Five by five

I haven’t done a book review in a while. So here are the last five books I read that scored “5”. (These aren’t the last five books I’ve read – I’ve read many more than that. However, these are the ones I enjoyed most, enough to score 5/5.)

Hothouse Earth

By Bill McGuire. A readable, if depressing, guide to what life will be like if we don’t get climate change sorted. (TLDR; not good.)

In many ways, this is a little like a focused (and updated) version of Mark Lynas’ Six Degrees (published in 2008). Where Six Degrees explained what each degree would be like going up to six degrees (and six degrees of warming is truly cataclysmic), Hothouse Earth concentrates on what will happen between now and 2100. (Also, the science is more up-to-date.)

There are no answers in Hothouse Earth. Instead, McGuire accepts that we have failed to control global heating and predicts heatwaves, droughts, crop failures, rising sea levels and wars. Assuming we do nothing else.

(If you’re looking for answers, recycling, cutting down your meat consumption and switching off phone chargers when they aren’t in use won’t cut it. Governments must coordinate and act–decarbonising society is a colossal challenge beyond any one individual. Bill Gates has ideas in his How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.)

Can games help? I’m not sure, but Matt Leacock (Pandemic designer) and Matteo Menapace have developed Daybreak, a cooperative game about solving climate change. It’s not out yet, but I’ve ordered a copy.

Joe Country and Slough House

By Mick Herron. Books 6 and 7 in the Slow Horses / Jackson Lamb series. Slough House is where disgraced MI5 agents go to die. MI5 won’t kick you out; instead, they demote you to Slough House where you work for the worst boss ever – the gloriously foul Jackson Lamb, ex-cold war spook. While everyone in Slough House harbours ambitions of making it back, nobody has.

I can’t imagine reading these out of order, so start with Slow Horses. (Or the excellent Apple TV series starring Gary Oldman and Kristen Scott-Thomas.)

I’m not going to describe the plots, except that, as always, the slow horses are dragged into a complicated plot that’s as likely to result from an earlier MI5 operation gone wrong as it is enemy action. As usual, Jackson Lamb is three steps ahead of everyone else, and Herron comes from the same school of writing as George RR Martin: don’t get too fond of the characters. (Slough House has a real cliffhanger in that regard.)

Occasionally I’m annoyed by the plot – some coincidences strike me as unnecessary, but everything else is so good that I’m prepared to forgive them.

Once I got into the series, I found them hard to put down. Recommended.

The Bullet that Missed 

By Richard Osman. The third book in Osman’s very cosy Thursday Murder Club series is like being wrapped in a warm blanket. I forget the plot now, but that’s not really the point. The joy is in the Osman’s characters – even the criminals have a touch of warmth about them. I’m not surprised it’s a bestseller.

Why we eat (too much)

By Dr Andrew Jenkinson. I am fascinated by diet, obesity, and health. I am lucky because I don’t have a weight problem. I was a skinny kid, and while I put on weight around my middle in my thirties, I’ve since lost that (partly through 5:2 fasting). I’ve read (or listened to) many diet/health books, including The Diet Myth and Spoon-Fed by Tim Spector, The Truth About Fat and The Angry Chef by Anthony Warner, The Clever Guts Diet by Dr Michael Mosley, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and so on. There are many commonalities and a realisation that obesity and poor health aren’t choices but are symptoms of our western society and diet. (The other change is the importance of gut health.)

Anyway, Why we eat (too much) is written by a bariatric surgeon who wanted to know why something seemingly simple (losing weight) was so hard for so many. I enjoyed it and learned a few things. The book is wide-ranging, but my key takeaways are:

