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From
The Surrey Shore . .
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The Newsletter of the Hated Rivals on the Surrey Shore Vol. 3, No. 1, February 2004
****A Scion
Society for All Who Enjoy Sherlock Holmes in All His Manifestations!****
Sherlock Holmes often likened
the pursuit of criminals to a game, as in the statement forming the title of
this section and in his other famous assertion that he played the game for the
game’s own sake. And so the Hated Rivals on the Surrey Shore have decided to
take the Master Sleuth of Baker Street at his word and make our next meeting a
game as well—to be specific, a mystery game. (We’ll be co-hosting this event
with our fellow scion, the Victorian Gamers Afoot!, a scion dedicated to the
enjoyment of Sherlockian and Victorian-era games.) We’ll meet on Sunday, March
14, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., at the Warren Library on E. 21st Street
(between Post and Mitthoeffer Roads—see the “Coming Meetings” section for the
address and directions). The meeting centers around a live Sherlockian mystery
game in which all in attendance can participate (or observe, if you’re of the
wallflower variety and would prefer to watch rather than play). And serving as
Gamemaster Extraordinaire is our own Chris Engle, who designed and will run the
event. (Chris, as some of you may already know, is a talented game designer,
creator of his own Engle Matrix Game System, and publisher of Hamster Press.)
The game, which is kind of a cross between a role-playing and a story-telling
game, is easy to learn (it takes only minutes to master the rules) and requires
only an ample portion of imagination on the part of its players (something we
know that the Hated Rivals have in droves). Prior to the actual game, our own
Barker (Bill Barton), who is himself a published game designer, with three
industry awards to his credit, will offer a brief survey of Sherlockian and
Victorian games, past and present. An even briefer business meeting and
refreshments (for, after all, what goes better with gaming than munchies?)
round out the event. Even if you’ve never played anything more complicated than
Old Maid or Monopoly, we urge you to take up the challenge
of matching wits with your fellow Rivals for a rousing game of whodunit (for,
just maybe, the culprit will turn out to be . . . you!). We hope to see you
there!
***
All right, so we’re actually almost two months into the new year, but as this is my first missive of 2004, I think that we can fudge just a bit, don’t you? (If Sherlock Holmes was willing to bend the laws of England in his pursuit of justice, I think that stretching out a date just a bit falls well within the realm of propriety.) That said, I welcome you all to the start of the third year of the illustrious existence of Indy’s own Hated Rivals on the Surrey Shore, a scion designed for all those who enjoy Sherlock Holmes in all his various manifestations—from the original Doyle stories to movies, graphic novels, plays, pastiches, cross-genre excursions, and, of course, games (as is the theme of our coming meeting).
Since our March meeting involves
playing a Sherlockian mystery game (for the game’s own sake, as well as for
fun), I thought I’d reminisce this issue over some Sherlockian games of the
past that those who are new to the hobby may have missed. The first Sherlockian
games probably came out around the turn of the last century (1900, not 2000). I
recall seeing in a book of Sherlockian miscellanea a picture of a Sherlock
Holmes card game, although the title now escapes my aging memory. I’m sure
there were others. The first Sherlockian game that I’m aware of, however, was
the venerable board game 221B Baker Street. The game featured a stylized
map of London on its game board, and players followed the squares around the
board to various locations, where they could gather clues in the form of cards
drawn from a specialized deck. The game came with a set containing multiple
cases to solve, and several expansion sets provided additional cases for the
aspiring sleuths. Once a player thought he could solve the case, he needed to
be the first one back to Baker Street with the answer. It was relatively
simple, but a lot of fun. I don’t know if the game is still in print, but it’s
the one mostly likely to be of any of those from the past couple decades.
Sherlock Holmes, Consulting
Detective was similar in general idea to 221B, but it wasn’t quite a
board game, nor was it a role-playing game, although it incorporated elements
of both. Instead of the board, it featured a more realistic (though simplified)
map of Victorian London, with locations marked and further described in an
accompanying gazetteer booklet. This game, too, featured a number of cases,
with clues described in pages in the three-ring binder that held the game
together. Players again trekked to various locations on the map (although
merely by stating they were doing so rather than moving pieces on a board) to
gather the clues that were there for each adventure. Several boxed supplements
provided additional cases to solve. Once a player thought he knew the answer,
he could check his solution against that of the Master Sleuth himself, Holmes.
