Ethos - Revision history

Andrew Oakley: Add "respect for hosts" from Policy page

2012-11-23T10:09:47Z

Add "respect for hosts" from Policy page

Andrew Oakley: /* Economic inclusivity guidelines */

2012-11-22T16:35:44Z

‎Economic inclusivity guidelines

Andrew Oakley: /* Economic inclusivity guidelines */

2012-11-22T16:27:37Z

‎Economic inclusivity guidelines

Andrew Oakley: /* Guidelines */

2012-11-22T16:21:15Z

‎Guidelines

Andrew Oakley: /* Economic inclusivity */

2012-11-22T14:13:45Z

‎Economic inclusivity

Andrew Oakley at 11:31, 22 November 2012

2012-11-22T11:31:18Z

Andrew Oakley at 11:30, 22 November 2012

2012-11-22T11:30:15Z

Andrew Oakley: Created page with "This page provides you with a flavour of the spirit of Grand Tribunal UK. It's split into two types of ethos; policies and guidelines. ==Policies== Policies are formal decis..."

2012-11-22T11:27:57Z

Created page with "This page provides you with a flavour of the spirit of Grand Tribunal UK. It's split into two types of ethos; policies and guidelines. ==Policies== Policies are formal decis..."

New page

This page provides you with a flavour of the spirit of Grand Tribunal UK. It's split into two types of ethos; policies and guidelines.

==Policies==

Policies are formal decisions by the organisers which must be observed by all attendees, all contributors to this wiki/website and all members of the [[mailing list]]. Minor infringers can expect a quiet word from the organisers. Persistent or extreme violation of a policy could lead to your removal. If you think that a policy needs changing, discuss it on the [[mailing list]] or [[People#Organisers|contact an organiser]]. If you wish to complain about a breach of policy, please [[People#Organisers|contact an organiser]].

Each policy has a separate page and can only be edited by an organiser.
* [[Disability and equality policy]]
* [[Harassment policy]]

==Guidelines==

Guidelines are good ideas, ethical principles, which shape how we run the event.

Guidelines should be listed below in full, although anything more than 500 words long can go on a separate page. They're open for editing by all attendees and mailing list members, although if you're going to radically change the meaning of a guideline then it would be a good idea to discuss it on the [[mailing list]] first.

===Economic inclusivity===

You might call this "value for money" but it's about more than that.

Pencil-and-paper roleplaying games offer an inexpensive hobby which can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of income. Beyond a pencil, a rubber and some paper, the [[http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG0205.php Ars Magica core rulebook]] is really the only essential purchase that is required to provide many years of gaming enjoyment for a troupe of half a dozen or so players. You can spend more and we strongly believe that the additional Ars Magica sourcebooks offer superb extensions to gameplay at excellent prices (and Lord knows it's helpful to have more than one core rulebook lying around). However, the point is:

* You can spend as much or as little as you like
* You will never feel excluded
* You will always get value for money

We feel this ethos should extend to the convention too. That's why:

