Search
75 results for “MistressE20”
-
Gemini (金昭玉醉) short Cdrama review
Gemini (金昭玉醉) is unabashedly aware of what it is, and it’s not apologisin’
This 28-episode short drama (each episode at around 15 minutes), has a The Double-ish premise — the usual revenge/reborn thing.
Princess Lu Zhao suffers at the hands of her husband, who covets her wealth. So, she throws herself off the mansion in despair. And as she lay dying, she wishes vengeance on the evil people and somehow attracts the spirit of the just deceased chief of a notorious sect that serves as the emperor’s secret police. This ruthless femme fatale, Xiao Jin Yu, died about the same time.
Her “twin brother” Xiao Ren (not biological, promise) tries to bring Jin Yu back through a dark ritual, but the magic gets complicated, and she ends up in the princess’s body and resurrects.
In her new body, Jin Yu no longer has the memories of her former sect leader life. So, with her newfound ruthlessness, the resurrected Lu Zhao toys with her former tormentors like a cat with her prey, wrecking vengeance.
And Xiao Ren decides that since she has no memories, it’s time to get close to her. So he protects her while wooing and flirting with her.
My thoughts about the drama
I had finished an intense work period and needed something light (aka brainless), so I thought to myself, hey why not just have a look — it’s only 15 minutes. .
Nine episodes later, and there are already poisons, dark magic, drownings, assassinations, black magic, mistresses, adultery, falls off cliffs, kisses, aphrodisiacs, and sibling-not-really romance — plus the removal of clothes. To Xiao Wei’s credit, despite Lu Zhao being doused with a love potion at one point, he doesn’t take advantage.
It’s deliciously trashy, and I am seated. 🤣
And you know what? The quality of this drama — the camera work and acting — is better than a lot of long dramas these days. It makes me wonder just why this is so.
Since A Familiar Stranger, I’ve been looking for short Cdramas just as good. Unfortunately, after the format became popular, there was a gold rush of sorts and quality dropped as cheap rush jobs became the norm. After a while, many short dramas earned the reputation of being low-budget, salacious dramas with unbearably choppy editing.
Fortunately, Gemini feels pretty smooth and is as good as A Familiar Stranger.
Although the drama’s plot and acting isn’t particularly unique, I think our main actors Zhao Jun Wei (Xiao Wei) and Zhu Li Lian (Lu Zhao) did well. The story, although melodramatic at times, doesn’t veer too far into ridiculousness. It is fun and engaging enough for me to continue watching episode to episode.
If you’ve not tried short dramas before, this is a good one to try!
Final rating: 3.5
Deliciously trashy, surprisingly well-made, and way too easy to binge. -
Gemini (金昭玉醉) short Cdrama review
Gemini (金昭玉醉) is unabashedly aware of what it is, and it’s not apologisin’
This 28-episode short drama (each episode at around 15 minutes), has a The Double-ish premise — the usual revenge/reborn thing.
Princess Lu Zhao suffers at the hands of her husband, who covets her wealth. So, she throws herself off the mansion in despair. And as she lay dying, she wishes vengeance on the evil people and somehow attracts the spirit of the just deceased chief of a notorious sect that serves as the emperor’s secret police. This ruthless femme fatale, Xiao Jin Yu, died about the same time.
Her “twin brother” Xiao Ren (not biological, promise) tries to bring Jin Yu back through a dark ritual, but the magic gets complicated, and she ends up in the princess’s body and resurrects.
In her new body, Jin Yu no longer has the memories of her former sect leader life. So, with her newfound ruthlessness, the resurrected Lu Zhao toys with her former tormentors like a cat with her prey, wrecking vengeance.
And Xiao Ren decides that since she has no memories, it’s time to get close to her. So he protects her while wooing and flirting with her.
My thoughts about the drama
I had finished an intense work period and needed something light (aka brainless), so I thought to myself, hey why not just have a look — it’s only 15 minutes. .
Nine episodes later, and there are already poisons, dark magic, drownings, assassinations, black magic, mistresses, adultery, falls off cliffs, kisses, aphrodisiacs, and sibling-not-really romance — plus the removal of clothes. To Xiao Wei’s credit, despite Lu Zhao being doused with a love potion at one point, he doesn’t take advantage.
It’s deliciously trashy, and I am seated. 🤣
And you know what? The quality of this drama — the camera work and acting — is better than a lot of long dramas these days. It makes me wonder just why this is so.
Since A Familiar Stranger, I’ve been looking for short Cdramas just as good. Unfortunately, after the format became popular, there was a gold rush of sorts and quality dropped as cheap rush jobs became the norm. After a while, many short dramas earned the reputation of being low-budget, salacious dramas with unbearably choppy editing.
Fortunately, Gemini feels pretty smooth and is as good as A Familiar Stranger.
Although the drama’s plot and acting isn’t particularly unique, I think our main actors Zhao Jun Wei (Xiao Wei) and Zhu Li Lian (Lu Zhao) did well. The story, although melodramatic at times, doesn’t veer too far into ridiculousness. It is fun and engaging enough for me to continue watching episode to episode.
If you’ve not tried short dramas before, this is a good one to try!
Final rating: 3.5
Deliciously trashy, surprisingly well-made, and way too easy to binge. -
Gemini (金昭玉醉) short Cdrama review
Gemini (金昭玉醉) is unabashedly aware of what it is, and it’s not apologisin’
This 28-episode short drama (each episode at around 15 minutes), has a The Double-ish premise — the usual revenge/reborn thing.
Princess Lu Zhao suffers at the hands of her husband, who covets her wealth. So, she throws herself off the mansion in despair. And as she lay dying, she wishes vengeance on the evil people and somehow attracts the spirit of the just deceased chief of a notorious sect that serves as the emperor’s secret police. This ruthless femme fatale, Xiao Jin Yu, died about the same time.
Her “twin brother” Xiao Ren (not biological, promise) tries to bring Jin Yu back through a dark ritual, but the magic gets complicated, and she ends up in the princess’s body and resurrects.
In her new body, Jin Yu no longer has the memories of her former sect leader life. So, with her newfound ruthlessness, the resurrected Lu Zhao toys with her former tormentors like a cat with her prey, wrecking vengeance.
And Xiao Ren decides that since she has no memories, it’s time to get close to her. So he protects her while wooing and flirting with her.
My thoughts about the drama
I had finished an intense work period and needed something light (aka brainless), so I thought to myself, hey why not just have a look — it’s only 15 minutes. .
Nine episodes later, and there are already poisons, dark magic, drownings, assassinations, black magic, mistresses, adultery, falls off cliffs, kisses, aphrodisiacs, and sibling-not-really romance — plus the removal of clothes. To Xiao Wei’s credit, despite Lu Zhao being doused with a love potion at one point, he doesn’t take advantage.
It’s deliciously trashy, and I am seated. 🤣
And you know what? The quality of this drama — the camera work and acting — is better than a lot of long dramas these days. It makes me wonder just why this is so.
Since A Familiar Stranger, I’ve been looking for short Cdramas just as good. Unfortunately, after the format became popular, there was a gold rush of sorts and quality dropped as cheap rush jobs became the norm. After a while, many short dramas earned the reputation of being low-budget, salacious dramas with unbearably choppy editing.
Fortunately, Gemini feels pretty smooth and is as good as A Familiar Stranger.