The cases in this game were a lot tougher to solve than those of 221B.
But, then, the satisfaction in doing so was much higher as well. The game was
originally published by a company known appropriately enough as Sleuth
Publications. They’re long out of business, and I believe the game is now out
of print as well, but you can sometimes find copies online from used-game
stores. It’s well worth the effort to locate.
I also recall another boxed
Sherlock Holmes mystery game that may have been called simply Sherlock
Holmes (or it may have had a more elaborate title—the memory is dim). It
wasn’t really much for even the meager $10 price tag it carried back in the
early ’80s. I had a board and some vague rules on how to create and run a
mystery game—but no actual cases and little you could hang your hat on unless
you were really creative yourself. I recall someone saying that it was
more of an idea on how to run a Holmes mystery game than an actual game itself.
Fantasy Games Unlimited, a one-time prolific publisher of role-playing games,
had purchased the rights to this game by the late ’80s and planned to rerelease
it in a new, beefed-up version as an actual game that could be played.
Unfortunately, the company hit hard times before it could do so and ceased
publishing new games at all (almost disappearing for nearly a decade as well).
One begins to wonder whether some of these Holmes games carried curses on those
involved with them.
As I’ve mentioned before, Holmes also entered the realm of role-playing
proper in a couple of my own contributions to the gaming world—first in my article
“A Gamer’s Guide to Victorian London,” which ran in Steve Jackson Games’ Fantasy
Gamer #2, in the mid-’80s, and again in 1986 in my Cthulhu By Gaslight
supplement for Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu RPG. The first included
generic gaming stats for both Holmes and Watson, as well as Moriarty. The
second included all three characters, in CoC gaming stats, as well as Col.
Moran, in the scenario “The Yorkshire Horrors.” The background book for the
supplement also provided a brief Sherlockian timeline, based on that of
Sherlockian William Baring-Gould. The Fantasy Gamer article was
later adapted into Steve Jackson Games’ Generic Universal Role-Playing System
for GURPS Horror (first and second editions), although only Holmes and
Moriarty made the cut for that game. But game masters could then incorporate
Holmes into two of the most popular RPG systems of the day. It was not to last,
however, as Gaslight is now long out of print (a new version is in the works,
although it won’t include the scenario, so the presence of Holmes and the
others isn’t known at this point), and the London info wasn’t included in the
newest edition of GURPS Horror. (Again, however, a new GURPS book
covering the Victorian era is in the works from SJG, probably to appear
sometime next year.)
The trivia game craze initiated
by Trivial Pursuit also delved into things Sherlockian with a little
game called (what else?) Sherlockian Trivia, released by the oddly named
Sherlockian publisher Magico Magazine in the late ’80s. The game was designed
by Sherlockian Dana Richards, who served under me as vice president of my
former scion the year I presided over it. It consisted of a set of cards with
Sherlockian questions on one side and answers on the other, which could be
substituted for the cards in Trivial Pursuit or any other trivia game.
To help achieve its publication, I wrote up a set of rules for the game, based
on how Dana had described it when we played it at a scion meeting. Magico
released it in a colorful plastic box with a Sherlockian caricature on the
cover. Sadly, Magico dropped off the radar sometime after that, and this game,
too, went out of print. (What was that about a curse again?)
Holmes has popped up from time to time in other games—I have in storage another board game in which players rode the rails of London to solve cases, although the name of this one, too, eludes me, and Holmes was mentioned, although not described in game terms, in last year’s London By Gaslight book for the Vampire: The Masquerade story-telling RPG. I imagine these won’t be the last appearances by the Great Detective in the world of gaming, however. After all, it was Holmes who compared his trade on more than one occasion to a game, so it only seems fitting that he should revisit that medium as long as he retains his popularity. And I expect that to be for a very long time. (But when, I must wonder as a loyal Hated Rival, does Barker get his own board game?)
