Judge Dredd Random Crime Drop Table

I wouldn't be much of a fan of the Old School Rennaisance (OSR) of Roleplaying if I didn't love making a drop table every now and then.

How To Use the Judge Dredd Random Crime Drop Table

• Download it and print it out.  
  
• Grab some dice 
• Roll up some Crimes
  

SAMPLE CRIMES & SENTENCES

Armed Robbery - As the Judges pass by the Bank / Shop / Truck an alarm sounds and a group of balaclava wearing perps start blazing away with their spit guns.  SENTENCE: 18 to 30 years.

Arson - An eagle eyed judge spots a perp running away from a smoking building / vehicle / vending machine - SENTENCE: Life

Assault - A fight breaks out between some citizens and the PCs need to break it up.  SENTENCE: 1 to 5 years for brawling,  3 to 10 years if anyone is seriously injured.  10 years if someone injurs a Judge or a public figure.

Boinging in Public - The tranquility is broken by screams as a giant bouncing ball careens through the crowd.  SENTENCE: 20 years.

Coercion to Suicide - A Judge spots a citizen about to take a dive and a crowd is urging them to jump.  SENTENCE: 10 to 15 years.

Comic Book Smuggling - A comic book smuggler is peddling his filth to you impressionable juves.  SENTENCE: 6 months for possession, 5 to 18 years for trading.  10 to 25 years for manufacture or smuggling.

Criminal Damage - Venting your spleen against a Building / Car / Vending Machine / Robot / Street Furniture is no way for a citizen to behave.  SENTENCE: 2 to 6 years.

Disorderly Conduct - Covers a wide range of minor public order crimes including queue jumping, being drunk or homeless, begging.  SENTENCE: 1 to 5 years.

Dunking - An alert Judge spots a dunker with their hand in someone else's pocket.  SENTENCE: 2 to 7 years.    

Forgery - Despite advances in modern crypto technology there is still a brisk trade in illegal documents and counterfeit cred sticks.  Your Judges might stop someone for a minor traffic violation and their Drivers License doesn't pass the sniff test.  SENTENCE: Posession 2 to 8 years, Forgery 8 to 15 years.  

Illegal Gambling - There are plenty of sanctioned venues such as Robo-Fighting, Slot Parlours and Bingo Halls but that doesn't stop citizens from indulging in this most destructive of vices. 
Be it a pedwalk game of 3 Shells or a friendly side bet at the Shuggy table your average citizen will bet on just about anything, anywhere, anywhen.  SENTENCE: Attendance at an illegal event 2 to 6 years, organising 10 to 15 years.

Illegal Trading - Many citizens turn entrepreneur to make a few extra credits on top of their welfare checks.  Trading without a license or trading in a proscribed location is illegal.  SENTENCE: 2 to 5 years.  

Jay Walking - Walking on a highway (or in a designated running zone, or running in a walking zone) is an offence.  Better to nip it in the bud Judge.  SENTENCE: 3 to 12 months.

Jimping - There's something funny about those Judges over there.  Their uniforms aren't regulation spec.  Judge Impersonation (or known perp impersonation) is no joke, especially at halloween, comic-cons (because comics are illegal remember) and dinner parties.  SENTENCE: 1-5 years for defamation.  10 years if committing another crime.

Littering (and Spitting) - Statistically speaking one of the most common gateway crimes.  Despite a zero tolerance policy and stiff sentencing millions of citizens every year start out on the long downward slope into progressively more serious criminality.  Criminologists have suggested that once a perp enters into the Justice System that it is the system itself which brutalises and criminalises citizens.  Needless to say those criminologists are behind bars.  SENTENCE: 3 to 6 months.

Parking Violation - There's no excuse for bad parking especially when the cars can do it for you.  SENTENCE: 1000 C Fine or 1 Year.

Rioting - Mega City One is a powderkeg and it doesn't take much disruption to a citizen's life for them to go nuts and start rioting.  Thankfully the Justice Department has an arsenal full of non-lethal weaponry to quell even the most peacefull protests including stumm gas, riot foam and sonic cannon.  SENTENCE: 2 to 10 years

Robot Tampering - Robots are an everyday thing in Mega City One.  They serve you breakfast, clean your apartment, vend your food and many other mundane every day tasks leaving you plenty of time to enjoy your unemployment.  Some Citizens however take to robot tampering either as some form of political statement or as a means to make money.  Sometimes this tampering can have deadly consequences.  SENTENCE: 10 years to Life depending on the severity. 

