Archives for roleplaying
One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence [Book Review]
One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence My rating: 5 of 5 stars If you love Stranger Things then you are very likely to love this book. It's a little geeky and features a bunch of roleplaying teenagers as the core cast. Unlike Stranger Things it's set in London, mainly the suburban SW, in the 1980s, also there are no weird creatures, although there is some weirdness, just of a different nature. One Word Kill Cover of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition with a set of dice on it (photo: James Kemp) One Word Kill was very relatable for me, as much because I'm the same sort of age as the protagonists (not now, but I was a teenager in the 1980s). I'm also running a D&D story for my son and his friends, so I've watched those teenage roleplayers…
Geas or How to tie your character in knots
In my fantasy world Skyss they use geas to control people. Not everyone is under a geas, but those in public office have it as place of their oath of allegiance. Similarly prisoners get a geas of public service compelling them to atone for their offences. Also I had my bad guy put one of my characters under a geas, just because it sort of made sense to the plot. What is a Geas? English:a design from the Book of Kells, fol. 29r. Traced outlines in black and white representing three intertwined dogs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) A geas (pronounced gesh) is a sort of unbreakable vow. It's a celtic thing that appears in Scots & Irish folklore and legends. It's a bit more than a curse, in the sense that there are positive benefits to accepting a geas. Being under…
More on 21st Century Policing
Police Technology Greater Manchester Police officers in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, England. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Last week I wrote about some general trends in the future of policing and touched a little on the use of drones to help enforcemnet and make it easier for the police to catch fleeing criminals. This week I'm going to look at some of the personal kit that police officers are likely to come equipped with as standard. First some key assumptions stupid criminals will still try to stab/shoot/injure police officers, so armour is here to stay British policing by consent will require our police to have faces, to interact with the public and to walk the beat in busy public places Regulations on evidence will remain, possibly updated in light of new technology and possibilities (although the fact that PACE has lasted thirty years…
East End Explosions
I've been exploring the world of Perfects with some friends by running a roleplaying session with the Full Moon games group playing the senior officers of a police counter-terrorism group. More details on Operation Hawkeye. I couldn't resist writing some press stories as a result of the session. East Ended! Brave cops foil GM terror group in dawn raid. Silverton residents were woken by automatic gunfire and a bomb blast as terrorists fought off a police raid. Brave officers stormed through a hail of fire to take out the terrorists. One terrorist was confirmed killed by police, although not before two officers were wounded. Another is believed to have blown themself up in a suicide bombing. Commander Coalfield, the Counter Terror Chief, called on citizens to lookout for accomplices to the GM terrorists that may have escaped. Forensic teams are scouring the…
A215 Short Fiction: Daprav – A Creation Myth
As part of my Creative Writing course I need to write a short story for my next assignment. So rather than racking my brains about it I've been going back over stuff I'd written, but not finished, in the past for some inspiration. I also plan to do the exercises in the book to see what that sparks up too. Anyway I was looking through my role-playing archives and went through a fantasy game I used to run where I made up all of the setting myself rather than using a published one (there are about 17k words on this, and on top of that a stack of index cards). I was rather taken by the creation myth I wrote for the primary god in a theocracy. Daprav It is important to distinguish between Daprav Himself and the Church, which…