* The ticket price should be affordable to those on low incomes, including those on state benefits or minimum wage. The basic ticket price should be just enough such that a minimum number of ticket sales will just cover the costs of hiring the venue.
* There will be no additional costs for participating in any games.
* Attendees should be allowed to bring their own food, drink and stationery. They should never be locked-in to purchasing anything other than a ticket.
* Attendees will never be pressured into paying more. No shaking of donation tins. No guilt trips if you help yourself to a tea bag out of the communal box. You will not be asked to donate.
* [[Tickets#Unofficial extras|Unofficial extras]] inside the venue, such as tea and coffee, or spare stationery, are paid for out of the extra money left over from ticket sales once the venue and other basic expenses have been paid for, or from entirely voluntary donations. If you want to make a donation, seek out an [[People|Organisers#organiser]] - you will not be ''asked'' to donate. If we've already sold enough tickets to cover these nice-to-haves, your offer of a donation will be politely and gratefully refused.
* We will not tie you to specific accommodation or transport. If you want to pay for three nights at the Queen's Hotel, that's up to you (it is ''really'' nice). If you want to ask on the mailing list if you can kip on a local attendee's sofa, that's fine too. The main venue should be located in a town with a good range of accommodation and good public transport links.
* Fringe events, outside the venue, such as the teashop meet & greet, restaurant, pub, take-aways and café breakfast are entirely optional. You won't miss out on any gaming by not attending those. You can attend them and just order tap water and a bread roll if you like.
* Nobody is stopping you from spending more if you want to, and if you do decide to spend more, you should still feel that you're getting your money's worth. You will not be judged on how much or how little you spend. If you're loaded and want to buy a round of drinks or snacks for everyone - thank you! If you've saved up all year to treat yourself to a blow-out, great! (Cheltenham makes a good base for a Cotswold holiday, by the way.) If you can barely afford the ticket and have to hitch-hike and sleep on a sofa, no problem, we are grateful that you made the effort.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Guidelines should be listed below in full, although anything more than 500 words long can go on a separate page. They're open for editing by all attendees and mailing list members, although if you're going to radically change the meaning of a guideline then it would be a good idea to discuss it on the [[mailing list]] first.
-===Economic inclusivity guidelines===
+===Economic inclusivity===
 You might call this "value for money" but it's about more than that.
@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 * '''Attendees should be allowed to bring their own food, drink and stationery.''' They should never be locked-in to purchasing from one "preferred", "exclusive" or "contracted" vendor.
 * '''We will not tie you to specific accommodation, transport, caterers or vendors.''' If you want to pay for three nights at the Queen's Hotel, that's up to you (it is ''really'' nice, and we also have [[Accommodation|lots of other recommendations]]). If you want to ask on the mailing list if you can kip on a local attendee's sofa, that's fine too. The main venue should be located in a town with a good range of accommodation and good public transport links.
-* '''Nobody is stopping you from spending more if you want to,''' and if you do decide to spend more, you should still feel that you're getting your money's worth. You will not be judged on how much or how little you spend. If you're loaded and want to buy a round of drinks or snacks for everyone - thank you! If you've saved up all year to treat yourself to a blow-out, great! (Cheltenham makes a good base for a Cotswold holiday, by the way.) If you can barely afford the ticket and have to hitch-hike and sleep on a sofa, no problem, we are grateful that you made the effort.
+* '''Nobody is stopping you from spending more if you want to,''' and if you do decide to spend more, you should still feel that you're getting your money's worth. You will not be judged on how much or how little you spend. If you're loaded and want to donate towards refreshments, or buy a round of drinks or snacks for everyone - thank you! If you've saved up all year to treat yourself to a blow-out, great! (Cheltenham makes a good base for a Cotswold holiday, by the way.) If you can barely afford the ticket and have to hitch-hike and sleep on a sofa, no problem, we are grateful that you made the effort.
 * '''We're not anti-commercial, we're just pro-inclusive.''' We want to support the games industry, especially small businesses. For example, if you sell dice, miniatures or roleplaying rulebooks, we could arrange for you to set up a stall. [[People#Organisers|Contact the organisers]] if you're interested. Money raised will go towards venue hire, expenses and [[Tickets#Unofficial extras|nice-to-haves]] such as refreshments. Sponsorship is also possible, but we will never sign any exclusivity deals.

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 * '''The ticket price should be affordable to those on low incomes''', including those on state benefits or minimum wage. The basic ticket price should be just enough such that a minimum number of ticket sales will just cover the costs of hiring the venue.
-* '''There will be no additional costs for participating in any games''' and no prerequisites for purchasing anything in order to play a game, beyond a pencil, paper and dice. For example, players must not be expected to buy a specific rulebook.
+* '''There will be no additional costs for participating in any games''' and no prerequisites for purchasing anything in order to play a game, beyond a pencil, paper and dice. For example, players must not be expected to buy a specific rulebook. [[People#Story guides|Story Guides]] are encouraged to run games using supplementary Ars Magica books, but they will be expected to bring those books with them and share them with their players.
 * '''Attendees will never be pressured into paying more.''' No shaking of donation tins. No guilt trips if you help yourself to a tea bag out of the communal box. You will not be ''asked'' to donate. [[Tickets#Unofficial extras|Unofficial extras]] inside the venue, such as tea and coffee, or spare stationery, are paid for out of the extra money left over from ticket sales once the venue and other basic expenses have been paid for, or from entirely voluntary donations. If you want to make a donation, thank-you, please seek out an [[People#Organisers|organiser]] - you will not be ''asked'' to donate. If we've already sold enough tickets to cover these nice-to-haves, your offer of a donation will be politely and gratefully refused.
 : Fringe events, outside the venue, such as the teashop meet & greet, restaurant, pub, take-aways and café breakfast are entirely optional. You won't miss out on any gaming by not attending those. You can attend them and just order tap water and a bread roll if you like.
 * '''Attendees should be allowed to bring their own food, drink and stationery.''' They should never be locked-in to purchasing from one "preferred", "exclusive" or "contracted" vendor.
-* '''We will not tie you to specific accommodation, transport, caterers or vendors.''' If you want to pay for three nights at the Queen's Hotel, that's up to you (it is ''really'' nice, and we have [[Accommodation|lots of recommendations]] for other good places also). If you want to ask on the mailing list if you can kip on a local attendee's sofa, that's fine too. The main venue should be located in a town with a good range of accommodation and good public transport links.
+* '''We will not tie you to specific accommodation, transport, caterers or vendors.''' If you want to pay for three nights at the Queen's Hotel, that's up to you (it is ''really'' nice, and we also have [[Accommodation|lots of other recommendations]]). If you want to ask on the mailing list if you can kip on a local attendee's sofa, that's fine too. The main venue should be located in a town with a good range of accommodation and good public transport links.
 * '''Nobody is stopping you from spending more if you want to,''' and if you do decide to spend more, you should still feel that you're getting your money's worth. You will not be judged on how much or how little you spend. If you're loaded and want to buy a round of drinks or snacks for everyone - thank you! If you've saved up all year to treat yourself to a blow-out, great! (Cheltenham makes a good base for a Cotswold holiday, by the way.) If you can barely afford the ticket and have to hitch-hike and sleep on a sofa, no problem, we are grateful that you made the effort.
 * '''We're not anti-commercial, we're just pro-inclusive.''' We want to support the games industry, especially small businesses. For example, if you sell dice, miniatures or roleplaying rulebooks, we could arrange for you to set up a stall. [[People#Organisers|Contact the organisers]] if you're interested. Money raised will go towards venue hire, expenses and [[Tickets#Unofficial extras|nice-to-haves]] such as refreshments. Sponsorship is also possible, but we will never sign any exclusivity deals.

