Drum Roll, Please!

If you're going to do something, it's best to make sure you do it properly. And I'm very pleased to announce that, after a few years of polishing, refining, and stalking some wonderful artists (in the friendliest way possible, of course), myself and Modiphius Entertainment are pleased to announce that Cogs, Cakes and Swordsticks is available for your delectation and delight from those fine purveyors of all things gamery: RPG Now (click on this to go straight to its sales page).

With lovely artwork by his High Tea-ness, Dr Geof, additional squiggles by my good husband, Mr. Richard Hardy, and beautifully laid out by that dedicated gent, Mr Michal Cross, we do hope that you'll find the game as much fun to play as it was to write and test.

I'd also like to thank everyone who helped with that testing and supported us during the early days - I think I managed to get all of your names into the Acknowledgements!

Our Friends in the North

Well, actually, a scone recipe from the Hairy Bikers, Si and Dave, who are from the North and seem very friendly to boot. And its got a Canadian theme (sort of) with lots of lovely maple syrup. I'm putting up the recipe as is, but do beware with the liquid quantities - it can all go a bit gooey, so you might want to go a bit careful when it comes to mixing the wet and dry ingredients.

Cup conversions are courtesy of Delia Smith, and this recipe should make you about 12 scones.

300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
100g (1 cup) rolled oats (oatmeal/porridge oats)
100g (approx 2/3 cup) wholemeal flour
50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
160g (aprox 3/4 cup) unsalted butter
100g (1 cup) chopped walnuts
125ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk
150ml (approx 2/3 cup) maple syrup

Preheat oven to gas mark 4 (350F, 180C)
Mix the self-raising flour, wholemeal flour, rolled oats, caster sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl
Rub the butter into the flour mix until it resembles fine breadcrumbs
Fold in the chopped walnuts
Pour the buttermilk and maple syrup into a separate bowl and mix thoroughly
Slowly add the buttermilk & syrup mix to the dry mix to form a dough
Roll the dough into a log shape and cut into 3cm (1.25") rounds
OR
Roll out the dough onto a floured surface to a depth of 3cm (1.25") and cut out the scones
Place the scones onto a greased baking tray
Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until risen and golden brown

Eat warm with butter and a nice cup of tea (or coffee)

Enjoy!

Cogs and Cookies!

In celebration of the fact that I finally remembered my password for the blog, we'd like to share a rather lovely cookie recipe with you. It’s taken from the back of a packet of Dove's Farm Organic Spelt Flour, and its quick and tasty (and actually quite Romanesque, what with the honey, cinnamon and spelt). Perfect for dunking (if you like that kind of thing), do enjoy!

Dove's Honey and Cinnamon Cookies

200g wholegrain spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g honey (we like Chain Bridge honey 'cos its good to support local suppliers)
100g sunflower oil

Preheat your oven to gas mark 5 (190°C or 375°F)
Place the spelt flour, baking powder, cinnamon, honey and oil all together in a bowl.
Mix until a dough is formed
Place teaspoonfuls of the dough onto an oiled baking tray. Make sure you leave room around each one for it to expand
Bake for 8-12 minutes, until golden brown

Mecha Chickens Not Included

When I'm writing for conventions, I often like to have scenarios that are linked to the place the game is being run. Lincoln was no exception and I did quite a bit of research to try and find a local hook for the story. Providence was again smiling because George Boole, the father of Boolean logic (and therefore of modern computing) was born in Lincoln and ran several schools there. The castle at Lincoln is also fascinating, having been used as a gaol during the Victorian period. And then, of course, there was The Lawn...
After a bit of cogitation, the seed for the scenario developed under its own steam. I also like to make sure that if I'm writing a detective style scenario, I have several people who could have done it. That way, I can reuse the scenario, giving it a slightly different twist each time. It worked very well for a scenario I used to run for Pelgrane Press at conventions; every time it aired someone different was the murderer, so you could actually play the same game more than once and still get something new from it. The Lincoln game was constructed to have three possible outcomes, all based on the same core background.

I ran the new scenario twice at Lincoln over the weekend, first for a group of experienced roleplayers and then for two newcomers (ably assisted by some more experienced hands we've gamed with for years in an LRP capacity). The version used for the first session was one of the two slightly more complex iterations of the story. There were quite a few technical challenges to running it that were beyond our control, but all in all it went well and proved that the idea was a sound one. The players quickly came on board with the system and seemed to thoroughly enjoy decorating their cakes before we got going. Not that the cakes had anything really to do with the story, but it was a fun thing to do (there was multi-coloured icing sugar, hundreds & thousands and silver balls!).

