Edinburgh Gaming

Edinburgh has a thriving gaming community, with three Universities and a fairly localised population. I spend most Saturday afternoons in Edinburgh gaming at ORC, the Open Roleplaying Community, but also participate in a few games outside of there. Although Edinburgh is fairly small, there’s a lot of Edinburgh gaming groups – and a lot of games/software companies. Computer gamers likely know that this is the home of Rockstar North, creators of Grand Theft Auto (their office is just up the road from me). I run my games at ORC  on Saturdays. You don’t need to have joined the ORC website to play, although I think it’s worth joining (I’d likely say that anyway , being the site admin).

Edinburgh Gaming Shops

There’s quite a few shops in Edinburgh that may be of interest to the gamer – whether they are visiting or have recently moved to the city.

• Black Lion. Based at 90 Buccleuch Street, Edinburgh EH8 9NH (tel: +44 (0)131-667-2128) or via email. A non-affiliated independent Edinburgh gaming store selling a wide range of miniatures, board games, card games and roleplaying games (RPGs). A map to the shop, near Edinburgh University, can be found here.
• Games Workshop have a store at 136 High Street, Edinburgh, Midlothian, EH1 1QS (tel: +44(0)131-220-6540). They sell war games, miniatures, and board games, concentrating on their own brands – Citadel and Games Workshop. A map to the shop (near the Royal Mile) can be found here.
• Deadhead comics.  Independent comic and collectibles retailer (no RPG or miniatures), open from Monday to Saturday 10am ’till 6pm, Sundays 12am ’till 6pm. Found at 27 Candlemaker Row. Tel: +44 (0) 131 226 2774 or by email.
• Forbidden Planet Edinburgh, the chain comic and collectibles retailer, can be found at 40-41 Southbridge Street, Edinburgh (tel:+44 (0) 131 558 8226).
• Harburn Hobbies, 67 Elm Row, Leith Walk, Edinburgh, EH7 4AQ Tel. +44 (0)131 556 3233. “Well stocked with British trains ’00′ and ‘N’ gauge, railway DVDs, Scalextric, plastic construction kits, lots of various diecast vehicles and dolls house furnishings, many models are on display, each with a label giving their description and price in smart illuminated cabinets. Harburn Hobbies has been instrumental in commissioning a large number of limited edition models, many representing Scottish subjects”
• Wonderland Models (next door to Illegal Jack’s). 97 & 101 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9AN. Telephone +44 (0)131-229-6428 or +44 (0)131 229 0797 for mail order enquiries.

Edinburgh Gaming Groups

Most universities in Edinburgh have their own clubs, as do some of the colleges and schools too. While most of the clubs accept members from outside the universities, there may be age restrictions depending on the venue and a membership fee. That said, there’s a lot of Edinburgh Gaming groups that have no web presence – sites like ORC are your friend here!

• Open Roleplaying Community (ORC, of which I am a member and run the website for) is more of a community than a club. It has a cosmopolitan outlook and runs a number of games, mainly RPGs.  We usually run games on a Saturday afternoon in a local venue and at members homes on other days. Membership is free, and there are no membership age restrictions. We’re always looking for more folk to run games.
• GEAS (Grand Edinburgh Adventuring Society) is the Edinburgh University club. They run Conpulsion every year, a large gaming convention.
• Watt Gamers. Heriot-Watt University’s gaming club.
• SESWC is a war games club who meet every Thursday, from 7.00 pm until 11.00 pm in the Royal Navy & Royal Marine Association at 1 Broughton Road, Edinburgh. There’s space for up to fifteen 6′x4′ gaming tables and we have a good supply of scenery for miniatures games permanently stored on the premises. Other members play board or card games and there’s a bar on site for those who take their socialising seriously.
• Edinburgh League of Gamers. Age 18+, and a £2 entry fee after the first visit. They are “a group of gaming enthusiasts; people who meet, converse and otherwise occupy themselves with shared interests gaming, be that with ‘toy soldiers’, collectable cards, or board games”. They meet on Wednesdays at 11 Hillside Crescent and play 6-11pm.
• FAQ is the Edinburgh University Board games club.
• Lothian Gamers. Livingston-based (West Lothian) group of gamers, not just RPGs.
• Falkirk RPGers – Falkirk based group.
• The Edinburgh Gamers Guild (EGG) is a place on Board Game Geek (BGG) which Edinburgh-based board games players can use to arrange games.

