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Keeping your AAR interesting... when you're too good at the game.

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birdboy2000

birdboy2000

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Jan 27, 2007
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I'm a good player.

Not a great player - I'm not going to be able to write a gameplay AAR about some feat no one thought possible - but a good enough player that, left to my own devices, the vast majority of my games will be stories of continual expansion. Difficult wars and setbacks happen, but not often enough to keep a story interesting; the only AAR I've written that I'm happy with ended in defeat and was written when I was a much worse player than I am now. And although different states start with different difficulty levels, minors seem to become majors (leading to the same problems as having majors to begin with) or just get annexed (leading to... well, the end of the AAR.)

Throwing wars seems like cheating, and reading about a country which rarely if ever loses just isn't that interesting a story. What are some tips and tricks for keeping a story fascinating, when your skill level is high?
 
Maybe if the focus of your AAR isn't solely gameplay?

Or rarely get involved in major wars, but make sure that when you do - they are really major.

Its always going to be more difficult to keep it interesting when its just continuous expansion and victory over the course of centuries though.
 
I once wrote an AAR in which I very seldom lost a battle and never, as far as I know, lost a war. Whether it is interesting or not I leave to you to say, but the story I wrapped around the gameplay gave the readers something more to read than just, "I beat this one... and that one."

Link: Selected-Essays-Building-a-Better-Bremen
 
You could always play with deliberate handicaps and engage in battles that will be almost a certain loss (I do this a lot for games I write AARs for). "Throwing wars" by making it interesting yourself is not cheating in my book (while I do not intend to lose any war in this manner, sometimes a few poor mistakes can change one's fortunes) - it makes the game, and the AAR, far more interesting and engaging! After all, owning the AI for an entire period of time in a game just seems so unrealistic and personally - while I do enjoy some casual WC AARs by some rather unexpected countries -- I personally share your sentiment... "Look at How Good I am!" :glare: Handicaps can be things like no WC, if your playing as a nation with the ability to form a "formidable nation" you refuse to do so, even if you have all the

AARs ending in defeat can be great, remember, your writing a story - or retelling a story.

Personally, while I have many campaigns in various Paradox games where I am playing WC - I never write an AAR reflecting this. Truly, I find handicapping myself for the duration of the campaign to be so much more fun and enjoyable than stomping over the AI.

Just my two cents, I'm sure whatever you choose to do will work out fine though! :)
 
Handicaps don't seem like a half-bad idea, and I think I'll incorporate some, if I can come up with good ones. (Or if there's a list floating around I can use. Doubt it though.)

And while I'm not opposed to an AAR ending in defeat, I am opposed to the quick defeat you often get when playing as a minor nation - there's just no time for a story.
 
In three words? Make crap up.
 
Focus on the narration. What happens with your rulers, their environment, the realm, neighboring realms? Have there been events one can make stories of? Lots of possibilities.
 
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Play from a harder start. RP your decisions rather than choosing the best one.

CK2 example, if your first son is an utter halfwit and your second is a genius, don't just murder the halfwit.
 
The handicaps would depend on which game you plan on writing your AAR about.
 
Tanzhang (譚張) said:
In three words? Make crap up.
Click to expand...

This. Three times this.

Making plausible "stuff" up around the game details is the difference between a good AAR and a great one, for me. I rarely take much notice of the game's nitty gritty, and most details are fabricated. :)
 
birdboy2000 said:
It's a CK2 AAR, and thanks for the ideas. I think my starting position will be hard enough (as will the mod I'm playing) and I'm doing an intense narrative focus, so hopefully I'll figure this out.
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It should be easy in CK2. If you have in character reasons for every decision you make, so that each ruler has his own personality, your AAR will be quite interesting. I think CK2 is by far the easiest of the games to make into an AAR because you already have a cast of characters. Victoria is much more difficult because it's so much more abstract.
 
What you can do is play against yourself. Take two nations and play each one in turns. I've done an AAR using that technique and it worked out quite well.

A twist on this is to continously play one nation until it's uber-powerful. You then switch to another nation and see if you can bring down the behemoth.
 
Do something increadibly stupid on purpose. I don't have CK2, but there must be something you can do to make everyone hate you and turn your game into a challange for survival.
 
DensleyBlair said:
This. Three times this.

Making plausible "stuff" up around the game details is the difference between a good AAR and a great one, for me. I rarely take much notice of the game's nitty gritty, and most details are fabricated. :)
Click to expand...

I hate having to explain things in a creative yet plausible manner for some of the random actions AI nations take in-game. Now that I apparently know what you're doing with "Biography of Great Men" I am a little disappointed! :p (Not really!) :D Perhaps this is why I really enjoy your work!

AsdfeZxcas said:
Do something increadibly stupid on purpose.
Click to expand...

Sometimes that backfires on [you], I would know! :p


I would still recommend handicaps, handicapping oneself can be a lot of fun (at least I think a handicap game is).
 
volksmarschall said:
Sometimes that backfires on [you], I would know! :p
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Yes, converting to Paganism in EU3 Europe surrounded by angry crusaders didn't bode well for my short-lived AAR...

On the bright side, it didn't end unfinished and abandoned like many AARs.
 
volksmarschall said:
I hate having to explain things in a creative yet plausible manner for some of the random actions AI nations take in-game. Now that I apparently know what you're doing with "Biography of Great Men" I am a little disappointed! :p (Not really!) :D Perhaps this is why I really enjoy your work!
Click to expand...

Well, the extent of fabrication in ABoGM extends as far as election result percentages (but never the outcome) and adding background and detail to events like "Friendly Society in Norway House", which would usually be completely irrelevant to the narrative.

Great that you do enjoy it, though. :)
 
DoomBunny said:
Play from a harder start. RP your decisions rather than choosing the best one.

CK2 example, if your first son is an utter halfwit and your second is a genius, don't just murder the halfwit.
Click to expand...

Very true...and if your halfwit IS a halfwit, let him play stupid: keep untrustworthy advisors, piss off your spymaster, seize a powerful vassals land over some minor in-game slight/event...sometimes magic happens in those moments.
 
Alfred Packer said:
Very true...and if your halfwit IS a halfwit, let him play stupid: keep untrustworthy advisors, piss off your spymaster, seize a powerful vassals land over some minor in-game slight/event...sometimes magic happens in those moments.
Click to expand...

So true, sometimes I'll ignore plots against myself or heirs just to see what will happen if one of them gets blown up in a cow poo explosion.
 
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