Difference between revisions of "WARP"
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''The unreality of games gives notice that reality is not yet real. Unconsciously, they rehearse the right life.'' - Theodor W. Adorno
 
''The unreality of games gives notice that reality is not yet real. Unconsciously, they rehearse the right life.'' - Theodor W. Adorno
  

Revision as of 17:31, December 17, 2023

The unreality of games gives notice that reality is not yet real. Unconsciously, they rehearse the right life. - Theodor W. Adorno

WARP (the Williams Association of Role-Players) is a club dedicated to roleplaying and similar Odd Quad-type activities. The club is noted for its laissez-faire organization; traditionally WARP only held one meeting, at the beginning of the year, and thereafter organized through its listserver in smaller groups. (If it sounds fragmented and chaotic, that's because it is.) Although roleplaying is a primary focus of WARP, it has historically coordinated a variety of related activities. Among them are bopswording, Laser Tag, board games, and card games. In the 2008-2009 year, WARP held free movie showings in Paresky on the weekends. Historically, WARP has organized outings to conventions including NonCon (circa 2008) and PAX East (in 2015 and 2016). WARP also runs Humans vs. Zombies during the fall semester and KAOS during Winter Study.

In recent years, WARP has gained a more structured organization, with the club hosting a meeting every Saturday night at 7:00pm. Anyone is welcome to join and play a variety of board games, with Avalon typically making an appearance in the 2023-2024 school year. The club owns a large volume of board games, which members can sign out for individual games when the club is not in session. Any who do not return the games they signed out will have to face the wrath of the Quartermaster (who has a sword).

Early History

WARP was officially founded in 1989 by Chris Aylott '91 and Toby Elliott '92, but in some sense began in the fall of 1987 when Joe Cruz '91 (now Professor of Philosophy at the College) started an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign, virtually all of whose members lived in Odd Quad, and whose viewings of Star Trek (the original series) and Twilight Zone in the Prospect House TV room would regularly attract an after-Driscoll-dinner audience of 12-20 students.

The Dark Ages

WARP has generally sustained itself on its ability to entrap a sufficient number of naive, interested freshmen before they come to realize that undergraduate education is actually a time-consuming undertaking. On only one situation did this fail to occur: the Dark Ages of WARP, when the club plumbed the depths of laissez-faire organization by essentially dropping completely off the map. For example, WARP was represented by a stack of books and a sign-up sheet at the 2011 Purple Key Fair. The vaunted listserv became nearly completely abandoned; activities were carried on, preserving the club's lifeblood in secret, but without any sort of formal organization.

Next Generation of WARP


In 2011 a mysterious nobody managed to recruit about 50% of the Japanese department into playing an extended campaign of Dungeons and Dragons 4E, followed by a significant number of other students. With this, WARP was reconstituted in its current incarnation, which focuses on tabletop RPGs, LARP, and nominal supervision of campus-wide live action games such as Humans vs. Zombies and the ever-popular KAOS. Movies, video games, and other forms of entertainment have generally taken a backseat to these activities, but are still carried out in a much diminished form.

Vicarious Living


The WARP listserver, in addition to serving as the coordination tool of the club, also serves the valuable purpose of a spam conduit, down which people send links to strange news articles, online games, and other procrastination aids. The listserver is also a good place to settle important fantasy-battle questions, like "who would win in a fight: a cave troll, or a pack of velociraptors?" Finally, the WARP listserver is an excellent place to observe WARP crust in action, since many WARP members never leave the listserver even after graduation.

Unfortunately communication on the Listserv has fallen off dramatically because new generations of WARPies tend to just use email. Probably should let the alumni know we're still alive, huh.

Organization

Traditionally WARP has two "real" officer positions: the Figurehead (president) and the Shadowy Grand Vizier (treasurer). In practice, WARP has a long hierarchy of ever-fluctuating ceremonial titles, the most enduring of which is the Not-Pope.

Past leaders have included:

Around 2013, the "Triumvirate" formed because Quinn, Rinna, and Nigel all wanted control of WARP, and had different visions for the club. Quinn desired more role-playing, a return to a more old-fashioned sort of WARP, whereas Rinna was more pro-board games and LARP, and Nigel was concerned with large-scale roleplaying (KAOS and Humans vs. Zombies). If it has not been modified, WARP's constitution still contains reference to the authority of a Triumvirate, but it is no longer enforced.

In Spring 2016, President Sam Ok Park ('18) dissolved the Triumvirate and established several new positions. WARP's Board for 2016-2017 consisted of

WARP's Board for 2017-2018 consisted of

WARP's Board for 2018-2019 consisted of

WARP's Board for 2019-2020 abandoned Sam Ok Park's ceremonial titles in favor of corporate-sounding titles:

WARP's Board for 2020-2021:

WARP's Board for 2021-2022:

WARP's Board for 2022-2023:

WARP's Board for 2023-2024 revived the positions of Not-Pope, &c. According to Asher Gladstone, it is worth noting that Asher Gladstone contested the Presidency, though not by his own choice:

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