Guild is about to follow suit.

I suppose there's the Sunday wargaming sessions with LURPS. They seem to be going well, even though my attempt at organising an Inquisitor campaign last term died on its arse. I actually let that one die though, because I couldn't be bothered writing a new scenario every week and then running it. Since then we've had a more free-form Necromunda campaign running, and that's been a damn fine success, but it's hardly got my fingerprints all over it.

I've never even had a relationship last a full two months.

Now it seems the Writers Guild is going down the pan, and unless I'm utterly misreading the dedication of our members, and they're going to submit a flurry of exec candidates and turn up in droves for the AGM, I'm really tempted to either call it a day or do something equally drastic.

Assuming things are on a downward slide, I've got three choices, that I can see:

1) Disband. I really don't want to do this, but if we can't get a full exec (well, President, Treasurer and Secretary, at the very minimum), we cease to be recognised by the Students Union and are therefore doomed to extinction - we don't have the level of support that got Pulsar by for about a decade before it became LUSU-recognised.

2) Merge with LitSoc. I have reservations about this (and have yet to mention the idea to Emilie), since Creative Writing and English Literature have virtually nothing in common, and nor do the members of the two societies. There could be useful crossovers occasionally, but for the most part a combined society would be two separate groups with the same executive. What happens if an exec is elected that doesn't give a damn about writing? The writing side of the society could suffer. Or vice versa, if the English Literature side of the society failed to have any representatives on the exec.

3) Make far closer ties with the Creative Writing Department. This could actually be a positive step. I'm not sure how the department would see it though. Even though they do apparently mention us to new students, and let us make announcements at their lectures, the way the Guild functions could easily be seen as competition, rather than a complement, to the CREW courses.
Perhaps the offer of free membership would work (or even automatic membership, although I don't know how LUSU, the department or the students affected would react to this). If CREW students are, from the outset, signed up to the Writers Guild, without them having to part with any cash or put any effort in, they'd perhaps be more inclined to attend socials and even workshops, as well as giving the Guild a base of half-decent (if not superb) writers. It'd also emphasise the complementary ethos of the Guild to its CREW members and incite a more coherent attitude to the workshops, which at the moment tend to be a bit disorganised and unfocussed.
The £1 insurance fee that LUSU are imposing on associated societies could scupper this slightly. At a rough guess, I'd say there are about 100 Creative Writing students. If we assume that the Guild has 25 non-CREW members, that requires a minimum membership fee of £5 per person, which is immediately swallowed up by insuring both the CREW and non-CREW members.
Perhaps if CREW members only need to pay the £1 insurance thing, and non-CREW members pay a more reasonable £3 fee, that'd leave us with £50, from 25 non-CREW members, in the kitty for anything we have to spend on members (which never really adds up to much, and could end up as a surplus at the end of the year - to be splashed out on an end of year party).
Of course, the Creative Writing Department need something from the whole exercise. Simple - we organise bonding sessions for them (i.e. socials), at no expense or effort to the department.
Actually, perhaps the department could be persuaded to foot the bill for insuring CREW members. Unlikely, since the department has such a small budget as it is.

Wow, this post has actually lightened my mood somewhat for the first time in about a week. Even if the Guild does need to massively reform, I'm in a vaguely good mood about it.