Although the drama’s plot and acting isn’t particularly unique, I think our main actors Zhao Jun Wei (Xiao Wei) and Zhu Li Lian (Lu Zhao) did well. The story, although melodramatic at times, doesn’t veer too far into ridiculousness. It is fun and engaging enough for me to continue watching episode to episode.
If you’ve not tried short dramas before, this is a good one to try!
Final rating: 3.5
Deliciously trashy, surprisingly well-made, and way too easy to binge. -
Gemini (金昭玉醉) short Cdrama review
Gemini (金昭玉醉) is unabashedly aware of what it is, and it’s not apologisin’
This 28-episode short drama (each episode at around 15 minutes), has a The Double-ish premise — the usual revenge/reborn thing.
Princess Lu Zhao suffers at the hands of her husband, who covets her wealth. So, she throws herself off the mansion in despair. And as she lay dying, she wishes vengeance on the evil people and somehow attracts the spirit of the just deceased chief of a notorious sect that serves as the emperor’s secret police. This ruthless femme fatale, Xiao Jin Yu, died about the same time.
Her “twin brother” Xiao Ren (not biological, promise) tries to bring Jin Yu back through a dark ritual, but the magic gets complicated, and she ends up in the princess’s body and resurrects.
In her new body, Jin Yu no longer has the memories of her former sect leader life. So, with her newfound ruthlessness, the resurrected Lu Zhao toys with her former tormentors like a cat with her prey, wrecking vengeance.
And Xiao Ren decides that since she has no memories, it’s time to get close to her. So he protects her while wooing and flirting with her.
My thoughts about the drama
I had finished an intense work period and needed something light (aka brainless), so I thought to myself, hey why not just have a look — it’s only 15 minutes. .
Nine episodes later, and there are already poisons, dark magic, drownings, assassinations, black magic, mistresses, adultery, falls off cliffs, kisses, aphrodisiacs, and sibling-not-really romance — plus the removal of clothes. To Xiao Wei’s credit, despite Lu Zhao being doused with a love potion at one point, he doesn’t take advantage.
It’s deliciously trashy, and I am seated. 🤣
And you know what? The quality of this drama — the camera work and acting — is better than a lot of long dramas these days. It makes me wonder just why this is so.
Since A Familiar Stranger, I’ve been looking for short Cdramas just as good. Unfortunately, after the format became popular, there was a gold rush of sorts and quality dropped as cheap rush jobs became the norm. After a while, many short dramas earned the reputation of being low-budget, salacious dramas with unbearably choppy editing.
Fortunately, Gemini feels pretty smooth and is as good as A Familiar Stranger.
Although the drama’s plot and acting isn’t particularly unique, I think our main actors Zhao Jun Wei (Xiao Wei) and Zhu Li Lian (Lu Zhao) did well. The story, although melodramatic at times, doesn’t veer too far into ridiculousness. It is fun and engaging enough for me to continue watching episode to episode.
If you’ve not tried short dramas before, this is a good one to try!
Final rating: 3.5
Deliciously trashy, surprisingly well-made, and way too easy to binge. -
En Garde!
Subtitle:
Being in the Main a Game of the Life and Times of a Gentleman Adventurer and his Several Companions
I was woefully ignorant about En Garde! (mind the exclamation mark) until recently, when I tried to investigate why this roleplaying game seems so popular for play-by-mail games, despite being mostly forgotten in normal tabletop RPG circles.
It’s to the point that Margam Evans currently publishes the 4th edition of the game, which is nearly unchanged from the 2nd edition from 1977, which itself was not such a leap from the 1st that came out in 1975.
Yes, this is one of the earliest published role-playing games after the original White Box came out, and it came out in the same year as Tunnels and Trolls, making it likely the third or fourth published rpg. And yet barely anyone talks about it.
When people writing about the history of the hobby write about it it will get a mention, and then not be discussed anymore. And the reason I think is quite simple: it is very much still a wargame, albeit one focused on single characters, and with a weirdly abstracted approach to actual war, and people noticed quickly that playing it at the table was not the best way to use the rules. En Garde! instead has been a mainstay of postal games (that is turn-based play by mail or play by post gaming) since it’s inception.
Now, other roleplaying games of the time dabbled in this as well. Dungeons and Dragons had postal games running, and a multitude of paid dungeon crawler games tried to bring the experience of DnD to people with no other local players available. Tunnels and Trolls was conceptualized as suited for postal games. En Garde! Likely came by it more by coincidence. It originally started as a system for sword duels, which did not actually use dice all that much*, instead accepting programmed written orders for the duel.
Fascinating as this was, a small roleplaying system was attached to it that gave a reason WHY any two presumably reasonable gentlemen on the streets of 17th ct. Paris might want to duel themselves. One might meet the other party on one’s mistresses’ doorstep for example. Or be treated a bit too familiar by someone with too low a station. Or be in a regiment the other onr considers an enemy.
In any case, raison!
Soon enough it turned out that the tacked on roleplaying system that was supposed to supplement the duelling game was much more enjoyable than the duels themselves. It concerned swashbuckling, carousing, womanizing gentlemen in 17th century France, roughly in the vein of the Three Musketeers (especially the 1973 Richard Lester film which still was in everyone’s memories).
Characters in En Garde! are gentlemen, but they are always trying to increase their social status. They do this in a variety of ways, from openly carousing expensive spirits (showing they have the money to do that), toadying to other characters (getting some of that reflected glory), up to enjoying female companionship. It’s never defined what you actually are DOING with with that female companion, important is only you are seen with a female companion.
Yes, the answer is likely sex, but the way the rules float around that issue you might just visit a very dedicated embroidery circle together. Especially as I don’t think it’s ever established one can only play men, just that female companionship is necessary.
In any case the important part of the game is being seen doing stuff that shows your character is wealthy, rich, and manly. You’re the sword-wielding It girl of Paris.
Every once in a while characters will come across one another in complicated situations, and demand satisfaction.
All of that ideally is being recorded and transmitted to the other players somehow. The rules do not actually specifiy how, but the main way as established is by society papers. And that’s basically where the roleplaying happens. At the end of every round the referee puts together a gossip sheet of rumors, statements, duel results, and messages between characters. Most established campaigns identify themselves via the name of their respective gossip rag. The Paris Tribune for example, or Les Petites Bêtes Soyeuses. The latter actually is an ongoing and paid continuation of a campaign that has run since 1986, and the GM went and bought the rights to En Garde! when the last publisher folded.
There are a few running games, although it definitely doesn’t seem to have the clout DnD or Tunnels and Trolls has. The website has a list, and you might notice that not all the games are set in 17th ct. France. Different DMs often use variations on the rules, or set the game somewhere else, from 18th ct. London to Glorantha or Mars.
They also use some other variations. A character might e.g. join the Church and rise in power there, marry, run a business, or any other sort of shenanigans.
I have been thinking of integrating this with my current DnD/LL game. Outside of the name (Brillon) and a few other tidbits, nothing about the capital of the kingdom my campaign is set in really was established. I think one easily could have a game where characters in an En Garde game would be sent to “the Borderlands” and have to deal with local issues. In fact, the Castellan of Burg Aberwacht (as well as the bailiff and the curate) might be appointments given to characters going “on
The main issue is that combat skill is rather different between both systems, meaning it might not map to one another 1 to 1.
Oh, and I either have to raise the tech level of Aberwacht, or drop the one for the En Garde part. After all En Garde is based on the Three MUSKETeers.
Have to think about it.
Footnote:
*A survey of the rules shows there is a single mention of random dice-based determination of things in the main rules.
