Dear all,

Now that the easing of the lockdown, with subsequent lifting of most restrictions, has been confirmed we wanted to contact you and let you know how we intend to interpret this for the HQ events being run this year. Our intention is to ensure that we follow the government guidelines as we want to try and ensure that our events are as safe as possible and you feel at ease when attending our events.

Our hobby is a social and interactive one akin to a number of sports, which means that there may be some aspects of what we do that makes you feel uncomfortable. It is our responsibility to inform you how our events will run and is every individuals right to decide for themselves whether or not they are comfortable in attending our events.

As a reminder, in case you haven’t seen, we have included below some of the more relevant extracts from the Government website (link here Coronavirus: how to stay safe and help prevent the spread from 19 July - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ); there is a lot of good advice here and we would encourage you all to read it. After each statement we have annotated in red how HQ will manage this (where relevant).

• Although most legal restrictions will be lifted at step 4, and many people have been vaccinated, it is still possible to catch and spread COVID-19, even if you are fully vaccinated, and we are still in the third wave of this pandemic in the UK.
• COVID-19 will be a feature of our lives for the foreseeable future, so we need to learn to live with it and manage the risk to ourselves and others.
• As COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, it is important that we all use personal judgement to manage our own risk. All of us can play our part by exercising common sense and considering the risks. While no situation is risk free, there are actions we can take to protect ourselves and others around us.
• You will not need to stay 2 metres apart from people you do not live with. There will also be no limits on the number of people you can meet.
• Meet outdoors where possible and let fresh air into homes or other enclosed spaces. The Player main base will be outside in a well-ventilated space. We will limit indoors as much as possible and aim to open all windows when inside. The main risk will be shared bedrooms; everyone is able to camp if they wish otherwise, they will have to share bedrooms with up to 7 others – we will attempt to space out as much as possible.
• The requirement to wear face coverings in law will be lifted. However, the Government expects and recommends that people wear face coverings in crowded areas such as public transport. We will not insist on face coverings although people may of course wear them if they wish.
• There will no longer be limits on the number of people who can attend life events. There will be no requirement for table service at life events, or restrictions on singing or dancing. People will have to go to collect their own food from a nominated food service area.
• All capacity limits at sporting, entertainment, or business events will be lifted.
• Businesses should consider:

• cleaning surfaces that people touch regularly; our catering staff will do this in the eating areas.
• identifying poorly-ventilated areas in the venue and taking steps to improve air flow; we will open as many windows and doors as possible.
• ensuring that staff and customers who are unwell do not attend the workplace or venue; This is key – if you are unwell, please stay at home.
• communicating to staff and customers the measures you have put in place. This email is exactly that.

Further information on how the event will run.

• We encourage people not to share drinking vessels and minimise passing things round.
• Monsters will not share masks and we will try to limit the sharing of clothing, it is likely that weapons will be shared.
• Therefore, we strongly encourage people to bring and use hand sanitisers, cleaning your hands.
• Encounters will run as normal, however, all touch invocations (including healing) will be delivered through a weapon.
• We ask everyone to be especially considerate of others and not invade their personal space and to step back if asked.

We hope the above gives some measure of reassurance to you all but do realise that there may still be some anxiety, ether with what we propose or just in general. Please do let us have any comments or concerns as we all try and work through this new and unique way of doing things together. Ultimately, if you are not yet comfortable with this level of interaction, it may be best for you to wait until such time that you are more comfortable before attending our events. That said, we sincerely hope to see you all in a few weeks to let off some much-needed steam and return to the hobby that we all love so much.