Let’s talk about what we’re actually doing when we play a roleplaying game for a minute.
Articles by Ben Jackson-Ellery
In this archive, you'll find Ben Jackson-Ellery's recent work on Tabletop & RPGs.
Genre Police: I Believe In Father Christmas
No one knows when it began, but each year, a battle is joined over an ancient question, one that can never be answered. Scholars lock into debate over seasonal food, decrying or supporting. Others cower behind the tree and whisper in confusion. We as a culture need an answer – Is Die Hard a Christmas […]
Genre Police: Actual Police
So it’s taken us a year to get to it, but genre police is going to finally look at the genre that inspired its name. The Police procedural is perhaps the most popular television genre of the last thirty years, without thinking I could list upwards of twenty shows that fit the pattern. And yet, […]
Genre Police: The Spy Who Critted Me
Espionage is an instantly recognisable genre. Due to its very clearly defined tropes, everyone can remake a spy movie – just think about it now, you can already see the grand opening action sequence in your mind. But when we get down to particulars, lots of spy media are very different. Goldfinger is not the […]
Genre Police: Where DM’s dare
The War genre is widely variable. Depending on nation creating the media, the level of patriotism acceptable in the cultural environment and the directors intent, a ‘War Story’ can be anything from a heavily edited propaganda piece, meditation on the cost of war, a high action thriller, documentary or long running comedy that also makes […]
Genre Police: Pouches & Punishment!
If you were researching comics history and you asked Wikipedia for its opinion, you’d see posits that the publication of Watchmen creates a modern, more sophisticated age of comics overnight that is still in place today. This is a commonly held sentiment and is also is massively wrong. Go pick up an issue of Watchmen, […]
Genre Police: A Change Is Gonna Come
Mostly when I write a genre police story, I begin by picking the genre and then discussing the issues around the context and creation of the genre. But today we’re going to have to approach this article from a different perspective. We’re about to talk about the Bronze age of comics, a style and era […]
Genre Police: Look, Up In The Sky!
Is it a bird, is it a plane? No! It’s the wonderful world of superheroes. Easy to discuss Supers, just check out Captain America, right? What do you mean he comes from a different genre to Thor? What about Rorschach? Claire Bennet fits in here somewhere as well, doesn’t she? Now we are in a […]
Genre Police: Pulp Fiction(s)?
So, Pulp. I’ve left this one off for a long while because I think we needed to discuss a few of the other genres to get here. When someone mentions Pulp tales, we all know what we are talking about. We’re fighting Nazis on a plane wing, discovering lost valleys with golden temples, escaping dinosaurs […]
Genre Police: Trenchcoats & Tragedy
I know you’ve put the trenchcoat away since we did Gothpunk but it’s time to get it out again. Put it back on, find a hat and pour yourself some bourbon straight from the bottle. There’s a mystery to be solved and we’re gonna have to crack some writer’s knuckles to do it – let’s […]
