Some pics from today’s game of The Shab-al-Hiri Roach, and it was quite a ride!

Some pics from today’s game of The Shab-al-Hiri Roach, and it was quite a ride!

I played Basil Hawthorne, an Art History professor and Goya expert who wanted the University to secure the Black Paintings for its collection. 

Daniel Lewis played Oliver Threefall, a Mayan language expert who quickly accepted the Roach and began building a paper mache ziggurat/nest in the school’s auditorium. 

Len Pokryfke played Henry “Hank” Slurry, a self-destructive Astronomy professor who practically lived in a wine bottle (and whose perceived lack of ambition and self-control made him a surprisingly trustworthy figure among the scheming Pemberton faculty). 

And Len’s friend, Rob, played Dr. Wayne Borsma, a Kant expert whose desire to humiliate Oliver in squash transcended the boundaries of reason and self-preservation.

The game was very interesting in that it started out as a lot of petty sniping and rumor-mongering among the faculty, but gradually became a roller coaster of shock and horror.  In our game we had: the ritual sacrifice of a popular co-ed during the school play; the football team’s quarterback cutting himself open from chest to throat at the behest of the Roach; the chaplain eating a human heart (and later killing himself in front of everyone at the Christmas party); and a Carrie-style burning auditorium finale. 

There was also a lot of fighting about the school budget and who would have to do certain administrative duties. And wine and cheese. Lots of wine and cheese.