GOD

All Profound Decisions events are administered from the Games Operation Desk (GOD), the location of which is marked in each event guide. Members of the GOD crew are there to help you with any administrative or general queries that you have about the event – we might not know the answers ourselves, but we can get hold of the people who do.

Vital statistics

Opening times

GOD is usually open for normal service during the times given here. Sometimes we need to close during these times – we'll put a notice up by the entrance if so.

On...	GOD is open...	For...
Thursday*	20:00–22:00	Pack handout, limited lost property
Friday	13:00–16:00 17:00–01:00 Sat	Pack handout, limited lost property Normal service
Saturday	09:30–01:00 Sun	Normal service
Sunday	09:30–12:00 12:00–15:00 15:00–17:00	Normal service Normal service, resource hand-in Resource hand-in, lost property

* We try to start pack handout on Thursday evening, and aim to be open by 8 p.m. This is dependent on lots of moving (or, as is sometimes the case with the M6, non-moving) parts, so isn't guaranteed! We try to get a notice with our estimated opening time up sometime late on Thursday afternoon.

Tent layout

Before time in on Friday, GOD is primarily set up for pack collection, with two queues.

Most people will need to join the main queue. Packs are arranged by PID, and you'll be directed to the correct side of the tent by our queue-wrangler.

The queue for the concessions desk is at the right-hand side of the main entrance. You should only join this queue if you have bought a ticket at the concession rate and have not yet provided evidence that you are entitled to a concession. If you have e-mailed proof in to PD and had a reply acknowledging this, join the main queue. If you received any other discount (e.g. multi-booking, referring a new player), join the main queue.

During normal service, we have three main queues.

To queue for the potions desk, go through the main entrance and past the set of tables with computers. This queue is usually fairly short – you will usually be able to come right into the tent, past the main queue. The potions desk is where you should go to mix potions, change money, and collect packs.

The queue for the queries desk passes through the right-hand side of the main entrance and then wraps around the tent. The queries desk is where you should go in order to do character admin and ref admin, and to collect your pack if you still need to provide evidence that you are entitled to the concession rate.

The lost property desk is set slightly back from the main entrance. The queue begins directly in front of the desk, passes between of the tent wall poles, and wraps around along the side of the tent away from the main entrance.

There may also be a queue for player PCs, especially after battles. Please try to keep this separate from the queue for the queries desk.

For resource hand-in, collect a hand-in slip and bag from the tables by the main exit, then drop your items off at the potions desk.

Accessibility

• Proxies: any player can nominate one or more other players as out-of-character proxies to interact with GOD on their behalf. This includes all services, not just pack collection! E-mail us with your nominated proxy's details (name and, ideally, PID), and we'll make a record of that on the system. If you've nominated another player to act as a proxy for you for this purpose, then you'll be able to see their details in your summary status on your Profound Decisions account when you log in. (This sort of proxying only affects out-of-character processes, like interacting with referees or GOD. Separately, characters with certain Imperial titles can appoint another character to act on their behalf.)
• If you would prefer to come into GOD yourself, we can make a variety of accommodations. Please come directly to the lost property or potions desk and let us know you'd like support with access. For example, we might be able to let you bypass the main queues; provide seating while we're dealing with your queries; and take you to a quieter area. Many GOD volunteers are disabled ourselves – we can't fix everything, but we're happy to get creative about what we can offer.

GOD services

Miscellaneous

• If you want to talk to us about practical OC issues (e.g. reporting a issue with a toilet or shower block, letting PD know about a dangerously slippery path, and similar) we'll be able to help from any desk, so just join the shortest queue. If it's urgent, skip the queue.
• If you have a question and you're not sure who to ask (or where to find them), it's our job to sort that out for you. Please join the general queries queue.
• The Sunday coach sign-up sheets are located at the lost property desk until around lunchtime on Sunday.
• Liao physreps are available to buy from lost property or the general queries desk.
• Packs of condoms are available to buy from the lost property desk.
• We sometimes have pronoun badges and tags for bags containing OOC medical supplies, depending on whether makers have dropped any off with us. If these are available, they will be at the lost property desk.
• We have a variety of educational pamphlets available from the lost property desk, which you can also print out yourself if you'd like (see Resources).