• Being overweight is 70% genetics, 20% diet and 10% willpower. If you are genetically disposed to obesity, it’s hard to get out of it.
• Your body tries to maintain a set weight. If you eat more calories than your set weight suggests, your body will raise your metabolic rate to burn them off without you doing any exercise. And if you diet, your body will slow your metabolic rate – it thinks food is scarce.
• Your body takes cues from what it thinks is happening – in autumn, it gets heavier as it puts on weight for winter. This is because it senses the approach of autumn thanks to a diet of nuts and seeds (high in omega-6). In summer, it loses weight because of plentiful leafy greens (high in omega-3). 
• Unfortunately, the Western diet mimics autumn all year round. The Western diet is awful: too much omega-6 (vegetable oils (in everything), nuts, seeds (including wheat) and not enough omega-3 (fresh fruit and veg, and things that eat fresh fruit and veg like grass-fed beef and oily fish). Obesity rates started climbing in the 1980s when governments introduced dietary guidelines (which recommended grains and less saturated fat).
• Vegetable oil is not “natural” and not as good for you as olive oil. Unlike olive oil, which can be pressed, vegetable oil requires industrial processing, which I hadn’t realised.
• Food that doesn’t go off, or has a long use-by date, probably isn’t very good for you. 

Dr Jenkinson’s suggestion is to eat natural food as much as possible. Cut out wheat (it’s a seed) and anything processed. So cook mostly from scratch, and don’t eat too much junk food.

I haven’t eliminated nuts and seeds, but I’m not putting on weight. So maybe the important thing is a diet rich in leafy greens. Or perhaps I’m lucky with my genes. Or both. Or maybe it’s something else – our bodies are extraordinarily complicated. But the overall advice (cook from scratch, don’t each much junk food) is good – although for many, that presents its own challenges.

Nearly fives

And some near fives – books I scored 4. Still very good, and I’d be happy if I enjoyed all the books I read as much as these:

SAS Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre. Story of the founding of the SAS and its exploits in WW2. I read this following the excellent BBC dramatisation. Very good, if different in surprising places to the dramatisation.

Why we get the wrong politicians by Isobel Hardman. As I've got older, I have found myself more interested in politics. Anyway, this is a fascinating look at what politicians really do, why it’s such a crappy job, and why we don’t get many good politicians. It made me glad I chose a different path.

Progress report

Okay, time for a quick status update on my various projects.

Writing Freeform Larps

Writing Freeform Larps, my book about how I write freeforms, is nearly done. I had a first draft ready in January, and I asked the uk-freeforms mailing list for anyone who wanted to comment on it. I got a good number of responses and a lot of great comments. I’ve worked through those comments (I took on board about 80%, I think), so I’m now close to publishing.

I’ve decided I want this in book form, but I’m not precious about getting an ISBN. So I’m using Lulu, plus there will be a pdf download on Itch.io.

I’m currently working on the cover – a minimal design and back-cover blurb. As cover design is not my strong point, the best I am hoping for is legibility. Maybe one day it will have an awesome cover.

With luck, this should be ready in March, and then I will have to promote it.

Way out West

Updating Way out West is my current project for Freeform Games. Currently, Way out West comes in several forms:

• A free version for 10 players
• A free version for 10 players for kids
• A standard version 
• A standard version (10-14 players) for kids
• An expansion pack with ten extra characters
• An expansion pack with ten extra characters for kids.

This is too many and is painful to manage; I’m simplifying it:

• I’m folding the expansion pack into the main game – so Way out West will be for 10-24 players.
• I’m removing separate kids and adult versions. The differences were minor – we removed most of the drinking references and changed “saloon girls” to “waitresses” for the kids’ version. As that’s just a terminology change, I’m using the kids’ version as a basis.
• I’m updating the game into our latest format as I do this.

When I’m done, that should leave us with two versions:

• A free version for 10 players
• A standard version for 10-24 players

I imagine this will be finished in April.

Other London

I’m pleased with how Other London has gone. I’ve discussed this previously, but this is where I am now:

• Other London: Desk 17 is the setting and background.
• Other London: The Fallen is a free investigation.
• Other London: Murder of a Templar is a second investigation.

These are available on DriveThruRPG and Itch.io. (Or they will be soon – as I speak, I’m waiting for DriveThru RPG to approve Murder of a Templar.)

