The Captain's Logs

Following the grand tradition set by my Planescape campaign ("Luck of the Draw"), I heartily encourage the writing of short stories to help the players improve their role-play of the their characters. Or rather, my players write them and I'm forced to keep up on my end. The game has just started, and we've already got several stories in the works.

	The End and The Beginning This is the prologue for the campaign. It is written from the point of view of aged storyteller who spinning tales and singing songs of events which are history for the narrator - events which will unfold during the course of the campaign. At present, the identity of the narrator is unknown.
	The Reef Runner This is an unfinished story which takes place just after the events covered in the first game session. The actual resolution to the "problem" raised in the text was handled at the start of the second game session.
	Storm Front Another story from our mysterious narrator. This summarizes the key events of the first game session, and outlines those events which are fated to happen in the second.
	Peeled Shrimp This story takes place shortly after the party has arrived in Octopon, but before they get around to experiencing the events hinted at by our mysterious narrator.
	Pressing Matters This story takes place on the second evening that the party is in Octopon. It mainly serves as background and introduction for the newest PC to be added to the group.
	Swimming with the Fishes This story covers some "down time" (i.e. not covered in a game session) events that happened off stage during the second game session. It gives some more insight into who and what Selkie is, as well as providing a slightly deeper look at Kalaban (who's not the Prince of Thieves).
	Full Fathom Five Another "mysterious narrator" piece. In case you haven't picked up on it by now, I'm using these stories as introductory text that is read at the start of every game session. This story is the intro for the third session. Since we're still in the middle of an adventure, this story is a touch shorter than the others.
	The Logs of Captain Zafar ibn-Rufi Although Zafar attempted to save his logs from the effects of the sea before his ship sank, he was not entirely successful. These are the few entries that the party did manage to recover. Contents of "The Ancient Tome" In addition to the captain's logs, the party also recovered the only text Zafar managed to retrieve from the Library of Mirrors. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite have the info the party needs. Thus, the need for the rest of the campaign... (The names and places listed are for the Treasures that were recovered during the course of the original cartoon series.)
	No More Pasta This is the setup text for a short "encounter" that took place in the game session. Selkie had invited the rest of the crew to dinner in order thank them for being her friends and saving her from her previous life. Yamalla decided to invite the cast of the original series, mainly so that Tula could meet Selkie and confirm once and for all if Selkie is indeed an unknowing ecomancer.
	The Death of Frowning Abdul This event was actually played during the course of a game session - sort of. No one - DM or players - actually expected this encounter to occur so soon, nor come to the conclusion it did. As a result, what actually happened wasn't nearly as involved or exciting as is portrayed in the story. However, as DM, I have given official approval for this major bout of RetCon as the end result is the same, and it's what I would have run if I'd actually been thinking about it.
	Honor Among Thieves This is the intro text for the fourth (and fifth) session (which is the third adventure). This is a good one to read for those aren't priveledged to eavesdrop on our game sessions. It helps to further explain some of the significance of the "ancient tome" and hint at the role of the characters.
	A Comedy of Errors This is the intro text for the sixth session. As with some of the other intro texts, this one occurs in "mid-stream". The party has pretty much experienced the set-up for the adventure, and is now poised to finish it off. If only things were that easy...
	Between the Hammer and the Anvil This story is the intro text for the fourth adventure of the campaign. It sets the scene (perhaps a touch on the dramatic side) for what could be considered the first real adventure of the camapaign. The previous could just as easily been skipped and written as a long story/prologue prior to this adventure. The party is going to arrive at the island where the Library of Mirrors sits - and hopefully find clues to the locations of the remaining Treasures of Rul.
	Contents of "The Ancient Tome, Part 2" This was the goal of the party for the most recent adventure. They found an original copy of the book they found part of with Captain Zafar's logs. In it, it lists what are hopefully the locations of the seven remaining Treasures of Rul.