-
En Garde!
Subtitle:
Being in the Main a Game of the Life and Times of a Gentleman Adventurer and his Several Companions
I was woefully ignorant about En Garde! (mind the exclamation mark) until recently, when I tried to investigate why this roleplaying game seems so popular for play-by-mail games, despite being mostly forgotten in normal tabletop RPG circles.
It’s to the point that Margam Evans currently publishes the 4th edition of the game, which is nearly unchanged from the 2nd edition from 1977, which itself was not such a leap from the 1st that came out in 1975.
Yes, this is one of the earliest published role-playing games after the original White Box came out, and it came out in the same year as Tunnels and Trolls, making it likely the third or fourth published rpg. And yet barely anyone talks about it.
When people writing about the history of the hobby write about it it will get a mention, and then not be discussed anymore. And the reason I think is quite simple: it is very much still a wargame, albeit one focused on single characters, and with a weirdly abstracted approach to actual war, and people noticed quickly that playing it at the table was not the best way to use the rules. En Garde! instead has been a mainstay of postal games (that is turn-based play by mail or play by post gaming) since it’s inception.
Now, other roleplaying games of the time dabbled in this as well. Dungeons and Dragons had postal games running, and a multitude of paid dungeon crawler games tried to bring the experience of DnD to people with no other local players available. Tunnels and Trolls was conceptualized as suited for postal games. En Garde! Likely came by it more by coincidence. It originally started as a system for sword duels, which did not actually use dice all that much*, instead accepting programmed written orders for the duel.
Fascinating as this was, a small roleplaying system was attached to it that gave a reason WHY any two presumably reasonable gentlemen on the streets of 17th ct. Paris might want to duel themselves. One might meet the other party on one’s mistresses’ doorstep for example. Or be treated a bit too familiar by someone with too low a station. Or be in a regiment the other onr considers an enemy.
In any case, raison!
Soon enough it turned out that the tacked on roleplaying system that was supposed to supplement the duelling game was much more enjoyable than the duels themselves. It concerned swashbuckling, carousing, womanizing gentlemen in 17th century France, roughly in the vein of the Three Musketeers (especially the 1973 Richard Lester film which still was in everyone’s memories).
Characters in En Garde! are gentlemen, but they are always trying to increase their social status. They do this in a variety of ways, from openly carousing expensive spirits (showing they have the money to do that), toadying to other characters (getting some of that reflected glory), up to enjoying female companionship. It’s never defined what you actually are DOING with with that female companion, important is only you are seen with a female companion.
Yes, the answer is likely sex, but the way the rules float around that issue you might just visit a very dedicated embroidery circle together. Especially as I don’t think it’s ever established one can only play men, just that female companionship is necessary.
In any case the important part of the game is being seen doing stuff that shows your character is wealthy, rich, and manly. You’re the sword-wielding It girl of Paris.
Every once in a while characters will come across one another in complicated situations, and demand satisfaction.
All of that ideally is being recorded and transmitted to the other players somehow. The rules do not actually specifiy how, but the main way as established is by society papers. And that’s basically where the roleplaying happens. At the end of every round the referee puts together a gossip sheet of rumors, statements, duel results, and messages between characters. Most established campaigns identify themselves via the name of their respective gossip rag. The Paris Tribune for example, or Les Petites Bêtes Soyeuses. The latter actually is an ongoing and paid continuation of a campaign that has run since 1986, and the GM went and bought the rights to En Garde! when the last publisher folded.
There are a few running games, although it definitely doesn’t seem to have the clout DnD or Tunnels and Trolls has. The website has a list, and you might notice that not all the games are set in 17th ct. France. Different DMs often use variations on the rules, or set the game somewhere else, from 18th ct. London to Glorantha or Mars.
They also use some other variations. A character might e.g. join the Church and rise in power there, marry, run a business, or any other sort of shenanigans.
I have been thinking of integrating this with my current DnD/LL game. Outside of the name (Brillon) and a few other tidbits, nothing about the capital of the kingdom my campaign is set in really was established. I think one easily could have a game where characters in an En Garde game would be sent to “the Borderlands” and have to deal with local issues. In fact, the Castellan of Burg Aberwacht (as well as the bailiff and the curate) might be appointments given to characters going “on
The main issue is that combat skill is rather different between both systems, meaning it might not map to one another 1 to 1.
Oh, and I either have to raise the tech level of Aberwacht, or drop the one for the En Garde part. After all En Garde is based on the Three MUSKETeers.
Have to think about it.
Footnote:
*A survey of the rules shows there is a single mention of random dice-based determination of things in the main rules.
Rate this:
-
En Garde!
Subtitle:
Being in the Main a Game of the Life and Times of a Gentleman Adventurer and his Several Companions
I was woefully ignorant about En Garde! (mind the exclamation mark) until recently, when I tried to investigate why this roleplaying game seems so popular for play-by-mail games, despite being mostly forgotten in normal tabletop RPG circles.
It’s to the point that Margam Evans currently publishes the 4th edition of the game, which is nearly unchanged from the 2nd edition from 1977, which itself was not such a leap from the 1st that came out in 1975.
Yes, this is one of the earliest published role-playing games after the original White Box came out, and it came out in the same year as Tunnels and Trolls, making it likely the third or fourth published rpg. And yet barely anyone talks about it.
When people writing about the history of the hobby write about it it will get a mention, and then not be discussed anymore. And the reason I think is quite simple: it is very much still a wargame, albeit one focused on single characters, and with a weirdly abstracted approach to actual war, and people noticed quickly that playing it at the table was not the best way to use the rules. En Garde! instead has been a mainstay of postal games (that is turn-based play by mail or play by post gaming) since it’s inception.
Now, other roleplaying games of the time dabbled in this as well. Dungeons and Dragons had postal games running, and a multitude of paid dungeon crawler games tried to bring the experience of DnD to people with no other local players available. Tunnels and Trolls was conceptualized as suited for postal games. En Garde! Likely came by it more by coincidence. It originally started as a system for sword duels, which did not actually use dice all that much*, instead accepting programmed written orders for the duel.
Fascinating as this was, a small roleplaying system was attached to it that gave a reason WHY any two presumably reasonable gentlemen on the streets of 17th ct. Paris might want to duel themselves. One might meet the other party on one’s mistresses’ doorstep for example. Or be treated a bit too familiar by someone with too low a station. Or be in a regiment the other onr considers an enemy.
In any case, raison!
Soon enough it turned out that the tacked on roleplaying system that was supposed to supplement the duelling game was much more enjoyable than the duels themselves. It concerned swashbuckling, carousing, womanizing gentlemen in 17th century France, roughly in the vein of the Three Musketeers (especially the 1973 Richard Lester film which still was in everyone’s memories).
Characters in En Garde! are gentlemen, but they are always trying to increase their social status. They do this in a variety of ways, from openly carousing expensive spirits (showing they have the money to do that), toadying to other characters (getting some of that reflected glory), up to enjoying female companionship. It’s never defined what you actually are DOING with with that female companion, important is only you are seen with a female companion.
Yes, the answer is likely sex, but the way the rules float around that issue you might just visit a very dedicated embroidery circle together. Especially as I don’t think it’s ever established one can only play men, just that female companionship is necessary.
In any case the important part of the game is being seen doing stuff that shows your character is wealthy, rich, and manly. You’re the sword-wielding It girl of Paris.
Every once in a while characters will come across one another in complicated situations, and demand satisfaction.
