The Players- Awesome Tim, Tim, Drew, Dani, Shimon

Because there were five of us, we chose to play Montsegur 1244 since it can easily accommodate five.

The main characters:

Raimond, lord of Montsegur- Raimond was sympathetic to the Cathars and wanted to honor his word that he would protect and shelter them. And he did try to do his best. Since Pierre Roger had met his end, it ended up being Raimond who arranged the surrender. Unfortunately after finding out that his old friend Guilhelm and the new leader of the Cathars, India, were practicing dark arts, he lost his faith in the Cathars as a whole and denounced their faith. (Played by Drew)

Joscelin, the troubadour- Joscelin delivered the message that spurred the murder of the inquisitor in the prologue and got trapped. He observed a lot going on in Montsegur and got the orphan boy Amiel to reveal some information. Unfortunately Cecille recognized him from his somewhat dark past and he killed her to protect his secrets. He was never Cathar so he didn’t face the flames. (Played by Tim)

Faye, the orphan girl- She had the chance to observe a lot of things, including a ritual performed by Guilhelm and India, a kiss between Etienne and Phillipa, parts of a conversation between her aunt and a Templar about the Grail, and the death of Pierre Roger, who revealed the name of his killer to her before he gasped his last breath. She kept this information to herself. At the end, she and her brother were released by the Inquisition, neither of them being Cathars. (Played by Shimon)

Phillipa, daughter of Raimond and wife of Pierre Roger- She was having a torrid affair with Etienne who was the real father of her unborn baby. The two planned to leave together but were trapped by the siege so they had to bide their time. Phillipa showed a dark side when she arranged for the death of her family and killed Etienne when he objected. She was not Cathar so she did not burn. (Her son’s name? Lucifer.) (Played by Awesome Tim)

India, perfect- India had joined the Cathars after a spiritual experience that convinced her to give up dabbling in the dark arts. But then she met Guilhelm and fell back into it. The two of them used their magic to try to help Montsegur. Of course their magic had unexpected side effects. Raimond confronted her after killing Guilhelm who had revealed her as a witch. (Also, it turns out she possessed the Grail.) Raimond didn't kill her, instead making her face the Inquisition. And she chose to burn. (Played by Dani)

Montsegur 1244 is a pretty structured game with only a few potential outcomes for the characters that you are aware of before the game starts. (Definitely key—having to chose whether to be a martyr or betray your faith is a heavy thing.) Even with five players, we still managed to conclude in a timely fashion. None of the other players had played before so it took a bit to get the flow but I think we got there eventually. The other games of this I played were a bit more emotionally charged. This was still a fun run though.

We used some of the story and scene cards to inspire us, especially Witchcraft and The Grail and the one about the visiting Knight Templar. No one ever played them to seize narration. We wove our stories together pretty well I think even without that. Some of our secondary characters didn’t see as much screen time but that is not uncommon. All the characters are pregenerated with a few questions for the player to consider, so while they are familiar after a playthrough or two they are never the same.

Set-up really isn’t that complicated at all but there is a lot of information about the setting to take in all at once. I could see how it might be hard to figure out how to start things off for your character, at least for the first two acts. Everyone only gets to frame one scene per act and months usually pass between acts. We checked in about what might have happened during the intervening time so we’d have a better feel for the situation before we started our next scenes. I think that was helpful; Shimon commented that he found the maps I'd found and printed out helpful as well.

I enjoy this game and feel it does its best to address a serious subject with the respect it deserves. Some of the characters in the game were actual people who had to make this choice. Exploring their motivations can be a powerful, thought-provoking experience.

Thanks to Awesome Tim, Tim, Drew, and Shimon for their contributions and being willing to play this!

- Dani, aka India