Well, I’ve finally worked out where I first heard the name Lamprey Skink.
When my great-grandmother passed away, our family inherited a considerable quantity of what I will respectfully call objects. As the grandchild with the largest attic, I became the temporary custodian of several boxes, bags, and one extremely ornate wooden chest, all of which were to be “sorted out later.”
That was ten years ago.
When physical copies of The Venture Below arrived, our need for storage space became suddenly urgent. In the ensuing, ill-advised game of attic Tetris, I managed to break the chest. I also broke a very nice set of glasses, but that feels less narratively important.
Inside it were hundreds of tourism leaflets for a tidal island called Lamprey Skink.
At that point, something clicked. I must have heard the name from my great-grandmother. The memories didn’t come rushing back, exactly; more a slow dribble. I’m now fairly sure she spoke about spending time there as a girl. Possibly more than time. Possibly from there. I'll have to ask my nan, when I get a chance.
In any case, we now find ourselves with a surplus of vintage tourism leaflets and a continued lack of storage space. As such, we’ve decided to include one with every Kickstarter shipment as a small additional gift.
If you receive one, please take it in the spirit it’s intended: a gesture of goodwill, not merely an attempt to redistribute our attic contents among our most generous supporters.
As mentioned previously, we’ve reached an agreement with the Lamprey Skink Parish Council, who may be able to shed further light on the island, its history, and the surprising volume of printed material promoting it during the 1970s.
If you’d like to follow along as we continue investigating, you can join our mailing list below. We’re also on Instagram and Bluesky. We're usually posting about games, though occasionally about our visits to Lamprey Skink.
See you when the tide is right.
