Way back when, I started a goofy project I called an actual play serial. Everyone remembers the "example of play" sections of your favorite roleplaying game. They always captured my imagination -- especially when I first cracked open my Moldvay basic set back in 1983 or so.
Anyway, I was always disappointed when they ended, usually on a cliffhanger. I assume it was a way to get you to tell the rest of the story, but I also wanted to read the story in that half-narrative, half-table talk, half-game speak.
At some point I figured out I could write my own, so I started doing that a couple of years ago. I got to episode 11 before life prevented me from continuing, but there are two more episodes drafted. In the background, I played the game solo using Moldvay/Cook B/X with our own house rules. It was really unexpected to me how the personalities of the players and their characters (distinctly!) came out in the writing. As I wrote it, it became a game and a group I'd actually love to play with. I don't know what that says about my various real-life groups, but...there it is.
I talk about developing the hexcrawl wilderness area over in this series. And I am about 90% done with several of the sites that will be found in both the hexcrawl series and the actual play serial story. So, watch this space. Hopefully, I won't take another 2 years to finalize.
I finalized episode 12. I have all the notes for episode 13. I'll let you guys decide if I should continue after that. I'm assuming since exactly no one has been beating down my door for this episode (since March 2022!), that it's very popular, but it is what it is. I write what I like to read. Hopefully you'll like to read it too, and the Kindle Vella site won't be too offensive. I think you can read episodes 1-10 for free!