All of that ideally is being recorded and transmitted to the other players somehow. The rules do not actually specifiy how, but the main way as established is by society papers. And that’s basically where the roleplaying happens. At the end of every round the referee puts together a gossip sheet of rumors, statements, duel results, and messages between characters. Most established campaigns identify themselves via the name of their respective gossip rag. The Paris Tribune for example, or Les Petites Bêtes Soyeuses. The latter actually is an ongoing and paid continuation of a campaign that has run since 1986, and the GM went and bought the rights to En Garde! when the last publisher folded.
There are a few running games, although it definitely doesn’t seem to have the clout DnD or Tunnels and Trolls has. The website has a list, and you might notice that not all the games are set in 17th ct. France. Different DMs often use variations on the rules, or set the game somewhere else, from 18th ct. London to Glorantha or Mars.
They also use some other variations. A character might e.g. join the Church and rise in power there, marry, run a business, or any other sort of shenanigans.
I have been thinking of integrating this with my current DnD/LL game. Outside of the name (Brillon) and a few other tidbits, nothing about the capital of the kingdom my campaign is set in really was established. I think one easily could have a game where characters in an En Garde game would be sent to “the Borderlands” and have to deal with local issues. In fact, the Castellan of Burg Aberwacht (as well as the bailiff and the curate) might be appointments given to characters going “on
The main issue is that combat skill is rather different between both systems, meaning it might not map to one another 1 to 1.
Oh, and I either have to raise the tech level of Aberwacht, or drop the one for the En Garde part. After all En Garde is based on the Three MUSKETeers.
Have to think about it.
Footnote:
*A survey of the rules shows there is a single mention of random dice-based determination of things in the main rules.
-
En Garde!
Subtitle:
Being in the Main a Game of the Life and Times of a Gentleman Adventurer and his Several Companions
I was woefully ignorant about En Garde! (mind the exclamation mark) until recently, when I tried to investigate why this roleplaying game seems so popular for play-by-mail games, despite being mostly forgotten in normal tabletop RPG circles.
It’s to the point that Margam Evans currently publishes the 4th edition of the game, which is nearly unchanged from the 2nd edition from 1977, which itself was not such a leap from the 1st that came out in 1975.
Yes, this is one of the earliest published role-playing games after the original White Box came out, and it came out in the same year as Tunnels and Trolls, making it likely the third or fourth published rpg. And yet barely anyone talks about it.
When people writing about the history of the hobby write about it it will get a mention, and then not be discussed anymore. And the reason I think is quite simple: it is very much still a wargame, albeit one focused on single characters, and with a weirdly abstracted approach to actual war, and people noticed quickly that playing it at the table was not the best way to use the rules. En Garde! instead has been a mainstay of postal games (that is turn-based play by mail or play by post gaming) since it’s inception.
Now, other roleplaying games of the time dabbled in this as well. Dungeons and Dragons had postal games running, and a multitude of paid dungeon crawler games tried to bring the experience of DnD to people with no other local players available. Tunnels and Trolls was conceptualized as suited for postal games. En Garde! Likely came by it more by coincidence. It originally started as a system for sword duels, which did not actually use dice all that much*, instead accepting programmed written orders for the duel.
Fascinating as this was, a small roleplaying system was attached to it that gave a reason WHY any two presumably reasonable gentlemen on the streets of 17th ct. Paris might want to duel themselves. One might meet the other party on one’s mistresses’ doorstep for example. Or be treated a bit too familiar by someone with too low a station. Or be in a regiment the other onr considers an enemy.
In any case, raison!
Soon enough it turned out that the tacked on roleplaying system that was supposed to supplement the duelling game was much more enjoyable than the duels themselves. It concerned swashbuckling, carousing, womanizing gentlemen in 17th century France, roughly in the vein of the Three Musketeers (especially the 1973 Richard Lester film which still was in everyone’s memories).
Characters in En Garde! are gentlemen, but they are always trying to increase their social status. They do this in a variety of ways, from openly carousing expensive spirits (showing they have the money to do that), toadying to other characters (getting some of that reflected glory), up to enjoying female companionship. It’s never defined what you actually are DOING with with that female companion, important is only you are seen with a female companion.
Yes, the answer is likely sex, but the way the rules float around that issue you might just visit a very dedicated embroidery circle together. Especially as I don’t think it’s ever established one can only play men, just that female companionship is necessary.
In any case the important part of the game is being seen doing stuff that shows your character is wealthy, rich, and manly. You’re the sword-wielding It girl of Paris.
Every once in a while characters will come across one another in complicated situations, and demand satisfaction.
All of that ideally is being recorded and transmitted to the other players somehow. The rules do not actually specifiy how, but the main way as established is by society papers. And that’s basically where the roleplaying happens. At the end of every round the referee puts together a gossip sheet of rumors, statements, duel results, and messages between characters. Most established campaigns identify themselves via the name of their respective gossip rag. The Paris Tribune for example, or Les Petites Bêtes Soyeuses. The latter actually is an ongoing and paid continuation of a campaign that has run since 1986, and the GM went and bought the rights to En Garde! when the last publisher folded.
There are a few running games, although it definitely doesn’t seem to have the clout DnD or Tunnels and Trolls has. The website has a list, and you might notice that not all the games are set in 17th ct. France. Different DMs often use variations on the rules, or set the game somewhere else, from 18th ct. London to Glorantha or Mars.
They also use some other variations. A character might e.g. join the Church and rise in power there, marry, run a business, or any other sort of shenanigans.
I have been thinking of integrating this with my current DnD/LL game. Outside of the name (Brillon) and a few other tidbits, nothing about the capital of the kingdom my campaign is set in really was established. I think one easily could have a game where characters in an En Garde game would be sent to “the Borderlands” and have to deal with local issues. In fact, the Castellan of Burg Aberwacht (as well as the bailiff and the curate) might be appointments given to characters going “on
The main issue is that combat skill is rather different between both systems, meaning it might not map to one another 1 to 1.
Oh, and I either have to raise the tech level of Aberwacht, or drop the one for the En Garde part. After all En Garde is based on the Three MUSKETeers.
Have to think about it.
Footnote:
*A survey of the rules shows there is a single mention of random dice-based determination of things in the main rules.
Rate this:
-
En Garde!
Subtitle:
Being in the Main a Game of the Life and Times of a Gentleman Adventurer and his Several Companions
I was woefully ignorant about En Garde! (mind the exclamation mark) until recently, when I tried to investigate why this roleplaying game seems so popular for play-by-mail games, despite being mostly forgotten in normal tabletop RPG circles.
It’s to the point that Margam Evans currently publishes the 4th edition of the game, which is nearly unchanged from the 2nd edition from 1977, which itself was not such a leap from the 1st that came out in 1975.
Yes, this is one of the earliest published role-playing games after the original White Box came out, and it came out in the same year as Tunnels and Trolls, making it likely the third or fourth published rpg. And yet barely anyone talks about it.
When people writing about the history of the hobby write about it it will get a mention, and then not be discussed anymore. And the reason I think is quite simple: it is very much still a wargame, albeit one focused on single characters, and with a weirdly abstracted approach to actual war, and people noticed quickly that playing it at the table was not the best way to use the rules. En Garde! instead has been a mainstay of postal games (that is turn-based play by mail or play by post gaming) since it’s inception.
