Revivals (Week Notes, 12, 2025)
Week notes up to and including Sunday 23 March 2025, covering week 12 of 2025.
Urban Dead is no more.
Urban Dead was a zombie mmorpg that ran from 2005-2025. It closed on 14th March, just short of its 20th birthday, and the prognosis is irreversible.
The announcement on the closure cites new UK legislation which could put the game's solo-developer, Kevan Davis, on the hook:
The Online Safety Act comes into force later this month, applying to all social and gaming websites where users interact, and especially those without strong age restrictions. With the possibility of heavy corporate-sized fines even for solo web projects like this one, I've reluctantly concluded that it doesn't look feasible for Urban Dead to be able to continue operating.
I was a keen player but, as it goes with these things, I'd drop out for periods and I hadn't logged in for a really long time. I wish I'd known this was coming as it would have been super fun to play the last few hours in a final stand in South East Heytown with my team.
It looks like Kevan has other projects that he's closing due to this legislation. If you've enjoyed his work in the past, now might be a good time to buy him a coffee.
Rewind: rediscovering CDs
This weekend I retrieved my CDs from the loft and made an unexpected discovery.
One of the fun things about CD as a format was "secret" bonus tracks. It was always a delight to put a 12-track album on and see the LCD offer 99 tracks—a sure sign that leaving the disc spinning would offer a reward.
Somehow, though, I'd never heard of pre-gap tracks which can be accessed by "rewinding" from track one. I have 30 year old records that I've never listened to properly.
The collapse of Unbound
Unbound was a crowdfunding-based book publisher that started back in 2014. Essentially authors pitched books, pre-sold copies via kickstarter-style pledges, and then Unbound would commit to putting the books out when enough pledges were made.
There's been chatter for some time of trouble at Unbound, but things have come to a head: the business is closed, books are left unpublished, orders unfulfilled and authors unpaid.
Tom Cox is one of Unbound's authors. He has managed to secure the rights to all his books and all the stock too. He's currently trying to sell and fulfil orders for books himself so that he can move palettes of novels out of the way of his fridge. You can just email him to get a book.
Bad Sisters
We've just finished watching Apple TV's Bad Sisters. Series one ports over a Belgian show, series two strikes out on its own. I'd been warned that series two gave diminishing returns, and I can see why people are saying that, but I was fully invested in the extended exploits of the Garvey girls.
Series two may feel lesser because it lacked the menace of series one villain, JP Williams. JP is an absolute hall of fame bad guy, and Claes Bang's performance in the role builds on his turn as Dracula in the recent Gatiss/Moffat production, his malevolence suddenly throttling the sisters' frothy banter soaked scenes to conjure unsettling moments of black comedy. Series two lacks a central villain and it never hits quite the same emotional notes, but it does find new ones that are equally enjoyable if you let it take you.
I probably don't need a season 3 of Bad Sisters, and another run would need an Only Murders in the Building level of conceit from writer Sharon Horgan, but I'm more troubled by the news that Ted Lasso is going to undo its perfect ending and come back for another season.
Do you need tough love to keep games on track?
Scheduling is the biggest problem in keeping a roleplaying campaign going, and many campaigns start strong then fizzle out. How do we revive these zombie games, and how do we stop them fading in the first place?
Kieron Gillen's tough love rules might be an answer?
1- The DM sets a regular time to play
2- The game happens on that night, with whoever turns up
3- The only time a date moves is if the DM can't make that time or if literally no other player can make it
I do like this a lot. The full idea is presented as a "patch" to the DnD Players' Handbook (though the idea works for all games?), and it includes ideas for how to actually manage absences in a way that is fair and meaningful.
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And we end the week with new life! Ghost's social web beta is now available to everyone on Ghost(Pro) 🎉
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