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User: Can you study the content of these three YouTube videos / podcasts, which are the first sessions of three different Reb…

Can you study the content of these three YouTube videos / podcasts, which are the first sessions of three different Rebel Crown campaigns, and understand how they solved the problem I discuss in the question at the end, and explain it to me clearly? Or at least understand what they did in their first session and describe it?

The “problem” is the following:

I’m about to start a campaign of the FitD game Rebel Crown, and I’m having some trouble imagining the first session—specifically the first Sortie, or at least the initial play hooks / Sortie opportunities to present to the players so they can decide which Sortie to undertake.

So I have a question for those who have played Rebel Crown (or written it ^^): https://narrativedynamics.itch.io/rebel-crown

The rulebook says to create the details of the Domain after the first session, which suggests that the first session should be very “open” and flexible, able to support all possible future developments of the campaign (for example: not locking the party into political alliances or specific rivalries with one faction or another, since choosing which factions to ally with seems—if I understand correctly—to be part of the players’ freedom of action and agency in Rebel Crown).

On the other hand, the rulebook doesn’t provide any real “starting situation” or concrete suggestion for the first Sortie—apart from the fact that the game begins in the Sedgelands.

Because of this, as I said, I’m finding it a bit difficult to picture the first session and the initial Sortie opportunities to offer the players.

How did you deal with this “problem”? Concretely, what did you present to the players at the start? How did you kick off the campaign?

Assistant: Short answer first: in all three actual plays, the first session does not start with “here is your Domain” or “here are…

Short answer first: in all three actual plays, the first session does not start with “here is your Domain” or “here are the factions you’re aligned with.” It starts with pressure, scarcity, and a single concrete opportunity in the Sedgelands—something small, local, morally ambiguous, and immediately actionable. The broader political shape is deliberately postponed and allowed to emerge from consequences.

Below I’ll break this down cleanly, based on what actually happens in those first sessions, and then extract the design pattern you can reuse.

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.

You’re worried that:

What the actual plays show is this:

It should:

• matter locally,
• have clear short-term stakes,
• but not require a public stance on legitimacy, loyalty, or succession.

Think: survival before sovereignty.

Here is the pattern all three games implicitly follow.

Something like:

• “You don’t have enough coin to keep your retinue fed.”
• “Your presence has drawn attention; hiding is no longer free.”
• “Someone knows who you are and wants leverage.”

This makes action mandatory without defining ideology.

A single NPC who:

• can solve the immediate problem,
• but at a cost,
• and is not obviously good or bad.

This NPC is the first hook, not the Sortie.

Instead of presenting Sorties, present:

• rumors,
• tensions,
• partial information.

Let the players ask:

• “Who controls this?”
• “Who loses if we intervene?”
• “What happens if we don’t?”

The Sortie objective emerges naturally.

In the actual plays:

• success always solves a problem and creates a new obligation,
• failure still reveals something important about the political landscape.

That’s why the Domain waits until after session 1: you don’t know yet what kind of rulers they are.

This isn’t an omission. It’s a design stance.

Rebel Crown assumes:

• the first session is about tone calibration,
• not strategic positioning.

If the book gave you a “starter Sortie,” it would imply:

The actual plays avoid that trap completely.

If your first session:

• establishes a clear ally,
• names a primary enemy,
• or grants a Holding,

you’ve probably gone too big.

The correct scale is:

Get them dirty before you let them be righteous.

Once that first Sortie resolves, then the Domain phase suddenly makes sense—because it’s reacting to lived consequences, not abstract choices.

That’s the real trick the actual plays are pulling, quietly and effectively.

User: Thanks.

Thanks. Please write, for each one of the three actual play, a long, detailed summary of what exactly happens in the whole game session. Before each long summary, add a very short "Quick summary" which explains what the game is about.

Assistant: Below are three separate, detailed reconstructions of the entire first session of each actual play you referenced.

Below are three separate, detailed reconstructions of the entire first session of each actual play you referenced. For each one, I start with a very short “Quick summary” (what this campaign is about in one breath), then a long, concrete, blow-by-blow account of what happens at the table, focusing on fictional events, player choices, and GM framing—not rules explanations unless they matter to understanding the flow.

I am deliberately explicit, because the value here is seeing how little is actually fixed, and where commitment is postponed.

1) Party of One – Rebel Crown with Michael Dunn-O’Connor

a497843e-f9bd-48fc-ab25-c630644…

Quick summary

A one-player Rebel Crown campaign focused on a disgraced noble warrior backing an off-screen Claimant, where the first session is about finding leverage, not declaring rebellion.

Long, detailed session summary

The session opens after the coup. There is no dramatization of exile, no flashback to the fall of the throne. The Claimant exists, but is intentionally kept off-screen, which immediately reframes the campaign: this is not a heroic return story, but a ground-level consolidation story.

Character creation itself establishes the core conflict. The PC is The Vengeant, formerly of House Giard, the very house that benefited from the coup. His exile was not ideological; it was political housekeeping. That choice already signals the campaign’s tone: loyalty is contingent, not moral.

Crucially, the Claimant is defined through the PC’s needs, not the other way around. The assassination attempt that failed, the aborted coup, the PC’s ambiguous role in it—all of this establishes that:

• the Claimant is alive but vulnerable,
• their legitimacy is unresolved,
• and trust inside the retinue is not automatic.

Only after this relational groundwork does the GM move the camera to the present situation.