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 * '''You will always get value for money'''
-We feel this ethos should extend to the convention too. That's why:
+We feel this ethos should extend to our convention too. That's why:
 * '''The ticket price should be affordable to those on low incomes''', including those on state benefits or minimum wage. The basic ticket price should be just enough such that a minimum number of ticket sales will just cover the costs of hiring the venue.
 * '''There will be no additional costs for participating in any games''' and no prerequisites for purchasing anything in order to play a game, beyond a pencil, paper and dice. For example, players must not be expected to buy a specific rulebook.
 * '''Attendees should be allowed to bring their own food, drink and stationery.''' They should never be locked-in to purchasing from one "preferred", "exclusive" or "contracted" vendor.
 * '''We will not tie you to specific accommodation, transport, caterers or vendors.''' If you want to pay for three nights at the Queen's Hotel, that's up to you (it is ''really'' nice, and we have [[Accommodation|lots of recommendations]] for other good places also). If you want to ask on the mailing list if you can kip on a local attendee's sofa, that's fine too. The main venue should be located in a town with a good range of accommodation and good public transport links.
 * '''Nobody is stopping you from spending more if you want to,''' and if you do decide to spend more, you should still feel that you're getting your money's worth. You will not be judged on how much or how little you spend. If you're loaded and want to buy a round of drinks or snacks for everyone - thank you! If you've saved up all year to treat yourself to a blow-out, great! (Cheltenham makes a good base for a Cotswold holiday, by the way.) If you can barely afford the ticket and have to hitch-hike and sleep on a sofa, no problem, we are grateful that you made the effort.
 * '''We're not anti-commercial, we're just pro-inclusive.''' We want to support the games industry, especially small businesses. For example, if you sell dice, miniatures or roleplaying rulebooks, we could arrange for you to set up a stall. [[People#Organisers|Contact the organisers]] if you're interested. Money raised will go towards venue hire, expenses and [[Tickets#Unofficial extras|nice-to-haves]] such as refreshments. Sponsorship is also possible, but we will never sign any exclusivity deals.

