Last night was the first "conflict turn" for our Armour Astir game. The conflict turn consists of strict roleplay, taking the form of story vignettes to further expand the plot and game progression without everything solely revolving around the protagonists. Occasionally, 1d6 rolls are called to add some randomness to the scene. It's an interesting system! The players can choose to roleplay members of the cause (the hero side) or the authority (the evil empire). The results of the vignette determine if the authority loses or gains a level of control over some aspect they have dominion over.
The first vignette was a "covert ops" mission, wherein the players infiltrate an authority location for some purpose. We infiltrated a military supply depot in search of any sort of records that could shed light on why the empire has decided to resume its campaign after years of lying dormant. I played as a rat-dog-style kobold assassin named "Anissa the Dagger", while the other two players played as another agent-disguised-as-a-worker named simply "Bob" and a forced-conscript worker named "Kaine Markson". Additionally, Kaine wanted me to find the bastard who conscripted him and kill him. Stashing me in a bale of lettuce, we all snuck in and went in search of the records. Once inside, I hopped out of the lettuce and dashed between the shadows while my two cohorts walked about freely. "These idiots would miss the spots on a cow, heeheeeee."
Bob the Agent finds an open window, and deftly scales the wall before letting Anissa and Kaine in. We find the records room and begin searching for any sort of smoking gun. Stumbling upon a freshly printed stack of files, Anissa motions them over. "One of you come over here and read this!" Anissa loudly squeaks. "For reasons!"
Anissa can't read.
Quickly looking it over, Bob determines Anissa's find would likely be of use, given how new and unorganized it is. Stashing them away, Bob, Anissa, and Kaine prepare to leave, when Anissa turns to Kaine and asks, "Where's that guy you wanted me to stab?" Kaine points to his boss's usual smoking spot outside.
"Just walk right up to him, I'll be in your shadow. Classic plan, always works," Anissa squeaks.
"Hey boss," Kaine asks, "too late to discuss my performance review?"
"Performance review..? I'm busy," he says, taking a drag and blowing it at you dismissively. "Go bother someone else about it."
"HEY FUCKER, WORKER'S RIGHTS" Anissa leaps at the man with dagger drawn, aiming right for his jugular. With the element of surprise, the dagger finds purchase easily. "YOU'RE FIRED. HAH." The three cohorts make their escape, stolen documents in tow.
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The second vignette revolves around an authority grunt, played by the director, while the three players all play some form of authority military generals. This one was just a bit of fun, mainly. Mainly the authority generals are confused as to why one of their own astirs was on the opposing side. Thievery? A turn coat? Magic trickery? None can say. The grunt it then sentenced to prison for being so useless, though were it up to one of the generals, they'd immediately be sent to the front lines with no armaments.
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The final vignette was between the director and myself. Instructed to act as though I was a somewhat clueless lower officer, I was to inform a high ranking authority official about the sortie, the fact that there's a witch astir casting some kind of odd shadow magic, and a turncoat astir. Once the lower officer describes the shadow magic, he recognizes it as the magic of an "old one", one of the gods present upon the land before the authority took over. Upon being informed that one of their holy sites was breached by the cause, who then absconded with the relic within, he orders the authority forces to be mobilized in order to prevent the loss of any further relics.