Erik, Howard, Katherine, Mike, sev

In this marshy village, the traditional ways were beset from all sides. Portents in the sky (or possibly, statues found in the swamp) led some to follow new gods, and others followed the ways of logic & printing-press.

The usual struggles against famine and wars with outsiders ensued, and there were some atrocities.
But there was also drama in the words, not just the deeds. (Seriously, I've never seen more Contempt taken during Discussions.) But we knew this going in: the one Abundance on our list was "words"; everything was written down, research was a common Project, and "truth" was a recurring theme.

The tension between the fictional factions was sometimes echoed at the table -- while the factions argued over What It All Meant, the flow of narrative control around the table meant that it was sometimes not clear exactly what was causing all these potentially-mystical happenings. (feature, I think; what do y'all think?)

The moment before the King of Spades was drawn, the young girl who'd been thrown to the alligators reappeared. She may have been a false prophet ... but she may *also* have been a harbinger of the end.

Great writeup Sev! Quiet Year games always sound super surreal out of context, probably less than Metrofinal though. Mostly posting to prove that I like "eating other people's skin". ;)

Also maybe the best part of story games is the extremely insane out-of-context references. Flaming lion rides forever! :D

(And of course I remember that technically the lion wasn't on fire anymore but "Hot Lion Rides Forever" sounds like an entirely different out-of-context message.)