Achievement awarded...

 

Volume one...

While it might not seem much like it we've reached the end of an era in "The Trails and Tribulations of Arcadia Justinian".  My customized Fading Suns notebook, constant companion, campaign confident and keeper of secrets is now full...after twenty-five sessions of play.  It seems like a milestone (and one I'm quite proud of, to be honest) so I thought a few reflective thoughts might be in order.

 

In my head this means we've finished "Volume One" of the campaign. That's probably been about 63 hours of play (give or take). When I started I figured I had about a year's worth (50 sessions, or thereabouts) of plot in my head and I think that may well have been an underestimate...this stuff just keeps coming and there's no end in sight.  Yes, certain story lines may reach an eventual conclusion but I can see us following these characters, and their impact on the Known Worlds, for some time to come. In large part I have a great group of players to thank for that, they have really invested their characters with personalities beyond the numbers on the page and are constantly coming at things in ways I didn't expect or suggesting ideas which dovetail with and compliment what I already have planned.  It truly has been a collective effort to get this far and to make it so much fun in the process.

 

I also think that the hiatus that we had earlier this year really benefitted the game.  I was writing myself in circles trying to manage all the pieces I had in play and the way the group had physically separated. I tried using extra secondary player characters (to essentially create a second cadre) but I don't think any of us really related to or enjoyed those characters.  We needed to follow the "heroes" of the tale not a supporting cast. Fast forwarding some plot (the events on SOE/8807 and the loss of the Galliot) allowed me to re-synchronise where we were with everyone and slightly alter the direction of the campaign. It seemed risky at the time and there was disappointment about not playing through some of that material but I think hindsight has shown it was the right decision.

 

I'm sometimes asked if things have happened as I intended and simply speaking no, they haven't, but part of that is I had little expectations or firm plans as to what would happen. There's the old adage when letting off a firework: "Light blue touch paper and stand well back" and in a way that's what I set out to do.  I presented a situation to the players (the initial "murder mystery at the tournament") and waited to see where they went with it.  They could have immediately gone on the run, hoping to prove Arcadia's innocence while ducking from pursuers, they could have dumped her like a sack of rubbish and got on with their lives....it was almost a test to see what we had here and where the players wanted to take things.  At the time I had no real idea that that meant assassination attempts, betrayals, ancient AIs, Second Republic Golems, Husks, recovery of broken star ships, trips into space, duels, psychic peasants, church inquisitors and political intrigue... But I fully expect there's that and more yet to come.

 

The title of campaign remains "The Trails and Tribulations of Arcadia Justinian" even though she's been dead since session 18 (and publically believed dead since session 13) and that remains an intentional choice on my part. The reasons are numerous but the main one is that Arcadia's impact will still be felt for some time to come. She was the trigger that brought these individuals together and her life, and death, has had direct impacts, some of which have yet to be revealed.

 

Going back to the notebook itself it now carries the moniker of "Volume I" and I have a now already in use "Volume II" (suitably customized). But there are NPC stats, unused ideas and plot lines that are in motion but yet to be revealed all still within "Volume I".  It's not about to be retired yet. However it now stands, a bit like this blog, as a testimony to what has already happened and a foundation for what is yet to come. Volume II (and III, IV, etc) look to be an exciting prospect but we wouldn't have got here without the tales documented in this simple little notebook.