Next up is Other London: Tales of Terror, a collection of Tales of Terror suitable for Other London. I’ve just started this, so it will be a few weeks before it’s ready. 

Turning Other London into a physical book (through DriveThruRPG) is still on the to-do list, but I will probably have to wait to upgrade my laptop.

Count Magnus’ Descendent

My scenario based on MR James’ Count Magnus (discussed previously) is pretty much complete. I am testing it and assuming that goes according to plan, I will upload it to Itch.io and DriveThruRPG.

The Roswell Incident

After Retcon B’s successful run of The Roswell Incident, I am putting it into Freeform Games’ format. We don’t have any alien games at the moment, and while it isn’t strictly a murder mystery (although it could be…), it might sell reasonably well.

I’m also interested to see how our customers react to a more-freeformy game. But first I need to get it ready, and this has meant quite a few changes, such as creating a newspaper for the game as background.

Messages from Callisto

Messages from Callisto follows on from Children of the Stars (itself following All Flesh is Grass and The Roswell Incident). It was ready shortly after Christmas, but thanks to needing to prepare for Retcon, I’ve only now started thinking about when I will run it (online). And looking at the calendar, it will not be until after Easter.

The future

All Flesh is Grass: I want to take the feedback from Retcon and update the game files, then put it on Itch.io. It’s so heavily based on Clifford D Simak’s novel that I don’t think I can charge for it. 

The Highgate Club: I’d like to get this freeform in a presentable state so I can put it on Itch.io.

Preparing for Consequences: I plan to run Children from the Stars and Messages from Callisto at Consequences in November. They will need tweaking.

The Orphan Room: The next Other London scenario is a pile of notes that needs bashing into shape.

Beyond Callisto: I will start planning whatever happens after Messages from Callisto – although I think I need to run that first and see what happens.

Favourite freeforming moments

Here are some of my favourite freeforming moments. I have so many, these are but a selection. And in no particular order. 

Sharpe and Sensibility (2010): I played the prime minister, but my most treasured memory is trying (and failing) to manage my headstrong daughter (Penny N) and her various friends.

Lullaby of Broadway: All that Jazz (2012) – playing two characters (Riff Zidler and Joe Hardy) was so much fun – I was so busy! So I played two characters in Lullaby of Broadway: Into the Woods (2015) as well – Aimable Baker and Lionel and had even more fun in that one.

Café Casablanca (2014): As a GM, running the harbour and helping the players with their ridiculous plans.

Smoke and Mirrors (Peaky 2022): Whispering advice into Nick C’s ear while he was negotiating. (And Graham A’s complaint that his advisor wasn’t advising him!)

Shogun (2018): Acting in a kabuki play. I never do performances – but I loved it!

Torch of Freedom (2002): My only American freeform. I played the banker, Hoffman, and made myself so hated that when the revolution came, the rabble came straight for me.

Tutankhamun: Evil Under the Egyptian Sun (2020): Making wonderful, hilarious silent movies as Rudolph Valentino. I made three movies and my character fell in love with Penny N’s character in each.

The Rosie Lee (Peaky 2001): The very first game written and played at the very first Peaky. And I had a blast!

Arabian Nights (1998): Playing Sinbad and finding (with Nick B) an erotic statue which we later presented to the sultan (Graham A).

Café Casablanca (1995): My first weekend freeform where I made many new friends. I joined the French resistance, and we were hopeless – completely outclassed by the Germans.

Tutankhamun: Evil Under the Egyptian Sun (2020): Being shot in the back as I tried to escape like the villain I was (as Rudolph Valentino). My wife (Nickey B) was one of those shooting!

Arabian Nights (1998): Getting lost in the formidable tape maze.

A Sisterly Soiree (2023): Becoming field marshall and marrying the lovely Heidi Bonnet.

Lullaby of Broadway: All that Jazz (2012): Taking Graham A and Danielle D to the opera at the same time as two different characters. (This is the only freeform where I kissed another player.)

Lullaby of Broadway: All that Jazz (2012): Romancing Sandy (Danielle D) as the wholly inappropriate Riff Zidler. But eventually, she dumped me and fell for Danny Zuko instead.

