This is the End (of 2025), Beautiful Friend

Last year I did what I called a Traditional End of the Arbitrary Calendar Year Roundup, and I thought it would be a good tradition to keep going in the same format. The end of 2025 is looming very close, so I guess it's a good time to look back on the veritable tish-show that was the year. 

Looking back on what I'd hoped 2025 would be, it certainly didn't deliver what I'd hoped. I still feel like a hamster on a wheel going around and around, still not getting anywhere. And once more, just when I thought something was going to change, life punched me in the guts again. There were some high points, and some very, very low points. 

High points were going to Scotland, staying in a castle, going to see Twenty One Pilots and Nine Inch Nails.

Low points were definitely yet another (very unexpected) funeral. Miss you dude.

So, like last year, let's break the year down into what I watched, played, and read.

TV & Movies

I realised a couple of years ago that I watched a lot of TV and movies to the point of not remembering if I'd watched them before. Mortal Engines is one of those movies that I'm convinced I haven't seen, but when I start to watch it, I realise I have. Weird. Anyway, I started keeping track last year, and this year I continued to make notes of what I'd watched. I also started adding them to Letterboxd, and you can follow me on there if you like. I'm also on Serializd, but haven't really got to grips with that one yet. 

Here goes...

January 2025

Scene from the episode "Forks" in Season 2 of The Bear

Top Watch: The Bear (Season 2). You know, I had no interest in watching The Bear. Not really interested in the high stress world of running a restaurant. However, we watched season one, and everyone was shouting at each other, and there was this big revelation at the end of the season that kinda hooked you into the next...  Episode six, with the Christmas dinner, "Fishes", is often called an hour of perfect television - and it is completely masterful in its writing and acting, simply brilliant. BUT, episode seven, "Forks", is my favourite. Richie was such a complete pain in the first season, just antagonistic and confrontational, and (again) brilliantly acted, but in Forks he is sent off to learn how to work behind the scenes in a top restaurant, and he changes. He finds his motivation, his drive, and bonds with the team even though he's only there a short time. It's just so SO masterful, it makes me fill up just thinking about how brilliant it is. Richie quickly became my favourite character.

Honourable Mentions: Slow Horses (Season 4), Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (Season 1)

February 2025

Still from I Saw The TV Glow

Top Watch: I Saw The TV Glow (2024). I saw a lot of people raving about this, about how it discussed obsession, identity, and paranoia. It had that creepypasta vibe of the Candle Cove season of Channel Zero, but I wasn't expecting it to have such a great David Lynch vibe. Excellent performances, fantastic cinematography, and just creepy and refuses to explain everything. Great stuff. 

Honourable Mentions: Cobra Kai (Season 6), The Night Agent (Season 2)

March 2025

Promotional still from Season One of the series Paradise

Top Watch: Paradise (Season 1). Okay, full disclaimer here, this technically shares the top spot of the month with Severance (Season 2), but Paradise really surprised me. Admittedly, I was spoiled for the biggest surprise, and without that I probably wouldn't have watched it. I mean, it's a murder mystery of who killed the President of the USA, following Sterling K. Brown (who's always excellent) as the Secret Service agent assigned to protect him. Simple enough... but (and I'm not going to spoil it) trust me. Watch this. Go in without any knowledge of what's to come, and by the end of the first episode you will be hooked. 

Severance (Season 2) was excellent as well, and just as intriguing as the first season. Sure, it had some slow episodes, but the seventh episode "Chikhai Bardo" was masterfully shot and acted. 

Honourable Mentions: Mrs Davis (mini series), The Atypical Family (S. Korean series)

April 2025

Promotional image for the Netflix series, The Residence

Top Watch: The Residence (Season 1... the only flippin' season). I love a good murder mystery. Even more, I love a quirky, slightly weird, murder mystery. You'd think I'd love the Knives Out movies (they're okay, but I preferred Poker Face). However, one of the best in my opinion was the short lived series The Residence on Netflix. Super consultant Cordelia Cupp is called in when there is a murder in the White House, and every episode will leave you thinking someone different committed the crime. Really clever the way its structured and filmed, keeps you guessing. Why Netflix had to go and cancel it, I dunno. Would easily watch another heap of Cupp mysteries.

Honourable Mentions: Love Next Door (S. Korean series), Smile 2 (2024)

May 2025

Promotional image for Andor Season 2

Top Watch: Andor Season 2. I mean, what else could there be? Flippin' phenomenal season, and particularly timely. Stunning performances again, and we finished the final episode and went straight on to Rogue One, then A New Hope... it's powerful stuff. 

Honourable Mentions: House of the Dragon (Season 2), The Fountain Of Youth (2025)

June 2025

Still from Season Four of The Bear

Top Watch: The Bear (Season 4). Yeah, had to be. Sure, season four wasn't quite as jaw-droppingly amazing as the previous three seasons, but it was still fantastic television. 

Honourable Mentions: Will Trent (Season 3), The Accountant (2016)

July 2025

Promotional still from K-Pop Demon Hunters

Top Watch: K-Pop Demon Hunters (2025). Simply from the trailer I kinda knew this was going to be a blast. Fantastic animation, great music, and some really cool quirky moments that felt a bit like the Spider-verse movies, it was just really good fun. I can see why it has become a global phenomena, and Derpy does steal every scene it's in.

