Game Session 1: Faction Meetings

The Fourth Crusade is in chaos. Its leaders had hoped that by diverting to Constantinople they would pay off their debts, secure Byzantine aid, and win the obedience of the Greek Orthodox Church for the papacy. Now the emperor they installed has been brutally murdered, and his killer sits on the Byzantine throne. The Crusaders must now decide: Should they let this crime go unpunished and continue on to Jerusalem, or should they dare to attack the largest, richest, and most well-defended city in the Christian world? Students will play as Crusaders from one of four historical factions—the Northern French, Imperial, Venetian, or Clerical Crusaders—each with unique personal and faction goals. In the end they will reenact the moment that changed Crusading and the relationship between the Eastern and Western Christian worlds forever.

Students will need to be familiar with their character sheet by the start of this class. Some objectives are public and some characters will have private objectives, so be clear in advance how much you want to divulge to your faction or to others. DO NOT SHOW YOUR CHARACTER SHEET to other players even if they are on the same faction as you.

Goals for this session (November 8th)

• The professor will offer any final context and answer questions about the game rules

• Faction members will meet to discuss strategy and potential alliances for the game (based on their characters' public objectives,

• Students will need to coordinate speaking presentations and collaboration on research/notes

  • Students will need to choose on which topics they will formally present - each person will present at least twice during the game, and a minimum of one faction member will need to present in each debate.

  • Each student will prepare written notes on one topic for each debate and send it to your faction members (or even others?) in advance to brief them for the debate.

Student	Character	Faction
Hailey	Marquis Boniface of Montferrat†	Imperial
Bontany	Count Oberto II of Biandrate	Imperial
Emily	Doge Enrico Dandolo†	Venetian
Lily	Panteleone Barbo	Venetian
Luis	Angelo Falier	Venetian
Braeden	Count Baldwin of Flanders†	French
Peter	Louis of Blois	French
Helena	Hugh of Saint-Pol	French
Neilena	Geoffrey of Villeharduin	French
Trinity	Bishop Nivelons of Soissons†	Clerical
Isaiah	Martin of Pairis	Clerical
Kaeden	John of Noyon, Bishop-elect of Acre	Clerical
Nama	Anna/Agnes of France	Indeterminates
Jason	Theodore Branas	Indeterminates
Jesse	Robert of Clari	Indeterminates

Those characters with a † beside their name are a faction leader. The indeterminate faction (i.e. the undecided) due to their heterogenous nature, do not have a leader.