In the last hour of the game, Mario dramatically described his character putting on the red, an act that in ven culture means that you put aside your sword, only use a dagger and get ready to murder some son of a bitch who deserves it. A letter is written in your own blood, describing your intentions and you’re off.

The other players, Jeff and Storn, also gave the red its due and had their characters acting shocked and wide-eyed at the act. That is a huge, huge thing. If either of them had been flippant, it would have killed the effect.

Hot stuff. Blooded is back on the table in a big way. We hit a solid triple. It felt good.

I was pleased with the way I handled getting everyone back into the groove and the convening of the Senate. I put in laws for the senate that made for good play and gave people the opportunity to do shit and I fleshed out the six earls for each of the major houses.

I took a moment to describe the capital city a bit and that felt right.

Storn seemed to get his feet under him as the young baron turned young self-proclaimed count.

And Jeff did this thing he does. He is really good at taking a touch of player input and making it turn the game on its ear. I watched him do it time and time again with Destiny Points in our Conspiracy of Shadows campaign. If you traced back the meaningful conflicts in that game, nine times out of ten it linked back to Jeff’s addition to play through a Destiny Point.

Tonight he did the same thing. He took part in a conflict and whereas Mario didn’t quite get what he wanted, Jeff slipped on through and his actions turned the game on its ear. Jeff is like a great mid-fielder on a soccer team. He will step up and score but more often, he puts the ball where it needs to be for the great assists. Jeff puts other people in a position to be great.

Some day I will stop it with the bad gaming/sports analogies.

But not today.