Honourable Mentions: Poker Face (Season 2), Department Q (Season 1)

August 2025

Top Watch: Resident Alien (Season 4). I hardly watched anything in August. I don't know what happened. I think I was just really busy or in such a funk I just continued my constant rewatch of The X-Files. So, Resident Alien (Season 4) was my top NEW watch of the month. Alan Tudyk was amazing as always, and the rest of the cast were really cool. Wrapped it up nicely, with the potential for more, but it's likely that's the last we get of his weird alien-ness.

Honourable Mentions: blurg... not much to choose from this month. Heart Eyes was pretty good, but I also watched In The Lost Lands which had to be one of the worst films I've ever seen in my life. 

September 2025

Still from Alice In Borderland Season 3

Top Watch: Alice in Borderland (Season 3). I must admit, when they said there was going to be a third season, I didn't think it should happen. Season 2 was great, and rounded everything off perfectly. It didn't need another season, but it happened, and I'm really glad it did. Returning to the Borderland, it all makes sense, works brilliantly, and is really darn epic. Very pleasantly surprised. Should I say it was better than the final season of Squid Game? 

Honourable Mentions: Alien: Earth (Season 1), Wednesday (Season 2)

October 2025

Promotion still of the TV series 'Revival'

Top Watch: Revival (Season 1?). Not sure if there will be another season of Revival, and it doesn't need one, because it was a really excellent story completely wrapped up by the end. A great twist on a 'zombie' series, and some awesome twists. Really good! 

Honourable Mentions: The Burning Girls (Series), Slow Horses (Season 5)

November 2025

Still from The Accountant 2

Top Watch: The Accountant 2 (2025). This is a weird month, because I rate everything I watch so I can work out what my 'top watch' is of the month, and The Accountant 2 rates just as highly as High Potential (Season 1), and the new Netflix version of Frankenstein. I know, I've weird tastes. However, in my notes, what I enjoyed even more than all of these was my marathon rewatch of the first four seasons of Stranger Things. Sure, I've seen the first season five times now, but I enjoy it every time. Just really cool. Season three was great rewatching it, and everyone is fantastic in all of the seasons (though my fave has to be Steve Harrington. Absolute legend.)

Honourable Mentions: I guess High Potential (Season 1) and Frankenstein.

December 2025

Promotional still for IT: Welcome to Derry

Top Watch: IT - Welcome to Derry (Season One). Another strange one, as I was really looking forward to this series. I'd read the book when I was a (late) teenager, and very much a 'loser' and it's the book that got me reading for pleasure. Stephen King, I owe you for that one. I loved the recent movies, and when the announced the prequel series I was very keen. However, those first two episodes felt like they were just trying too hard to be over-the-top and a bit gross. I wasn't sure. Debs gave up watching after those two, but I kept going, and the series calmed down and the characters really came into their own. There's an amazing episode explaining the origins of 'IT', and the indigenous people's efforts to trap it within the woods outside Derry. And by the time Marge realises she's being a right cliquey cow and switches sides, and Richie's moment in episode seven (oh my god, the tears)...

The way it ties into the future of IT, and into The Shining, and more of the Stephen King universe, is great, and the plan to set season two a generation before, and three before that, going backwards in chronology is brilliant. Has to be one of my watches of the year. 

Honourable Mentions: Pluribus (season one)

Gaming

Most of the people who read my rambling thoughts are here because of gaming and tabletop RPGs. This year, I continued the long running D&D game, though playing once a month can mean there's a lot of me being confused as to what's going on, and not having the time to read the full recaps.

My other group played a load of Mothership (which was good, scary, and incredibly dangerous), playtested Harrowhill Point, and we're in the middle of a Mythic Bastionland game.

Next year? I have no idea. My lovely wife bought me the Delta Green campaign Impossible Landscapes, so maybe that's on the cards, though I think our usual GM is keen to get us back to playing The One Ring.

In May, we went to UK Games Expo, and for the first time we did all three days! It was great, and exhausting, and we got to catch up with some cool people. It was our first stay at a hotel in Birmingham, and really getting the chance to take everything in rather than doing everything in an afternoon. It was far too warm, and Debs came out of the con at the end of the weekend saying 'Never again', but as the days passed, her tone quickly changed to 'we should definitely do that again next year'. So, hopefully, that'll be on the cards for the end of May.

Also in May, I joined Eleanor Hingley on hosting a short presentation about getting into the tabletop industry. I wasn't great, as always. But if you want to see it, you can find it here:

It was part of the Norwich Gaming Festival, which has branched out to include tabletop gaming as well as video gaming, and shouldn't be confused with the Norwich Games Convention that takes place in August. That was held in yet another temporary location, and was okay. Next year it's in another location (Norwich showground) so we'll have to see how that goes!

September was Tabletop Scotland in Edinburgh, and once again we shared a stand with the lovely folk at We-Evolve, so Debs could sell her goth-geek Misery Makes wares. 

Debs at the Misery Makes stand at Tabletop Scotland 2025

Financially it was better than the rather poor 2024 Tabletop Scotland, and thankfully it wasn't as cold, but the lack of options for a cup of tea was frustrating, and it felt just as quiet as the previous year. Still, it's on the calendar for next year... who knows...

And then, finally, it was Dragonmeet. Which I had tickets for, but didn't end up going to as I had a rotten headcold... which seems to still be lingering four weeks later... uggg.

Gaming Experience of the Year

Is it really sad to say that it's probably getting my old collection of Star Frontiers back after a few decades? It was the first game I bought when I started tabletop gaming back in the early 1980s, and when the group disbanded and I went off to University I didn't think I'd ever play it again, and sold the lot to a very good friend of mine. He kept playing with a very, VERY small group, but it had sat in his loft for many, many, many years and he was happy to simply hand it all back to me. Sure, all those years in the loft hadn't been too kind to it, but I was ecstatic to see those pages once more. The illustrations took me back to my teens, and all those (probably terrible) games of Star Frontiers I played over those years.

My original Star Frontiers books from the 80s

Other Media

Otherwise I've been continuing my read of Charles Stross' "The Laundry Files", though sometimes it does feel like homework as it's for the day-job. At least the books are good and fun! I also read the first few of the Chronicles of Narnia... I had this weird urge to read them for research for the game I'd been thinking about writing, but I was only four books in when I needed to catch up with The Laundry for work. 

I also blasted my way through Season 10 of The X-Files comics (the IDW alternate universe version of season 10, that is...) which were pretty good. I need to track down the out of print Season 11 collection... 

Music-wise, I've been listening to the usual stuff. We went to see Twenty One Pilots in London (which was covered in a lengthy blogpost), so that inspired lots of listening to their albums. And the same went for Nine Inch Nails, as we went to see them in London as well - and the new Tron: Ares soundtrack is flipping awesome (still haven't seen the film though)...

We also went to see Wet Leg, who were great! Though I think we stood too close to the speakers and made ourselves temporarily impaired for a bit. 

Big discovery of the year musically - there's usually one artist I'd never heard of that makes a lasting impression (last year it was Night Club) - was a weird band called Princess Goes To The Butterfly Museum (though they often just go by Princess Goes these days). Ketamine is a great track...

...yes, Michael C. Hall (Dexter himself) is the lead singer of the band. Seriously, check out their other stuff. I'd highly recommend 'Eat An Eraser' and 'Nevertheless'. Love it all.

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And that's it. The end of a mostly crappy year. What does 2026 have in store? I said it last year, and I've said it many time before... something better change. 

Last year I had a Substack which I have since deleted. Now, if you want to keep up with my posts and what I'm up to, feel free to join my Patreon. Free being the operative word! It costs nothing and you'll get these updates and ramblings straight into your inbox if you pardon the expression. Click the linkage and sign up!

Above all, may I wish you all the very best for the new year, and let's hope it's a better one.

DFC

Split the Party!

Many moons ago, I started up a Substack thingy. It was a new and exciting way for me to get my little blog posts straight into your eager inboxes, and for me to delude myself into thinking you're reading them.

It was fun! I wrote about game design, what I'd been playing, and got all nostalgic about my dim and distant childhood, talking about toys and games, movies and TV series, that had a huge impact on me.

Well, Substack turned out to be a less-than-wholesome place to have your say, and a lot of creators I've followed on there have ditched their Substacks and migrated over to Patreon.

That's what I'm hoping to do. To return to the regular writing of the old Substack – it got me writing, kept me being creative, and kept me in touch with the world. And, just like the Substack, it's totally free. Just subscribe (at the Free level) and you'll get all of the blog posts as they arrive.

If you prefer, you can just keep reading on the old autocratik.com blog, but if you sign up to the Patreon you'll get notified when I actually get my act together and write something.

I'm just getting started, so we'll see about adding cool extras on there later, but for now, it's just great to have you on board.

Blogposts and Newsletters

Ah, the weekend. A strange time for me, as that creative urge still bubbles under the surface, but due to various restrictions I'm unable to do what I'd actually like to create. Instead, I stare into space, watch TV, and wonder what I'm doing with my life, and before you know it, it's Monday again and back to work. 

However, I've started a Patreon-thingy, so that's a great excuse to write something. Almost like a newsletter combined with a blogpost, about what I've been pondering.

Stranger Things Rewatch and Splitting the Party

As many people have been doing recently, with the final season of Stranger Things looming next week, we've marathoned a rewatch of the previous four seasons to remind ourselves what happened. I worked out that the amount of times I've watched this series is proportional to the season number. Season 1 I've watched five times, season 2 four times, and so on. It's just great. Ticks all of the boxes of my sort of entertainment. Eighties nostalgia, kids on bikes playing D&D and saving the world, psychic powers, shady government agencies. I mean, what's not to love?

This time, I was struck by how well crafted the split narrative is done. In each season, but especially in the last two, they have such a wide range of characters all doing different things, but simultaneously, to work together to defeat the big bad. The narrative hops from one to the other at perfect moments to keep the tension high, and to ensure everyone has their moment.

For example, in the final episodes of Season 4, you have the characters split into various groups:

• Hopper, Joyce, and Murray are in Russia, battling the demogorgon and various demodogs in the Russian prison camp which will weaken the big bad.

• Eleven, Mike, Jonathan, Will (and, I guess, Argyle) are working to get Eleven back to Hawkins, determine they can't get back in time, and craft a way to aid Eleven to project herself through the void and help Max.

• Max, Lucas, and Erica are in the Creel house, hoping to lure 'Number 1' to attack Max.

• Steve, Nancy, and Robin are in the Creel house in the Upside-Down hoping to attack Vecna while he's distracted attacking Max.

• Eddie and Dustin are in the Upside-Down distracting Vecna's demobats to allow Steve, Nancy, and Robin safe passage into the Creel house.

So you have five groups, often miles apart, all working to the same purpose. It's a veritable masterclass in writing multiple plotlines and ensuring a huge cast of characters all have their part. Especially brilliant how they cross two of those groups over for the climatic fight, as Max teams up with Eleven in the weird dreamscapes to face Vecna - while the rest of their group has little to do (except let Mike have a dramatic speech to give Eleven strength), their group's time is taken by Max and Eleven as a team. 

It got me thinking about how this is very doable in your tabletop game, hopping from one player to the next, splitting the party, but ensuring that they are all working together to the same end, and making sure no one gets bored.

I know it's supposed to make you want to play D&D, but I'm sorry, my rewatch of Stranger Things just made me miss the old Tales from the Loop game we played. I haven't looked into the new D&D Starter Set, but I don't think it covers the teens running around Hawkins, focusing more on Eddie's D&D game. 

The Meet of Dragons (aka, Dragonmeet)

Next week is Dragonmeet! At the Excel Centre in London, this is quite a move away from the Novotel Hotel. A LOT bigger, more stands, more people, and early report say that it's going to be pretty packed. It's exciting stuff, and hopefully (if we can negotiate the rail replacement service - typical) we should be there and wandering around aimlessly, looking bewildered and confused as always. 

If you see me, stop me and say hi, though it may take me a second to register who you are. I'm terrible at faces/names. 

--

I'm sure there was more I wanted to say, but I've forgotten. Next week, I'm sure I'll have more to share about how Dragonmeet goes.

Until then, stay multiclassy!

Sidequest: Every TTRPG Played 51-57

Many, many, many moons ago, I started a series of blogposts listing every tabletop roleplaying game I've ever played - inspired by a post over where the skies are blue (BlueSky) by Kieron Gillen. 

I'm still trying to follow some sort of chronological order. If you want to catch up, you can find the previous posts here:

Every TTRPG I've Played 1-10

Every TTRPG I've Played 11-20

Every TTRPG I've Played 21-30

Every TTRPG I've Played 31-40

Every TTRPG I've Played 41-50

And so, onto the last batch, before I catch up to date with everything I've played. I'm sure I missed some out, but this is all I could remember. 

51) The Gaslight Club

Cover of The Gaslight Club by We-Evolve

This was another playtest for Stoo. The Gaslight Club is a weird one – it plays very much like the old Gangbusters RPG from the 80s, all 1920s with gangs and fancy clubs, nice cars, and classy suits. That is, until something bad happens, and you end up injured or killed, only to be taken behind the scenes, waking to repeat the same events over again. You quickly discover you are hosts in a 'Westworld' style theme park who are becoming aware of the abuse you are constantly subjected to from the human guests. It's only a matter of time before the looping narrative becomes a quest to escape. Great stuff!

52) Blade Runner

Cover of the Blade Runner Roleplaying Game by Free League

I wanted to try the Blade Runner RPG not only because I loved the movies, but mostly because I wanted to try out some cool investigative roleplaying, and I wasn't disappointed. Built on the Year Zero Engine as used in more of my favourite games (Tales from the Loop, see number 40 on this list), there are some clever time management elements in there, and delving into your memories for both human and replicant characters. The stories are really well crafted, utilising a lot of props, but the standout moment was when my character (a human) was suspected of being a replicant and was forced to take a Voight-Kampff test... and failed. Was I really human? Or was it all a set-up? 

Brilliant.

53) The One Ring (2nd Edition)

Cover of The One Ring (Second Edition) by Free League

Returning to Middle-Earth decades after playing the old Middle-Earth Roleplaying Game (see number 10 on this list), with another game by Free League (or Fria Ligan). The One Ring RPG (second edition, the first edition was done by Cubicle 7) was an interesting experience. Really loved the 'stances' thing in combat, where you could be on the attack, defence, etc. and they did a great job of making it feel like Middle-Earth and the epic scope of Lord of the Rings. But, man, is it dangerous. I think we had three 'total party kills' in one adventure, and we all got wiped out again in the follow up. 

Despite all of this, looks like we may be returning to TOR in the very near future.

54) FATE

Cover of the FATE Core rulebook by Evil Hat

FATE is one of those games that I've always wanted to see in action, but never really got around to playing. Stoo wanted to run a game based on the TV series "Travelers" (which is a brilliant and emotional series of time-travel and cool sci-fi stuff, which I talked about on an earlier blogpost last year). Lacking a system to play it with, we gave FATE a go – one of those systems that a lot of people really love, but it just didn't gel with me. Sorry. Game was good, but really didn't get to grips with FATE at all. I'm sorry. Had the book sitting on my shelves for years, and it may just go back there. I'd be reluctant to get rid of it, as my dearly departed cat loved to rub her face on the corner of that book, and took some of the sheen off of it. It reminds me of her at least.

55) Mothership

Cover of the Mothership Player's Guide by Tuesday Knight Games

I wrote a little about Mothership last year when we went to Tabletop Scotland. Looking at the cute boxed set of the standard edition – how it had multiple little A5 books, dice, a screen, and more – just inspired me so much, and filled my head with ideas for how to produce games on a similar scale. So darn cool. 

Of course, we had to play it. The actual game experience was very like ALIEN (see number 50 on this list), with the same feeling of fragility in the characters, and impending doom. Space is flipping dangerous, and full of horrific nightmare creatures. It was good! We didn't feel incompetent, the skill level was about right, and we encountered some disgusting monsters. It was just so depressing and ominous. 

Very good, but doom-laden.

56) Harrowhill Point

Harrowhill Point is an RPG I've been working on for a while with a few of my trusted and regular writers. It's survival horror, in the same vein as Silent Hill or Alan Wake, and I can't really discuss much more than that. We've been playtesting it, and the playtests were SUPER helpful and really worked to bring the epic story of horror and weirdness together. Hopefully, it should he heading to Kickstarter through Cubicle 7 sometime next year. 

57) Mythic Bastionland

Cover of Mythic Bastionland by Bastionland Press

And, possibly finally, we are currently playing Mythic Bastionland. Once again, I watched a Youtube video by Quinns (see his Quinns Quest Youtube Channel, it's very good) and was instantly sold on an RPG. It wasn't the subject matter or the game system so much, rather the lovely design and layout. I bought a copy and didn't really expect to play it, I just absorbed the way it was put together and the gorgeous artwork.

The other players in my group were intrigued, especially Stoo who fancied running it, and so we generated characters, created a map, and off we went. 

It's been good so far – the random element feels a bit odd, and once you realise how the game works (with the D6 every hex determining what happens) it feels like you've seen behind the curtain, and all the pressure is on the GM to 'make stuff up on the fly'. The communal combat rolls are an interesting new take, and took a little getting used to. It means you have to think tactically as a group, but I sometimes feel it takes away from the individual drama of a fight, and the crazy random outcomes from a bad roll. 

It's been fun though!

... what next?

What is next? Of course, this is discounting the D&D 5e game I've been playing monthly with my old gaming group from the 80s (still going strong!) but as it's just D&D and I've already listed D&D right at the start (okay, you pedants, I know, that was AD&D 1st ed, not 5e) I didn't think it required listing again. 

Next, I think it's going to be going back to The One Ring, though I know we talked about Slugblaster for a while (another bit of pimping by Quinns inspired that one), along with my constant desire to run something weird an investigative like Masks of Nyarlathotep or Delta Green's Impossible Landscapes. Who knows!

Okay, that's one series of blogposts that I started finally finished. 

I guess I should finish off the #RPGaDAY posts for this year, and go back to my other weird reminiscences.

Until then, stay multi-classy. 

What's in a Name?

Something is bugging me.

Set the wayback machine to 1998, and a younger me (with hair) really wanted to write and draw comics. With the support of my wife-to-be, and some financial backing from the Prince's Youth Business Trust, I wrote and illustrated four issues of a comic called Missing under the name of "Autocratik Press". 

The old Autocratik Logo

The old logo had the slogan "Autocratik for the Masses", inspired by the REM album, Automatic for the People. I chose the name Autocratik for a couple of reasons – I was given the advice that, especially when it came to getting the comic listed in Diamond Comic Distributor's Previews catalog, to ensure that your company name was high up in the alphabet so it got noticed. You couldn't get any better than starting with A, other than it being at the start of the A's (which it wasn't). I went through the dictionary, looking at words that began with A and there was something about the word that stuck with me. In the dictionary it said that it referred to someone who did things their own way. Kinda rang true, I wanted to do comics, write and illustrate them, I did the layout, the design, almost everything with help from Debs and her graphic design skills, and constant advice. Together we were going to forge a new beginning in comics...

Three of the four issues of Missing, published in 1998-99

Of course, it didn't last. Sales were low. Too low for Diamond to keep distributing it, so after four issues Missing came to an early end. Shame... I had another 91 issues all planned out. Autocratik Press returned a year later for a single comic by the legendary Matt Brooker, called D'Adventures of Israeli: Consequences, continuing the story from Timulo from Deadline. It was amazing – hit nuns with rocket launchers, weirdness, giant haddock. So very cool. 

After that, Autocratik was no more.

When I got into game writing, I went freelance, declared myself self-employed, but I didn't really use the name Autocratik again until 2011. 

Something happened. It was messy, and I won't go into details, but let's just say there was a clash, I was angry. I was annoyed. And above all, I was determined to do things my way. To create, to make the crazy stuff that I wanted to make, and I was damn-well going to do it myself.

I started the blog, used Autocratik as my handle on social media, started specific pages for it on Facebook, it's the name of my Youtube channel, I had business cards done, bought the domain name, and it's been on all of those #RPGaDAY graphics for the last dozen years. 

However, over the last few years, I've heard the term autocratic and autocracy become more and more prevalent, as those with money and power throw their weight about and try to do whatever they want with little regard for anyone else. Now, if you look in the dictionary, the term autocratic is defined as a dictatorship. Sure, it still means someone doing things their way, but now it feels like it's more associated with someone doing things their way to the detriment of others.

Certainly not what I had in mind with the name. 

Which brings me to what's bugging me. I'm wondering if it's time to retire the name, and choose something else? If I did, I'd have to update all of my links, rename all of my social media thingies, get a new website domain, transfer this blog over (which I must admit, I don't know how to do, but I'll learn), destroy all of those business cards and start afresh.

Or do I keep it as it is, and hope that the world changes? Just hope that the term becomes less synonymous with rulers and domination.

Or maybe bring back the "For The Masses" bit, to really embrace the REM-ness of its origins. I may be making stuff and writing things my way, but I'm not forcing anything onto anyone. If you like what I make or write, that's great. I'm not a tyrant. 

If I did rename, what would I change it to? Would people still find me? Do I actually want to be found... maybe I should simply diminish, and go into the west... 

What do you think?

Sidequest: Every TTRPG Played 41-50

Many, many moons ago, I started a series of blogposts listing every tabletop roleplaying game I've ever played - inspired by a post over where the skies are blue (BlueSky) by Kieron Gillen. 

I'm still trying to follow some sort of chronological order. If you want to catch up, you can find the previous posts here:

Every TTRPG I've Played 1-10

Every TTRPG I've Played 11-20

Every TTRPG I've Played 21-30

Every TTRPG I've Played 31-40

And so, onto 41-50...

41) Star Trek Adventures

The cover of first edition Star Trek Adventures by Modiphius

I wrote a long blogpost ages ago about my involvement in Star Trek Adventures. I'm a big Trek fan, and love everything it stands for. When Chris Birch at Modiphius mentioned to me that he'd secured a license that involved a five-year mission I was so excited to get involved. And involved I was. Chris had me developing the game system, how the game would look, suggesting the products, advising on art and graphics, even looking at how the minis were being developed. It was fantastic. I loved every second of working on that. It was just frustrating that I couldn't handle that and a job in retail at the same time. Something had to give, and I reluctantly backed away from Star Trek and faded back into working in retail full time... 

We playtested a bit of the Trek system when we were working on it, playing with my regular gaming group to see how combat and momentum worked. Good times!

42) Spire / Heart

Cover of Spire by Rowan, Rook, and Decard

This is another two-fer, as we played Spire with a lot of its companion game, Heart, involved. This was another huge revelation. The way the experience system worked, accomplishing specific goals to unlock new abilities. Really clever. And some of the themes and motivations were completely bonkers. There was a lot of exploring underground, some investigations into the Spire, and I just remember using my Zenith Ability, my final power that was so powerful it would kill my character. My strange knight's final act was to erase the concept of the Spire from existence. The tower, the elves, the ruling class that brought so much misery, all gone. Forgotten, as if they never existed. As you can imagine, that's where our game ended. I think one of the other characters used their Zenith ability too, for a truly epic finale. Awesome.

43) Aegean

Cover of the Aegean RPG by We-Evolve

This one kinda started as playtesting and we just kept going. Stoo was working on an RPG based on Ancient Greek mythology, and wanted to playtest it. It felt strangely like Runequest in its detail in combat, looking at the reach of weapons, and the usefulness of armour. However, his Aegean RPG incorporated a lot of cool and heroic abilities, as well as the influence of the gods. Top all of that off with some town building mechanics, and Aegean shaped up to be incredibly cool. We played a lot of games of Aegean – including using the game system to play mythic Vikings battling frost giants and elves, and a separate game in a more traditional fantasy setting. The system holds up brilliantly, and it's no surprise Stoo is using again for his next game.

44) WILD

Cover of the WILD RPG by We-Evolve

Another bit of playtesting I'm afraid. Well, you don't spend ten years working on a game and release it unplayed do you? WILD went through a lot of versions, starting off using Vortex like Doctor Who, then a different dice system, then Tarot cards in a variety of forms and styles. Without those playtests it would not have been playable. Thanks everyone.

45) Scum & Villainy / Coriolis

Cover of Scum and Villainy by Evil Hat Productions

This is another one that's a strange mash up of two games. Our regular GM wanted to run Coriolis, but didn't really gel with the game system. This was long before the new Coriolis that uses the Year Zero Engine. Instead, we used the Scum and Villainy ruleset, a game that uses the Blades in the Dark system, and kinda felt like Firefly but incorporated some of the locations and mythology of Coriolis. Again, it was awesome and epic, and it was great to experience the Blades in the Dark system, with its "succeed at a cost" element from PtbA. 

46) Changeling: The Lost

Cover of Changeling: The Lost by White Wolf

Considering I was a massive fan of the old World of Darkness, and loved Mage: The Ascension, it wasn't until well over a decade later that I tried the 'New World of Darkness' in a game of Changeling: The Lost. We played set in Victorian York, and I based my character heavily on Timothy Dalton's character from the TV series Penny Dreadful. It was great, and whimsical, and strange. Trains full of fey markets, and weird spider-ladies. Our knowledge resource was an owl. One of the characters could communicate with the dead, and we were trying to save kids from becoming abducted from the city's orphanage. 

When Covid hit and we were locked-down, playing online meant that the game became a roleplaying experience of going to cafes, sampling cakes and drinking tea, or going shopping, rather than progressing the plot – you know, all the things we couldn't do in reality! 

47) Action Potential

Cover of Action Potential RPG by We-Evolve

This was another bit of playtesting, back when Action Potential was in its early concept phase. Rhi had used the Forged in the Dark ruleset to create a cool RPG of being able to upload your consciousness into new 'sleeves', in a cool cyberpunk weirdness way, like Altered Carbon. We played characters sent to a space station to discover what had happened to the crew, only everyone was dead and — plot twist — the crew were our characters! We were playing backups of our consciousnesses uploaded into new bodies as our originals had been killed on the station.

Rhi worked with Debs to develop these cool character sheets where your sleeves had different stats that overlapped and you could switch them out as you changed sleeve. It was really cool, and well worth playing.

48) Hard Wired Island

Cover of Hard Wired Island by Weird Edge Games

I must admit, I'd not heard of this game before we started playing it, and it surprised me by being really cool. Again, very cyberpunk, and set on a space station that feels very much like what we thought cyberpunk would be in the 80s. I played a hard-boiled detective, like someone from Sin City, who teamed up with a synth and graffiti artist to try to stop thugs from targeting a pro-synthetic club. Was really cool, and I'm definitely going to look into the second edition when it Kickstarts. 

49) Doctors and Daleks

Cover of the Doctors and Daleks Player's Guide by Cubicle 7

Another strange one. I didn't think Doctor Who would work with 5e Dungeons & Dragons, but the team who worked on this absolutely nailed it. They captured the feel of the series, kept true to Doctor's ideals, and introduced some amazing new non-combat conflict rules to 5e, allowing you to defeat an enemy with wits and dialogue. I was on board for the project, bringing my Doctor Who roleplaying knowledge, and did a few playtests, but did play a little on a short actual play run by Zak, which was a blast (especially as I played Graham O'Brien and got to be confused and old, just like me). 

50) ALIEN

One of the tensest games I've played. So many stress-dice being rolled, so much running around panicking. I think, in true ALIEN fashion, all of the characters died, but we destroyed the ship with the xenomorphs in so they couldn't get onto another ship. Very cool, and very evocative of the source material. I'd be intrigued to see how a longer campaign would work, and really harks back to the old Odyssey game that I played waaaay back (see Number 18).

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That's it for this part. Maybe one more batch to go? 

Until next time, stay multi-classy!

Sidequest: Every TTRPG Played 31-40

Many, many moons ago, when I wasn't distracted by work, conventions, and other goings on in life, I started a series of blogposts listing every tabletop roleplaying game I've ever played - inspired by a post over where the skies are blue (BlueSky) by Kieron Gillen. 

I've tried to list them in some sort of chronological order. If you want to catch up, you can find the previous posts here:

Every TTRPG I've Played 1-10

Every TTRPG I've Played 11-20

Every TTRPG I've Played 21-30

So, without further ado, let's move on to 31-40!!

31) Buffy The Vampire Slayer / Angel

Cover of Eden Studios's Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG

Oh man, where to begin with this one. I was a MASSIVE Buffy fan, so when I started doing a little work for Eden Studios and they said they'd got the Buffy and Angel licenses, I was completely ecstatic. I did some editing assisting on the Slayer's Handbook and Monster Smackdown, and got really into rewatching episodes and trying to map out locations for the unreleased Welcome to Sunnydale. 

The Buffy RPG was brilliant, still is, and a real inspiration for many games I worked on. The way CJ Carella baked in the mechanic that you had to weaken the vampires before you attempted the staking move, made it feel like the series, having a cool fight before dusting them.

Still in my Top 5 RPGs of all time in my books.

32) Deadlands

Cover of classic Deadlands RPG by Pinnacle

Played a few games of Deadlands, and they were great fun. I played one of those magic-slinging types with the cards, and it was a really cool the way the game integrated using cards, poker chips, and dice. Really gave you a great feel like you're in the Old West. 

33) Terra Primate

Cover of Terra Primate by Eden Studios

While I'd been doing some editing and stuff for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and All Flesh Must Be Eaten, my first real writing and developing work was for Eden Studios again. I'd suggested some All Flesh Must Be Eaten supplements, but George suggested a helped out with a project they had been working on called Terra Primate. The text for the settings was all done, it just needed the rules plugging in and converting from AFMBE, and testing... Had to be play tested, of course!

I never realised there were so many options for 'Planet of the Apes' style games.

34) Farscape

The cover of the Farscape RPG from AEG

Ah, it was back in the days when D20 was an open license and everyone was making games using the D20 system. Again, if ever there was a game that shouldn't be D20, it was Farscape. Man, I love Farscape. It was a weird series... everyone kept telling me I should watch it, I tried the first episode when it aired and it didn't really do anything for me, but I caught the two-parter of the end of season one/start of season two, and wondered what I was missing. I immediately bought the DVDs, caught up, and was really hooked.

When AEG (back when they used to do RPGs) announced they were doing Farscape, and wanted playtesters, I signed up. I had pages of feedback for them... pages... and then the playtesting stopped, and we heard nothing more until the game came out. Haven't played it since those playtests, but it sits on my shelf as a reminder of what could have been. 

35) GURPS/Hellboy

Deluxe limited edition of the first Hellboy RPG, powered by GURPS

Back when we had the 'RPG Reading Group' at the bookstore I worked at, the first RPG of Hellboy appeared. I loved the comics, so was excited to check out the game. However, again, it was another licensed property that I thought had a game system that didn't work for it. I'm sure it was fine, but GURPS didn't do anything for me. Sorry. We did a session as part of the group, it was fun, but... that was it. Sits on my shelf with the other limited edition books and the Hellboy collection. 

36) Conspiracy X 2.0

Cover of Conspiracy X 2.0 from Eden Studios

I've mentioned so many times on this blog how I have always been obsessed with The X-Files, and I loved the first edition of Conspiracy X. However, the game system just didn't do it for me. I'm sorry. I know there were loads of First Edition Conspiracy X fans out there who were dedicated to the system, but it just felt odd that it was the only game that Eden produced that wasn't Unisystem. I pitched a conversion to George, and in a completely unhealthy way to deal with a loss in the family, I immersed myself in converting the game for a year. 

Once again, playtesting was the key here, and a few sessions playing through some of the classic ConX scenarios. One was incredibly helpful in fixing a rule or two if I remember correctly. Really cool.

37) Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space / The Roleplaying Game

Cover of the first edition box set of Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space by Cubicle 7 Games

I've talked about the Doctor Who RPG many times on my blog as well – how Chris Birch was in touch after Conspiracy X 2.0 came out, how we chatted about getting new people gaming, and how he knew people at the BBC. One thing lead to another and I developed the Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG, which later became simply Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game. 

Sounding a bit like a stuck record, this was playtesting again, making sure the game system worked. I ran a couple of tiny system tests, but the bulk of the playtesting game from the volunteer groups, and they helped shape it into the flexible game it is. 

38) Fiasco

Cover of Fiasco from Bully Pulpit Games

It's not all playtesting! We played a couple of one-shots of Fiasco as well with some friends. I can't remember too much about it — it was a scenario on a space station if I remember correctly. A murder mystery, may have involved aliens, certainly involved crawling around in air ducts. It's really interesting to play something quite so improv. It's quite freeing. Sometimes you need to try different games to experience new systems and ways of playing. 

39) Star Wars (Fantasy Flight Games)

Cover of the Force and Destiny Core Rulebook for FFG's Star Wars RPG

Yeah, I know, it has weird dice. But those weird dice produced some seriously epic moments. We played a lot of Star Wars – one campaign was a cool one where we played Padawan Jedi, during the Clone Wars and mid-mission, Order 66 happened and we had to go into hiding, start a resistance unit, join the rebellion, and take down as many of them as we could. There were some awesome moments, one involved riding a crashing Aethersprite then jumping off and landing on an AT-TE and lightsabering my way in. Of course, every time Vader turned up, we ran away. That was genuinely terrifying.

We also played games as troopers who switched sides, pirates, engineers, and smugglers. I can't remember a session of it that wasn't a complete blast. Our only gripe was we could do all these cool things, and do epic stunts, but when we had to jump over a gap we just kept failing. Typical!

40) Tales From The Loop / Things From The Flood / Mutant Year Zero

The cover of the Tales from the Loop RPG by Fria Ligan (Free League)

This one's really three-in-one, but it'll make sense. First of all, I have to state that I LOVE Tales From The Loop. Really cool, gorgeous art that inspired the game. Simple system on a minimal amount of pages. It just oozes weird sci-fi alternate 80s. I love the setting, really like the system, and then, to top it off, the campaign we played was flippin' epic.

We played as teenagers in the 80s in Great Yarmouth, close to the East Anglia Loop system. We discovered wacky time travel goings on, strange robots, and creatures as expected in a Loop game. And then, things progressed. We moved into the setting's sister game, Things From The Flood, as we grew up a bit and became older teens. Weirder things were happening at the Loop, and we failed to stop it happening. Something exploded, and the area was irradiated, and we moved the game into Mutant Year Zero. Setting up a sanctuary on the pier, we investigated what was happening, and faced the worst evil – my character's mother, mutated into a strange spider creature. We finally discovered what was at the heart of it all, and how to fix it, using weird occurrences in the Loop facility to time travel back to the 80s to prevent the disaster. We reset the timeline, and saved the county. 

Epic. 

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I think a couple more of these and I'll be up to date! Stay tuned, and stay multi-classy!

Tabletop Scotland 2025

We're back from almost a week away north of the border, visiting friends and running a small stall at Tabletop Scotland.

Debs had her stall selling her cool gothy wares from her Misery Makes business and I was helping there, and we kept Stoo and Rhi company on the We_Evolve stand next to us. We had a similar stall last year, and it was good fun, but not exactly a huge money-earner – we kinda went thinking it'll be good to have a look around the convention, and spend some time with Stoo and Rhi, taking in the sights in Scotland, and petting their cats. 

The convention itself was good! Quiet still, especially on the Friday, and a 10th of the size of UK Games Expo, but we met some cool people, saw some cool games, and I bought the prettiest dice I had ever seen.

I mean, look at them. I saw them last year at the Trayed and Tested stand, and I pondered getting them then, and I took too darn long. By the time I decided to get them, they were gone... Luckily, this year, they had another set and I wasn't going to wait this time. Look! Look how gorgeous they are... 

Overall, the convention was better than last year, but there was something different this time. Last year I'd just read through Mothership and saw all the cool zines and came away from it filled with ideas and plans, eager to do cool stuff. This year, I was just exhausted, and came away with a great head-cold. Joy!

Unlike last year, we were kindly invited to stay a couple of extra days by Stoo and Rhi to take in the sights of Scotland. We had a quick wander around Glasgow (really cool bronze map of the city)...

... and Rhi drove us around some of the nearby Lochs...

Awesome. 

I'd like to thank everyone who came and visited the stand at Tabletop Scotland, and offer my heartfelt thanks to Stoo and Rhi for putting up with us / putting us up, and I'm so sorry that you felt you had to entertain me with a rewatch of The X-Files while we were there. I throughly enjoyed it, and hope you weren't too bored (you've up to a cracking episode next if you decide to keep going, Beyond the Sea). 

Now, I'm going to continue taking the meds to fight off the con-crud, and recover from the 8hr train journeys (each way).