Character packs

• You, or your proxy, can collect your character pack from GOD any time we are open
• We will need to know your PID in order to locate your pack
• If you have booked a ticket at the concessionary rate and you have not provided evidence you are entitled to a concession before the event, you will need to join the queue for the concessions desk

Character packs always contain your character passport, and may also contain in-game resources, plot documents, and small items of lost property we've confirmed belong to you.

You or your proxy will need to visit GOD to collect your pack. From Thursday evening to shortly before time in, general pack handout takes place along both sides of the tent – the tables will be labelled with PID ranges so you can see where to go. After time in, general pack collection is from the potions desk. Please try to collect your pack early on in the event – they take up a lot of space! We start breaking down uncollected packs on Sunday morning, so if you come to collect your pack on Sunday you might need to wait while we make it up again.

We will need to know your PID to locate your pack. Your PID should be on your ticket. If your ticket shows your PID as "null", don't worry – you almost certainly do have a PID, it just didn't exist when your ticket was generated. You can check this yourself by logging into the PD website and checking the Account Summary page, or we can look it up for you! We can also look up your PID if you don't know it for any other reason – but this will take a little longer.

If you book in advance (Early, Late and Gate bookings made before you reached site) and have an active character, your pack should be ready for you to collect when we open.

If you buy a ticket when you arrive on site and have an active character, we will make your pack up once your booking has been processed. If you try to pick your pack up before your booking has been processed, show us your receipt and we will make it up as soon as possible. Depending on how busy we are, this might be immediate or we might need to ask you to come back later.

If you do not have an active character, no pack will be created for you. You will need to create a character (on your own device or using the player PCs in GOD). Once you've done this, please join the computer queries queue to let us know that we need to set your character as active and make up a pack for you. If you need another pack for a new character, because your existing character has died or you want to retire them, this also applies. Depending on how busy we are, we will either make your pack up immediately or ask you to come back later.

Concessions

If you booked a ticket at the concession rate, if possible (we know it isn't for everybody!) please e-mail evidence that you're entitled to the concessionary rate (e.g. student ID, screenshot of UC account page) to admin@profounddecisions.co.uk before the event begins – this means you can join the general pack handout queue, which moves much faster and doesn't need you to wait while we faff about on the computer. If you weren't able to e-mail in proof of entitlement before the event, you will need to join the queue for the concessions desk (before time in) or queries desk (after time in) to collect your pack. You will need to show us evidence you are entitled to a concession or pay the difference between a concession and a full-price ticket in order to collect your pack. Note that you have to provide evidence that you're entitled to a concession for every booking you make – if you book 3 events at once you'll only have to provide proof at or before the first event, but if you book them separately you'll have to provide proof each time.

Crew

If you are a member of crew, you should receive an e-mail a few days before the event letting you know whether to pick your pack up from GOD or from your head of department.

Resource hand-in

• If you want to use resources in downtime, you need to hand them in to GOD
• Don't hand in resources you don't intend to use in downtime
• Complete a hand-in sheet and deposit your resources at the potions desk on Sunday between 12 noon and 5 p.m.

You can hand resources in at GOD if you have plans to use them during downtime between events. We accept resource hand-ins on Sunday between noon and 5 p.m. If you are leaving site before the end of the event, come and have a chat with us.

To hand in resources, head to the potions desk and take a hand-in slip and a clear plastic bag. Fill out the slip with exactly what you're handing in e.g. if your bag contains 2 thrones, 23 crowns and 44 rings, please write that rather than working out how many thrones there are in total. Please don't hand in anything that doesn't have a space on the hand-in slip unless a member of crew has told you to – e.g. please don't try to hand in potions. Once you've filled out your slip, put it in the bag with your stuff (make sure it's properly sealed!) and drop it off in the labelled crate.

GOD Is Not A Bank: we won't store items in your inventory during events, and in general we want to minimise the amount of stuff we have to count in and then count back out again. (Sometimes PD winds up with a shortage of orichalcum, or 5 ring coins, or whatever – but if we want you to hand in things you're not expecting to use, there will be notices everywhere.)

Player PCs

Player PCs are usually located by the main entrance to GOD. You can use these PCs to set up a new character, learn skills, set up bands, and check information on the Empire wiki.