Best of the Wurst (2007): Playing a vampire with a bratwurst craving.

The Village (Peaky 2005): Realising towards the end of the game that we were monsters.

Lots of freeforms: Making so many good friends and creating wonderful stories together.

I have no doubt forgotten many, many more.

Retcon B (Retford Moot B 2023)

I spent a recent weekend in Retford in a follow-up to November’s hugely enjoyable Retcon A. It’s barely two months since Retcon A. Is this going to be too much of a good thing? (Spoiler: no.)

Warning – some game spoilers ahead. Look away now!

Friday

Originally I planned to have a lazy start, walk the dog and potter down to Retford in due course to start my weekend on Friday afternoon. However, I realised that with effort, I could get to Retford in time for the 9 am game. So that’s what I did.

Incense and Insensibility (mildly spoilery)

Written by Nathan Richards and Richard Salmon.  I played academic tutor Dr Charles Ward, a classicist with a distinctly Lovecraftian background. The detailed character sheet suggested a “classic” freeform with lots of plot to keep me busy.

The game was set at a ball at the Pemberly estate. The ball was interspersed with numerous dances – and if you wanted to do anything outside the ballroom (search the library, dig up Potter’s Field, carry out a satanic ritual), then you had to do it during a dance when you wouldn’t be noticed.

The dances: I liked the dances. You took your partner to the dancefloor and stood opposite them in rows. Then the couple at the head of the row said what was on their mind before casting out and walking to the bottom of the row (which moved up). Then the next couple said what was on their mind… It was a lovely chance to reveal your inner thoughts or secrets, letting the other players know what you were thinking without telling their characters. (It’s not the first time I’ve come across that – I remember Shakespeare’s Lost Play doing something similar with soliloquies.)

The constraint of doing anything outside the ball during a dance started as an interesting resource mechanic but became more challenging towards the end when players had lots to do outside the game. I like the constraint, but it needs thinking about.

Highlights:

• Talking with Kirstine and Ray, fellow chapel members. It’s a shame we couldn’t encourage young Miss Angelina (Clare) to join us.
• Major Hampton (Dave) had a lovely proposal – he would vote for me if I agreed to say I’d had an affair with his wife so he could divorce her. How could I refuse?
• Graham and I agreed to split the disputed inheritance 65/35 (in his favour) early on. I wanted it done and dusted so I could worry about other things. (And my case was dodgy at best.)

Suggestions

• The ending became rather frantic and turned into a (failed) widget hunt. I know that was a little frustrating for some. I think the end of the game needs thinking about.
• I did wonder if a few abilities would help. Among freeformers, abilities seem to have fallen out of favour (particularly for shorter games). But they have their place, and if it were me, I’d consider them.

Overall: Recommended – particularly a second run, when the kinks will have been ironed out.

A Sisterly Soiree (not at all spoilery)

Written by James Goodman, who GM-ed with Nick and Tony (playing a very intimidating Lady Catherine). I played Stephen Collins, a dragoon lieutenant. This light, structured larp is based on the works of Jane Austen and the Marrying Mr Darcy board game and is all about promotion and marriage. 

So, two regency games in a row. Both with dances.

A Sisterly Soiree had lots of party game activities – unscrambling words, fox hunting (blindfold hunting finger puppets), judging tapestry and music. And lots of dances. Between the dances, the men went and did men things (war and politics), and the women did whatever they did (I wasn’t there).

Highlights

• The dances and activities were lots of fun. They were good ways to mix with all the other players.
• Thanks to a lucky series of dice rolls, I was promoted from a lowly lieutenant to field marshall!
• I married Miss Heidi Bonnet, only revealing that I was gay at the end of the game. (Discovering my sexuality was a random thing that happened during the game – it wasn’t part of my original character sheet.)

Suggestions

• I think we wrong-footed James when we all lined up for the first dance. We were expecting a called dance, and he gamely gave us one. The game had three or four dances, and he called them all. If it were me, I would use the same (called) dance each time. The players will slowly learn the dance, making it easy for everyone. (The actual dance moves aren’t important, after all.) Maybe we should have a standard Regency freeform dance?

