The Umpire

The umpire for this Game is Pete Godfrey and may be contacted by e-mailing pete.godfrey@gmail.com

The primary method of contacting the Umpire is through e-mail, though players are welcome to visit. The umpire's flat is Flat 3, 27 Spath Road, Didsbury. The room and grounds are considered out-of-bounds. Players are discouraged from running into this area in order to escape an attacker. Should a Player burst into the Umpire's room gibbering about attacking Assassins, he will laugh and may draw attention to their lack of (wo)manly courage.

Any queries about the game can be e-mailed to the Umpire, or players can visit (but you should probably try to arrange the meeting beforehand, since even the Umpire goes to lectures occasionally). Players should try to resolve any queries before they become a matter of life or death.

Attempting to break into the umpire's email account is strictly forbidden. Impersonating the Umpire is also forbidden. Bribes however, are welcome.

Player-Umpire communications may be made public at the end of the game for everyone's enlightenment and amusement. If players do not wish a certain communication to be made public, please tell the Umpire.

The Umpire is immortal, omnipotent and omnipresent. Players attempting to test these propositions may be placed on the Wanted List.

Police Force

Dead Players will be reincarnated as a member of the "Police force", unless you specify otherwise. This is a special group of Players who exist solely to hunt down and kill Wanted Players and Incompetents. A list of all Police will be updated via email. It is important to remember that:

• Police cannot win the game

• Police cannot make indirect attempts

• As police, you cannot kill an Assassin who is not on the Wanted or Incompetence Lists unless they are openly bearing weapons and are either causing alarm in public or are in the course of an attack on you.

• Police are not generally permitted to shoot other players with whom they are collaborating, even if they are bearing weapons. Such kills may be annulled at the Umpire's discretion.

• Police count as such from the moment their names appear on the blog

• Police who fail to make attempts on Wanted Players and Incompetents when there are any around for them to kill may be designated Incompetent and made a legal target for all players. Note that Corrupt or Incompetent police are subject to the same restrictions as other police players.

• If you, as police, act as an accomplice to an Assassin, exempting in the pursuit of a player on the Wanted or Incompetence Lists, you may be made Corrupt and placed on the Wanted List. If you are intending to do this, it would be an idea to inform the Umpire first, who will clarify what you can and cannot do. He reserves the right to annul the outcome of an incident in which someone has overstepped the bounds of their role as a police player.

• The police force is overseen by the Umpire however, through good and active play, police players may win promotion and recognition.

• A member of the police force who dies in the line of duty (or otherwise), may be resurrected at the Umpire's discretion.

Competence

To encourage participation in the game, there is a time limit for making attempts on your targets, called the "competence period". Initially the competence period will be ten days. If you do not make an attempt within ten days of the start of the game, you will be designated Incompetent. After each attempt, your competence deadline will be extended.

As the Game progresses, competence deadlines will decrease, and the conditions required to remain competent will become stricter. When this occurs, the Umpire will inform the Assassins. The Umpire will periodically send out reminder emails with your competence deadline affixed.

Any players who fail to fulfil the conditions of competence will be placed on the Incompetence List. This is like the Wanted List without the glamour; Incompetent Players are legal targets for all other Players, including the Police. The Umpire will specify conditions for Incompetents who wish to clear the list, which will usually be two valid attempts.

Incompetents who remain on the list for a long period of time without making sufficient attempts at redemption may be personally removed from the Game by the Umpire.

Wanted List

Assassins who break the rules in minor ways, for instance by accidentally killing an illicit target, will be placed on the Wanted List and they become legal targets for everyone else in the game, including the Police.

It may be possible for criminals to redeem themselves through services to the community, at the Umpire's discretion. Details of redemption conditions will be posted by the Umpire as and when appropriate.

If, however, a Wanted Player continues to make minor rule infringements within the scope of the Game; for instance making multiple kills of illicit targets or killing off Police players, they may be declared 'Most Wanted'. These dangerous individuals are a priority target for all Players and an Assassin who kills one will be rewarded extra points.

A Player is considered Wanted and a legal target for all Players from the moment their name is announced on the Wanted List via email, until it is removed due to their death or redemption.

Reporting

Whenever a player is involved in any assassins-related incident, such as attempting to kill another player, or another player making an attempt on them, they must inform the Umpire as soon as possible. The Umpire will decide what to publish. You may request that a report not be published, but it may be despite this, or disclosed at the end of the game, for the amusement of all involved with the Game.

'Dead' Players

If you die, you remain bound by the rules until the conclusion of the Game. In particular, you should refrain from bearing weapons, from announcing the fact that you are dead unless directly questioned face-to-face and from involving yourself in any Assassins activity. Failure to abide by this may lead to consequent events being annulled at the Umpire's discretion. Once your death has been announced through the umpire's emails, you are a member of the Police Force, unless you request not to be in your death report (see Police Force)

A Player, once dead, may not make known, nor by deliberate omission cause to be known, any information they acquired as a direct consequence of playing the Game; most importantly their target lists or information concerning the identity of their Killer. The only exceptions to this are that they must pass such information on to the Umpire in their death report. Whilst still alive, you are at liberty to pass information onto other Players as much and as misleadingly as you so desire. Due to this, only information received from the umpire may be treated as entirely legitimate. Players acting upon entirely illegitimate information that proves wrong may face sanctions.

