Hello there, kind ReadAAR!
Many moons ago, when the world was young and heroes roamed the land, I started a dinky little Crusader Kings comedy AAR, centred on the machinations of a rather despicably Machiavellian Norman lord named Roger Salopard. It was a crude pastiche of jokes stolen from smarter and funnier people and corny, clichéd references, delivered in wooden, labored prose (with far too many clunky, uninspired adjectives).
AARLanders are apparently easily amused folk, judging by the way they showered it with praise. Despite the general literary and comedic ineptitude of the authAAR, it drew a small, faithful following and even won me a couple of awards. Ultimately it fizzled out, as AARs are wont to do, with a promise that I'll bring it back when I have the time.
About three years have passed since that promise, and I finally have the time. Now that CKII is out and I'm marginally less awful a prose stylist than I was as a burgeoning twenty-year-old boy, I've decided to drag the musty old crowd favourite back from the shed, dust it off, rework some of the concepts and present it in a shiny new Clausewitzian incarnation, to see if it can win back some of its former glory and to check if I've gotten any better at this writing stuff with age and experience.
Anyways, if I haven't scared you off yet by marinating in precautionary self-loathing, I hope you'll have your fancy suitably tickled by the fancy-tickling prologue to the new Salopard saga, available below. If by some chance you remember the previous version, I hope you'll enjoy its much improved remake. The first proper episode should be up tomorrow, and after that the updates will be proceeding at a leisurely once-or-twice-a-week tempo, to prevent burnout on both ends. Comments of whatever stripe (except those peddling Prada shoes, amateur porn and counterfeit Viagra) are warmly and enthusiastically welcomed. Here's hoping this one will endure a bit longer than my previous attempts at AARfare.
Cheers,
Morsky