Professional Documents
Culture Documents
At The Lord Admiral's Table
At The Lord Admiral's Table
sean@bookseansmith.co.uk
At the Lord Admiral’s Table
A game of Edwardian social niceties & conversational gambits.
Requirements
❖ Any number of players (none need be a gamesmaster)
❖ A small piece of paper & a pen/cil for each player
❖ Four six-sided dice
You are have been invited to dine with the most prolific host of the
Edwardian era: the Lord Admiral. Going around the table, take it in
turns to share one aspect of the Lord Admiral’s reputation.
I hear the
Lord Admiral despises the army he calls them clodfooted morons.
@seanfsmith
sean@bookseansmith.co.uk
Establishing the Guests
Now answer the following questions about yourself.
WHO ARE YOU? We’re interested in a name and a short
description.
The comely Priscilla Anselm is an author who writes
under the penname P.I. Fiction.
WHY ARE YOU HERE? The Lord Admiral invites many
people to his dinners for sundry reasons. Share yours. Priscilla made a
name for herself when she called out the Reverend shortly before his
dismissal. She is the spice to this feast.
WHY ARE YOU HERE? The Lord Admiral is a very influential
man. What do you hope to gain having dined with him? Miss
Anselm hopes that the Lord Admiral will put her in touch with a
more reputable publisher for her writing.
Take a piece of paper and write each of these things on it, then
list the numbers one to six beneath. Look at the styles beneath: decide
on one style that your character is ardent
about and one they are deft
with.
You should also draw a silhouette of your guest.
@seanfsmith
sean@bookseansmith.co.uk
Aim of the Game
Your guest is trying to get to the end of the meal without committing
too many conversational faux pas and being ejected from the
proceedings. You’re not collaborating with the other guests, but it pays
for the debutantes & debutants to stick together: only fellow guests can
help you save face .
The meal lasts three courses - appetisers, mains & port. Each
course will cover three topics of conversation. Either decide these topics
as a group, or roll on the table at the end of this document.
Each topic will require a number of successes:
1. Appetiser
topics require successesequal to the number of players
2. Main course topics require successes equal to the number of
players plus one
3. Topics discussed over port
require successes equal to
twice the
number of players
@seanfsmith
sean@bookseansmith.co.uk
Playing the Game
In turn, each player shares a snippet
of conversation with the table. It
should be in line with the topic at hand and one of the
conversational styles beneath. It should be clear to each of the other
players which style you are emulating.
After you have shared your snippet with the table, take three of
the dice and
roll them all . Each dice that matches the numerical
value of your chosen conversational style counts as one success.
If you are deft
at this conversational style, instead you roll four
dice. If you are ardent about this style and score any successes, you
score an additional success.
If none of the dice match, you have made a faux pas - cross out
that number on your piece of paper. In future turns, you cannot choose
a conversational style that has been crossed out. If all of your
conversational styles are crossed out, you have made an
embarrassment of yourself and your guest leaves the game.
After you’ve rolled the dice, you should narrate a general
response to your snippet: especially if you’ve caused outrage!
There is no requirement for a set turn order. However, each
player should share a snippet before any single player shares another.
You might want to track this with dainty snacks.
@seanfsmith
sean@bookseansmith.co.uk
Saving Face
If one of the other guests has made a faux pas, you can try to save
face. Before rolling the dice, declare you are doing so (often with,
“What my friend means is…” ). This can be done either immediately
after the faux pas or as your very first snippet of a course. (Unless you
are playing as a single player), you cannot save your own face - you
must help another guest.
In order to save face, you must roll a number of successes with a
single snippet equal to the number of the course (i.e. appetisers
require one success, mains require two successes, port requires three
successes). If you manage this, the guest may again reuse the lost style.
If you fail to save face, you too have committed a faux pas.
@seanfsmith
sean@bookseansmith.co.uk
Conversational Styles
1. THE HERMIT - distance & isolation - There is only one thing in
life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked
about.
2. THE LOVER - passion & compassion - Everything in the world
is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.
3. THE FOOL - satire & ridicule - I am so clever that sometimes I
don't understand a single word of what I am saying.
4. THE HERO - directness & stoicism - True friends stab you in the
front.
5. THE DEVIL - deceit & temptation - The world is a stage, but the
play is badly cast.
6. THE TRAVELLER - simplicity & contrast - Some cause happiness
wherever they go; others whenever they go.
@seanfsmith
sean@bookseansmith.co.uk
Topics of conversation
Starter Main Port
this abominable spoiling for a nice
one the bloody French
weather big war
that beastly new that scandal of the
two gardener of the the Irish question bishop and his
Higginbotham’s actress
that one time
those Edison and
four Smythe spoke in Evans’ “illness”
Tesla chaps
the clubhouse
that ghastly the current state of
the new Egerton
five American girl military spending
cook’s pastry
and her manners
anarchy at the Thomas Hardy is
six tawny port
bridge club getting on a bit