Now, other roleplaying games of the time dabbled in this as well. Dungeons and Dragons had postal games running, and a multitude of paid dungeon crawler games tried to bring the experience of DnD to people with no other local players available. Tunnels and Trolls was conceptualized as suited for postal games. En Garde! Likely came by it more by coincidence. It originally started as a system for sword duels, which did not actually use dice all that much*, instead accepting programmed written orders for the duel.
Fascinating as this was, a small roleplaying system was attached to it that gave a reason WHY any two presumably reasonable gentlemen on the streets of 17th ct. Paris might want to duel themselves. One might meet the other party on one’s mistresses’ doorstep for example. Or be treated a bit too familiar by someone with too low a station. Or be in a regiment the other onr considers an enemy.
In any case, raison!
Soon enough it turned out that the tacked on roleplaying system that was supposed to supplement the duelling game was much more enjoyable than the duels themselves. It concerned swashbuckling, carousing, womanizing gentlemen in 17th century France, roughly in the vein of the Three Musketeers (especially the 1973 Richard Lester film which still was in everyone’s memories).
Characters in En Garde! are gentlemen, but they are always trying to increase their social status. They do this in a variety of ways, from openly carousing expensive spirits (showing they have the money to do that), toadying to other characters (getting some of that reflected glory), up to enjoying female companionship. It’s never defined what you actually are DOING with with that female companion, important is only you are seen with a female companion.
Yes, the answer is likely sex, but the way the rules float around that issue you might just visit a very dedicated embroidery circle together. Especially as I don’t think it’s ever established one can only play men, just that female companionship is necessary.
In any case the important part of the game is being seen doing stuff that shows your character is wealthy, rich, and manly. You’re the sword-wielding It girl of Paris.
Every once in a while characters will come across one another in complicated situations, and demand satisfaction.
All of that ideally is being recorded and transmitted to the other players somehow. The rules do not actually specifiy how, but the main way as established is by society papers. And that’s basically where the roleplaying happens. At the end of every round the referee puts together a gossip sheet of rumors, statements, duel results, and messages between characters. Most established campaigns identify themselves via the name of their respective gossip rag. The Paris Tribune for example, or Les Petites Bêtes Soyeuses. The latter actually is an ongoing and paid continuation of a campaign that has run since 1986, and the GM went and bought the rights to En Garde! when the last publisher folded.
There are a few running games, although it definitely doesn’t seem to have the clout DnD or Tunnels and Trolls has. The website has a list, and you might notice that not all the games are set in 17th ct. France. Different DMs often use variations on the rules, or set the game somewhere else, from 18th ct. London to Glorantha or Mars.
They also use some other variations. A character might e.g. join the Church and rise in power there, marry, run a business, or any other sort of shenanigans.
I have been thinking of integrating this with my current DnD/LL game. Outside of the name (Brillon) and a few other tidbits, nothing about the capital of the kingdom my campaign is set in really was established. I think one easily could have a game where characters in an En Garde game would be sent to “the Borderlands” and have to deal with local issues. In fact, the Castellan of Burg Aberwacht (as well as the bailiff and the curate) might be appointments given to characters going “on
The main issue is that combat skill is rather different between both systems, meaning it might not map to one another 1 to 1.
Oh, and I either have to raise the tech level of Aberwacht, or drop the one for the En Garde part. After all En Garde is based on the Three MUSKETeers.
Have to think about it.
Footnote:
*A survey of the rules shows there is a single mention of random dice-based determination of things in the main rules.
Rate this:
-
Book Review: The Great White Bard - How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race by Farah Karim-Cooper
Romeo and Juliet is obviously about a young Pakistani girl whose overbearing father wants to marry her off to a cousin, despite her age and wishes. How could it be anything but?
‘Oh dear, please don’t ruin Romeo and Juliet by talking about race!’ said a member of the public when the Globe hosted an anti-racist webinar on the play. You may be thinking this too. But worry not, because the play can’t be ruined. It can be opened up, however, and questioned, unpacked, challenged even
I've reviewed several books about "Shakerace" the study of Shakespeare through a lens of race and racism. This is a sober and thoughtful look at how we critically evaluate text in the 21st century.
There's something magical about being able to read Shakespeare in a whole new light - to see the plays from a different point of view. Some people seem to want to preserve him carved in marble, never to be sullied. But all art must be examined.
One way to examine Shakespeare is to look him dead in the eye. This is hard to do if we keep him on his pedestal. Shakespeare teaches us this each time he satirises the poets who worshipped their mistresses in florid terms that turned them into nameless, faceless statues or dolls. Shakespeare couldn’t abide it. But there are many people who insist passionately that he should remain in an elevated position of godliness. So we must start by asking ourselves what sort of readers and lovers of Shakespeare we want to be.
This is the key. If we are going to study Shakespeare, we have to burst the bubble of his fame. A large part of the start of the book is dedicated to understanding how the myth of Shakespeare was created. Shakespeare wasn't immediately elevated to "National Treasure" status; it took a concerted effort by his supporters to raise him to secular sainthood.
Shakespeare-the-myth is a relatively modern invention. He was Bowdlerised, whitewashed, cleaned up, and elevated long after his death. The relentless marketing of Shakespeare has been impressive - but leaves little room for dissent when it comes to discussing his works.
Shakespeare, as far as we know, did not own any slaves. But he was writing in an era when the slaver Francis Drake was enriching the nascent British Empire. We often talk about separating the art from the artist - but can we separate the artist from the times they live in? Shakespeare often refers to sugar - both real and metaphorical - but where did that sugar come from?
Most of the chapters take a play-by-play approach, which means you're not jumping around to much. The book always tries to tie us back to 20th & 21st century contexts.
If Iago were real and alive today, he’d spend most of his time in a Reddit chatroom provoking misogynistic, racist and homophobic involuntary celibates to deepen their fear and hate.
Another good example is that, despite Cleopatra being ostensibly a woman of colour, she has mostly been played by white women until comparatively recently. Why is that?
Why has it taken so long, we might wonder, to acknowledge the skin colour of Cleopatra? Perhaps due to white academics and directors failing to see inequalities where they exist in the study as well as the performance of Shakespeare’s plays, Cleopatra’s racial identity is continually denied and she is presumed to represent the default position: whiteness. […] But there is something particular about Cleopatra and the imaginative escape she offers for white performers. She presents a fantasy of a stately queen with an erotic power that white actresses can inhabit and take pleasure in without facing any of the difficulties faced by Black women. Like white European colonial settlers, they occupy her character though only briefly.
It is, of course, impossible to know what Shakespeare and his actors truly felt. But we can examine how their work makes us feel.
Given the way some Black actors view Othello – as a racist portrayal and over-fictionalised fantasy of how a black man might behave under pressure – I wonder could Shakespeare have created such a deep and biting portrayal without having a more than anecdotal awareness of race?
There's an excellent discussion about whether Othello is a dangerous stereotype and one that conscientious Black actors should avoid, and whether it is still acceptable to "black up" when non-Black actors play the part. In an ideal world, we could be race-blind in all our casting decisions, and we could let actors use whichever tools they want to convey a character. But this isn't an ideal world. We have to face the world as imperfect as it is, and find ways to make art inclusive.
Jews had mostly been expelled from England when Shakespeare was writing The Merchant of Venice. Are his actors playing caricatures designed to be jeered at by an anti-Semitic audience? Should a modern audience boo at Shylock?
Perhaps it is wishful thinking, but I like to imagine that Shakespeare himself saw these ideas as problematic even then. Why else would he stage them other than to be provocative, political, and at times, critical, of his own moment?