Overall: Highly recommended, especially if you don’t mind simple activities and games in your freeform.

The Roswell Incident (slightly spoilery)

This was the first face-to-face run of my 1947 Roswell alien game. I first hosted it online about a year ago. I made some tweaks – such as adding abilities. (And at least I didn’t have to worry about a power cut.)

The game took about two hours to play, which was about the same as the online game. It was a very different run, though, and all the aliens were revealed. That’s partly because it was face-to-face rather than online, partly because freeformers are generous and like to share, partly because this episode felt self-contained (rather than episode 1 of a campaign), and partly thanks to the abilities. It went well, and I was pleased.

Sheriff Jackson, Professor Kraushaar, Mayor Weinrib and junkyard owner Karns

Highlights

• All the players were fabulous, but I particularly enjoyed Hanbury’s over-the-top Major Marcel.

Suggestions

• I have lots of typos and corrections to work through.
• I think an optional flying saucer rescue option might be useful. It wouldn’t have been needed for this game, but it might be fun to include next time.

Overall: I was happy with how The Roswell Incident went. I will rerun it and work it up for Freeform Games.

Saturday

After an atrocious night’s sleep, my energy flagged towards the end of Saturday. Mrs H told me (when I got home) that I always have a terrible first night at Retford. How come I haven’t realised?

Fiasco (unspoilerable)

I played a wonderful five-player game of Fiasco with Heidi, Graham, David and Joanne. I wasn’t sure whether I should pitch it or not, but I’m glad I did and as a few people talked to me afterwards about how they almost signed up for it (and that they have the game but have never got it to the table), I probably will again.

This was the first face-to-face game of Fiasco I’ve played. The others have all been online with my regular gaming group between longer campaigns. It was also my first five-player game of Fiasco, and it ran much smoother with five than with three or four.

It's a Fiasco!

Hope Springs Eternal (not very spoilery)

Written by Nickey Barnard, Sue Jolly, Helen Jones, Tym Norris and Traci Whitehead at Peaky, many years ago. Set in the 1952 Hope Brothers department store, Hope Springs Eternal is inspired (to an extent) by the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? So camp BBC sitcom and a dash of horror. I played apprentice Tim Porter – and I think I played Tim when I played it the first time.

Hope Springs Eternal is a classic Peaky game – lots of stereotypes to play off, lots of dark or embarrassing or guilty secrets, a mystery, lots of things missing, some silliness and a twist in the tale. I had a great time.

Highlights

• Interacting with the department heads, trying to figure out which department I should be apprenticed into next
• A “dust” item card, which I found in an old locker. It pleased me deeply to find an item card for dust. Completely useless, of course, but lovely.
• David taking me under his wing and giving me swigs from his hipflask.

Overall: Recommended.

Marlowe 2020 (not very spoilery)

Written by Kirt Dankmyer and Jon Lemich, Marlowe 2020 reconfigures Shakespeare’s tragedies for a cyberpunk future. I have no idea what that means, and my initial reaction to Dr Puzzo, my character was, “huh?” It’s a short character sheet with little sense of why I’m present or what the game is about. 

Marlowe 2020 was never going to be my best game at Retford, for several reasons:

• Marlowe 2020 wasn’t my first choice. I signed up to play a different game, but that didn’t run, so I switched.
• I was tired. It was my third game of the day (my sixth of the weekend), and I had had an abysmal night.
• It was late. We started at 8 pm, and as most games had run for two or three hours, I expected that would happen this time. So my heart sank when the GMs said they expected the game to take about four hours…

So while I probably didn’t go into Marlowe 2020 with a healthy mindset, I’m not sure it was my kind of game in the first place. Warning signs:

• My character, Dr Puzzo, felt like a bit part. I was playing the apothecary from Romeo and Juliet. My job was to sell poison and patch people up. (In short, I was the healing rules.) I had a fragment of plot about an android underground, but it required me to develop it fully. While I don’t mind collaborative, improvisational games (see Fiasco above), I find it hard to do in a large larp with a semi-detailed background (even when I’m not half-asleep). A half-in, half-out approach doesn’t work for me – although it seems to work fine for others.
• Dr Puzzo was a loner and I don’t enjoy playing loners. While I knew of a few characters, I wasn’t part of a group, and other than my healing skills, I had nothing to offer.