Concerning our favorite Hated
Rival, I should probably add a bit more info about my version of the detective
than I did last issue, lest anyone get the wrong impression. Although I created
Cyrus Barker as a character for the occult-oriented Call of Cthulhu game
and Barker thus originally fought evil in that form, he was not in any way a
follower of the occult. In fact, as a counter to what he was learning of the
darkness that he was destined to fight, Barker also extensively studied the
Christian Bible as a source of light to rend that darkness. Because his early
studies took place in the remote wilds of Canada, he was not influenced by
either Anglican or orthodox nonconformist theology, but rather by an
understanding of what the scriptures taught (as opposed to what men said they
taught). He did later correspond with many of the major (and some of the minor)
religious figures of his day, including Charles Spurgeon (whose church was
located near where Barker would finally settle in London), Dean Burgon of
Chichester, and E.W. Bullinger. But it was the influence of Gen. Gordon—himself
a committed, if unorthodox, Christian—that most drew Barker to the light of
Christianity, which helped him immensely in his fight against the demonic
forces of the Cthulhu Mythos, the Nephilim, the Illuminati, and other
incursions of evil into our own reality. But of those . . . as well as of
Barker’s skill at the sitar, learned during his stint in the Indian Army; his
two cats, Sheba and Watson (named after the Biblical queen and a famous person
he admired . . . although not necessarily who you may think); his near-fatal
experimentation with absinthe; and other aspects of the character . . . we’ll
wait until another time to elaborate further. After all, what is a
detective if at least some of his life is not a . . . well, mystery?
And on that evasive note, till next issue, I remain,
as always, ever yours . . .
—C. Barker,
Esq.
***
Neither torrential downpours (a
veritable deluge) nor a ravaging flu epidemic that felled several members
prevented the Hated Rivals on the Surrey Shore from another successful—and
fun—meeting, as we celebrated the birthday of Sherlock Holmes with our second
annual Victorian tea, on Sunday, January 4, at the Hamilton County Historical
Society Jail Museum. A sumptuous feast awaited those in attendance: tea, coffee
(for nontea-drinkers), three kinds of scones, apple tarts, tea sandwiches,
fresh fruit, and more! After all ate their fill in the Victorian kitchen of the
museum, and following our traditional Canonical toasts, we moved to the parlor
for the “formal” part of the meeting (although, as usual, we kept it relatively
informal, in accordance with our goal never to become stuffy or boring). The
meeting opened with a new Sherlockian holiday sing-along, written and led by
our own Barker (Bill Barton): “The Six Nights of the Canon” (which described
six “presents” Conan Doyle gave to us through the Holmes stories—for details,
see our Web site for the lyrics, as well as the explanation of why only the six
gifts are described, as opposed to the 12 of the song from which it was
derived). Following the song, in which all in attendance joyfully participated,
Bill read his paper on “Crime in Victorian London,” a most fitting topic for
the location. Our vice president, Russell (Mimi DeMore), also brought several
items from her own Sherlockian collection for display, and the meeting ended
with self-descriptions by each member, as we’d welcomed several new faces to
the club for this meeting. (One normally very busy lady had just stopped by for
a few minutes to drop off some materials to our hostess, but after we invited
her to share in our tea, she was so fascinated that she stayed for the entire
meeting—and hopes to be able to adjust her schedule to return again soon.) The
meeting also attracted a reporter from the Noblesville Times, who took
several photos for the newspaper, one of which —of one of our toasts—appeared
in the following Tuesday’s edition. Following the program, we continued in
Sherlockian fellowship—and indulged in just a bit more tea and scones—until the
time came at last to vacate the historical premises. All in all, it was yet
another great meeting for your favorite Hated Rivals on the Surrey Shore!
***
Our next meeting revolves around
games, which is quite appropriate, as playing games of one sort or another was
one of the Victorians’ chief pastimes. Of course, most Victorian men and women
engaged in such athletic games as cricket, rugby, tennis, croquet, and others,
either as spectators or participants. But middle-class Victorian families also
shared their leisure time, especially during winter, by playing a variety of
indoor games — parlour games, such as charades and the like, and board games.
(Card games such as whist were also popular, but the children in a family
rarely joined in to such activities.) In fact, until the depression of the
1930s in the U.S., when people’s leisure-time options were limited by their
finances, the Victorian Age was in many ways the heyday of the board game.
Victorian board games often took the form of miniature morality plays, religion
being important to the Victorian middle class, but they also could be as
whimsical as many of today’s board games. (I own a set of Victorian
Boardgames, sold in book form but also very playable. They’re not quite Monopoly
or Clue, but they’re interesting, nonetheless.) One striking difference
between Victorian board games and those of today is that movement was
determined by a small wooden spinner—kind of like a top but with flat sides and
numbers inscribed on them—instead of dice. (To the Victorian middle class, dice
were gambling tools and thus morally unacceptable for use in a family-oriented
board game.) One would twirl the spinner, and whatever number lay up when it
stopped was the number of spaces on the board that one moved. And the game, as
someone we all know would say, was afoot!