Robbery - Be it burglary or theft from a vehicle or person, robbery is one crime which never goes out of style.  Usually the preserve of street punks or gentlemen thieves its all the same to the Law.  SENTENCE: 5 to 12 years.

Scrawling - The modern form of grafitti, it is usually the preserve of the young bored juve, scrawling offers a degree of notoriety or infamy for those who can get their tag in the most outrageous or prominent location.  However, it is also a popular way for gangs to mark their territory.  Judges should always be vigilant for gang signs whenever they encounter the work of scrawlers.  SENTENCE: 3 months to 3 years.   

Shoplifting - Low level criminality needs to be treated with a short sharp shock or a day stick to the face.  SENTENCE: 2 to 7 years.

Smoking in Public - Despite tobbacco being a heavily regulated substance and nicotine having long been removed from cigars and cigarettes smoking or vaping is a popular passtime among citizens.  The Justice Department outlawed public smoking many years ago and regulated smokatoriums sprang up in every sector.  SENTENCE: 10 minutes in a smokatorium without a helmet.

Sponting - Spontaneous Confessors aren't really criminals they just like to waste Judges time and resources by confessing to crimes they haven't committed.  The Justice Department being the caring and considerate organisation that it is made Sponting a crime.  Now everyone is happy.  SENTENCE: 3 to 6 months

Tapping - Street mugging or tapping is an all two common crime of violence.  SENTENCE: 5 to 15 years.

Unlicensed Miming - Whilst clowning around is perfectly legal miming is not.  Unless of course you are carrying a permit and operating with the designated miming zone outside Mitterand Maisons in Sector 55.  SENTENCE: 5 years.

Judge Dredd Random Crime Drop Table - Click to Download

Mega City Morphs - Sci-Fi City Geomorphs

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I made a few citymorphs and was one of the featured artists on the Inkwell Ideas Citymorph dice Kickstarter.

Now I am about to run a new Judge Dredd campaign (Mega City Blues) its time to spruce up Sector 55 with some new sci-fi orientated Mega City geomorphs.  So far I've created a set of 9 tiles which you can download here Mega City Morphs Set 1 zip

I have submitted these to Dave's Mapper in the Sci-Fi City collection and they should be available soon.

example of 9 tiles arranged in a 3x3 grid

The whole point of this exercise was to generate a quick and dirty map for my Judge Dredd campaign which I am running online in Discord / Roll20.  You can follow the exploits of Judges Hammer (Apo), Teal (Mark) and Uthred (Ryan) in the Sector 55 Blues weekly session reports.  

I will also be publishing occasional articles where I detail house rules or tips which make my GMing life easier.

Sector 55 Mega City One

Happy geomorphing.

How Do I Find a Tabletop RPG Group Near Me?

Finding a tabletop RPG group near me has always been a challenge and I've ended up creating more than one club to satisfy my passion.  

I know others out there find it very difficult to find clubs or groups to play their favourite roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons near where they live too. 

Are you looking for a group of friends like this?

Local Tabletop RPG Groups Need Committed Members Like You

My club is on a recruitment drive at the moment and we are looking forward to resuming our normal Friday night sessions in our community hall in Chislehurst, South East London.

We try to host 3 games each week and to ensure lots of variety and prevent Games Master burnout we like to rotate the GMs in and out of GMing and playing 3 times a year.  Our typical game rotation is about 17 weeks long so we are actively looking for members who are going to turn up every week and take an active role in an entire campaign session.  We do string sessions back to back and I for one have run at least one campaign which ran for 60+ consecutive sessions.

That's a heck of a committment from GMs and so we try to recruit members from towns within easy reach of our venue such as Bexley, Bromley, Eltham, Lewisham, Orpington and Sidcup.  This makes travel to club easy on public transport especially when our games finish at 11pm and it's a cold dark wet October night.  This is the UK after all.

How Do I Find a Roleplay Club Near Me?

Obviously our club is just not going to be a viable option if you are living in North London, but the internet has a bunch of resources to help you find the right club for you.

1. Google - I know it sounds obvious but many Tabletop RPG clubs have websites which they use as their primary advertising mechanism when they are looking for players.  The most popular search terms are "Tabletop RPG near me", "DnD near me" and "Dungeons and Dragons near me" but also consider using terms which include "in (your town name)" for a more local search result. Avoid the term "Roleplay" as this tends to throw up adult orientated or early years educational resources.
   