For the second session, I reverted to the first and much simpler version of the tale. The two young ladies who joined us were absolute naturals and really jumped into the game whole-heartedly. The technical difficulties of the day before were overcome by a change of venue and there was much hilarity, especially when the group decided that a well educated giant mecha chicken was probably responsible for all of the shenanigans in old Lincoln town. Well, that, or Professor Yaffle from Bagpuss. It wasn't, more's the pity, but it was a rather fun idea. Again, the group neatly solved the puzzle with minimum hinting from me.

The highlight of this game for me was that one of the young ladies wanted to set up her own group at home to play it because she'd enjoyed herself so much. You can't ask for more than that.

The Asylum

Some days it feels as if we're all living in one, but The Asylum is a fantastic steampunk convention that will be taking place in Lincoln over the weekend of 10-12th September 2010.

We'll be running Cogs, Cakes & Swordsticks at the Asylum (possibly in a prison cell, no less!) on Saturday & Sunday afternoon. Each session will be for between 4-6 people. We'll also be selling a newly updated and expanded version of the game for a very measly sum at the Dicken's & Rivett stall (who will also be selling PixiePunk Designs jewellery). Jon Hodgson's wonderful design will be on the cover, lovingly tweaked by Terry Lightfoot.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that Saturday's game may also have an extra special touch to it. At the very least, I'll be baking something delicious to take along. After all, gamers (especially Victorian steampunk ones) need cake!

Cakey Goodness

Taking a leaf out of Graham Walmsley's book (the upcoming "A Taste For Murder"), I've decided that it might be nice to pop some cake recipes up here for your perusal. Cake is vitally important to any Victorian game, as is tea. But I don't have any tea recipes, although should you find yourself in Toronto, there's a superb tea shop called All Things Tea we would highly recommend (especially their Belgian Chocolate one, its scrummy).

So, first recipe: This one is from the recipe sheet available from Heatherslaw Mill in Northumberland. Should you be in the area, the mill is well worth a visit and has a nice little shop selling all sorts of flour and cooking ingredients as well as the usual tourist tat. I've actually made this cake several times and its rather nice.

Heatherslaw's Carrot Cake:
Ingredients
6oz (170g) Heatherslaw wholemeal flour (although any good quality organic wholemeal will do)
4oz (115g) grated carrot
4oz (115g) margarine (or butter substitute, which usually tastes nicer)
4oz (115g) soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of milk
2.5 level teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional, allegedly, but it does work very nicely in this cake)
Grated zest of half an orange
Pinch of salt

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160C/325F/Gas mark 3
2. Sift baking powder, salt, cinnamon and flour into a small bowl, mix well and add the grated carrot. Mix again
3. Cream the margarine and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, then add the orange zest. (Try to resist eating the butter/sugar mix; my Nana always swore it was good for sore throats, but no matter how tempting, you need it for the cake)
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Spoon in a little of the flour mixture to stop it from curdling. (To be on the safe side, I always add a little flour before I start adding the eggs, which I always crack into a cup to make sure they're fresh first)
4. Gradually mix in the rest of the flour, then add the milk a little at a time until the mixture is soft but not runny. (You may need more milk, or less, but be careful with this step or you'll end up with icky goop)
5. Place in a six-inch (approx. 15cm) cake tin which has been greased and lined with greaseproof paper
6. Bake at the above temperature for forty-five to sixty minutes. (To see if its cooked, insert a clean skewer in the centre of the cake: if it comes out clean, the cake is done; if there's cake mix on it, it needs a bit longer)
7. Cool on a wire rack, then scoff it.

You could add icing or butter-cream to the top, but that would make it very naughty indeed. I've never tried that, so I don't have a recipe for it. There is one here, though, but I've no idea how good it is. Apparently you can add flavourings to it instead of/as well as the vanilla; orange might be nice, say some Grand Marnier...

Enjoy!

New and Improved!

Yes, we too have succumbed to the whole new and improved fad. We've listened to our play testers (thank you!), added in a few of the tweaks we were saving for the final game but thought you'd enjoy anyway and put the whole brand-spanking updated version of the free game on the website for your perusal.

Not the best date in the world to pick for the rerelease, maybe, but there you go. We're British and we have an odd sense of humour ;)