In the begining there was....

Saturnalia is - in case you are clueless :) - a Fantasy Role-Playing Play By Mail Game where you control the actions of a character in a swords and sorcery environment. It is commercial in that a nominal fee is charged to keep the GM's fed and this is one reason why it has endured for 15 years where so many other similar endeavours have gone by the board.

Saturnalia began way back in or around 1984 with two enterprising if slothful individuals named Neil Packer and Simon Letts, pictured below in action.

From this inauspicious start the game took off fuelled by a heady mix of Southampton University students and beer. The game has run continuously since then with a few players having played since that first day and many others having run characters for over ten years.

At its height Saturnalia contained over a thousand player characters and five full-time GM's ran it from offices above a garage in the red-light district of Southampton. I turned up in 1987 and on my first day was propositioned by two prostitutes within 200 yards of the office then asked by a car-load of wild-eyed men that pulled up just outside the door if I had any heroin to sell them. I stayed for a year and had an exceptionally good time.

Neil and Simon faded from GM-ing with whimpers rather than bangs - Mr Packer proving the most enduring and lasting until '95. Since then Saturnalia has existed wholly outside Southampton and Sloth's auspices in the hands of former players turned GM. Currently the game exists in a much reduced though more refined form in the following areas:
North-West Erythria (Me)

North-East Erythria (Simon Peck)

South Erythria (Mike Absolom)

Serpent Isles (Ashley Casey & Terry Fell)

Exile (Harlequin Games/Jim Botten)

Distant Isles (Fat Phil Inc)