	Spinning the Compass Now that the book with the locations of the remaining Treasures has been recovered, the party can simply go and find them, right? Yeah, right. It wouldn't be a grand quest if it were so simple. This story sets the stage for the next adventure of the campaign, the portion which deals with the Treasures directly. Which one are they going after? I have no idea. (They haven't told me yet.) We'll find out together.
	Blood in the Water This story has two purposes. First, it is another story in the tradition of "The Death of Frowning Abdul" - that is, it retells the events of gameplay in the manner of how the encounter should have happened. (Although this event didn't need as much rewriting as the other.) The second is to make the players paranoid. Not only because it goes on to address some things that DIDN'T happen in game play, but also because of the presence a co-author on the story. If it has a third purpose remains to be seen.
	All that Glitters... After delaying for a some time while waiting for something to happen, I've finally written another adventure intro. Some of the hints I put in earlier intros are played upon in this one - in other words, I'm acutally telling a story inside of the stories which are telling the story. (Think about it, you'll figure it out.) But yes, the party has found the first of the remaining Treasures and is now ready to try and find a second one.
	Approaching Sails This is another contribution from a good friend of ours who is presently out of state. He's helping me out by creating much of the information and plot dealing with Admiral Kriton (see Blood in the Water for this villain's introduction). This covers the DM's POV of the party's arrival.
	Tightening Coils After about a two month break, the campaign finally resumes. This text has a bit more information in it because I'm summing things up for the players as well as the causual reader. The story tells what happened to our heroes upon arriving in Serpent's Coil. (At this point, I will admit to purposely using "artistic license" when writing these things. It's another DM trick of mine. I'm letting the players get a feel for how the "real" events of the game sessions get twisted into epic tales by bards.)
	Stabbing Eastward Finally, after a much longer period of time than I intended, the heroes have recovered a second lost Treasure of Rul and are now sailing forth to find a third. Hopefully, they won't take as long to recover this Treasure as they did the last one.
	Changing Tides This story is another dealing with background events - those which occur while the party is sailing for their third Treasure. Of course, while these events happen without the party, they are result of the party. But that's another kettle of fish entirely. Anyway, this story serves to firm up the measure of the party's primary opposition as well as lay the seeds for the finale of the campaign.
	Ghost of a Chance Yet another adventure intro story. The crew has recovered their third of the remaining seven Treasures of Rul, and is about to attempt to steal back a fourth. They sail now to the Haunted Coast and seek to find the lair of the pirate queen Kressa. Those who've seen the series know which episode I'm stealing shamelessly from and what lies in store for the party.
	Under the Sea We're into the final stretch. There are just three treasures left to recover. This intro story takes on the style of wrapping up the campaign. Along with resolving the campaign plot, I'm also starting to resolve some of the conflicts in the backgrounds of the various characters.
	To Kill a Lizardman... This web page is the briefing material the party received prior to the next adventure. The king of the Merfolk kingdom asked the party to stop the attacks of sea lizardmen on his people. To do this, they have to sail back to the home islands of Yamalla and Srgt. Triangle. Once there, they most likely simply have to kill the leader of the sea lizardmen tribe(s). Of course, with these savages, nothing is ever that easy.
	Siege Mentality The intro text for the recovery of the final treasure. With only one artifact left, everyone eventually figures out where it is. So, our heroes will have to slip past the blockade set up by Bloth and his temporary ally Kriton and then attempt to convince the current keepers of the Treasure that they should hand it over to our heroes. That's the easy part. The hard part is going to be actually getting a hold of it and then leaving...
	Two Shall Vie This is the intro text for the final adventure of the campaign. The heroes have recovered the 13 Treasures and restored the surface of Mer. But now, they must join forces with Ren and his friends and travel into the center of Mer to destroy the Dark Dweller once and for all. Of course, you know that Bloth is finally going to make an appearance and try to get the Treasures for himself...
	Epilog To provide decent closure - after all, I was essentially running a cartoon - I wrote this closing text for the campaign. It brings together all of the bits and pieces of the game and my stories. It also gives a "happily ever after" for each of the characters. I had created these events before I ran the session, but did get input from the players and then modified it on the fly. What you'll read here is the modified version of the story which includes the visions of the players.