Accomplices and Non-Players

Players may, if they wish, make use of non-Player accomplices on their attempts. Any person with at least a basic knowledge of the Assassins Game acting to the advantage of a Player on their instruction, with their consent or by prior understanding is considered an accomplice. A Player should not induce one of the Authority figures described in the Conduct rules to be an Accomplice.

Non-Player accomplices cannot kill anyone. They may not openly bear weapons nor anything that could be construed as such. Kills in which armed non-Players are used as decoys will be annulled. Players are entirely responsible for the safety of their accomplices, and will bear some responsibility for their actions with regard to these rules. If they are killed, the Player(s) will be held responsible.

Note that if a Player instructs, or by deliberate omission permits a non-Assassin to put themselves in the way of danger on their behalf (e.g. by collecting or opening post on their behalf or exiting a Room first to ascertain the presence of their attackers), that person will be deemed an accomplice.

Players should avoid killing non-Players wherever possible. The usual penalty for killing non-Players is to be put on the Wanted List, but excessive and deliberate murder of non-Players may lead to a disqualification. Sometimes accidents do happen...

Players may not enter non-Players' rooms through the window unless they have been specifically allowed to do so by the room's occupant. While Players may pass through the unlocked rooms of non-Players, they should avoid doing so unless absolutely necessary (for example, because they are on the only route to a target's room).

If a non-Assassin acting as an accomplice to a Player or a group of Players is killed in the process, they will be strongly requested not to act as an accomplice to that Player or group again in the course of the Game. Someone persistently involving themselves in a game which does not involve them personally may damage the gameplay experience for all.

Out-of-bounds Areas

There are some places and circumstances which, for reasons of sanity and safety, are considered out-of-bounds (OOB). No-one may kill anyone or be killed when they are out-of-bounds, which include the following:

• Lecture Halls

• Hospitals, Libraries and Museums

• Churches, chapels or any other official place of worship

• Any official College event

• Persons who are transporting equipment

• Anyone who is working at a 'real' job

• The immediate vicinity of a shop or ATM machine

• Anyone in a car or motorised vehicle

• Avoid fire-fights across busy roads

• Cinemas or auditoriums where it would inconvenience the general public

• The College lounge during a coffee break

While a person may not be attacked within these areas a target that is being pursued is to avoid them.

Areas of uncertainty where attacks are permitted:

• College grounds provided the person is not on a short lecture break or is travelling to a lecture due to start. (It is the responsibility of the assassin to uphold this though no punishment will be made if breached as your targets knowledge of who you are is punishment enough)

• Social setting of any kind that will not inconvenience the general public. This includes a pub or the College lounge (provided it is not a coffee break).

If you feel that any other place or situation should be made out-of-bounds or are unclear as any of these definitions please contact the umpire.

Basic Guidelines

• Exercise common sense at all times. Players are entirely responsible for their behaviour. The Guild does not condone any course of action that leads to confrontation with people in authority. Avoid inconveniencing other students or faculty and especially the general public.

• This game depends on players being honest for it to work. Please inform the Umpire of anything assassin related that occurs to you, especially if you have been killed. The Umpire will decide whether reports are published, and you can request that a report is not published, although it may be published despite this. Anyone knowingly giving false or misleading information to the Umpire will face severe penalties. Any information received that is not from the umpire is to be ignored.

• You must expect other players to have nefarious intentions at any time during the game. Do not involve (or cause to become involved) college authorities or other non-players to eject or intimidate those attempting to kill you or others. If you feel players are behaving unreasonably, contact the Umpire.

• This is not a game about physical strength or violence. There is no excuse whatsoever for pushing people around or forcing them out of your way. Most specifically, if someone is holding a door open or shut, you should not attempt to move that door, and you should never do anything likely to cause anyone (including yourself) injury.

• Be aware that both the security forces and the public are particularly easily alarmed at present. Avoid behaviour that may cause them to mistake you for a stalker, burglar, murderer or terrorist: do not wear a balaclava or other suspicious clothing; avoid bearing weapons or fighting in public; remember that even toy guns can look real in the dark or on CCTV.

• If a Player is in obvious distress for a reason unrelated to the fact you are trying to kill them, or they are dealing with someone else in distress, do not take advantage of this situation.

• You may enter a target's room through an unlocked door or an open window only. If the door is locked you may not make any kind of attack including firing shots or pushing any other item through keyholes, letterboxes or any other gap in, under or over the door.

• You are perfectly at liberty to deny that you are an Assassin. However, you are not allowed to claim that you are a Dead Assassin and hence harmless. You may also not lie about the vital status of other Assassins who are immediately present.

• Most of all, remember that this is just a game. Do your best, but have fun. Please be friendly to other Players you meet during the game, even if they may be trying to kill you.