Dredd to Thieftakers Volume 2- VICTORIANS
Background inspiration
My last Dredd makeover game set in the 18th century went down really well with my colleagues who all work in the museum industry and allowed me to use images of them dressed up for some of the cards. It became a useful teaching tool to learn about the characters and crimes that make up the bulk of the content they talk about to school groups and customers. The only problem with my game is the board was too small to fit all the cards in the areas of the map. Lesson learned on that score.
The Shire Hall in Nottingham is now a museum where I have worked for 25 years now, so Ive picked up a bit of history over the years. The building was the courts and gaol for the county of Nottinghamshire up until 1986 but has a history dating back to the fourteen hundreds. By the Victorian age the last execution in public in Nottingham took place on the buildings front steps in 1864. A police station was first built next door in the mid Victorian period so you could be arrested tried and executed in one place.
Every criminal Ive put in both versions of the game were found guilty in the court room where the Assizes were held three times a year by a Judge. In the meantime inmates waited downstairs in the cells. If you got arrested in November the next court session was in March. Once guilty inmates were often sent elsewhere in the Victorian age. The House of Correction, Australian Colonies up until the 1860s, Prison or execution although that was just for murder in Nottingham once we get to the Victorians.
The less glamorous parts of the building where still Georgian in design but continued to be used as a gaol until the Government took over the running of prisons in 1878. So Criminals from both versions of the game would have slept in the same space but the way they were treated was different. People assume we have lots of records about the people kept here but when the building closed the records went with them. Over the years Ive had to research these individuals myself and so Ive picked my favorites to go in these games. All people who otherwise would be lost to history. 
The building today.
Love this idea. Looking forward to hearing more about Nottingham’s historic underworld!