Interlude Stories - What the Hell is That?

    Mark Stinson

    I say this with no exaggeration.  INTERLUDE STORIES take a fun weekend gaming experience that is D&D, and turns it into something epic, dramatic, and real.  But, what is an Interlude Story?

    For decades now, our gaming groups have used Interlude Stories to fill in the blanks between adventures.  Simply put, an Interlude Story is a narrative story written between games, that tells the story of what the characters are up to in between gaming sessions.  It can be a story that fleshes out what a character was thinking or doing during a specific part of a past game.  It can be a story about something that happened to a character in their past or background.  Really, Interlude Stories can be anything you want. 

    Many players like to write a "background story," that helps flesh out who their character is and where they have been before the first D&D game.  But, expand this out.  Let's say at the end of a game-night, the party ends up back in a small town.  In our gaming group, in-between games, you can sit down and write a story about what your character does in the town.  You can create NPC's.  You can get in bar fights, seek a mentor for your character, steal some loot, help a child in mortal danger, develop a love interest.  Anything.  You can write about anything. 

    If you step over a boundary, or create or write something that contradicts the campaign, or that gives you character something they haven't yet earned, then I will very gently and politely let you know, and we'll work it out with an edit of your story.  So, the imagination is your only limit.  If you go too far, I'll pull you back.  You have full permission from me, to create, and write, and have fun with this.

    Often, if you write a story, I might write a follow up story that adds to or continues your story.  Not all the time, but sometimes.  If you create a cool NPC in a story, I might end up using that NPC in the game, or in a story of my own. 

    A few points.  Some people don't like to write stories, and I get that.  But, if you can write bullet-points, then you can do that for an Interlude Story.  Just bullet-point out what your character is doing, and who they are meeting, and what happens.  It doesn't have to win any short story awards.  The only goal with these stories, is to develop characters, NPC's, and the game world more fully.  If you do that, and have fun while you are doing it...then that's perfect.

    My interlude stories, as DM, will often share things going on in the world that your character might not even know about.  This helps flesh out the player's knowledge of the world, even if their character is unaware of what they are learning.  This allows me to flesh out villains, heroes, world powers, religions, history, and lore in a way that we just can't do in-depth at a 6 hour gaming session.

    No one is required to write Interlude Stories.  It is not homework.  It is not a task.  It is simply an opportunity you can have ful with if you choose to.  Anyhow.  I will talk briefly about Interlude Stories at our first game on January 29th, and answer any questions you have about them.

    Mark

    P.S.  Where do you put these Interlude Stories?  First, you come to the Kempin Unbound! group on this website.  Then you scroll down to "Blogs."  You click "Add Blog Post" and post your story.  All Interlude Stories go in the "Blogs" section of the Kempin Unbound! group.