On "Sacrifice"

"Sacrifice is actually the first ATPK story I wrote,” I say. “And it differs stylistically a little from the later works.”

"So your first intent was to explore the evil nature of Carl’s character,” you say. 

“Yes, “ I replied. “Carl’s character is actually a character I made up for myself in a game, which unfortunately didn’t last very long. He is also the inspiration for a short story I wrote some time ago which actually got incorporated into a chapter of my novel. I wanted to try to play an unrepentantly evil character, essentially to see how long he would last. I felt that I could play such a character in such a way that he would be both not murdered by the party and not creepy or disruptive as a player. And that’s Carl.”

“And the sacrifice scene was part of that?”

“Exactly,” I said. “I wanted to demonstrate how it was possible to have such a scene, with sufficient details to be compelling, and still for it not to become gross and creepy and the sort of thing you don’t want at your gaming table.”

“I liked how Carl the player asked the table how much detail to go into,” you say.

“Yes, that’s very important,” I reply. “Bringing things to the table without the table’s consent is a great way to be a really shitty player. You always establish boundaries. Some groups will have boundaries in different places from other groups, and what is acceptable among one group may not be acceptable for another.”

“And when it came time to describe the deed itself, all Carl said was I sacrifice her,” you observe.

“Yes,” I reply. “That’s a level of detail that the table really doesn’t need, no matter how much enthusiastic consent is expressed. If you want to know exactly how and from what angle the knife enters the body, and what the blood looks like as it wells out, go watch some 80s slasher horror film.”

“So where does this fit into the greater story?” you ask.

“Well, like Origin, this is not technically part of the story, though it is canonical. You notice that the event is referenced in Under the Ruined Church when the party returns to the death house.”

“Is that the Death House from Curse of Strahd?”

“Yes, even to the extent of accompanying the Burgomeister and his sister out of the town, which I think is something that happens in Curse of Strahd. This was very early in the production of stories, so at this point all I had was a vague idea to write isolated vignettes from multiple adventures in a particular group’s campaign. The story wrote itself later.”

“So in terms of the story?” you continue.

“Oh yes,” I reply. “I guess that this would fit somewhere before The Ring, since Carl got the dagger from the death house. It might be before or after the Village of Retired Adventurers.”