The RPS Social Club: Friday, 14th August In Brighton
RPS Social Clubs are reader-organised events meant for the merriment of all who call themselves friends of Horace. We occasionally highlight such events here on the main page and we'd like to do so more often. Below, a write-up by Ben Meredith, organiser of June's Brighton social, with details of where the troop will be assembling next on August 14th. Want to host your own? Let us know.
Picture the scene. A pub. Brighton. The smell of freshly poured ale and a wisp of smoke from the beer garden. A man, me, sits with trepidation, cursing the fact that he’d left the sign he printed out at home and hastily scribbling “RPS Social in here” on a scrap of paper, torn from an old notebook.
Such were the beginnings of the June RPS Brighton Social. I’ll get better at remembering signs, I promise. That organisational misfortune aside, a rather pleasant evening was had by all. 10 intrepid RPS readers came and spent the evening together, being social, out from behind a screen.
Apart from the obvious activities of mouth noises and the consumption of liquids purchased from the bar, we also turned our hands to some cardboard games to accompany our discussions of their digital kin.
I had a go at Carcassonne, an elegant meeple-placement game about laying claim to as much of southern France as possible, and got myself soundly beaten. It seems some of the Brighton RPS lot have a bright future in real estate.
Meanwhile the rest of the collective played a game called Avalon. I didn't have much of a chance to see what was going on, but i’m pretty sure it involved quests and treachery. I definitely heard a lot of triumphant whoops, horrified groans and surprise reveals that it definitely seemed as if much fun was being had!
Another, and entirely unexpected, bonus for attendance was provided to us by Curve Digital, in the form of a bunch of Porcunipine codes to give out. Unfortunately through some freak alignment of the stars, no one had brought a laptop (another symptom of my organisational buffoonery) so we weren't able to play. However, after a post-social exploration I can report that it’s bloody fun and very much in spirit of the Nidhogg and Towerfall school of party games. Hopefully next time we’ll have some laptops, because I still have about thirty codes left to give out. Hint.
Speaking of next time, I’m keen to make this more regular, perhaps even hitting the heady heights of a monthly schedule. The next meetup will be on Friday, 14th August at the Caxton Arms, starting at 7.30 and if people bring some controllers and laptops we might be able to get some of those aforementioned party games going. Developers are also welcome to bring their own stuff to show off and get feedback on, but remember this is a social first and foremost, so keep it chill.
We’ve got ourselves a Facebook group set up for Brighton specific meetups but we'll link the event on the main RPS page... and everywhere else I can possibly consider putting it. Also tell your friends!