While I’m working on the game, some of you might be interested in reading one of the antecedents to CoRebels… a D&D campaign write-up on ENWorld’s StoryHour forum. I ran the campaign for two and a half years in college, with periodic reunions afterward; the 9-person gaming group included Adam Strong-Morse and his girlfriend (now wife), as well as another friend who’s now employed as an editor at CoG. It was by a mile the most creative gang of folk I’ve ever collaborated on a story with, and the characters they played still make me smile.
Writing it up and posting it to ENWorld was my fun fantasy escapism during a few rough years working in Afghanistan. I last updated it in early 2011… around the time I switched my creative energies to writing Choice of Rebels instead.
I offer it with some hesitation and warnings:
* First, while there’s plenty there, it’s unfinished. Indeed, it stops just as it’s getting to the point where the parallels with Rebels become obvious – when you join an underground rebellion against an oppressive Empire, which eventually sparks a civil war.
* The gameworld is one I came up with in high school, as are some of the broad plot lines. The final result is a bit of a collaboration between a teenage world-builder, a 20-something game-master, and a sometimes bemused 30-something writer (“Gack… why did I think this bit was a good idea?” or “Holy orientalism, batman”).
* I tried to give all nine players their own NPCs to play with, and lots of small-group and individual subplots. This made for a rich gaming experience, but in the write-up, especially in the early going, it makes for a lot of names and jumping from character to character.
* Trigger warning: there’s a rape on p. 13. Not proud of the way I handled that plot; some reflections on it by myself and some of the players are here.