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 Pencil-and-paper roleplaying games offer an inexpensive hobby which can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of income. Beyond a pencil, a rubber and some paper, the [http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG0205.php Ars Magica core rulebook] is really the only essential purchase that is required to provide many years of gaming enjoyment for a troupe of half a dozen or so players. You can spend more and we strongly believe that the additional Ars Magica sourcebooks offer superb extensions to gameplay at excellent prices (and Lord knows it's helpful to have more than one core rulebook lying around). However, the point is:
-* You can spend as much or as little as you like
+* '''You can spend as much or as little as you like'''
-* You will never feel excluded
+* '''You will never feel excluded'''
-* You will always get value for money
+* '''You will always get value for money'''
 We feel this ethos should extend to the convention too. That's why:
-* The ticket price should be affordable to those on low incomes, including those on state benefits or minimum wage. The basic ticket price should be just enough such that a minimum number of ticket sales will just cover the costs of hiring the venue.
+* '''The ticket price should be affordable to those on low incomes''', including those on state benefits or minimum wage. The basic ticket price should be just enough such that a minimum number of ticket sales will just cover the costs of hiring the venue.
-* There will be no additional costs for participating in any games.
+* '''There will be no additional costs for participating in any games''' and no prerequisites for purchasing anything in order to play a game, beyond a pencil, paper and dice. For example, players must not be expected to buy a specific rulebook.
-* Attendees should be allowed to bring their own food, drink and stationery. They should never be locked-in to purchasing anything other than a ticket.
+* '''Attendees should be allowed to bring their own food, drink and stationery.''' They should never be locked-in to purchasing from one "preferred", "exclusive" or "contracted" vendor.
-* Attendees will never be pressured into paying more. No shaking of donation tins. No guilt trips if you help yourself to a tea bag out of the communal box. You will not be asked to donate.
+* '''Attendees will never be pressured into paying more.''' No shaking of donation tins. No guilt trips if you help yourself to a tea bag out of the communal box. You will not be asked to donate. [[Tickets#Unofficial extras|Unofficial extras]] inside the venue, such as tea and coffee, or spare stationery, are paid for out of the extra money left over from ticket sales once the venue and other basic expenses have been paid for, or from entirely voluntary donations. If you want to make a donation, seek out an [[People#Organisers|organiser]] - you will not be ''asked'' to donate. If we've already sold enough tickets to cover these nice-to-haves, your offer of a donation will be politely and gratefully refused.
-* [[Tickets#Unofficial extras|Unofficial extras]] inside the venue, such as tea and coffee, or spare stationery, are paid for out of the extra money left over from ticket sales once the venue and other basic expenses have been paid for, or from entirely voluntary donations. If you want to make a donation, seek out an [[People#Organisers|organiser]] - you will not be ''asked'' to donate. If we've already sold enough tickets to cover these nice-to-haves, your offer of a donation will be politely and gratefully refused.
+* '''We will not tie you to specific accommodation, transport, caterers or vendors.''' If you want to pay for three nights at the Queen's Hotel, that's up to you (it is ''really'' nice, and we have [[Accommodation|lots of recommendations]] for other good places also). If you want to ask on the mailing list if you can kip on a local attendee's sofa, that's fine too. The main venue should be located in a town with a good range of accommodation and good public transport links.
-* We will not tie you to specific accommodation or transport. If you want to pay for three nights at the Queen's Hotel, that's up to you (it is ''really'' nice). If you want to ask on the mailing list if you can kip on a local attendee's sofa, that's fine too. The main venue should be located in a town with a good range of accommodation and good public transport links.
 * Fringe events, outside the venue, such as the teashop meet & greet, restaurant, pub, take-aways and café breakfast are entirely optional. You won't miss out on any gaming by not attending those. You can attend them and just order tap water and a bread roll if you like.
-* Nobody is stopping you from spending more if you want to, and if you do decide to spend more, you should still feel that you're getting your money's worth. You will not be judged on how much or how little you spend. If you're loaded and want to buy a round of drinks or snacks for everyone - thank you! If you've saved up all year to treat yourself to a blow-out, great! (Cheltenham makes a good base for a Cotswold holiday, by the way.) If you can barely afford the ticket and have to hitch-hike and sleep on a sofa, no problem, we are grateful that you made the effort.
+* '''Nobody is stopping you from spending more if you want to,''' and if you do decide to spend more, you should still feel that you're getting your money's worth. You will not be judged on how much or how little you spend. If you're loaded and want to buy a round of drinks or snacks for everyone - thank you! If you've saved up all year to treat yourself to a blow-out, great! (Cheltenham makes a good base for a Cotswold holiday, by the way.) If you can barely afford the ticket and have to hitch-hike and sleep on a sofa, no problem, we are grateful that you made the effort.

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ==Guidelines==
-Guidelines are good ideas, ethical principles, which shape how we run the event.
+Guidelines are good ideas, ethical principles, which shape how we run the event. They express our values, they set goals we should aim for, but there may occasionally be exceptions.
 Guidelines should be listed below in full, although anything more than 500 words long can go on a separate page. They're open for editing by all attendees and mailing list members, although if you're going to radically change the meaning of a guideline then it would be a good idea to discuss it on the [[mailing list]] first.
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 You might call this "value for money" but it's about more than that.
-Pencil-and-paper roleplaying games offer an inexpensive hobby which can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of income. Beyond a pencil, a rubber and some paper, the [[http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG0205.php Ars Magica core rulebook]] is really the only essential purchase that is required to provide many years of gaming enjoyment for a troupe of half a dozen or so players. You can spend more and we strongly believe that the additional Ars Magica sourcebooks offer superb extensions to gameplay at excellent prices (and Lord knows it's helpful to have more than one core rulebook lying around). However, the point is:
+Pencil-and-paper roleplaying games offer an inexpensive hobby which can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of income. Beyond a pencil, a rubber and some paper, the [http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG0205.php Ars Magica core rulebook] is really the only essential purchase that is required to provide many years of gaming enjoyment for a troupe of half a dozen or so players. You can spend more and we strongly believe that the additional Ars Magica sourcebooks offer superb extensions to gameplay at excellent prices (and Lord knows it's helpful to have more than one core rulebook lying around). However, the point is:
 * You can spend as much or as little as you like