***
I Hear of Sherlock
Everywhere!
The Sunday, February 8, edition of the comic strip Family
Circus featured cameo appearances by both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
The strip was a single panel showing son Billy’s dotted-line trek through a
housing development named (what else?) “Sherlock Homes.” At the lower-left
corner, however, the familiar figure of Sherlock Holmes, in deerstalker and
pipe, with magnifying glass in hand, was on his hands and knees examining
Billy’s trail. To a bent-over Watson, identifiable in bowler and moustache,
Holmes commented, “I deduce that Billy, from the Sunday comics, has visited us!
I detect that he has left a very peculiar trail. Quite an active lad! And I can
even identify his school: It’s elementary, my dear Watson.” (We’d love to
reproduce it here, but to do so without permission would be unethical; we’ll
try to bring it to the next meeting for anyone who missed it.)
We’ve mentioned the USA series Monk
previously in our newsletter, primarily because of the Sherlockian
investigative methods of the main character, the neurotic Adrian Monk. In the
January 23rd episode of the series, we learned that, also like
Holmes, Monk has a brother—one who, similar to Holmes’ brother Mycroft, almost
never leaves his home. (Although Ambrose Monk’s confinement is due to acute
agoraphobia rather than habit and excessive weight.) Monk’s brother, too, seems
to share his own abilities of observation and deduction. (And Monk’s assistant,
Sharona, was as unaware that Monk had a brother as Watson was of Mycroft’s
existence.) Although its Sherlockian connections are generally as oblique as
this one, we still recommend Monk as one of the best series on TV today
— and consider it the best detective show in that medium (at least until
someone else produces another good Holmes TV series).
We told you last issue that League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen was out on DVD but not on VHS. We should have
clarified that statement—it’s not available yet on VHS at consumer prices. It is
available on VHS through the rental stores, and if you want to pay the $100+
price that they pay, you can purchase it from Amazon.com and similar outlets.
(Although Amazon did list a few used copies at lower prices. And by now, the
video stores may be selling some of their previously viewed copies in the
$10-13 price range.) So if you can’t wait for the “official” video release, you
do have other options. (And if you haven’t seen it and have only a VCR, do rent
it. Despite the pans of the “critics,” who obviously didn’t understand the
movie at all, it’s certainly worth the rental price—at the very least.)
We also lamented last issue the demise of Ruse,
the well-written and excellently drawn CrossGen comic featuring the Holmes-like
detective Simon Archard. We’ve learned, however, that at least one more issue
of Archard’s Agents, the Ruse spin-off featuring other characters
from the series, is due out from CrossGen in March. This issue features
Theophilis Dare, the adventurer who’d appeared in a story arc several issues
ago, as well as in the next-to-last issue of Ruse, in a penny dreadful
sequence. No word on whether Archard or his partner (finally acknowledged as
such in the series’ last issue), Emma Bishop, would appear in the spin-off,
although if it’s like the first two issues of Archard’s Agents, they’re
likely to be absent except in name only. At least Ruse fans do have one
last related adventure to look forward to.
Received from the Sinister Ballarat Gang (672
Prospect Ave., Long Beach, CA 90814-1814): a witty little four-page parody
entitled Cockroach Bones and the Five Orange Peeps, by Kevin Reed (in an
orange-colored cover, appropriately enough). Chock-full of puns and wordplay,
the mini-adventure features Bones, the “Master Insective,” and his companion,
Waspon, contemplating a case that begins (sort of) with a mysterious letter
containing five orange marshmallow peeps (somewhat similar to a package
received by your humble correspondent a while back . . . hmmm). It careens madly
off the walls (and several other odd surfaces) from there. Quite humorous — and
well-timed for the rapid approach of Easter (although one must wonder at the
freshness of said peeps, since the sale of this year’s Easter candy had yet to
begin . . .). A wealth of kudos for the adventure adorns the back cover . . .
everyone from Oliver Wendell Holmes to Hamlet (with Inspector Lestrade along
the way) seems to love it. No price or info on obtaining additional copies was
included, so if anyone is interested in one, you may want to contact Kevin
Reed, c/o the Sinister Ballarat Gang, yourself. (Or ask to read my copy.) This
sort of clever, imaginative writing is what I’d like to see more of from the
Sherlockian community, which too often takes itself far too seriously.
