What makes a great AAR?

[Atterdag]

Simple question actually.
What do you consider the most important part of a RTW AAR?

Pictures? The quality and qauntity.
The text? Eg long background stories and roleplaying the characters.
Humour?

[VOP2288]

My vote goes to the text...a picture itself means nothing in relation to screen shots of someone's AAR for RTW. It's the content of the text and the story within the text that gives the picture meaning (along with the AAR).

[polarbear297]

i go with VOP on this one

[Turk]

I think there should be a lot of pics and not much text,because its boring to read and read and reaaaaaadddd........

[Dreadking]

A good writer and pics that reveal the gradual expansion of the kingdom/republic and/or empire

[Kamos]

Combination of Text and Visuals to really help get a feel of what they see and feel. I myself will grow bored with something if it doesn't keep a good balance.

[Roshak]

I would like to say both pictures and text but good text can make a world of difference.

[Hader]

An even balance of both. It should have a fair amount of text with maybe a bit of roleplaying in it, but not a whole lot. There should also be pictures when they fit well, to of course add visuals and show off a bit. Pictures are pretty though, and you want a pretty AAR dont you?

[Marcus Tullius Cicero]

Combination of Text and Visuals to really help get a feel of what they see and feel. I myself will grow bored with something if it doesn't keep a good balance.

agreed

[Deo]

A good story with great pics is the best, but not too many words or too many pics.

[joerd9]

Pictures are important. However, an endless chain of slaughter pics and victory screens gets boring quite fast.
A good story is also important. But it can get equally boring if it's too much.
So I voted "other" since it requires a good mixture of both.

A bit of humour won't hurt either.

Edit: 100th post!

[polarbear297]

i think the text should be better just because you can make your own mind picture of wats happening. and of course pics are super important, but i say more text

[Atterdag]

I believe pictures are the most important part.

Text and humour are also important, but not so much as the pictures.
I generally hate AARs with too much text and no pictures. Though if it is a funny story I'll keeep on reading.

[Prince_of_Macedon]

I'd say it's a fine balance between use of pictures and good easy-to-understand text. Humor is nice, but it's not essential for a good battle report.

[Hex Khan]

hmm, I have to say its a bit hard to say one thing alone makes a good AAR, pictures are paramount, afterall a picture's worth a thousand words isnt it? but I good story helps ensnare readers and to get them coming back time and again, humour has its value too, personally dont do humour in my AARs though I have read a good few funny ones.

However I think they need a good plot, but then again most of mine would be considered ficition anyway lol

[Garnier]

My opinion for a great AAR:

Organisation, like in a book, is important.

Pictures:
Don't have too many, especially about the same thing. One to three pictures for a single battle is enough, just use pictures that look nice, and keep them arranged in an organised manner. A few really good pictures is better than a ton of poor pictures.

Never use thumbnails. Thumbnails are awful. Use spoilers if you have too many pictures that would take too long to load.

Text:
Have the text interlaced with the pictures.

As in a book, grammar, spelling, and well written text are important.
As in a book, don't drag out certain portions til your audience gets bored. A few good words is better than many boring words.
Personally I don't care for long texts about what people are saying, etc. I can read a real book if I want that.

Throw in dashes of historical flavour, and make things seem realistic.

[Mr Longbowman]

I like AAR that could be a history book. I think that a good text is important.

Ohh, i would want to se a AAR with maps, not thoese maps that shows youre empire but maps that shows troup movment and stuff like that. I dont know about you but i think that would add a real historical feel

[Hex Khan]

I like AAR that could be a history book. I think that a good text is important.

Ohh, i would want to se a AAR with maps, not thoese maps that shows youre empire but maps that shows troup movment and stuff like that. I dont know about you but i think that would add a real historical feel

Ah someone who still believes AARs should do as the name suggests, it should be an After-Action-Report...

I thought you fellows were extinct, nice to see your still with us.

Though you do have a good point longbowman, its nice to see proof of an incredible action, such as smashing 3 jihads with one crusading stack one after the other.

[Mr Longbowman]

Yes of course is the picures important but too make a good story you need a good text that connect the picures.

A little like the campign mod in shogun, in the beginig it was only ment to be a thing that made the battles make any sense but in the newer tw games you can auto-resolve the battles and it still is a great game.

The battles are like the picures that are important but its also important to fill the stuff between them.

[Severous]

I voted pictures as I wont stop to read a long text only post.

Unlike a previous poster I prefer thumbnails. They offer the viewer the choice of click on any that look interesting to get a full picture...or just pass them by if its yet another end of battle kill tally. You cant do that with simple links. I hate the full screen images that are bigger than the forum and take ages to download.

Ive done several AARs. This one was well received.

http://rtw.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/f...f=10,5870,,all