Blue-Booking opens additional role-playing scenes to Adventurers outside of the main action when the group gathers at the table.
The original idea, described by Aaron Allston for the Strike Force campaign sourcebook for Champions by Hero Games, replaced the small scraps of notes, passed between Players or the Guide, with small blue exam notebooks used in school.
The Strike Force campaign players found the blue books encouraged far more than just note passing, quickly leading to long-running action journals.
Adventurers primarily role-play among themselves with blue-booking and optionally with the cast of NPCs if the Guide chooses to participate.
Blue-booking brings a long list of benefits to a role-playing game:
Blue-booking typically occurs between active sessions at the table.
Some groups plan time before or after their active at-table sessions for Blue-Booking,
Groups may, on occasion, dedicate an entire table session just to Blue-Booking.
Blue-Booking traditionally occurred face-to-face but but grew to include electronic mail, instant messaging, and private chats within virtual table tops.
Fundamentally, Adventurers collaborate on a creative writing expansion to their in-person gatherings.
An Adventurer triggers a Blue-Booking scene by writing introductory or opening lines of the scene into their blue book.
The Adventurer then hands the blue book to another Adventurer they wish to continue the scene.
That Adventurer describes their reaction and hands the book back.
Blue-booking role-play continues back and forth on paper until both or all sides have completed the scene to their satisfaction.
Adventurers should narrate their Blue-booking scenes “in-character” to gain the best story benefit.