Editing Openai/695f146f-35a4-800f-bdf0-3252b8bc7b77 (section)

==== 1) Party of One – Rebel Crown with Michael Dunn-O’Connor ====

a497843e-f9bd-48fc-ab25-c630644…

===== Quick summary =====

A one-player Rebel Crown campaign focused on a disgraced noble warrior backing an off-screen Claimant, where the first session is about finding leverage, not declaring rebellion.

===== Long, detailed session summary =====

The session opens after the coup. There is no dramatization of exile, no flashback to the fall of the throne. The Claimant exists, but is intentionally kept off-screen, which immediately reframes the campaign: this is not a heroic return story, but a ground-level consolidation story.

Character creation itself establishes the core conflict. The PC is The Vengeant, formerly of House Giard, the very house that benefited from the coup. His exile was not ideological; it was political housekeeping. That choice already signals the campaign’s tone: loyalty is contingent, not moral.

Crucially, the Claimant is defined through the PC’s needs, not the other way around. The assassination attempt that failed, the aborted coup, the PC’s ambiguous role in it—all of this establishes that:
* the Claimant is alive but vulnerable,
* their legitimacy is unresolved,
* and trust inside the retinue is not automatic.

Only after this relational groundwork does the GM move the camera to the present situation.

The group is already in the Sedgelands. There is no “arrival.” Instead, the opening situation is one of precarious survival:
* limited coin,
* limited protection,
* and the knowledge that being recognized is dangerous.

The GM introduces the Sedgelands as a space where authority is fragmented. No dominant lord. No obvious faction boss. Instead:
* mercenaries pass through,
* local powers extract tolls,
* rumors circulate faster than proclamations.

The first pressure is economic and logistical. The retinue needs resources and discretion. They cannot yet afford open allegiance or violence.

Rather than presenting a Sortie, the GM presents people:
* a mercenary presence whose loyalty is purely transactional,
* local intermediaries who trade protection for silence,
* and whispers of minor holdings that change hands quietly.

Recon emerges organically as conversation. The player asks:
* who controls the roads,
* who benefits from instability,
* who can be leaned on without escalating attention.

The first Sortie is implicitly defined as:
insert yourself into a local power arrangement without declaring your banner.

There is no seizure of land. No vassalage. The PC uses intimidation, reputation, and selective violence to:
* secure cooperation from a local force,
* establish that someone important is backing them,
* without naming the Claimant.

The Sortie resolves with partial success:
* short-term security is gained,
* but it creates a trail of rumors,
* and establishes the PC as a dangerous actor tied to House Giard’s shadow.

Downtime reinforces the tone:
* stress is high,
* trust is thin,
* and the future Domain is clearly going to be built out of morally compromised choices.

The session ends without clarity about what kind of rebellion this is. That ambiguity is the point.