When Jeff Berry, AKA Chirine BaKal of Chirine’s Workbench offered to let send me photos for a shelf and game room spotlight, I thought I was prepared. I had an inkling of what I’d be likely to see. That’s before I actually saw the photos. I’ve seen some very slick, modern game rooms. Jeff’s photos are more like getting to tour the behind-the-scenes vaults of a museum. Going beyond the exhibits that the public sees and getting to see the scientists and artists in the midst of their work.
If you are familiar with RPG history and enjoy the work of Shannon Appelcline or Jon Peterson, you’ll appreciate exactly what you’re seeing in this collection of photos.
First, an image of atmosphere:
Photo © Jeff Berry
Next, we have a series of photos that serve as an overall tour of the gaming space and lounge. This includes some costumes, a gorgeous set of drawers that houses Afghan jewelry for costumes and the gaming table with the vertical underworld extender. Yes, costumes. Those were a very essential add-on supplement to gaming in it’s younger days.
Photo © Jeff Berry
Photo © Jeff Berry
Photo © Jeff Berry
Photo © Jeff Berry
Photo © Jeff Berry
Photo © Jeff Berry
Next we have a closer look at the shelves with Jeff’s own description of them.
These are the Tekumel paper archive shelves, with everything ever created by the Professor [MAR “Phil” Barker] and others for Tekumel. We also have a huge digital archive, as well.
Photo © Jeff Berry
Photo © Jeff Berry
Miniature accessories and scenery shelves. The ‘custom of the house’, out at Phil’s, was to have miniatures for everything we ran into; both he and I loved to make things, sooo.
Photo © Jeff Berry
Miniatures, Aegyptian and specialty figures.
Photo © Jeff Berry
The main miniatures shelves; historicals, Barsoom, and Blackmoor figures to the left, Tekumel to the right. One does accumulate a lot of figures in forty years.
Photo © Jeff Berry
Bookshelves; back in our day, we didn’t have all the games already written, and had to do our own research in order to run games and campaigns.
Photo © Jeff Berry