The Discovery Channel’s Unsolved History
series ran a show about Jack the Ripper on Thursday, February 12, and again on
Sunday, February 15. Not a lot of new information for those well-versed in the
field of Ripperology, but a good summary of the salient facts of the case
nevertheless. The consensus of many of the experts interviewed (and among
interviewees were Ripper researchers Donald Rumbelow and Stewart Evans) seems
to be that the Ripper was most likely a Polish Jew named Aaron Kosminski, one of
the three chief suspects cited by Scotland Yard’s Sir Melville Macnaghten in an
1894 memo (although Macnaghten himself favored Montague John Druitt as the
culprit). Another suspect named by the show—one who rarely gets any serious
mention in Ripper studies—was one Francis Tumblety, an American doctor of
highly questionable credentials who was also a suspect of sort, or so it seems,
in the Lincoln assassination. Those who missed the show—or just would like a
short, general program about the case—can purchase a video of this episode from
the Discovery Channel for $19.95 (at www.discovery.com). (As an added bonus,
those with sharp eyes can detect a curious pair of onlookers standing to the
far right in the background of one artist’s contemporary drawing of what the
Ripper may look like. Yes, it’s a mustached figure wearing a bowler next to
another in deerstalker and Inverness cape! Hmmmmm . . .)
Our own Bill Barton (Barker) writes a monthly
column, “Horror from the Heartland,” for the online gaming magazine Space
Gamer (www.spacegamer.com). The March issue’s column focuses on none
other than . . . Cyrus Barker, Bill’s fictionalized version of the Canonical
Barker, as described in the last newsletter (and briefly again in this one).
The column includes the original Call of Cthulhu/Cthulhu By Gaslight
stats Bill composed for the latter that were never published—at least until
now. The online mag is a subscriber-only site, but trial subscriptions for a
limited period are frequently available as well.
***
Coming Meetings!
Following are the details of our
upcoming meeting, plus the dates and tentative information about all our
meetings for 2004. (Check our Web site or our Indianapolis Star Web page
for updates.) So set these dates aside to join the Hated Rivals at the
following soirées:
The Game’s Afoot
(Literally)!
Sunday, March 14, 2004,
1:30-4:30 p.m.
Warren Library
9701 East 21st
Street
Indianapolis, Indiana
Directions and Details: To get to the Warren Library, take I-465 to the I-70E. exit on the Far East side of Indianapolis. Take I-70E. to the Post Road exit, which is the first exit after getting onto the highway. Turn right (south) onto Post Road, but get into the left lane, as 21st Street is just south of I-70. Turn left (east) on 21st Street and continue east past the Marina Lake apartments on your left. You’ll come to a traffic light, and immediately on your right, east of the light, you’ll see the Warren Library. (The next major intersection east of the library is Mitthoeffer Road. If you reach it, you’ve gone too far.) Look for a great time, with our special live Sherlockian mystery game (easily learned even by total novices to gameplaying), a brief survey of Sherlockian and Victorian games, and free refreshments (plus we may throw in an extra surprise or two). For a map showing the location of the library or additional information about its location, check out the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Web site’s Locations page at www.imcpl.org/location.htm; scroll down till you find the Warren Library entry and click the Map link.
And don’t forget to mark
your calendar for next year’s other great meetings . . .
Saturday, May 15, 2004: Sitting in an English Garden
Sunday, July 11, 2004: Barker Birthday Bash—An
Afternoon on the Canal
September (exact date to be
determined): The
Death of Sherlock Holmes!
Saturday, November 13, 2004:
A.C. Doyle
Mini-Film Fest
(Note: Dates and
programs are tentative and subject to change as circumstances
change—but we’ll try to stick to these as much as possible!)
****
For
more information, contact us at P.O. Box 26290, Indianapolis, IN 46226-0290; or
send us e-mail at postmaster@surrey-shore.freeservers.com or at
rivalrussell221B@hotmail.com. (And don’t forget to venture online to check out the
rest of our Hated Rivals Web site, right here at http://surrey-shore.freeservers.com
or our Indy Star Web page at http://community.indystar.com/928/ for
recent updates.) See you again in two months, back on the ol’ Surrey Shore,
where the game’s always afoot! (But you already knew that—right?)