My fatigue was partly a blessing. I was so tired that I didn’t mind sitting on the sidelines with my eyes half-closed, watching everyone else. It was easy roleplaying.

The other thing that should have lifted my game was the violence. There’s a doctor in the game for a reason. Shakespearean tragedies are supposed to have a healthy body count. This time, however, the reasonableness of today’s freeformers overcame Marlowe 2020’s rivalries and jealousies. So, in this run, at least, a doctor wasn’t necessary. I did one detox and healed one poisoning (the same character, oddly).

The GMs saw I was struggling (they were also surprised at the lack of bodies) and offered me one of the spare characters, but I was too tired to consider another character.

Highlights

Even though this was my least favourite game of the weekend, it wasn’t without highlights.

• The marshall (Nathan) warning me about paying my taxes. Very intimidating. And then helping him try and figure out who was targetting him with a weird cyberweapon.
• Selling poison to an android (Elina) and then curing her victim (David) a minute later.
• Dave’s wonderful Italian hand gestures.
• Roderick’s roleplaying at being awkward around humans. I (and others) thought he might be an android who didn’t know he was an android.

Suggestions

The first suggestions are for me:

• Programme some breaks for myself. And remember that I always sleep badly on my first night at a freeform convention.
• Figure out how to spot these games, so I don’t sign up for them. They’re not my cup of tea!

Marlowe 2020 feels like a first-draft Peaky game. That’s fine at Peaky, where everyone knows what it’s like to write a game in 24 hours, but after Peaky, we have time to patch the holes. So I would add stronger links between characters and include some programmed deaths to set the game’s tone (one at ten minutes in and another at 30 minutes). 

Overall: Not recommended (although I gather it’s been run more successfully before, so I may not be the right one to judge).

Sunday

On Sunday morning at breakfast, I complained about the owlish nature of freeformers and their inevitable late nights to Clare and Kirstine. I’m not sure they sympathised. (I’m a lark, alas.) But, at least I slept this time.

All Flesh is Grass

Sunday morning saw me running the second part of my magnificent/epic/doomed (delete according to taste) series of first-contact larps. As with Roswell, I first ran All Flesh is Grass online last year.

As Roswell had gone well, I was slightly nervous about All Flesh is Grass. The two games are very different – Roswell is more of a traditional freeform. All Flesh is Grass has only one plot and ends with a significant decision that needs to be made at the end. Luckily, I need not have worried – the game went well.

The room for All Flesh is Grass, before the players arrived.

Some thoughts: As well as the inevitable typos and glitches that the players found, I had a few thoughts.

• I hadn’t changed All Flesh is Grass from the original run, and I need to make the characters more flexible to allow for a different result in Roswell. I like running two parts of the game at a convention, but I need to prepare better for the second game. I have some ideas about that.
• The room is divided into two parts – inside the barrier (Millville) and outside the barrier (the rest of the world). I divided the room so the Millville side had no exits. I hoped that added to the psychological sense of being trapped.
• Clare had a great idea to start the out-of-towners outside the room so they could bond for a moment. So that’s what I did.

Highlights

• Malk’s senator commanding the space at the start of the game.
• Elyssia’s “To whom am I speaking?” every time she answered the telephone.
• Richard and Jenny’s lovely scene where Jenny berated Richard for not telling her he had been reading to the phones.
• Hanbury’s wonderful military codenames; the only one I remember now is Operation Gobstopper.

Overall: All Flesh is Grass went well. There are a few improvements I can make, which I will address for next time. (There will be a next time, but I don’t know when.)