2011 year end retrospective of ORC Edinburgh
ORC Edinburgh has had an “interesting” year – in the same vein as “May you live interesting times!”. This has been my second year as defacto ORC webmaster (and general heid yin) for ORC Edinburgh. I’m going to try to create these reviews on an annual basis.
The year started off in a neo-Ice Age with many us either negotiating the icy planes of Edinburgh or trapped in drifts of snow. However, we persevered, both players and GMs alike traipsing through the snow and ice to game! Then in February, disaster struck: the Meadow Bar suffered an extensive fire that gutted the function room where we played, depriving both us and the Edinburgh University boardgame Society (FAQ) of a venue. It’s happened before: Cafe Nero, The Royal Engineers Club, the Three Tuns…
ORC Edinburgh has a history of getting together and adapting, and its definitely one of our strengths – for a community of (essentially) volunteers we do quite well. Thankfully a member of ORC (Deleriad) noticed that board games and the like were being played in Illegal Jacks, a new bar and grill on Lothian Road. It turned out to be an astute choice of venue, with very nice food and a fine choice of music (I might be wrong, but most RPGers tend to be fans of rock music of some kind).
With Illegal Jacks as our new “base of operations,” we were able to run two or more games a week there. IJ made us very welcome there, even to the extent that we had our own table! It gave us the chance to welcome screenwriter and RPG designer George Strayton and playtest his game, the Secret Fire RPG (then called Legends & Labyrinths). Edinburgh’s own Drunken Badger games also provided ORC with the opportunity to playtest their RPG, Cliché: The Roleplaying Game of Predictable Horror as well.
We also said hello to a lot of new members and farewell to others – and also farewell to some long-running campaigns. Both my Ashes of Freedom game and the New World were wound down, although it is likely that AoF will return later in the year. We’re also back in the refurbished Meadow Bar function room which has much nicer décor now as well, but still run games in Illegal Jacks and Cafe Renroc as well.
By far one of the most popular games to play at ORC was D&D. Love it or hate it, the granddaddy of them all was still going strong. Regardless of your feelings about the game it remains as popular as ever with many new people entering the hobby. Quite a lot of new players are looking to play D&D – some have been influenced by web comics like Penny Arcade or via computer games such as Neverwinter Nights. There appears to be a bit of a dearth of DMs running games though – however Embracraig is running a consistent game at Cafe Renroc on a fortnightly basis. This new venue proves popular with those gamers who live nearby!
Another old favourite, Call of Cthulhu, returned in the form of the mini-campaign Cthulhu Brittanica: Shadows Over Scotland. This is currently hugely popular at ORC – I may also run some of these adventures next year myself, as well as finally getting my Arunstoun setting completed! In related news, my Cthulhutech campaign (The Damsacus Road) has finally got off the ground in the Through the Looking Glass setting. The wh40k games have all been popular too with the most recent, Black Crusade, starting a new campaign at ORC this December.
ORC also hosted a few pub meets this year: these proved to be hugely successful and gave us all a chance to socialize outside of a game for once. It looks like we’ll be running a few more of these over the coming year – it gave those new to ORC the chance to chat and get to know the other members, old and new.
I think its safe to say that ORC is going to be around for a while to come. We have a pretty substantial membership now, although attendance fluctuates wildly – however this seems to be one of those things that happens these days. If you’re running a game, I’d suggest you get at least six players. That way you’ll also cover any possible absences and still have a fun game!
Anyway: Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!
wh40k RPGs – grim adventure in the 41st Millennium
Warhammer 40,000 (wh40k) RPGs
Although I gave up tabletop war-gaming many years ago, I still have fond memories of Warhammer 40,000 (aka WH40k). In fact it was the first I actually owned, way back in 1987. I was pretty keen to give the Dark Heresy RPG a go, set as it is in the WH40k universe (along with Rogue Trader and Deathwatch). As well as playing in a number of campaigns now, I have also run the occasional game at ORC.
I first remember running many wh40k games on a pal’s dining table, including the Epic scale Space Marine and Adeptus Titanicus. I also have a first edition printing of the original wh40k rulebook featuring the cover where the Crimson Fists last stand against Orkish invaders. It’s interesting to note that there is no mention of Chaos or the Chaos powers, although mention is made of warp entities.
More information on the games I run and play in can be found in the wh40k section of the wiki. It also contains details of the PC (Player Characters) I played in other games.
Bleak Midwinter setting for wh40k
Bleak Midwinter is an idea that I’ve had percolating around in my head for a while (and I’ve mentioned it before): a proper crossover campaign, set in the Warhammer 40,000 (wh40k) universe. I’m not talking about just a couple of games involving Space Marines from the Deathwatch RPG, and an Inquisitors cell from Dark Heresy. Oh no, I’m thinking bigger than that (possibly even involving characters from Black Crusade, and Epic scale as well!).
Here’s the plan – a series of wh40k RPG games running at ORC and elsewhere, together with a series of wh40k battles, perhaps being run at Edinburgh League of Gamers (aka [elg]). Ambitious? Very much so. And that’s why I’m going to need some help with it (see below) – I’ll need folk to run and play the games, but also to organise the tabletop battles as I’ve no direct contact with any of the Edinburgh wargame clubs. I’m thinking that If I could organise things, we could probably start running the games in January 2012!
My concept is that Bleak Midwinter is set within the Midwinter Expanse, a nebula known for its White Dwarf Stars. It would feature Space Marines, Rogue Traders, as well as Acolytes of the Inquisition as the plot gradually develops, leading to large scale battles as the events unfold (each battle or adventure spins off a new plot or battle). We could see large scale space battles, hive worlds erupting into violence and a whole host of things happening that would make a fantastic campaign for all involved.
However, I’d need help. While I appreciate that Games Workshop (GW) would probably jump at the chance to help, I’d rather Bleak Midwinter remained in the hands of the gamers as it were, rather than become a marketing tool. This is a pretty ambitious project, so for obvious reasons I’m going to need some assistance. Here’s how I’m seeing things, breaking them down to their simplest requirements:
- Writers to help create the adventures.
- Volunteers to help plan the battles.
- I’d d appreciate some help creating the campaign itself.
- Someone to approach the Edinburgh Wargaming clubs to see if they’d be interested.
- GMs to run the games.
- Volunteers to run the battles.
- Someone to keep track of what is going on.
Obviously, I’ve got a major plot arc for Bleak Midwinter in mind, but there’s no reason why events have to follow it. Note that I’m not planning to make money off this; the only donation I’m looking for is time! 
Sarathis sector
I set a number of my games in Sarathis sector (information can be found on the wiki here), notably the Shadow on the Warp games (Part 1 and Part 2 are on the wiki).
wh40k Player Characters
Here’s a list of my current PCs and also those that have given their lives in the service of the Emperor!
- Whorl, an assassin from the Feral world of Malebolge. Tough and hard-bitten, he is now famous for using a combine harvester in a hit upon a target.
- Ferrus Roth - Arbitrator, an Arbitrator Enforcer (Dark Heresy). I see him as a kind of mixture of ‘Dirty’ Harry Callaghan and Gibbs from TV’s NCIS.
- Brother Sammeal, a Dark Angel Apothecary. Short in stature for an Astartes, he still managed to beat down a Space Wolf in their ritual contest.
- Diogenes Valexos, also known as Basilisk. A Navigator PC on the Rogue Trader ship Tranquility. Although a powerful Navigator, he is now more reptile than human, with sharp teeth and claws, the result of increased exposure to the Warp and enhanced Navigator powers.
- The Screaming Eagles Guardsmen PCs as featured in the Shadow on the Warp games (Part 1 and 2).
Downloads
