AAR wanted for possible site publication

[Krol]

Hey folks, Scott from Shrapnel here. I have a site interested in publishing an AAR of a Dominions 2 multiplayer game. If you're interested here are the things that need to be addressed...

1. Must be a complete AAR. They had problems before with an AAR that the players started and then never got around to finishing, so instead of risking a problem with an ongoing game it would be best if you wait until the game is complete for the AAR.

2. I believe it can be rather lengthy. Considering that Dom2 is a very involved game it's highly probable they will split up the AAR over several articles. So, don't worry too much about word count (but do avoid trying to rival Robert Jordan...)

3. Content will be edited for punctuation, etc.

Other than the above there's nothing much else to it, except have fun and make it an enjoyable, informative read.

If you're interested in doing it please send me an email at the address posted below, along with a brief sample (like, say one turn's worth of info) of what the AAR would be like. We'll accept submissions for a couple of weeks (closing it up around March 9th) and then make a decision about who to use. I'm sure there will be plenty of great ones, but please remember ultimately there can only be one.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Scott

Media Relations
skrol@shrapnelgames.com

[Gandalf Parker]

Scott,
Great news about the interest in an AAR. There are already a few that are
published to the forum. Doing a search for AAR in the subject should get
you a list.

I think by looking at them you will see a problem that you might want to
discuss with the web-site. Most AAR's for Dominions get to be a book
within a very few turns.

[Psitticine]

Cool! This should provoke some most interesting results! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

[Zurai]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Scott,
Great news about the interest in an AAR. There are already a few that are
published to the forum. Doing a search for AAR in the subject should get
you a list. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">He's looking for multiplayer AARs, of which I don't believe there are any. Pretty sure all the ones here are SP AARs.

[Krol]

That's correct Zurai, I'm just looking for multiplayer AARs. What would be really cool is one that has several people playing.

One thing that I should have mentioned in my original post is that if you submit a turn for consideration please just cut and paste it into the body of an email, I'd rather not deal with a bunch of attachments. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Just so everyone has an idea of what exactly we're looking for in the AAR let me take a moment to explain. The AAR would be appearing on another site, not Shrapnel's. As such the purpose would be twofold: (1) to provide entertainment and (2) to tweak interest in the game from people who have not yet experienced the joy that is Dom2. A reader should walk away after reading the AAR thinking, "Wow, that sounds like a killer game, I need to check it out!" The idea is to generate (more) buzz.

I'm guessing we'd be allowed 4-6 installments. Please keep this in mind. Novel length AARs are fine for forums, but it won't work for this.

I'm sure you already realize this, but this is of course a volunteer article. You'll get to see your name and work Online, and the satisifaction of knowing you're helping out one of your favorite games.

Thanks,
Scott

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Krol:
1. Must be a complete AAR. They had problems before with an AAR that the players started and then never got around to finishing, so instead of risking a problem with an ongoing game it would be best if you wait until the game is complete for the AAR. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I always thought this was SUPPOSED to be an AAR, "after-action report". If you're making the report DURING the action, wouldn't it be a DAR, "during-action report"?

Like many things, however, the term appears to have been misabused.

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
Like many things, however, the term appears to have been misabused. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">...like the prefix "mis" in "misabused" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Krol]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I always thought this was SUPPOSED to be an AAR, "after-action report". If you're making the report DURING the action, wouldn't it be a DAR, "during-action report"?

Heh, well I suppose technically if someone is doing it turn by turn it would still be an "after-action report" since it's a report done after that turn's actions. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

-Scott

[Gandalf Parker]

I suppose technically the AAR we got at first over in the newsGroups were writeups after the game was done where the people talked about what they could remember of the game. It was "game journals" which were the ongoing stories. Here they seem to have merged

[Krol]

Well, this was disappointing. After two weeks I've received ZERO responses. I guess everyone is too busy playing to write about it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Oh well.

-Scott

[Psitticine]

Aye, and it usually takes (a lot) more than two weeks to play a normal MP game. Blitz games can be done quicker, but aren't the norm. I suspect they'd make for a somewhat irregular AAR, although not neccesarily an uninteresting one.

Another problem is that, given the length and complexity of an MP Dom2 game, some organization is probably needed to get it all the pieces together. Most MP games currently going were started before your announcement and thus the early stages were already a bit inaaccessable in terms of complete recording.

If you are still interested, possibly an MP game could be set-up specifically to be AAR fodder? The participants could e-mail a summary of each turn to a party trusted not to leak private info/plans to others, and then that data could be compiled later into a cohesive AAR.

[Norfleet]

Your typical PBEM-grade MP game takes weeks to finish. A blitz/marathon, on the other hand, is much too frenzied and by the end of the game, most of the players can't remember what happened on Turn X anyway.

[Tals]

Although I understand why a MP AAR would be quite good. The SP ones tweaked the interest for me - particularly Arryns fine Jort one - as a MP player I could see how the game would be amazing in MP.

I'd use that one personally http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Tals