Emergent Scripts
These are Session Scripts. I GM a Session with the Players and then I write up a recap. This is then turned into an “emergent script.” The conceit here is that Cry Havoc is a Television or Streaming Serial and the result of the Session is a script. So all the Sessions are listed as “S1E1” (Season 1, Episode 1) and have a title. They are written up sometimes with “POV” (Point of View), or “Pan Out Overhead”, “Close Up on SSG Marsh”, etc. These are “Camera instructions. But everything that happens in these “Scripts” are emergent; the players have complete agency. This is the rationalization of the sandbox into a script. No railroad tracks here. The Session recaps are written in a scene by scene fashion. Why am I doing this? Well, in an attempt to show how open-world in character/as character longform play with high agency CAN produce interesting, coherent narratives. You don’t need railroads or storygames. You just see the story in retrospect.
Musical Scoring
In the Campaign, I have asked Players to give me musical selections, artists or genres their character likes. I try to use that guidance for scenes which spotlight those characters. The players all voted and we selected “Fascination Street” by The Cure (1987) as the “Opening Credits Theme.” Other than that, the conceit also exists that the music in this setting “stops” in Summer, 1999, when the conflict went nuclear. The Emergent Scripts highlight which track is scored to which scene. Each Emergent Scrip also comes with a Spotify Playlist of the complete score in that script.
How To Read/Listen
You do you. My suggestion is that you start the Playlist and just read. Then stop reading and listen when appropriate. Or pause the music and then catch up up the “score” is getting ahead of the scenes.
Why Do I Do This?
Because its fun. And turning the emergent sandbox events in a Session into a script afterwards is a neat puzzle. And scoring the scenes is fun, because I like music. All this combination of fun and puzzle basically makes me look at writing these as fun and not a chore. I hope you enjoy them.