   
2. Meetup - Is a useful listing service which many clubs (my own included) pay to use.  However, remember that RPGs are typically are a long term time commitment so if you are looking for more casual drop-in play or if your other real-life commitments such as work or home take precedent then consider looking for the boardgame or online game groups.
   
   
3. Reddit - The homepage of the internet has a thriving roleplaying community and many subreddits dedicated to specific systems or genres of tabletop RPGs.  Three places I would look are:
• r/rpg (1.3M members) - a sub for Tabletop RPGs of all flavours
  
• r/DnD (2.3M members) - a dedicated sub for fans of Dungeons and Dragons
• r/lfg (155K players) - a sub for those people looking for a group.  Post a message and see who replies.
  
  
4. Your Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) - Will usually have a clubs register or a notice board where people can advertise their clubs or groups.  Talk to the staff as well as they may know of some themselves.  Check their website too as they may offer free advertising for clubs.  My FLGS is Orcs Nest in Central London and my club is on its listings page.
   
   
   • Orcsnest - list of UK gaming clubs
   • Gamessesh - list of affiliated gaming groups
     
   
   
5. Register with Tabletop Wizard's Tabletop Finder - This is a relatively new worldwide personals ad space dedicated to the needs of Roleplayers, Boardgamers and Wargames looking for a game either face to face or online.  It's got a growing community with just under 40,000 members.
   
   
6. Check with Forums - There are a few big tabletop game forums out there and meny have dedicated threads for players seeking games and game group announcements.
   
   
   • RPG.net -
     
   • Board Game Geek Guilds - List of UK Guilds 
   • ENWorld - RPG Clubs in the UK    

Be Patient, but Be You

Roleplaying is a social contract between people and you might not fit in with the first group you appraoach.  Many things can influence a game; GM play style, age, experience and exposure to pop-culture tropes.  

Don't get disheartened if you don't gel with the first group you try.  In my experience new groups tend to be a bit reserved with new players and likewise people new to a group.  Everyone is on their on their best behaviour until they work out exactly who you are.  

My advice is to be you and engage with everyone.  This gives the group the best opportunity to get to know you and work out if you are going to be a good fit for their group.

More Advice for Players Looking for a Tabletop RPG Group

If you have any useful advice, tips or tricks which have worked for you then please share in the comments below.

Boardgames Should I Punch It or Punt It?

Having a bit of a tidy up at Roleplay Geek Publishing HQ and I dug out these two unplayed boardgames.

The big question is should I punch it out and play it or punt it out on eBay? 

Civilization (Gibson Games)

The original boardgame that didn't launch a million computer games or make Sid Meir a household name.  This is infact the earlier boardgame version by Francis Tresham and is complete, unpunched and minty fresh.  

Clearly an unwanted Christmas gift from circa 1988.  The giftee must have opened the box looked at all the tiny pieces of cardboard and smiled back saying "thanks I can't wait until they bring out a version of this on my MS DOS PC."

eBay-ability: £5 to £20

Civilization (Gibsons Games) circa 1988

Soldier Raj (Avalanche Press)

One for the real Grognards.  Soldier Raj is a traditional counter wargame simulation of the British Raj period between 1767-1848.  I'm not one to cast aspersions about the people who like to play these sorts of heavy wargames.  

My introduction to gaming was through my father who was a dedicated wargamer back in the 80s.  He gravitated from Napoleonics to Ancients, dabbled in a bit of micro-armour gaming and even converted the Pony Wars game to the Condominium of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1899 - 1956.

Sadly, playing this sort of game comes lower on my bucket list than poking my eyes out with red hot pokers.  Never mind "The Struggle for India" I'm struggling to stay awake and I've only just opened the box.

eBay-ability: Unknown

Soldier Raj The Struggle for India 1767-1848

Reaper Bones #27 - Grave Wraith & Labella DeMornay, Banshee

More translucent minis again this week. 

Grave Wraith - Bob Ridolfi (SKU: 77097)

I'm starting to develop a sort of technique using progressively darker washes and then dry brushed highlights.

Labella DeMornay, Banshee - Julie Guthrie (SKU: 77096)

Controlling the amount of light leak is very difficult and if you overdo it you lose the transparency effect.  Sometimes it's difficult to actually see what you are painting on these minis as the raw transparent plastic doesn't create shadows which define things like facial features.  A blackwash to begin with really helps.  

A much better painter friend of said I should really be using inks so maybe on my next transparent mini I can throw some 30 year old Citadel shade on it.

Big shout out to Daniel of dhump3.com for the tips.  If you are looking for some quality graphic design for your company or a fantastic digital painting give him a shout.