I am inspired to write this post, due to this recent post, recalling the 20 year anniversary of The Watch House.
This was more than just a game to many of us who were playing in it, but I can only say what it meant to me, and so, through the haze of time and aging memory, I will try to do so.
I first went to university in Glasgow (Strathclyde Uni), but in all my time there, I didn't look up any University role playing clubs. The are likely many reasons for this, but they're not really that interesting.
When I moved to Edinburgh, however, I did look up the local University Gaming club The Great Edinburgh Adventurers Society, GEAS. Still going strong. When I joined, I was, what I would consider now to be essentially a very trad gamer. I had played with the same group since Secondary school, and though we had played many different games, we mostly fell into the same routines with each game.
Geas was a real eye opener for me, and in my time there, I played in a number of games, and with a number of people, that really stretched me, and showed me different ways to play and run games. Not all games were great, some definitely showed me how not to do it. A couple I still remember, the Xena game with Shevaun, Izzy's long running L5R game (that game could have a similar post to this in many ways). I played many new games from the Forge, and games of that ilk, by the GMs and game designers that frequented the club (again, another post on it's own).
Even in this crowded list of genius, there was one stand out game. The Watch House.
Roll Credits...
I think there had been a couple of sessions when I joined in the game, but it was in season 1 of the game. I created Jake. A musician, sometime taker of illicit substances, and psychic. Sometimes possessed, sometimes a vampire. Always trying to do his best and not hurt his friends, especially Milli.
As Craig mentioned in his post, the way the game was played was so much more collaborative than anything I had played in before, and the type of sessions we could do because of this were unique. This really was the game where I can trace the turning point in my RPG career from a 'trad' gamer to someone who was willing to experiment. It really opened my eyes. I'm quite sure this was down to the LARPing influence of Cat, and the well, Joe... There was a real meeting of minds at that table. It was lightning in a bottle.
I left the game in 2005-06. Jake was dead, and I was moving to Canada. I know that the game had write-ups on RPG.net, but I could never really read them when I was a player, and once I left, well, I think there was a type of mourning for something lost that took over, and I didn't keep up with the game.
For the time I was a player, it was before we all had camera phones, so the memories are all in my head, rather than in images. That is not to say that there is no evidence of my time there. I went into the RPG archives, and pulled out some artifacts of the game. Including bespoke artwork by Jamie.
There was even a soundtrack to the game, but I seem to have given away all the copies of the CDs I burned, as I couldn't find a copy. Maybe someone out there can send me the set list. I Know about 3 or 4 of the songs for sure, but not the rest.
The Buffy Archives from the Great RPG library
That character folio contained quite a hoard. Here are a few choice items.
Jake
Some of the artwork by Jamie. The best we can do for images of players.
Finally, the action figure of Jake. For some reason, this figure doesn't quite match with the one in this post. Maybe there are indeed two out there. One good and one bad, I'm sure!
So I end with this. Thank you Craig, and all the other players, for creating a memorable gaming experience. One that we are still talking about 20 years later.
Thanks for the track listing for the soundtrack. Not sure it is of enough interest to add to the post, but it's nice for me to have.
From what I remember, I was in a rush to burn enough copies to give to you all at a Christmas party, and always said I'd burn my self a copy at my leisure. Of course that never came to pass!
Google Watership Down , and you get reviews of both the book by Richard Adams, and the film and animated series based upon it. A story of rabbits. It's slightly more than that, it is a story about anthropomorphised rabbits, and their mythic journey to a new home. A story of liberation and self-determination that strikes a chord with many diverse readers. Google Watership Down Trauma , and you'll get another story. My story. Children who were taken to the cinema to watch a cartoon about bunnies (rated U for universal), who were subjected to a tale of death and horror. Rabbits are choked by snares, get into bloody battles, and are snatched by predators. This film was released in cinemas when I was 3, so that was the age I watched it. It is one of my earliest memories. It scarred me. That it was partly based on the author's experience with Operation Market Garden gives us an idea of what we're working with here. Why am I talking about this on a gaming blog? Well, due
Here are some handouts I put together for the Zagreb chapter of the Horror on the Orient Experss campaign. Feel free to use them for your games. pdf available on request. Put behind a cut to allow players to ignore spoilers.
Another Tales from the Loop blog post? In such quick succession after the last? What is going on here? The short answer might be that GMing in Face to face sessions leaves me with time in from of a computer with energy to share things. When GMing online, screen time is prep on Roll20 and in Discord. Another answer might be that in preparing offline handouts, I have artefacts I wish to share, whereas online games are just images snagged from the pdfs. Whatever the answer is, I came here to share this pdf . This is a trifold pamphlet style handout I game my players at the start of out Tales from the Loop campaign, "They Grow up so Fast". I doubles as a quick introduction to what the Loop is, MAFF, and also gives them access to the map that is in the book, as an in game artefact. Of course, strip out the MAFF logo, and change the map, and you can use it for any of the three cannon settings for Tales from the Loop. Or indeed your very own setting. Enjoy, and let me know if you
That was indeed the 'first edition' Jake figure, I made another with less floppy hair. :)
ReplyDeleteFirst edition, therefore priceless! ;)
DeleteThanks for the track listing for the soundtrack. Not sure it is of enough interest to add to the post, but it's nice for me to have.
From what I remember, I was in a rush to burn enough copies to give to you all at a Christmas party, and always said I'd burn my self a copy at my leisure. Of course that never came to pass!