About me

Who the heck am I?

Hi - I'm Steve Hatherley and I've been playing roleplaying games since about 1981. Traveller was my first, followed by Call of Cthulhu.

A little history

In 1990 I published Tales of Terror, a little booklet of scenario ideas for horror games (mostly Call of Cthulhu). I edited two further volumes with Pagan Publishing.

In 1992 I played my first freeform larp (Home of the Bold).

In 2001 I started Freeform Games, a company dedicated to publishing murder mystery freeform larps.

I've been published in various magazines and supplements, and some of my work is available via my page on Itch.io or on my website.

More recently, I've published Writing Freeform Larps, a book about how I write freeforms. You can find more stuff by me on my itch page and on DriveThruRPG.

The daily grind

I was once a chartered civil engineer, but I'm better now. I gave that up a few years ago to concentrate on Freeform Games and bring freeform larps to an unsuspecting public.

Casting me in a larp

And if you're casting me in a larp, this is what I like:

• I like to be busy: I like having lots to do - particularly stuff that's meaningful (so I don't mean busywork). That doesn’t have to mean lots of goals, but it often does.
• I like to have someone I can trust in a game: I really like having at least one close ally in the game that I can definitely trust. That doesn’t have to mean romance - just a trusted friend is enough.
• I like being part of a group: I’d rather be part of a group than a loner. And if I must be a loner, then I would like lots of strong links to other players.

(This was buried in a blog post from years back. I've put it here so I can remember it easily when it comes to casting questionnaires.