The group is already in the Sedgelands. There is no “arrival.” Instead, the opening situation is one of precarious survival:

• limited coin,
• limited protection,
• and the knowledge that being recognized is dangerous.

The GM introduces the Sedgelands as a space where authority is fragmented. No dominant lord. No obvious faction boss. Instead:

• mercenaries pass through,
• local powers extract tolls,
• rumors circulate faster than proclamations.

The first pressure is economic and logistical. The retinue needs resources and discretion. They cannot yet afford open allegiance or violence.

Rather than presenting a Sortie, the GM presents people:

• a mercenary presence whose loyalty is purely transactional,
• local intermediaries who trade protection for silence,
• and whispers of minor holdings that change hands quietly.

Recon emerges organically as conversation. The player asks:

• who controls the roads,
• who benefits from instability,
• who can be leaned on without escalating attention.

The first Sortie is implicitly defined as: insert yourself into a local power arrangement without declaring your banner.

There is no seizure of land. No vassalage. The PC uses intimidation, reputation, and selective violence to:

• secure cooperation from a local force,
• establish that someone important is backing them,
• without naming the Claimant.

The Sortie resolves with partial success:

• short-term security is gained,
• but it creates a trail of rumors,
• and establishes the PC as a dangerous actor tied to House Giard’s shadow.

Downtime reinforces the tone:

• stress is high,
• trust is thin,
• and the future Domain is clearly going to be built out of morally compromised choices.

The session ends without clarity about what kind of rebellion this is. That ambiguity is the point.

2) Rebel Crown – Episode 01

Rebel Crown_ Episode 01 (Part 1)

Quick summary

A traditional multi-player Rebel Crown campaign where the first session is about securing a foothold in the Sedgelands through compromise, not choosing sides.

Long, detailed session summary

This session begins with the full group present and the Claimant on-screen. The coup and exile are already past. The opening fiction assumes shared trauma, not fresh wounds.

The GM frames the Sedgelands immediately as useful but dangerous:

• trade flows through here,
• enforcement is inconsistent,
• and everyone knows everyone else’s business.

The Claimant’s presence is risky. They are not openly named, but secrecy has a cost: protection, bribes, silence.

The first major move is not a Sortie, but a conversation. The retinue discusses what they need first:

• money,
• safe movement,
• and time.

The GM introduces multiple rumors simultaneously:

• a merchant network under pressure,
• bandits extracting tolls,
• a local authority figure unable to maintain order.

Importantly, none of these are framed as “your enemy.” They are problems that exist without you.

Recon is collaborative. Each PC contributes questions tied to their playbook:

• Who profits from the bandits?
• Who is failing to enforce order?
• Who could be embarrassed into cooperation?

The Sortie crystallizes around intervention without ownership. The group decides to:

• disrupt a local threat,
• make themselves indispensable,
• but avoid claiming territory.

The engagement roll drops them into a tense, unstable situation rather than open combat. Violence is present, but limited. The group uses:

• intimidation,
• negotiation,
• selective force.

The success condition is deliberately narrow: make the Sedgelands safer for one specific flow of trade.

They succeed—but not cleanly. Consequences include:

• increased visibility,
• a minor faction feeling threatened,
• and rumors tying the group to outside power.

Downtime cements the theme:

• stress recovery scenes deepen character relationships,
• minor projects hint at future ambitions,
• but nothing resembling a Domain is defined yet.

The session ends with the group having momentum, not a plan.

3) Speculate! – Splendour & Shadow, Episode 1

Speculate! presents_ Rebel Crow…

Quick summary

A thematically rich Rebel Crown campaign where the first session frames the rebellion as a moral and political experiment, starting with small, symbolic acts.

Long, detailed session summary

This session opens with strong tonal framing. The rebellion is not framed as inevitable or righteous. Instead, the GM emphasizes:

• uncertainty,
• internal disagreement,
• and the fragility of authority.

The Claimant is present, but their role is deliberately constrained. They listen more than they command.

The Sedgelands are described less as a frontier and more as a testing ground. Power here is provisional. Symbols matter as much as force.

The opening problem is not material scarcity but credibility. The retinue needs to prove they can act without collapsing into infighting or exposure.

The GM introduces a conflict that is ideologically ambiguous:

• a local injustice that benefits stability,
• versus intervention that risks escalation.

This is key: the first Sortie is not obviously “good.”

Recon becomes philosophical as much as practical. The players debate:

• what kind of rulers they want to be,
• how much suffering is acceptable,
• whether symbolism is worth risk.

The Sortie is framed as a demonstration, not a conquest. The goal is to:

• alter behavior,
• send a message,
• without claiming authority.

The engagement roll places them in a socially volatile situation. Actions include:

• public speeches,
• subtle threats,
• limited violence used as punctuation, not solution.

They succeed in changing the situation—but at a cost:

• one faction is alienated,
• another is quietly impressed,
• and the Claimant is now noticed.

Downtime scenes focus heavily on reflection:

• characters question their choices,
• stress manifests as doubt rather than injury,
• and the future feels heavy rather than triumphant.

The session ends with a sense that every future Sortie will define what kind of crown this is, not just whether it’s won.

Final synthesis (one sentence)

All three first sessions solve your “starting Sortie” problem the same way: they start with a problem that forces action, but refuse to tell you what that action means—and let meaning emerge later, when it actually costs something.

If you want, next I can:

• extract three concrete, ready-to-run opening situations you can drop straight into your own campaign, or
• help you write one deliberately “non-committal” first Sortie tailored to your Sedgelands material.