Editing Openai/695f146f-35a4-800f-bdf0-3252b8bc7b77 (section)

==== Across: ====
* Party of One – Rebel Crown with Michael Dunn-O’Connor a497843e-f9bd-48fc-ab25-c630644…
* Rebel Crown – Episode 01 Rebel Crown_ Episode 01 (Part 1)
* Speculate! – Splendour & Shadow, Episode 1 Speculate! presents_ Rebel Crow…

the openings are strikingly consistent in structure even when the fiction differs.

===== The Claimant is already back in Craobhan. No travel montage. No “you arrive.” =====
The assumption is: you survived exile; now you have a problem.

This matters because it removes nostalgia and replaces it with urgency.

===== In all three, the GM presents the Sedgelands as: =====
* politically marginal,
* economically useful,
* morally compromised,
* and beneath the notice of the crown (for now).

Crucially:
No one there is framed as a “natural ally.” Everyone is provisional.

===== None of the campaigns start with: =====
* a claim to land,
* a noble alliance,
* or a declaration against the usurper.

Instead, the first opportunity is something like:
* securing food, horses, or coin,
* dealing with bandits or mercenaries,
* protecting (or exploiting) a local trade route,
* inserting themselves into an existing dispute.

This keeps the Claimant politically undefined.

===== This is subtle but important. =====

The GM doesn’t say:

: 

They say, effectively:

: 

The players then create the Sortie by asking questions during Recon.

That’s why the book can afford to be vague: the Sortie is co-authored.

===== In every first session: =====
* factions appear through named NPCs with wants,
* not as abstract houses with clocks.

Example patterns:
* a merchant who can’t guarantee safety,
* a mercenary captain who wants payment now,
* a local lord whose authority is thin and contested.

Only after the Sortie do these crystallize into factions.