Alternatively, you can connect to the PD_PUBLIC network and visit www.profounddecisions.co.uk to do all the same things from your own device. Note that this Wi-Fi network is connected to the PD servers in the field, but isn't connected to the Internet. That means you won't be able to (say) check Facebook or your email, but you will be able to read this wiki and access your character account. Some phones will detect the lack of internet access and "help" by automatically disconnecting you from the Wi-Fi network so you can use mobile data; you may want to turn off mobile data to stop this happening..

If you need help with logging into your PD account (e.g. a reminder of your username or resetting your password), please join the general queries queue. The Reset Password button will not work while the servers are in the field – you'll need us to do that for you.

Potions

• To mix potions, head to the potions desk

Please try to bring your character passport (so we can check what you can make without needing to go over to a computer).

It's really helpful if you have your herb cards already counted out and stacked together – e.g. if you want to make 7 Elixir Vitae, please have one stack of 7 Cerulean Mazzarine and another of 7 True Vervain, instead of 7 pairs of one each.

Money changing

• To change money, head to the potions desk

GOD is usually able to change denominations of coins at the potions desk. If you've got a large amount of money to change, please try to come in at a quiet time (during morning battles and after about 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday are generally good!) – and if you can stack it up in nice round numbers for us that definitely speeds things up!

If you only want to change a small number of coins and have mostly come into GOD for other reasons, whoever you're talking to will probably be able to do this for you.

Character admin

• For character admin, join the queries queue

Character admin includes:

• changing aspects of your character, e.g. changing your character's skills, their nation, their resource, and the spelling of their name
• registering when young players have passed their test of citizenship
• setting a new character to "active" and making up a character pack, if your previous character has died or been retired

For all of these, join the general queries queue. We'll need to know your PID – we can look you up if necessary but it's quicker if you already know it!

Referee admin

• For referee admin, join the queries queue

If you're unable to find a referee in the field or at the Referee Access Tent (RAT), GOD is also able to:

• record rituals and ceremonies
• create bonds
• detect magic

You'll also need to come to us if you want to:

• pick up a physical item, e.g. ribbons, area effect lammies, effigies
• pay Iridescent Gloaming into your account to perform Call Winged Messenger

Depending on what you want to do, we'll need:

• your PID
• anyone else involved (or their proxy) – and their PIDs!
• for anything involving magical items, both the ribbon and the physrep (we may be able to make exceptions if e.g. the physrep is heavy armour)
• if you are joining a band, you will need to demonstrate that you know the oath

PD physreps

• For PD physreps, head to the potions desk

Some positions (e.g. Archmage) have associated PD physreps. If you need to collect a PD physrep, there will be a note in your character pack. Please head to the potions desk and show this note to a member of GOD crew.

If you want to drop PD physreps off for storage between events, you must bring them back to the potions desk before 3.30 p.m. on Sunday.

Lost property

Limited service

Before time in on Friday, lost property is located by the exit from GOD. You can:

• hand in items you've found
• let us know about items you've lost this event
• collect items if
  1. we’ve contacted you to let you know we’ve got something of yours. This will either be a stamp on your pack ("Lost property to collect" and/or "Arrows to collect"), and/or we'll have sent you a text message or e-mail. Small non-stabby items might be placed in your pack, in which case there won't be a stamp.
  2. you’ve lost something since getting onto site at this event, and it's already been handed in.

Normal service

After time-in on Friday, lost property is by the main entrance to GOD. We aim to have all lost property, including all property that was handed in at the previous four events, accessible at or shortly after time-in on Friday. You can:

• hand in items you've found
• collect items we've contacted you about
• ask us to have a look for items lost at any of the past four events
• fill out a lost property slip for items that haven't been handed in yet, so we can get in touch with you if (and hopefully when) they show up

If GOD is closed to players but crew are in the tent, you can ask us for help if you have lost an item that is important or valuable out-of-character (e.g. ID, phones, wallets, keys, medications, mobility aids). For other kinds of items, please wait until we reopen – we'll be happy to fill out a lost property slip with you then.

"Freecycle"

We keep items for a year after they’ve been handed in – that is, we’ll keep something that was handed in at E2 2023 until the end of E2 2024.

On Sunday afternoon of each event we hold “Freecycle”, where anything we’ve had in lost property unclaimed for a year is laid out somewhere near GOD. A sign is put up outside GOD on Saturday night giving details for that event’s Freecycle. People queue up, choose one item, and then – if they like! – head around to the back of the queue for another item. We have limited storage space – this lets unclaimed things be used and loved.

