Coup de Gras

YPSILANTI, Mich - Edward Raphael Thorstein, a sophmore at Eastern Michigan University, is creating an official university sponsored group for gaming, called Coup de Gras.

"Last year, when I first came here, I was disappointed to learn that there had been a gaming organization, but that it had fallen apart," said Edward, or Spud as his friends call him. "So, I decided to start another one."

Previously, there had been a school sponsored group for gaming called Archmage, though it concentrated almost exclusively to the table-top role playing games, such as Dungeons and Dragons, or Mage Knight. The group had been disbanded though, due to a lack of participants.

Spud decided not to limit himself to one genre of gaming though. Instead, he pooled all of his passions into the group. His group will also include video, role-playing, board, and card games, as well as having anime and movie nights.

The intent is to allow people with similar hobbies to find others who enjoy the same games, as well as finding new ones. "Hopefully it'll help introduce people to new and different games as well. Someone who shows up looking for dungeon and dragon players might leaving with a desire to start playing Magic the Gathering," said John Jarvis, a co-founder of the group.

The group wouldn't have been possible without Spud's dedication and drive, however. "The school didn't want to waste its time with [this type of group], because Archmage had just failed." Archmage was the name of the previous gaming group on campus. "It was only because Spud kept coming to them with new ideas, surveys, signatures... everything. He just wouldn't quit until they agreed to hear him out."

Finally, after months of asking, Spud was finally able to get Eastern to appoint Tom Ulch, a member of the faculty, as the groups faculty adviser. "He's been a great help. I had no idea there would be so much paper work, and no idea how to do it all if it weren't for him," said Spud.

The group's first meeting was held today, and the founders were proud to see so many students take an interest. "It really means a lot to me, seeing that my hard work is going to be useful to so many people," said Spud. "Hopefully, as word gets out, we'll have even more people show up."