Desert Island RPG ...

Copyright © 2011 Mark Kelly

If I am honest, I found the whole 'Traveller' rule set intimidating and often confusing.  But that didn't stop me from creating several planets, no end of NPCs and a rather flimsy plot-line.  So where were the players?

It would seem, back in the day, not many role players (of those within my circle) were very much into the idea of sci-fi rpgs.  I continued to collect various 'Traveller' scenarios, figures and even a whole campaign. Still no players though.

Move forward another year, and I discover a role playing group. Their game night is held once a week in a reception room at a rather seedy-looking hotel at the far end of St. Mary's Street in the heart of Cardiff city centre, literally within spitting distance of Cardiff Central Railway Station ... needless to say, not the safest of areas for folks to frequent after dark, let alone a teenage lad.  True what they say about ignorance, it covers you in a shield of fearlessness so you hadn't a clue as to what the heck was going on about you.


My first and, as it turned out, only game I joined was a post apocalyptic setting, of which the name escapes me, so good as it was.  I had fallen in with a more 'mature' group, whereas the other half of the room was occupied by what can only be described as a gaggle of hobbit-like, pre-pubescent rpers on crack - the yells and screams were temper-testing to say the least.  More often than not, the most senior (in years) within the group I had fallen in with would verbally beat the kiddies into silence, then followed by their mumbled apologies.  I personally blame the red Smarties - for any US readers, they would be akin to an early version of M&Ms ... but better tasting.

As it transpires, the rp group I sat with were made up of a boyfriend and girlfriend (of whom I later discovered said boyfriend was an IRA sympathiser), the GM, who was a totally self-centred, arrogant, selfish arse, and several blurred faces my memory refuses to acknowledge, and of course, yours truly - obviously the most normal, and level-headed at the table.  Sadly, the ritual of the kiddies volume setting getting louder and louder and the resulting 'telling off' from the IRA follower soon made me realise, I had to set up my own group no matter what!

What this period in my role playing education did teach me however, was that not all gamers were like me. Shocking news, I have to admit, but it prepared me well for some of the 'odd bods' I would encounter over the coming years as a DM ... and trust me, there were some very odd ones indeed.