Between events

If you lose an OOC valuable/important item and leave site before it is handed in, we might be able to return it by post at your expense between events. We'll confirm how much postage will cost with you before we post anything.

We're sometimes able to bring home small items (e.g. jewelry, tiny stuffed toys, ...) where we can't identify the owner. If we do, we'll put photos up in the main FB group.

Crew don't usually have access to lost property storage from the Monday after an event ends to the Wednesday before the next event begins. Please do report missing items (ideally with a photograph!) to lostproperty@profounddecisions.co.uk – just be aware that we're not likely to be able to have a look in advance of the next event.

Behind the scenes

We know that from the outside lost property often looks like a chaotic jumble – so we want to tell you a bit more about how the system works!

When you tell us you've lost something, the first thing we do is look through items we've had handed in. These are organised by the event they were lost at and the type of item – if you lost a goblet two events ago, we'll grab the box of drinking vessels that were handed in two events ago and go through it with you. We'll also double-check the boxes from more recent events, because items sometimes get found in the woods/other people's kit bags/the Academy storage container quite a while after they went missing!

If we don't have your item, we'll ask you to fill out a lost property form with us, even if you don't think it's worth it – it's incredibly frustrating to have something handed in and realise we know exactly who it belongs to, but didn't get them to leave their details! We keep these reports for a full year.

When items are handed in, we check whether we can ID their owner. This means that we look for a PID, name, or contact details, or even initials – in normal light and using a UV torch. We also check whether they seem like any of the lost property reports we have on record. If we find a match, we'll get in touch (via a text message from a PD phone, or e-mail) as soon as we can. This does sometimes take a while and we don't always realise when something that's been handed in matches a description, so even if we haven't contacted you, please do feel free to swing by to check any time when full lost property service is open!

In addition to matching up missing property reports with lost items during events, we are sometimes able to spend a few days before an event sorting through lost property. This lets us thoroughly double-check everything we have in storage against all lost property reports from the last four events – this means that we try to check every single piece of lost property from each event at least four separate times. If we find something we think belongs to you, we'll do our best to let you know by e-mail, and we'll stamp a reminder that there's something for you to collect (or inspect) on your character pack. Again, if we don't get in touch it doesn't mean we definitely don't have your stuff – it just means we haven't recognised it!

When we return an item, if it's not already got your details on we'll encourage you to label it with identifying information, e.g. your PID or your name. If it comes in again, we'll be able to get it back to you faster.

How you can help us

• If you want to check lost property, please come to the front desk and wait for someone in blue! We can make sure you're looking in the right place and our system stays intact.
• Write something we can use to identify you on your items. Your PID, wallet name, character name and phone number are all useful. You can use UV security marker – we check incoming lost property with a UV torch.
• Add your mobile phone number, if you have one, to your PD account. Only a small number of senior crew will be able to see your number. GOD will only use your number to text you if something that belongs to you is handed in.
• When we fill out a lost property form, please give us as much detail as you can – sketches are really helpful, and so is info like “the gold’s wearing off on the back”!
• If you have any photos of an item you’ve lost, even if they’re not very good, please e-mail them in to lostproperty@profounddecisions.co.uk.
• Especially if you're an archer, please do your best to swing by GOD last thing before you leave site – we have really limited storage space between events and arrows take up an astonishing amount of room.
• Let us know when things turn up! It makes us happy for you, and it means we can stop hunting :)

Info for crew

The crew entrance is at the end of the tent by the GOD ISO. If you've been told to collect your pack from GOD or you want to pick up a crew t-shirt, please use this entrance any time the tent is staffed (note that we can't usually hand out crew packs before we open for player pack collection on Thursday). For anything to do with playing your R&R character, please use the main entrance at the other end of the tent during our normal opening hours.

If you're picking up a radio from GOD, go to the radio charging station at the back of the tent – there will be signs up with instructions. Only take one battery – if you think you need more than one, please have a chat with us.

If you need us to do something to help keep the event running smoothly, use any entrance and grab someone in blue!

Resources

Of the Informational Pamphlets! Improving Literature! variety.

• New player guide
• Guide to coin and resin denominations
• Guide to Call Winged Messenger
• Lost property explainer
• Printable ritual calculation aid