Rivers of London: Riots, and Jazz, and Sten Guns, oh my!
This is part two of a series exploring the source material of The Rivers of London roleplaying game by Chaosium which should surprise no one is the Rivers of London book series by Ben Aaronovitch. In part one, we did a ridiculously quick overview of the premise of the series, an even faster overview of the game, and made a note about how the upbeat and humorous writing, punctuated by police procedure and magical action, was also home to beautiful and moving moments of perhaps unexpected potency. In this installment, the first three books are to be brought into the Achieving Best Evidence suite and without benefit of Molly’s cooking, will give up some of the secrets they have been hiding.
Rivers of London: Not all Magic and Laughter (or dice)
The reason I am doing this small series on the Rivers of London is motivated by the existence and quality of the RPG, of course, but it is also about the real moments of truly beautiful writing which present moments of profundity in what could otherwise be taken as an yet another urban fantasy or police procedural. Looking at a book cover or hearing a description is more likely to be reductive or simply comparative. Those moments, secreted throughout the series, deserve better.
Bonds, Trust, and Sandbaggers – Oh, my! Part 1
This is the first in what might become a series of posts about episodes of the cold war spy series The Sandbaggers and how the events and relationships in the series can highlight and give nuance to our understanding of mechanisms within great RPGs like Delta Green and World War Cthulhu: Cold War~
Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying
…BRP hits a precise point where it makes a clear and resonant kind of sense. It is grounded in the experience of being human and the underpinning logic of the imaginative worlds we create. It surges with brutal magic and the even more brutal harm people can inflict upon each other – and receive in turn. It finds ways to make risk easy to run yet pleasantly agonizing to choose. It has a lot to say about who the characters we play are, yet has the room to listen to our ideas as well. It is incredibly responsive to the ongoing events of play… It has a boldness about how it limits characters to a human mold, yet expects better of them. Anyone can be a hero, the pages of BRP whisper, they just have to act…
#RPGaDay2022 – Day 5: Why?
#RPGaDay2022 Day 5 asks us why people would like our choice of introductory game. What does the game itself bring to that equation? What do you bring? What is it about them that will respond?
Casting Shadows 