The Players- Chris, Dani, Jasmine, Jonny

Prologue- Pierre Roger and his trusted knights went to Avignonet. Bernard and some of the other men were discussing whether or not they were doing the right thing, even though they had the blessing of the keep’s bailiff. Joscelin overheard discussion of their plans and waylaid them, but only briefly. Garnier and Bernard confronted the inquisitor and took his life.

Act I- The act opened with a celebration, and why not? The inquisitors had been staved off, at least temporarily even if an army was gathering. Arsende and Corba had a tense run in in the street that was interrupted by Pierre Roger’s arrival after a long conference. Philippa and her sister Esclarmonde talked with Cecille and India about the circumstances.

Act II- Guilhelm and Joscelin poisoned the water supply! Crisis was partially averted by using melted snow. Other sinister events lead Arsende to be suspected of witchcraft. Joscelin convinced Pierre Roger to have her arrested and helped make her a scapegoat. Times were overall quite tough for the town.

Act III- The east tower fell. Many lives were lost. Pierre Roger and his men had a heated discussion about how to handle the situation. Joscelin went to visit the wounded and dying, troubled by his role in their plight. Arsende and her niece and nephew had a quiet dinner where she struggled to explain things and comfort them.

Act IV- This was the moment when characters had to choose their fate. Arsende confided in her niece and nephew that she would not be renouncing her faith yet urged them to say what they needed to to survive. Garnier confessed his love to Esclarmonde and the two decided to recant and leave. Joscelin had a conversation with Cecille and confessed his treachery. Etienne made a dramatic return. He too had betrayed the city and converted to Catholicism.

Epilogue, for the main characters- Arsende chose to be a martyr, believing that with this act she would atone for her sins and her spirit would be free. Pierre Roger also died for his faith. Though Joscelin hadn’t embraced the faith, he claimed that he had in order to find atonement. Garnier renounced his faith and received amnesty.

That is a brief summary of an excellent game. None of us had ever played before. There are virtually no mechanics but there is a lot of background information to take in. I did my best to summarize, hopefully I didn’t neglect anything important! The act structure is interesting. Part of me likes it, because it provides good background while still leaving plenty of freedom for your scenes and it does help drive the arc forward. Part of me doesn’t because you only get one scene per act and often months (between 2-6?) will go by between acts, which might mean glossing over important stuff (like births) that might have happened between or not being able to return to interesting hooks. I did like being able to play different characters, which allowed for a greater variety of scenes and interactions. It helps build a sense of the Cathar community.

We didn’t use the scene and story cards a whole lot. Plenty of interesting things going on without it and when they were used, they fed into the plot very nicely. The story started out a bit lighter in feel but by the end had gotten much more serious. The heavy subject matter I felt was treated with respect and it was cool to see the differing level of faith each character had. There were some wonderful moments. Conversations between Arsende and her niece and nephew, the meeting after the fall of the east tower, and Garnier’s dramatic confession of his love for Esclarmonde stand out especially.

A good night around the table! Post-game feedback was very positive if I do say so myself. All the players were on the same page and enthusiastically contributing. It was Chris’s first story game experience and I am pleased that it turned out to be a good one, even if I threw him right into the thick of things in the very first scene, LOL. It was a lot of fun to see how events impacted different characters and their beliefs. I’d love to learn more about the inspiration for the compelling tale that we told.

Thanks to Jasmine, Chris, and Jonny for being brave enough to try this with me!

- Dani

Dani did a GREAT job facilitating! Considering everyone was a newb in one way or another (to this particular game or to storygaming!), it went pretty smoothly.

What's cool about this game is that there are a lot of scene seeds sprinkled throughout the gameplay if you need some inspiration. Or just come up with something! That flexibility was really great -- we had a lot of fruitful ideas on our own, but Dani's "witchcraft" card sparked a great storyline.

I also really liked playing the multiple characters -- it was a lot of fun to curate some extra characters that were a kick above NPCs, but without the full responsibilities of a main character. I would definitely play again!