We can set Shakespeare plays in space, in the modern day, as cartoons, or as musicals. So why can't we revisit some of the language which is deeply hurtful?
Racist slurs in classic texts hurt as much if not more because they get excused for being ‘original’, authentic and historically legitimated and this somehow means we have to keep them around like old relics or statues of slave traders. This desire to keep Shakespeare static normalises the racist language and its effects upon those of us who are
And, of course, the plays do contain racist "jokes". Anyone who claims otherwise is wilfully ignorant. In "Much Ado about Nothing" alone, you have Claudio telling Leonarto he would marry Hero's cousin "were she an Ethiope", and Benedict saying that Beatrice is "too brown for a fair praise". What else can you call that?
The chapters can be a little scattershot. They mostly focus on one play, or theme, but then include several seemingly irrelevant observations tacked on. There are some minor formatting errors with the eBook - almost like it was copied from a paper typeset. Nothing too egregious, but it can be distracting. Like lots of eBooks the majority of the images are at the end (where they're cheaper to print on paper).
That said, I thoroughly recommend this book. It doesn't require you to read dense academic text and jargon. It reasonably accessible to people with only a passing interest in Shakespeare. It might even open your mind.
If Shakespeare is your favourite playwright, reading his plays through race will not threaten that. It may make you uncomfortable at times, but in the end, I believe you’ll know him better, love him more, and all the more enjoy the myriad ways he can be presented by actors of all backgrounds on the 21st-century stage.
-
Dear Friends of the yet to be lobster instance,
As we might know. Starting ones own homey #server is not easy. Not for those of us using #Rebel #Alliance modified hardware, designed by Daath Gateus from #MicrobeSith or MicroSofteeLuvlies or whatever they are #marketing and ad bombing their #loyal #sheeple with. 😆
No dear friends, some of us only have a #penguin, #Baby #Grogu and the Guinness #Farce is barely with us. All we can do is speak in garlic or #Gaelic (fluent #gibberish in my case) :ablobcatgoogly:
BUT SOMEHOW...
In a galaxy chocolate not so far away...
I haz:
1. #Created a second #admin #account due to being locked out from MY own #Ryzen powered cheapo '#Windows Only' server. The #Audacity of it :ablobcatbongokeyboard:(also available as a great Free recording software for many of us)
2. Changed my default search engine from #SithGoogle to #Startpage
3. Seem to be having some #uck with #Cockpit #server (maybe, perhaps, almost)
And that is a vast #improvement, over my morning venting, fuming and swearing to the gods of the internet. Just needed some #breakfast. In case you are wondering it was a multivitamin tablet and #suarkruat on Vogel bread and a pot of tea. Everything is #tickety-boo. I will even talk to the dark #siddhi mistresses and masters, mmm... well maybe not too much. :anarchy: -
Dear Friends of the yet to be lobster instance,
As we might know. Starting ones own homey #server is not easy. Not for those of us using #Rebel #Alliance modified hardware, designed by Daath Gateus from #MicrobeSith or MicroSofteeLuvlies or whatever they are #marketing and ad bombing their #loyal #sheeple with. 😆
No dear friends, some of us only have a #penguin, #Baby #Grogu and the Guinness #Farce is barely with us. All we can do is speak in garlic or #Gaelic (fluent #gibberish in my case) :ablobcatgoogly:
BUT SOMEHOW...
In a galaxy chocolate not so far away...
I haz:
1. #Created a second #admin #account due to being locked out from MY own #Ryzen powered cheapo '#Windows Only' server. The #Audacity of it :ablobcatbongokeyboard:(also available as a great Free recording software for many of us)
2. Changed my default search engine from #SithGoogle to #Startpage
3. Seem to be having some #uck with #Cockpit #server (maybe, perhaps, almost)
And that is a vast #improvement, over my morning venting, fuming and swearing to the gods of the internet. Just needed some #breakfast. In case you are wondering it was a multivitamin tablet and #suarkruat on Vogel bread and a pot of tea. Everything is #tickety-boo. I will even talk to the dark #siddhi mistresses and masters, mmm... well maybe not too much. :anarchy: -
Dear Friends of the yet to be lobster instance,
As we might know. Starting ones own homey #server is not easy. Not for those of us using #Rebel #Alliance modified hardware, designed by Daath Gateus from #MicrobeSith or MicroSofteeLuvlies or whatever they are #marketing and ad bombing their #loyal #sheeple with. 😆
No dear friends, some of us only have a #penguin, #Baby #Grogu and the Guinness #Farce is barely with us. All we can do is speak in garlic or #Gaelic (fluent #gibberish in my case) :ablobcatgoogly:
BUT SOMEHOW...
In a galaxy chocolate not so far away...
I haz:
1. #Created a second #admin #account due to being locked out from MY own #Ryzen powered cheapo '#Windows Only' server. The #Audacity of it :ablobcatbongokeyboard:(also available as a great Free recording software for many of us)
2. Changed my default search engine from #SithGoogle to #Startpage
3. Seem to be having some #uck with #Cockpit #server (maybe, perhaps, almost)
And that is a vast #improvement, over my morning venting, fuming and swearing to the gods of the internet. Just needed some #breakfast. In case you are wondering it was a multivitamin tablet and #suarkruat on Vogel bread and a pot of tea. Everything is #tickety-boo. I will even talk to the dark #siddhi mistresses and masters, mmm... well maybe not too much. :anarchy: -
He's just taking out the trash right now. A lot like Castro did in the 70's.
That will all eventually settle down, with the majority of those participating in the knee-jerk reaction of the #mob_mentality eventually returning...
They've been subjugated as the downtrodden and insignificant chattel of those deprecated, privacy disrespecting, legacy monolithic silos. The #addiction is strong within them and they've been #assimilated by the prettiness of the #Darkside, lolz.
Many will however, choose to stay, enjoying the unbroken promises of #freedom and safety from being weighed, measured, butchered, packaged, and placed into inventory on the shelves of #Faceplant, #Twatter, #InstaSPAM, and other #deprecated_legacy_silos.
Many more will remain here while at the same time cave to the sinister beckonings of those evil mistresses, but at least they'll have one foot 🦶 here in the pasture of green 💚
For those of us that have been in this free space for the past 5 or 6 years, all we can do is welcome them back from the #Borg Collective and try to support their best inclinations as best we can.
The ultimate test of their commitment to protect the ownership of their #intellectual_property, privacy, and #identity is a matter they will ultimately have to decide the importance of for themselves.
Ask the best!
#tallship #FOSS #Fediverse #ActivityPub
⛵
.
-
Educating Children, Bakers and Tourists: the thread about Castlehill Public School
Preamble. The schools of the “School Board” era of public education (1872-1918) have for some reason a particular fascination for me, one which is more profound where they are either no longer in use as schools or have disappeared entirely. This thread began as a couple of lines for my own notes about each of the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” but rapidly snowballed into an intention to cover each, in alphabetical order, on its own and in rather more detail, but not so much that they can’t be posted quite frequently.
The third chapter of our series looking at the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” investigates the life and times of Castlehill School. This occupied the site of the Gordon House, the 17th century residence of George Gordon, 1st Duke of Gordon who was Captain and Constable of Edinburgh Castle and is remembered for surrendering that fortification all too readily to the Protestant Lords during the Glorious Revolution of 1689. His property came later into the possession of the Bairds of Saughtonhall who gave their name to Blair’s Close that forms the western boundary of the school plot.
