Real Life Adventures|Goodman Games

Jul13

Real Life Adventures: Gilmerton Cove

Posted by pandabrett on Jul 13, 2020

Real Life Adventures: Gilmerton Cove By Daniel J. Bishop The idea of a dungeon hidden beneath a building in town is an old one in gaming. This past August I had the opportunity to visit one that exists in real life. Gilmerton Cove is far from a megadungeon, but it is large and old enough to be interesting—and it certainly has lessons for the prospective Game Master. Gilmerton is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, that used to be a coal mining settlement. In the 1700s, George Paterson, the local blacksmith, claimed to have dug the caves himself from the sandstone bedrock from 1719-1724. It seems impossible that the chambers could be carved by one person in so short a span, and there are several other theories of how the caves came to be. One is that it was a coal bore, where miners sought a coal seam that failed to manifest. Another is that the cove is 2,000 years old, and was actually a druidic temple. No one is certain. One of the features of the Cove is a well, which does not normally hold water. Nearby is a “forge” that shows no signs of soot. Had it been used as an actual forge, the sandstone would have cracked. A bowl-like depression in the “forge” suggests a sacrificial altar, and that the “well” might once have held the sacrifice-in-waiting. Two filled-in tunnels lead to the northeast and northwest. Tradition suggests that one of these lead to nearby Craigmillar Castle. Other theories suggest that tunnels were used by a local Hellfire Club, Knights Templar, or Presbyterian Covenanters hiding from the State. It is possible that “Cove” is a shortening of Covenant or even Coven, rather than meaning simply “cave.” Masonic marks can be found carved within. One tunnel might run to Roselyn Chapel, which is associated with the Templars and the Holy Grail. Acoustic archaeology has shown that the system may be much larger than the section currently known, so more clues may eventually be uncovered. One problem facing archaeologists is that the tunnels run near the surface under roadways, so removing the backfill could result in serious problems. So how can Gilmerton Cove improve our games? Having certainly been used as an illegal drinking hall, possibly hiding both Templers and Protestants, and possibly having been created as a Druidic...

Oct25

Real Life Adventures: Lovecraft’s Providence

Posted by pandabrett on Oct 25, 2019

Real Life Adventures: Lovecraft’s Providence

Real Life Adventures: Lovecraft’s Providence by Michael Curtis and Brendan LaSalle Halloween is the perfect time to celebrate one Howard Phillips Lovecraft. To that end, we re-present this Real Life Adventure that took two of our own to his birthplace. Goodman Games uses a number of methods to inspire the creativity behind our adventures. What we call “real life adventures” are one such method. This is where we travel to inspirational places or undertake adventurous activities that give us material to write about. In the 2017 Goodman Games Gen Con Program Guide, you can read about several such real-life adventures. On July 23, 2017, Michael Curtis and Brendan LaSalle took a trip to Providence, RI – the birthplace of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, author of “The Call of Cthulhu” and many other well-known tales. What follows is the only surviving record of their expedition. To clarify the document’s different narrators, Michael’s account is vertical and Brendan’s is italicized. On a pleasant summer’s day, I found myself in historic Providence, home to Howard Phillips Lovecraft. The purpose of my journey was to explore Lovecraft’s old stomping grounds and experience the city as he did. Joining me for this excursion was Brendan LaSalle, author of—among many things—Age of Cthulhu: A Dream of Japan; Tim Deschene, a Rhode Island native who literally has Lovecraft in his blood; and Brian Courtemanche, a writer for several of Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu books. One could not ask for a better group to investigate Providence’s secrets. Our trip to providence was strange. I kept making jokes about the trip in the days preceding – a famous writer, an ex-military local, the head librarian of a private New England school, and myself heading to Providence to investigate the haunts of the mysterious horror writer the week before a solar eclipse plunges the world into darkness? It was like a Call of Cthuhlu adventure. And with a line-up of investigators like ours I was sure to be the first to die, probably offstage. The jokes were there to cover up a real nervousness I felt. I am not a superstitious man, but I have spent much of my life dreaming up horrors. I don’t believe in the supernatural, but I think about it all the time, and I believe that if it the supernatural is at all real the best chance...

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Dec26

Real Life Adventures: Scotland and Orkney

Posted By pandabrett on Dec 26, 2017

Real Life Adventures: Scotland and Orkney by Daniel J. Bishop I was lucky enough to take a five-week trip to Scotland and Orkney in 2017, from mid-August to mid-September. I flew with my partner and youngest child into Edinburgh Airport, where my older daughter and her boyfriend met us. Because they started university this year, they could only come for the first two weeks of the trip. Scotland is an amazingly beautiful country with a...

Dec12

Real Life Adventures: Yellowstone National Park

Posted By pandabrett on Dec 12, 2017

Real Life Adventures: Yellowstone National Park By Terry Olson In early September, my wife, Suzi Markham, and I vacationed in Yellowstone National Park. It was an awesome week, and very inspiring. There are countless types of inspiration to be found in Yellowstone, but in this article, I’ll focus particularly on things that got my adventure-writing juices flowing. Along with an account of our journey, I’ll share some of our pictures....

Next Entries »

Real Life Adventures: Gilmerton Cove

Real Life Adventures: Lovecraft’s Providence

Real Life Adventures: Scotland and Orkney

Real Life Adventures: Yellowstone National Park

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