In some small part, the map of the Ossulstone Hundred aligns with the same concept. Wards and streets, stores and alehouses, traders and warehouses… Such details fall to the need of the Table and the story’s progression. Perhaps I took something from Free League’s Forbidden Lands and the notion of a map to be annotated. If the GM or I spend our time delineating every home and storefront across the map, what’s left for Player engagement?

Like Ex Libris or Lost in Translation‘s villains, I think The Dee Sanction benefits from focusing progress and plot on difficult decisions and desperate solutions. That’s not to say that the Agents always lose or that every ending becomes mired in shades of grey. But everything is not set in stone, and situations can arise that embrace the loose threads of the past, allowing the Table to create the fabric of their Elizabethan world together.

Remember the guiding principles on page 6, What It Isn’t About… fabricate rather than procrastinate. The Table should never freeze with the paralysis of concern that events might not perfectly match the canon of history. The story should be about what you want it to be about. Agents should engage in the sort of missions and adventures that entertain everyone. It demands that the Table works together, and the GM might need a little more time and a bit of leeway when it comes to a retcon or two. Or at least the opportunity to correct a bit of history if the session’s excitement means creating an unintentional dead-end in events.

This is where Journals matter and the concept of playing characters beyond a simple core. Suppose Players handle the history and take notes on events, people and places. In that case, the GM can focus more on fleshing out events, weaving old threads into the fabric of the whole, and creating a satisfying world.

Following the break with Rome (1533) and the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-), we see Safety Lies in Fear territory, as a supernaturally defenceless England finds itself tested by entities pressing the unravelling boundaries between worlds. The slow collapse escalates with each new visitor and failing to find solutions to these incursions means that the GM can ramp up the threat in later adventures. This is “murder hobo” or “West Marches” territory, with lawless landscapes, vacated properties and ravaged monastic estates rapidly falling into ruin by local looting and supernatural sorties. Expect ghosts, carrion feeders, minor Fae, and similar.

In the 1560, with the Queen on the throne and unrest on all sides, All Along the Watchtowers sees peril probing every weakness in unprepared defences. By the middle of the decade, Dee has secured official powers through the Dee Sanction, but his friendship with the Queen is sufficiently solid that he might pay out of his own pocket to hire agents before 1564; after that, the standard material of The Dee Sanction core rules kick in, with efforts masterminded between Walsingham and Dee.

Gathering strength and enemies alike, Empire Under Siege sees the Pope declare open season upon the English with the excommunication of the Queen (1570) and the building frustrations of King Philip II of Spain. Spies, assassination attempts, intrigue, secret assignations — all an essential part of this period, as the esoteric spy network of he Sanction gathers potency and potential.

Whilst less obviously more of the same, the Pursuit of Angels is the portal to intrigue and espionage in Europe under the guise of the a quest of angelic enlightenment. Dee and Kelley take their wives and entourage on a complex tour of the kingdoms, during the early to mid-1580s, primarily in northern and eastern Europe, but with occasion to detour — certainly no reason for the Agents to be held back from going further afield.

However, by the time Dee returns, the intrigues within the Court at home has shifted, Spain has been defeated at sea, and the Great Library at Mortlake has been looted. Dee has fallen from favour and in place of the Sanction, the School of Night has risen to prominance under Henry Percy and Francis Drake. There’s nothing to be suspicious about here; certainly no possibility that the looting of Mortlake had anything to do with Percy and his ascendence to his role as the Queen’s new Archmage. Inter-agency action ensures seeking both the defence of the realm and a hint of the truth behind the School.

Potential aplenty and the possibility of jumping between eras to refine and deepen the story over many adventures means that stories of Elizabethan esoteric espionage needs never go stale.

Every day during August (and for a fair old while into September), I’ll be writing something new on The Dee Sanction and aim to connect the word prompt of the day with the development of the game. Check out the concept, the list and the graphics over at AUTOCRATIK.

I ran two adventures, both of which I’d run before. ‘The Gongfermor Deception‘ has been run at least four times now, and I don’t think it has proceeded the same way on any of those occasions.

The adventure has a timeline in the background, to which the bad guys aspire to keep. The player characters have the opportunity to interfere with this timeline, if they can – though it depends on what information they can uncover.

I think I could benefit from applying some kind of countdown mechanic to this game so that I have the timeline forefront in my mind and give the players a greater sense as to their progress. I daresay seeing the counters slip away would add to the stress. The actions they take along the way occur within a confined location and getting a grip of distance and time expended wouldn’t be too hard.

I recently read (and posted a review at RPG Geek of) Levi Kornelsen’s Mechanisms For Tabletop Roleplaying. The short supplement offers five interesting mechanics to add elements to an existing game, one of which is a Countdown Stack that might work well in introducing this. I’ll have to give it some consideration.

The other adventure – ‘The Holy Wax Infant of Prague‘ – has more of a sandbox environment within which the events unfold. The characters have less pressure to face, but a wider range of options to consider. In investigating the mystery around the disappearance of an important relic, they have a whole valley of suspect people and locations to consider.

I ran this adventure at Dragonmeet and it ended quite differently to the one this weekend. It ended with a very different culprit to the original – and in writing this up, it will be very much a place with a detailed list of places and possibilities. I allowed the players this weekend to guide their own destiny and their actions gave form to the outcome.

In the end, they found themselves running for their lives from the rending claws and gnashing teeth of evil spirits. Finding solace in a church, they desperately called for the intervention of the angelic host to save them – and pulled off a credible success by slaying the unholy host with heavenly fire.

Both adventures ran well to time. The ‘Infant‘ ran 5 minutes short of the 3-hour slot, while the ‘Deception‘ closed 15-minutes off four hours. In both instances, the players managed to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

I really like the way the second session (Deception) ended, as it would have made the perfect start to a campaign, while definitely offering a single-session conclusion. The characters discovered a place of significance that could have served as the basis for long-term investigation and complications. Here, they walked away as Walsingham’s agents sealed the way with a thick black wax disc, bearing the insignia and motto of The Dee Sanction.

Quite satisfying.