Gordon House in 1887, immediately before demolition to make way for Castlehill School. Photo by Alexander Adam Inglis, Edinburgh & Scottish Collection of Edinburgh City LibrariesThe school was designed by Robert Wilson, architect to the Edinburgh School Board, and was a radical departure in style from its rather austere Collegiate Gothic contemporaries by the adoption of Scots Baronial Revival; complete with turrets, crowstepped gables and mock battlements. This was seen as more befitting of its prominent location at the head of the Old Town. Another change was the use of red Cornockle sandstone from Lochmaben in Dumfriesshire to add a visual contrast with the more usual yellowy-grey from the local Hailes Quarry.
Castlehill School, north elevation on the Castlehill itself. CC-by-SA 2.0 Neil T, via FlickrA third change from its predecessors was the extension from two to three storeys; an attic level, lit by rooflights, providing rooms for teaching specialist subjects such as needlework and drawing. This was done to make the best use of a cramped site which amounted to just quarter of an acre; half that of the contemporary Milton House School in the Canongate and even less than the notoriously cramped Bristo Public School. (The only other three storey board school before this was West Fountainbridge, which had a similarly small plot)
Ordnance Survey Town Plans of Edinburgh, 1876 (right) and 1893 (left), before and after Castlehill School opened. Move the slider to compare. Note in the 1876 map that the Church of Scotland and Free Church both have schools in the district; St. Columba’s and St. John’s respectively. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandInternally, three original mantlepieces from the Gordon mansion were incorporated into staff rooms as was an old entrance door. To the rear (south), the site dropped steeply away down the slope of the Old Town’s Crag and Tail topography. An additional level was therefore required, originally this was an open colonnade, providing a covered extension to the playgrounds, but later it was enclosed to provide additional teaching areas. A tall retaining wall faced onto Johnston Terrace at the rear, with entrance staircases (separate for boys and girls) up to the playgrounds and a three storey Janitor’s house bridged the two levels.
South (rear) elevation of Castlehill School, showing the plot sloped steeply in two directions; down from the Castlehill and down Johnston Terrace. The additional lower storey to the rear with the arched windows, the retaining wall with entrance stairways and the three-level janitor’s house can be seen. The spire of the Highland Tolbooth St John’s church towers over an already tall school. CC-by-SA 4.0 Stephencdickson via FlickrThe school opened on Monday December 3rd 1888. Although there was no formal ceremony to mark the occasion, over 800 pupils were marched out of their old schools (those inherited by the School Board at Brown Square, Borthwick and Old Assembly Close and Victoria Terrace) up the hill to their new home. A formal opening would take place exactly 5 months later on May 3rd 1889.
Former Brown Square school in 1913. This was one of the Heriot Trust day schools that were merged into the School Board after 1872, immediately identifiable by all the Jacobean decorations modelled off of Heriot’s Hospital itself. Edinburgh Photographic Society collection, via National Galleries Scotland.Interestingly, the legend carved prominently into both the front and read façades reads “CASTLE HILL SCHOOL”, even though it was nearly always officially referred to as one word, just Castlehill, a change that was also reflected in the Ordnance Survey maps around the time.
“CASTLE HILL SCHOOL” on the north façade from the Flickr of Bob White, CC-by-NC-ND 2.0From the beginning the school was also used for evening education. But – maintaining the theme of being different – at Castlehill this was not for adults. Instead it catered only for children under 14, pupils given special dispensation by the School Board to attend evening school on account of them needing to work during the school day to help support their families. In 1898 there were 212 boys and girls so registered. In 1890, the school’s first headmaster, John Davidson, resigned on account of poor health. In May 1898 headmaster William C. S. Hunter died and was replaced by James C. Anderson of Leith Walk School. His salary of £340 being equivalent to around £38,400 in 2025 and his “reign” was formally inaugurated with a presentation by Colin G. Macrae, chairman of the School Board, and concert at the school on Wednesday 1st June that year.
The school and its pupils suffered as a result of the harsh social conditions in Edinburgh’s Old Town in the late 19th and early 20th century. Headmaster Anderson was one of a number of his peers in the district who in spoke publicly in 1904 on “how drunkenness [of parents] affects the children“. 150 of his pupils were on the “food roll” due to the inability of their parents to feed then, with a further 30 receiving relief from the district fund. This was almost a quarter of the school and other children of leaving age (14) were being taught with 7 year-olds on account of how much schooling they had missed. Anderson put this down to drunkenness which he said was getting worse, as was thriftlessness. In 1908, under the terms of the Education (Scotland) Act of that year, the School Board instituted a meal scheme for necessitous children, each receiving a bowl of soup and bread during their school day. This was a great success and was expanded in 1911 by converting West Fountainbridge School into a dedicated central cooking centre. One hundred children from Castlehill were among the first recipients to benefit, but as their school lacked a dining hall they went to the Independent Labour Party Hall on Melbourne Place to eat. The tickets for these dinners issued daily at school to encourage children deserving of the meals to actually attend their lessons. They could also be purchased for 6d a week; with a little bit of liberal rounding they became known as “penny dinners“.
Soup and bread is served for lunch at North Canongate School, c. 1914. The man with the moustache and white apron is the headmaster. Note the lack of shoes on a number of the boys’ feet.Feeding was not the only effort made to improve the lot of the children of Castlehill. In 1908 permission was gained by the School Board to adopt a piece of ground on Johnston Terrace next to the Church of Scotland Normal School (a teacher training college) for use as a playground, that at the school being completely insufficient in size and aspect. In 1909, under the auspices of Patrick Geddes’ Edinburgh Social Union, a patch of wasteland on Johnston Terrace was converted by pupils at the school into a model demonstration garden of their very own. Geddes established numerous such gardens, believing them as living classrooms for teaching both biology and self-improvement. Vegetable plots 150 feet long and 7 feet wide grew potatoes, peas, beans, cauliflowers, cabbages, turnips, leeks, onions, carrots, lettuces and other salad vegetables which were used in cookery classes in the school. This space was used for teaching natural history lessons and the principles of crop rotation. It also allowed the school to apply for a valuable additional grant for teaching gardening from the Education Department.
The Castlehill School garden off Johnston Terrace, c. 1914The next year, 1910, headmaster H. F. Sim brought the first case of its kind in Edinburgh to the City Police Court under the Children Act 1908, when two shopkeepers were charged with and pleaded guilty to selling “smoking mixture” to to children under the age of 16. Sim had caught boys in the school trying to smoke a pipe filled with the ersatz tobacco and confiscated from them their paper bag marked “The Boys’ Smoking Mixture and Pipe: price One Halfpenny“. On questioning, he had found from them where they had acquired it and reported the matter to the city’s Medical Officer of Health. The magistrate admonished the defendants and said “a warning should be given to tobacconists that the sale of such a mixture was an illegal practice, and that in other cases of the kind the offenders would certainly be punished.“
A production of scenes from Julius Caesar for the benefit of the School Board by the boys of Castlehill School, March 1912. The Evening News recorded that Mark Anthony was played by William Caldwell and that he “made a very excellent attempt at the speech at Caesar’s funeral”.In October 1912, to remedy a lack of accommodation in the school, the adjacent ancient tenement known as Cannonball House – the last block of old Castlehill – being acquired by the Board for £1,925. It had recently been bought by the Cockburn Association with a view to preservation and the Board spent £3,500 thoroughly renovating and converting into additional teaching spaces. Its four principal classrooms could accommodate 180 children and there were special rooms for practical subjects such as cookery. In the basement were “spray baths“; showers for the children, most of whom lacked even basic domestic sanitation in their homes. The building was substantially altered, with one wing and the old Blair’s Close removed to improve ventilation and daylight. A number of original 17th century features were uncovered during restoration and were retained and installed in the fabric in new locations, making the end result something of a chimaera. The east gable is the biggest give-away way that not all is what it seems with this apparently old tenement; look for the tall classroom windows and the Edinburgh School Board emblem high up on the pediment.
