Point of Order
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You'll notice the challenge is writing After Action Reports (formerly Session Reports). If you want an example of what not to do, just look at most of my write-ups: long, excess play by plays with little of substance that would interest anyone but maybe the players. They were good practice and got me into the habit of scheduling time to write, but that's about it.
What should the purpose of an AAR be then? Thoughts, even simple ones. Did you like the game? How was the experience? Any pitfalls or frustrations? These are the pieces that drive the discussion and experiments that lead to better gaming. For myself, I've found that I can't be assed to write anything up unless I feel like I have something to say; and that was true of the current challenge until today.
RealD&D, TNB, FoW
My commute to and from work takes about 40 minutes; that's a lot of time to ponder and listen to music. I got to thinking about my last few months playing with the Living Urf Gaming Club, stumbling through AD&D, and the variety of different skillsets and interests the club brings forth. Specifically, I got to pondering what I could even say about my recent games (Bloodfall and Svarthold being the primary two) that anyone would find valuable. Or Hell, that I even had a strong opinion on. That's when it hit me.
In my time in Bloodfall, I've hit TNB hard. Kirk of Forseti (Cleric 3; yes still 3) has been as involved in Bloodfall's political situation as he could be. The discovery of a Golden Idol with Plant Growth or whatever was the first big point of conflict: lots of gold and XP or tilt the scales for those vying for leadership and earn favors? This lead to Kirk wrestling a Dwarven Fighter to settle the dispute of the sale... and he won! This was the catalyst that eventually lead to the Siege of Bloodfall.
As important as the siege itself was the other half: Team No Good! AD&D's training times with 1:1 encourages players to make new characters. At this time, I had a Dwarf F/T named Samson. Due to the events of the siege, Samson got involved with trying to break out the Tax Collector's bodyguard... which escalated into stealing the Idol. Unfortunately, Samson was waiting to escort the jailbroken bodyguard while the rest of his crew was going for the gold. Fortunately, Samson still got paid.
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| Samson |
Why am I bothering with framing all this? The duality of Team Good vs No Good evolved into a need to protect the Fog of War: the players are still driving the bus to this day. Total NonStop Braunstein means factions, PCs, et al are moving and acting upon the world; and in a club this means simultaneous tables amongst other things. The agreed way to handle this was simply to throw out clues in the session reports. If you look at later reports after the Siege of Bloodfall, you'll see the shift. It's pretty fun.
So what do I want to say? Samson's cover, and the way he convinced the Paladin to sign off on it, was that he would sneak out of the local secret passage to hit Svarthold and ask for more troops and military assistance. Nobody knew this at the time, but Samson paid a young boy to deliver the message just before he wandered down the street and was gutted (City Encounters, amirite?). The leaders never sent aid and the thread was forgotten.
Fast forward and a new DM steps up to run sessions out of Svarthold. He gives a bonus to human PCs (starting them at Lv2-3 pending class). I join up with a new Dwarf F/T named Stanson and dive right into the shenanigans. In a twist of Role, Stanson is a Merchant escaped from the ghettos of Emergence. He joined up with Egil, who quickly became his partner in crime. We've been one some wild adventures since then but there's still one more piece to this puzzle.
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| Stanson |
Svarthold DM takes a week off. Stanson has been working with a meadery to earn some profits and side income, and decides to spread his influence as far as Bloodfall. He travels there himself with scented candles and some barrels of Fine Old Friend. Then the month rolls over: upkeep gets paid and... Stanson not only becomes ill with a sinus infection, he somehow contracted deadly stomach parasites that are eating his lining. Good thing Bloodfall has a high level Cleric and a Paladin!
Last week's session, Broderick the Paladin got to meet Stanson the Merchant. They negotiated a bit and Broderick was quite generous. It was a nice intro while we sorted out the actual session content (delving the fist with Kirk and Friends). They struck a deal, but unfortunately for Stanson, the Paladin had to use his Lay on Hands to save himself from dying to yellow mold. RIP 1k GP.
You might be wondering why all this matters. What's the point in all the previous paragraphs and the waffling on I said I wouldn't do? What if I told you that Samson never died? What if I told you he earned a windfall of 3500+ GP during a jailbreak and started a new life? What if I told you that Broderick had no idea he was talking to an effective traitor and former party member?
This is it. This is the magic!
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