Mysteries of Montreal

 This past year has been many, many things. Most of which are outside the remit of this here blog, so I shall pass them by without another word.  What this year has been for me, and for many others, is an eye-opener in terms of how accessible gaming has become online. This has meant that not only have I run as many games as I would have in a normal year (maybe even a few sessions more) but I have played a lot more gaming sessions than I have in decades, AND a lot more variety of games than I have since just as long. Rather than list them all out, let's see the numbers. This year, I have played in a whopping 48. Forty eight gaming sessions this year alone. Just to give you an idea, last year I played in 13 sessions of various RPGs, and 5 of those were at Necronomicon. I think the year before I managed 2! What have I been playing? Well, looky here... Of those games played, I am very happy to have finally got in a game of Fiasco . It went very well, and am looking to get more gam...

Last weekend, I participated in my second trip to the bi-annual event that is NecronomiCon Providence. To be quite honest, I had reservations. I had such a great time last time, that I worried the Con would not stand up to my expectations. Thankfully, I was wrong.  Last time, I posted a post for each day, but this time, I'm breaking it down in terms of events I attended, starting with games. To be quite frank, I think for me, this time was much more centred around the games I wanted to play. I think I went to a lot less panels, and this was partly to do with how the games I really wanted to play were timed. I also think the games panels were a little more spread out in time and place this year, but more of that later. I arrived later than I intended on Thursday evening, due to a GPS blip taking me through Boston at rush hour, but I did manage to join my table for Lovecraftesque before it was too late. The games was hosted by Matt Hawkes . I say hosted, as he was not the G...

Very... euchlidian !?

This is old news now, of course, but this great interactive map gives an insight into homicides in Montreal in the modern era. The CBC interactive map , with points for all the 28 homicides in Montreal for the year of 201. If you want to now more, each of the map pins has a link to the story of the death on the CBC website.  These are only those related to deaths on the island of Montreal. I was a little surprised it was only 28. Not that I feel Montreal is a dangerous town, but that just doesn't seem like much. This is of course a good thing. Another thing to note, in game terms, is that they are spread around the city, making no one borough more dangerous than any other.

We hear much these days about the big brother state. Back in the 80s and before, it was a thing to be feared. These days, with the prevalence of the internet in out lives, and the amount of our own selves we share online, either voluntarily or not, means that for better or worse, we are much more at ease with the ability of others to watch us from afar. Maybe because we just don't think about it, or we don't want to think about it. So when I came across this website , I was less annoyed by the intrusion as I may have been back in the day, but I see it as a great In a modern game of Call of Cthulhu, or, even better, the Laundry, The uses for this kind of surveillance are multiple, and creepy

Sir William Dawson 1884 My eye was drawn to this article as it passed my facebook feed the other day, as one that certainly requires more study, and fits well within the remit for this blog, so lets have a look at it then! Of course, the title of this article suggests a burial ground , but the reality is both more mundane, and, in other ways more exciting than that. This story is about the Dawson Site . Found in 1860, the Dawson site, so named due to the work there by John William Dawson ; it was an Iroquoian village and thousands of artefacts were found there, as listed in the link above for the site, most of which were concurrent with a village. Yes, 25 burials were also found, with a possibility of over 100 still in place.  Hochelaga, circa 1535 I heard an interview with a local  archaeologist on the radio yesterday evening, (so no source to link to, but it was likely the same one quoted in the above article) that suggested that, yes, there was the possibility o...

Want to know where the criminals live in Montréal? Where are the hoods? Well now you can find out. Stats have been taken from three correctional institutions in Québec, Bordeaux Prison, Rivière-des-Prairie Institution, and Centre de Detention Tanguay. The data shows us where those convicted originate from. In terms of Montréal, this can give an insight into the origins of the criminal element in terms of which parts of Montréal they live in. This is not a map of where crimes are commited, that's a completely different map. The three hot-spots, or hoods, on the Island of Montreal are Montréal-Nord, Saint-Michel and Hochelaga. To those that live in town, that will come as no great surprise. The other hot-spots in the province not around the town of Montreal (which considering the percentage of the population of Quebec that live in the area, it's no surprise the majority come from in or near the city) are in the north of the Province, which, considering the economics of th...

This is a slight detour from our normal service, but my good lady wife brought this to my attention. With information taken from the 2011census, here we have a map of Quebec, showing the anglophone population (and by extension, the franco population too) by region. Click here for the map . Leaving politics aside, it's a fun and interesting representation of Modern Quebec.

It's been a while since i last tried to PBM/PBP. I've been been both a player in games that are new starts (Angel) and continuation of long running tabletop games (Deadlands). I've also tried running by PBP (Call of Cthulhu). In all permutations, I have never seen a game run to completion. So, I was unsure when I read over on Craig's blog 'The Watch House' that he was running a Primeval PBP, I was both tempted, and wary. A hop over to the RPG.net thread , and all of a sudden I was signed up. I have seen the potential for a Primeval game since I watched the first season, so it came as no surprise to me when the book was finally released. I have yet to get a copy for myself, maybe a pdf will be purchased shortly. The fact that the ever prolific Gareth hanrahan-Ryder has a hand in it only makes this more likely. The game will be a one-shot, based in the UK. Good, because I have yet to watch the new version of the series. Plus it makes it more likely you...