Epiloguing
Last OwlCon, I played in an Arabian Nights-inspired adventure that used Barbarians of Lemuria for the rule system. It was quite a hoot. Our characters explored a lost jungle island, fell victim to the machinations of the serpent people, and alternately engaged in fleeing in terror and fighting for their lives. As the session came to an end, we got to “epilogue” about what happened to our characters after the adventure.
I narrated briefly about how my character, who had killed the ship’s captain during the adventure, managed to set himself up as the new ship’s captain, much to the delight of the crew and the gaggle of wenches being entertained by my character’s tale of adventure. Every other players did the same for their characters, and then the GM added his own epilogue, revealing an unexpected twist. In each case, the epilogues could serve as plot hooks. So, if that session were not a convention game but part of an ongoing campaign, the GM could use my epilogue to explore another sea adventure with my character as ship’s captain.
I liked epiloguing so much that I added it to both sessions of Stars Without Number I ran at OwlCon. It seemed to be a big hit with the players. Best of all, at the end of the session, I had one potential plot hook per player, plus the epilogue that I added as the GM. (I remember one of my two GM epilogues describing the lost space yacht shifting out of warp near inhabited space while on board the Cthulhoid horror in the form of a long dead mother comforted her long dead son.)
I remain intrigued by epiloguing.
The basic idea is simple. After an adventure is over, each player gets about two minutes to describe some of that adventure’s consequences as they relate specifically to that player’s character. Each player does this, taking turns in whatever manner seems appropriate. Then, after all the players have epilogued, the GM gets to add his two cents worth. The events of the epilogue are assumed to happen during the downtime between adventures.
Unless things go horribly awry, Man Day Adventures meets again this Saturday. I don’t know if we’ll get an entire adventure done that day. I’m thinking not, but, regardless, I think I’m going to introduce epiloguing to the group and see what happens.
Might be fun.
