The convoluted journey to crown and skull volume II

As many of you reading these words well know, CROWN AND SKULL will feature 5 volumes when complete. I knew this when I started the great quest, but had few answers what would make such an opus 'worth it' to build. The questions were myriad and answers few. As the first book took hold, and the innovative mechanics therein, at least at my tables, proved to be all I had hoped for, I had to see what was next. This was last summer.

Then, I had two epiphanies. 1) I imagined a 'seven eyes compass,' the icon of CROWN AND SKULL, emblazoned on the side of a massive starship. 2) I realized that I have never had the answers... my PLAYERS DO. With these two launch points, our story begins.

This humble cover image started our campaign on Roll20.

I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, only that Ahsoka had hugely inspired me to GO.

Our group was Joe Sterling, Alex Alvarez, and Kelsey Dionne. I was in the GM chair. These characters were on a drifting rock fragment in a world of many rings... Achaea. I wanted to feel what they felt... take their cues... build from their style. So we started with the classic 'hauling junk home when larger forces intrude' motif. That first session was about family, losing your home, realizing there is evil far beyond your tiny struggles, and suddenly knowing you are part of it all... ejected from hum-drum life into the opera of the stars. With a lot of blasters and emotions, a step-mother was lost, a home destroyed, and a ship taken. My heroes were off to their grand voyage into space, all using CROWN AND SKULL rules.

Our heroes were a droid, a mysterious Achaean, and a plucky spacer.

Dark forces from the beyond came looking for a secret data chip... and were terrible guests.

Our heroes narrowly escaped into space... their first time off-world.

This post isn't just about our sessions that followed. Suffice it to say, we found a derelict freighter, discovered galactic enemies, pursued them, and lost good people along the way. We rode tundra fleas, bargained with Formian elders, and base jumped from starbases. We met melancholy droids and mysterious monks. We fought cyborgs in airlocks and ravenous space bugs. It was great stuff... all a struggle to contain a planetary foe. In this mighty struggle... my heroes failed. That's where the real story began...

A handful of screens from our 8 session adventure. At this point, I was all but certain that

CROWN AND SKULL VOLUME II would be a sci-fi epic. For the record, it isn't.

As things wrapped up, folks had real-life things pulling at their time, and we had eaten up several weeks playing. I was processing all our rules work and character innovations. Then, the crazy part happened. Instead of just saying 'these events are now VOLUME II,' I asked myself... what if the story CONTINUES from here? What if the actions of these heroes are lost to time... just a chapter in the backstory of my next book?

Here is where pen hit paper with a fury. I took the events of their mini-campaign and extended them to the terrible outcome: the world-eating foe found their way to green and glorious Urth... where all my other game worlds exist. What could this mean for the setting presented in VOLUME I (The North Holds)? As I answered these questions, I hosted THE OUTRIDERS role-play gathering here in Philly, and, to my delight, integrated the events of those sessions as well! The quilt of this living world was being handed to me by brilliant players and dozens of hours of table time. I set to work.

What resulted is partially found in CROWN AND SKULL VOLUME II... but I can proudly say that many more surprises are in store, as my player community continues to inform, change, and CREATE this living book series in a wonderfully convoluted way.

So often, we strain and struggle as storytellers to master the art of the twist, the big reveal, or the touching turn. The process above has taught me that many times the answers, the MAGIC are right in front of us... in the faces of our friends, in the dice, and the actions of a few desperate heroes willing to risk it all for each other.

Stay tuned. CROWN AND SKULL is just gaining steam.

-B