Live Action Roleplaying (LARP)

• Isles of Darkness (previously Camarilla UK) run World of Darkness games (Mortals, Created: Promethean, Changeling: The Lost , Forsaken (Werewolf), Requiem (Vampire), Awakened (Mage). All games run at the RAF Club on Hillside Crescent from 7pm. edinburgh.dst@gmail.com is the email address of the Edinburgh Domain Storyteller to find out more details on the games.
• Embraced. An old World of Darkness LARP with multiple events each month.
• Fools and Heroes (FnH), is a “UK based Live Action Roleplay (LARP) Society, consisting of over 20 branches. Fools & Heroes is set in a medieval fantasy version of our own world (Scotland is re-named “Lirron”), where knights and warriors clash with hideous creatures, priests do the bidding of their gods and mages wield powerful magics (when they are not running away). In this kind of world, the actions of individual adventurers do make a difference. Throughout the year, Edinburgh FnH run adventures on the 2nd Sunday of the month. The adventures are medium/high fantasy and focus on a local plotline, but can contain aspects of national plotline. National plotline culminates in a large weekend fest every year.”

Edinburgh Gaming Conventions

• Conpulsion. This is Edinburgh’s regular gaming convention which is pretty big. It usually runs in mid-March. It covers a wide range of games from RPGs, CCGs and board games. It also runs a LARP (Live Action game), usually Vampire: the Masquerade.
• Claymore is a war games convention, usually held on the first Saturday in August. It is run by SESWC.

Gamer friendly venues

• The RAF Club, 11 Hillside Crescent, Edinburgh, EH7 5EA. ELG and various LARPs meet there.
• The Meadow Bar, current home to ORC and FAQ – this bar is currently closed due to a recent fire that originated in their function room.
• Illegal Jacks, a bar and grill in Lothian Road that also hosts board game nights.
• The Cumberland Bar 1-3 Cumberland Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6RT, frequented by EGG.

Edinburgh Games Publishers

• Box Ninja Games. The games of Gregor Hutton, creator of “Best Friends” and the award-winning “3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars”.
• Drunken Badger is a joint venture set up in 2009 by Alan Hume, Benn Beaton and Marc Farrimond to find niches and gaps in the games market and offer quality products at very reasonable prices to the gaming public. Some gamer friends of mine have set up this company.
• Rockstar North is the award-winning developer behind Grand Theft Auto series, the (in)famous games.
• Solipsist RPG is a gaming company based in the heart of Scotland, owned by David Donachie, the creator of the Solipsist RPG.

The city itself

Just a few notes about the city itself:

• Edinburgh is actually quite small for a capital city, but is quite populous nonetheless. The skyline is dominated by the volcanic bulk of Arthur’s Seat, and the famous castle that sits atop the volcanic plug. It has a very high student population – there are three other Universities other than Edinburgh: Napier, Queen Margaret, and Heriot-Watt.
• Edinburgh was once heavily polluted, and known as “Auld Reekie”. It approximately translates as “Old Smokie”. Much of the soot still adheres to older tenement blocks although many have been cleaned, and older pictures often show Edinburgh swathed in smoke.
• Edinburgh is supposed to be one of the most haunted cities in the world. Mary King’s close, a subterranean complex under the city, is a popular visitor attraction. It is known for having strange events occur of the paranormal variety.
• One of the city’s biggest drawbacks is that there’s no Underground/Metro to get you around. However the bus service is particularly good – £1.30 can get you from one side of the city to the other (mainly Lothian Buses). On the downside, the Edinburgh tramworks (or TIE)  are currently driving residents mad!
• House prices are pretty steep, somewhat more than the rest of the country, and most central buildings are large 3 to 5-floor tenement blocks.
• The Scottish Parliament building is an expensive joke to most Scots and it is less than impressive. It is situated at the bottom of the Royal Mile, at the foot of Arthur’s Seat next to Holyrood House (the Queen’s residence in Edinburgh).
• Edinburgh has areas of great deprivation like Wester Hailes and Pilton, and in contrast the palatial town houses in the New Town and Morningside. Paradoxically many of these areas are side by side: Dumbiedykes is next to Holyrood Palace, and Leith where I live has both areas of wealth and poverty (Trainspotting was set – not filmed – there). Morningside is where authors such as JK Rowling and Ian Rankin live.
• Most movies that feature Edinburgh are shot in Glasgow, although Rebus was largely filmed here. Only specific location shots (like the running scene in Trainspotting) are usually used.

For a different view of Edinburgh, why not visit the Dark Edinburgh Page or my Through the Looking Glass setting.