Fictional Histories: Jonathan Hedgecock

Fictional Histories is a Fine Art project that seeks to analyze the world of tabletop gaming and looks to use the voice of the hobby to tell the stories of the men and women who engage in the hobby community. This work was among 4 others that were displayed at the Gatewood Gallery in May of 2017. 

This is the first post of those 4 pieces that features an interview with my long time vengeful opponent JD. Whose forces featured in the Road to Orleans campaign, as well as the Siege of Lychke, and many others. Presented below is the interview and photos from his diorama.

JD Hedgecock

“What tabletop games do you play and how often?”

I play Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons and things of that nature, multiple times a week

“What is the most memorable thing to happen to you during a tabletop game?”

I and my friend Aaron, were playing a set of rules called Valor Steel & Flesh, and it was between two characters that we had created within the game, and through just sort of the random chance of the dice these two characters had become rivals. Well in one of the games, there two characters met on their own outside of their units above this hellish carnage. It was a really cool moment because it was just this really cool moment that came  about through the rules and through just talking outside of that. It was very cool because it was just this sort of collaborative story that happened very naturally.

“Can you tell me more about the lore, setting and context of the game you were playing during that memorable event?”

The setting I think was an extrapolation of the 100 years war, that we took and expanded out into the victorian age, and gave everyone magic and steampunk tech.  He was playing the British, and I was playing the French.

“Can you tell me about the character/s you were playing or that participated in that event”

One of them was Commander Bosch, which was mine who, felt that he could change the course of the war by gaining enough prestige and momentum through success in the army to eventually usurp the government and bring the fighting to a halt. The other was Captain Teague, who was under Aaron’s command, he was also very prideful and nationalistic but i don’t really recall too much else

“Can you tell me about the character/s you were playing or that participated in that event”

One of them was Commander Bosch, which was mine who, felt that he could change the course of the war by gaining enough prestige and momentum through success in the army to eventually usurp the government and bring the fighting to a halt. The other was Captain Teague, who was under Aaron’s command, he was also very prideful and nationalistic but i don’t really recall too much else

“What do you think the upswing in the number of people playing tabletop games, both in person and online means,
in social terms?”

I think that people are looking to find more common ground between themselves, I think that areas of creation, of sports and games. You get all of these things in Tabletop gaming, the creation arts, the camaraderie and competition of sports, and i think that all of those things harbor the feelings people are really looking for.