• TheClub

This page is now largely superceded by TheUnitySociety

What should TheClub be called?

• <<< Summary of what I recall of the discussion from last night

  TheClub is to be The Unity Society. It has always met at 122 Mallory Way, the house of one the richest of the Founders of the Club. The club was originally for people interested in the study of Unity (and Rhode Island and New England), especially its history. Over time it has spread its concern to study in general, including that of curiosities. Over time the name "122" has entered parlance as discussed below ("We should inform the rest of one-twentytwo about this"). Founded exactly 100 years before the start of the game none of the founders survive (oddly). In addition to the Player Charcaters there will be about 2-3 times as many NPC members who are left vague (to allow easy insertion of new PCs and needed NPCs.) Membership is open to all who wish -- we didn't say what the mechanism is... There is a committee that run The Club but none of the players are in it.

  Is that wrong? -- MikePitt >>>

  <<< All sounds right to me. I suggest that, to preserve the discussion, at leats for now, we move concrete information to The Unity Society page -- RobHague>>> Possible names:

• Unity Association for Antiquities and Curiosities
• The Rhode Island Paraphysical Investigation Society
• Lincoln County Historical Association/Club
• The Fellowship
• The Unity Society (with an implied historical that is politely explained to those who don't understand.)
• Taking into account the address, I suggest the club is simply called '122 Mallory Way' (rather than 112 for reasons that will become clear), usually abreviated in speech to just the number 'I'll look it up in the newspaper records. Meet me at one-twenty-two.' ('one-twelve' sounds stupid).

  • <<< I concur, and have ammended the address below accordingly. Alternatively, how about simply "The Mallory Way Club". In conversation, we'll probably just refer to "The Club" anyway. -- RobHague>>>

    <<< I think that giving the number sounds more elegant. -- StevenKitson >>>

    <<< OK; In either case, if the club predates the house (see below), there would be an older name (eg, Unity Association for Antiquities and Curiosities), and 122 Mallory Road, or just 122, would be how we refer to it day-to-day. -- RobHague >>>

    <<< I Like 122 as a way of referring to the club - it leaves some interesting questions about the club history that we ought to solve. Who did found it and why? Was it always based at 122, or did that happen later (if so what was the name beforehand). One suggestion I have is that the club was set up as a foundation to look after and maintain the library of someone and make sure it was available to people with a sincere interest in such matters, the present state being how that is interpreted after 100 years and several addition benefactors. -- BenChalmers >>>

    <<< I think that most members of the club will know very little of its history, and these mysteries should probably come out through play rather than here. -- StevenKitson >>>

    <<< But its a club for people interested in history (and its America, so 100 years is ancient history). Don't you think people might have noticed this? By all means the story as documented here needn't be the whole story, but surely there is a story which everyone is able to know? Also BIG secrets like this are a bad idea for Troupe style games, since there is no one GM to determine what the truth is -- BenChalmers >>>

  • <<< I'd be inclined to agree with Ben. If someone wants to have a Big Secret associated with TheClub then they should shout and take responsibility. I think it'd be a bad plan and could cause problems. Having said that I'd like to take repsonsibility for (one of?) the Founders of the Club when we've agreed the name and so on -- MikePitt >>>

    <<< To express myself a little more clearly : we are building a world where some certainties are needed - for example, that the game will always take place in Unity, that there will always be a Unity, and IMHO that there is always a club to assume characters are members of (as it is a useful way of introducing plots, bringing in new characters, explaining why characters arn't around, providing a particular type of NPC etc). Because of this I oppose any move which would make us think the club was founded for sinister motives, destroy the club or substantially alter its purpose in the game. This isn't to say that the club, its founders or what have you shouldn't be involved in adventures, just not modified without general agreement.

    Think of the club much as you would think of The Enterprise in Star Trek, destroying it is bad, finding out that a designer added a rouge AI in the weapons control system 30 years ago is fine. -- BenChalmers >>>

    <<< I agree with Ben -- MikePitt >>>

    <<< I wasn't actually thinking of destroying the club; I just like mysteries and like to create them wherever possible. But I bow to the majority. -- StevenKitson >>>

What is its function?

• This will depend upon the name of the society (and its aims). It might be a club for people more interested in the occult, in inverstigatin antiquities, for field historians or a combination of the above.

What facilities does it provide?

I suggest:

• A common room
• Some private rooms for private meetings
• A small library covering relevent subject
• A bar

The club is based in an old, fairly large townhouse in central Unity; for no reason that I can discern, I'll suggest that the address is [122 Mallory Way]. This is big enough to have a lounge, a bar/speakeasy (in the cellar) and a library, as well as couple of rooms if people want to go and chat in private. In short, large enough for privacy, but not so large you're likely to discover an entire new country in the basement.

The town house could have been left in the will of an original club member; previous to that, the club would rotate meeting places, or use a civic hall or something.

<<< Is there any reason why the Club couldn't have met there throughout its history? Is this to do with us playing in a baby country? --StevenKitson >>>

<<< Only (as far as I can see) because at some point someone would have had to have paid for it, and this seems quite an extravagent thing to do for a special interest club with no members. If a group of founders paid for it... well, one assumes they had at least one meeting before buying it.

Oh - the leaving it in a will idea also gives a history to 122 Mallory Way before the club started meeting there (and possibly before the club began) (which I see as a good thing... although it pretty much means that the person who left it in his will must have been a cultist) -- BenChalmers >>>

<<< I was thinking that the house was either bought for the club by the club's wealthy patron, or was the home of one of the club's (childless) founders and left to the club after he died. It doesn't seem much of a stretch for at least one of the founders to have been pretty rich: back then only the rich would have had the time and resources to get involved in such a club, right? -- StevenKitson >>>

<<< Probably not a great deal more or less true than it is now. That is to say it would be easier for the rich, but they aren't exclusively involved in such enterprises. Look at (in England and Wales) the working mens library/education movements in the early-mid C19. It being the home of the founder who had no kids and left it to the trustees of the society seems a neat way to handle it, until that point they met at various members houses..? -- MikePitt >>>

<<< Or they just met in 122 Mallory. -- StevenKitson >>>

<<< How about this; the club was founded in the 1820s (centenary coming up, or possibly at the start of the first session); they used to meet at 122 Mallory Way, which was the home of <Insert Name Here>. When he died, he left the house to the trustees of the club, and over the intervening 60 or so years it's been renovated and modified to suit the change of purpose from home to clubhouse. -- RobHague >>>

<<< Works for me... -- Steve McIntyre >>>

Who lurks around there?

• Staff
  • Probably only a few paid staff, a barman, cleaners, doorman
  • A librarian? (possibly a PC?)

  • A waiter (or barman) who knows everything -- HayesWebster

<<< (I can't get the image of Issac Asimov's Black Widowers stories out of my head when I read this. StevenKitson) >>>

<<< I'm worried about the thought of having MikePitt as a librarian (or is that a fictional character having text attributed to him... ) -- BenChalmers >>>

<<< So am I. I've now removed myself. MikePitt >>>

• TheCharacters

  • Eric Coligny joined 1911

  • Lisa Da Vinci joined April 1922

• Other Members

  • DrJackson

  • GarfieldParrish

What is the history of the club? When was it founded? Who were the founder members -- are they still around?

• <<< I'd suggest it be 100 or so years old. This allows us to have a reasonably well developed library already, and the founders long gone -- MikePitt >>>