Cannonball House, before and after. In 1900, an image by James C. H. Balmain (left) and in 1957 by H. D. Wyllie. Photos in the Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh City Libraries. Move the slider to compare.In WW1 the school was requisitioned by to act as a depot and billeting for soldiers of the 5th Royal Scots based out of Edinburgh Castle. The Church of Scotland Young Men’s Guild was given the use of a room the following year to run a canteen and recreation room for them, with a gramophone, games, books, newspapers and writing materials. A teacher at the school, James Bathgate, was injured on war service in July 1915 when serving as a private with the College Company, 4th Royal Scots, in France. In April 1917, Headmaster Sim lost his son, Charles Henry Stuart, who died in hospital having been fatally injured serving with the Royal Field Artillery.
After the war, in April 1922, Headmistress Miss C. E. Anderson retired and was presented with a gold wristlet watch from the parents and her colleagues and a diamond brooch from the pupils. She had been teaching the children of the area since the school opened – a record period of 41 years!
In 1936 a new technological front in teaching was opened up at Castlehill when a room was specifically converted for the use of the Edinburgh branch of the newly instituted Scottish Educational Film Association for the production of educational films. It had been recognised that technology had a part to play in education – in 1931 a group from Canonmills School had been given a trial lesson on the theme of sound recording and reproduction at their local cinema – but further progress was wanting on account of a lack of suitable films for the classroom. The Education Committee thus resolved to make them for themselves: as well as providing the studio for the Association, they also covered the (then) substantial overhead of film costs and in return had a controlling say in the content of films. The first production was a four-part geography film entitled “The Port of London“. The Association would remain at Castlehill until 1957, when they moved to Boswell’s Court.
Members of the Scottish Educational Film Association and school teachers working on a production in the new studio at Castlehill. Edinburgh Evening News, December 19th 1936On the morning of September 1st 1939, children showed to schools all over the city with their coat, a bag or case and a cardboard label – they were being evacuated. Some 200 gathered at Castlehill before heading to Waverley station and destinations unknown. The school remained open for those children that stayed behind and there were still 273 on the roll in September 1940. The logbook records the peculiarities of an education during wartime; there were separate air raid shelters for infants, girls and boys; all children had to carry their gas masks with them; there were weekly gas mask drills and weekly marching drills to and from the shelters.
Excerpt from the logbook at Castlehill School for February 1940 with notes on the gas mask and air raid shelter drills.Additional wartime uses were found for the partially vacant school. A central depot for clothing for evacuees was established in October 1939; donations were received and sorted before being distributed to those in need who had been evacuated and found themselves wanting during their “enforced holiday to the country“. This was organised by Miss Cairns, Superintendent of Domestic Subjects for the Corporation, and she had 50 sewing mistresses from across the city under her direction. The supply of children’s coats proved insufficient and so these “clever-fingered” women picked apart the excess of larger items, cut them down to the required sizes and put them back together again. They were joined by women of the Edinburgh Personal Service League who performed a similar operation for men’s clothing, to be sent via the Red Cross to injured servicemen and prisoners of war. Wartime cookery classes were run in the school by the Corporation’s night school teachers. These were aimed at women to try and instruct them in how to eke out their rations, substitute various items that were off ration to recreate old favourites and how to do so more healthily and with less waste of fuel. Mrs Gray of the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) established a group of like-minded women to make soft toys and dolls and clothing for babies and toddlers who were being cared for in public nurseries, their mothers being on war work. Most of these things were no longer being manufactured during wartime. Such was the success of this endeavour that it later relocated to a dedicated workshop at Bristo School as the Nursery Equipment Centre.
A wartime cookery lesson at Castlehill. Edinburgh Evening News, May 14th 1940Postwar, a shock announcement in May 1951 broke news that the school was to be closed at the end of that term. It had been built for 800 but as a result of the long term urban depopulation of the city it was down to 293 by this point; there was plenty excess capacity to rehouse them at Milton House, Tollcross and South Bridge schools for the same reason.
A Castlehill class, 1947A secondary reason behind the closure was that the authorities wanted to establish a Central School Of Bakery and Catering where apprentice workers from the city’s important baking industry (as well as more general cookery and catering) could undertake industry-specific further education. Parents protested the decision but the Corporation was unmoved and voted by 14 to 5 for closure. Its only concession was to promise crossing guards to help children navigate the busy roads that they now needed to transit on their way to their new schools.
One mother vents her frustration towards Councillors Thomson and Hedderwick of the Education Committee at a meeting to oppose the closure of Castlehill School, May 25th 1951.The bakery school opened on Monday 19th January 1954, Councillor H. A. Brechin performed the honours and stated “these new premises, together with the modern equipment, give Edinburgh one of the most up-to-date baking and catering schools in the United Kingdom“.
Mr John Russell shows apprentices a loaf fresh from the oven (left) and John Notman (right) is supervised in the correct way to serve diners at Castlehill School in these photos from the Evening News, October 2rd 1957It did not last long however and as a result of changes to further education and the city’s industries, it was closed by 1970. While it once again sought a purpose, during the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh that year it served as a temporary museum of regimental history at Edinburgh Castle. In 1971 the main building was converted to offices for the City Engineer’s department and would later be occupied by the Drainage Department of Lothian Regional Council. Between 1972 and 1974 it was also the home for the Theatre Workshop, an arts and drama centre for children, while it was found permanent premises.
1965, the sad sight of the abandoned School Garden. Photo by Ronald Alexander © Edinburgh City LibrariesIn August 1986, Lothian Region accepted an offer for £250,000 from William Muir distillers who proposed to convert the former school it into a whisky museum and heritage centre. £2 million was spent on this project which opened its doors on 3rd May 1988, the building’s centennial year. It was an instant success and is now into its 5th decade of offering a very different sort of education than that the building’s planners had in mind.
Cannonball House was retained by the Education Department when the main building became the bakery school and was used for community education, passing to Lothian Regional Council on the formation of that organisation. In 1984 a Children’s History Centre was opened and the building was later properly converted by the Region for £200,000 for use as a schools education centre modelled on Patrick Grddes’ ideas; the Castehill Urban Studies Centre. It was the first such centre in Britain and I recall school trips there in the early 1990s, the name of the guide was Mrs Quick – I’m not sure why that name stuck with me, but it did!. Between 1999 until the opening of the new Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in 2004, Cannonball House was used as a schools education centre for the temporary parliament housed in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland on the Lawnmarket. In 2013, 100 years after it opened as part of the school, it found a new life as a high-end restaurant by the Scottish-Italian Contini family, who themselves had started out in Scotland a century before.
Contini Cannonball Restaurant and Bar, via Contini.comWant to read more about Edinburgh’s Lost Board Schools? The previous chapter was about Canonmills School.
Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.Explore Threadinburgh by map:
Travelers' Map is loading...
If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.
NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret