All entertainment posts, including possible subcategories for: roleplaying and tabletop games, computer games, films and TV
Michael was my nephew. He was 15 when he died last year after six years of illness, treatment, and isolation. So when it comes to coping strategies for medical incarceration, he was a pro. Even before he was ill, we always enjoyed playing games together. I wish he was here Read more…
When my nephew died last year, a few weeks after his fifteenth birthday, the resulting emotional storm of torment, frustration and regret was impossible to process. Oddly, like a storm, there was a strange peace to be found at the centre of it all. For me, it was having purpose Read more…
Internet culture is a fascinating, terrifying, distorted reflection of human behaviour. Social media is a House of Mirrors which warps context, subverts emphasis and provokes opinion. I’ve learned from experience that emotionally investing in online interactions is a hazardous pastime which can lead to dark places. It can also be Read more…
Dear all, As any of you who followed my teenage nephew’s brief, tragic foray into the Elite Dangerous community starlight likely already know, Michael (aka CMDR Michael Holyland) died on 22nd May 2019. His funeral service and cremation was on 7th June at which I gave two eulogies to remember Read more…
How many Players Handbooks does it take to change a lightbulb? To be honest, I couldn’t tell you; I’ve got three 5th edition PHB versions and no lightbulbs have yet changed. Let me explain… Over the last year or so, my newly awakened Dungeons & Dragons passion has slowly eased Read more…
Returning to Dungeons & Dragons after a quarter-century absence was always going to be a challenge. But I may have underestimated just how much. Mistakes were made. Pick a World, Any World I have vague recollections of being a reasonably competent dungeon master once, but they were simpler times. As Read more…
Over a quarter of a century ago, I was a Dungeon Master. Then life happened; career, mortgage, marriage, kids. The funny-shaped dice gathered dust. Yet over the passing decades, the impact of those teenage roleplaying game sessions has resonated through my life. Not least the fact that I’ve remained close Read more…
Derrick was about to die. Shrouded in the empty blackness of a vast, subterranean cavern, Derrick Stoneballs – second-storey man and lifelong criminal – clung to the vertical rock face and gave his predicament careful consideration even as his muscles screamed for respite. As a dwarf, he accepted his people’s Read more…
At Fanfest 2013 – the last I attended – I idly speculated with CCP Guard at the press buffet about whether or not I would be attending the following year. I recall he laughed and said something along the lines of ‘of course you will, we won’t let you leave’ Read more…
While I appreciate that Freebooted has historically been an EVE Online blog exclusively, my current love affair with Elite: Dangerous has left me considering expanding my content. After all, five years dedicated to a single game does seem a little… obsessive. Of course, I’ll continue to discuss EVE Online – I Read more…