malcolmcraig.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in US History @ljmuofficial.bsky.social, historian of the nuclear age, researching #ColdWar era post-apocalypse roleplaying games. #TTRPG designer. You may remember me from such games as #astaterpg, #ColdCity, and #HotWar
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Three of my least favourite historians right there.
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I'll admit, I liked it so much I made two. But the second one was a bit heavy going.
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As a below average enthusiast, I find this a failure to cater to my needs.
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I love Berberian Sound Studio!
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Not a film, but I very much enjoyed the Guillermo del Toro helmed series Cabinet of Curiosities. All episodes are stand alone, some better than others (a bit too much Lovecraft for my tastes!). The episodes Lot 36, The Autopsy, The Outside, and The Viewing were great.
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Why does he have a segment of mandarin orange attached to his lapel?
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If someone's a predator, a racist, a scumbag, or whatever, then fine, they can get it in the neck. But 'making overblown claims and being totally hyperbolic about their design' is not really a reason to go for someone (the use of AI is - I think - a far more pressing issue).
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7) And the NEC really needs to sort its shit out with water fountains. As usual, there are only two, one is always broken, and the queues just to fill a bottle exceeded 30 minutes. And it feels cynical to me. Of course, this is a venue issue and not something that UKGE can fix.
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6) The side effect of this bigness is that the con is now absolutely draining. Three days of standing up for 9 hours a day, offering people the same friendly, switched-on face at 5.30pm as you do at 9.00am when the hall opens.
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5) It seems that UKGE is only going to get bigger, and I really do think there needs to be more for people to do in terms of 'events'. Big Bad Con, GenCon, and others have huge slates of the kind of things that people really enjoy AND add value to the price of a ticket.
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4) It was great to yet again be on the @handiworkgames.bsky.social stand with Jon. The vast majority of interactions with attendees were entirely positive. And it was great to see so many friends and colleagues (too many to name individually) across the weekend.
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3) Speaking of scale, UKGE felt massive this year, way more so than previous years. It now feels like GenCon, and I think this year's attendance figures bear this out. And this is why I think there need to be more non-gaming events. More panels, more talks, all that kind of thing.
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2) I had offered UKGE a talk on the Saturday as well (on a slightly different but related topic), but sadly they were not able to find space for it. I would have loved to have done more talks, as such side-events are crucial element of these huge conventions.
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Narrator: "He discovered - much to his chagrin - that it was not a tad less busy than Saturday."
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Reminds me that I must speak to the framer about my British Canoe Union award (two star) certificate.
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"Only on a critical fail."
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I've not heard of anyone losing their job over this, but the inner workings of WD/GW at the time are not that clear!
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The T:2000 review was by Marcus Rowand who - I think - was a freelance contributor rather than a GW employee. His stuff certainly continued to appear in the mag. 'Ashley Shepherd' who reviewed PoF was Carl Sargent, who also continued to have material appear in WD.
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The paper in question connects The Price of Freedom, D&D, Red Dawn, Chuck Norris, the odious The Order, the American Revolutionary War, misunderstood satire, the 'special relationship', and the letters page of White Dwarf. I'm not saying the argument is entirely coherent, mind you....
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Watch out for the VoPos!
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Here on Desperate Brexit Island, many institutions (inc. my own) require you to get formal pedagogical training (Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, postgraduate diploma in education, etc.) And even as a PhD student back in 2010-14, I experienced fairly robust training & mentorship.
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For the avoidance of doubt, none of the above refers to anyone whom I'm aware is following me on this here platform.
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In retrospect someone going "Why?" to our approach of "You need to be able to talk knowledgeably and enthusiastically about all the other games on the stall" should have been a massive red flag. But hey, we wanted to be inclusive.
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Of course, that would necessarily involve a cathartic exploration of The Collective Endeavour years, the limits of mutualism, and the dangers of being open to those merely acting from self-interest and not from a desire to support their fellow designers.