Scenario Kit · 4–6 players · ~7.5 hours
Operation Aetherfall
The enemy is building a superweapon nobody fully understands. Your commanding officer wants it destroyed yesterday. Each member of your team knows something the others don't – and the mission only goes well if they say it out loud.
A complete, pilot-tested conflict-training scenario your team plays at a table. Sounds like a game. Works like training.
What your team practices
Every scene in the scenario exists to force one of three skills. Not discuss them – use them, under pressure, with something at stake.
Challenging authority productively
The briefing officer, Lt. Korr, is scripted to dismiss concerns the way a bad boss does: “Verification comes from Central Analysis, not from individual field operators.” Players who hold critical intelligence have to decide whether to push back – and practice how.
Surfacing hidden information
Six secret information cards, one per player. One character knows the weapon has a fatal design flaw. Another holds the safe shutdown sequence. The team literally cannot succeed unless people volunteer what they know – the same skill that dies in real meetings when speaking up feels risky.
Navigating competing priorities
Each player also carries a secret motivation – urgency, promotion, conscience, reputation, team safety, control. They pull in different directions by design. Reaching a decision anyway is the exercise.
What this actually is
Not game night with coworkers. A structured training session wrapped around a game, with the debrief doing the heavy lifting – because that's what the research says works.
1 hr
Framing & instruction
Why you're doing this, how it works, and the core concepts the team will practice. Scripts included, word for word.
30 min
Rules teaching
A simplified rules reference built for people who have never touched a tabletop RPG. No rulebook purchase required.
4 hrs
The mission
Briefing, planning, infiltration, and the AETHER ENGINE itself – every decision point engineered to surface the team's real dynamics.
90 min
Structured debrief
A three-phase debrief connecting what happened in the game to what happens on your team – plus written if-then plans that research shows roughly double follow-through.
Runs as one full day or two shorter sessions – the guide includes both plans.
Why trust a game to do a trainer's job
Simulation-based practice delivers 75–90% skill retention. Lectures deliver 5–10%. That gap is the entire reason this product exists.
The fictional setting is load-bearing. Practicing through a character – what researchers call aesthetic distancing – reduces defensive reactions by roughly half. People try things they'd never risk in a real meeting.
Built on 200+ studies, tested at real tables. The methodology synthesizes research across conflict resolution, educational game design, and training transfer – then went through two full pilot runs and revisions before becoming this kit.
Designed by an unusual pair. A Licensed Professional Counselor who spent 13 years as an engineer and trained through Game to Grow's Advanced Game Master Workshop, and a product leader with 20+ years of teams, bosses, and hard conversations. Meet them.
What's in the kit
The Facilitator Guide
The complete run-of-show: pre-game framing scripts, safety tools, rules teaching, the full adventure with NPC scripts and decision maps, a three-phase debrief with question banks, and a troubleshooting section for when things go sideways. Written so a first-time facilitator can run it.
The Table Pack
Print-ready materials, one item per page with cut lines: six pre-generated character sheets, six secret motivation cards, six secret information cards, language reference cards, reflection and if-then planning cards, adversary stat blocks, and the facility map.
The Assessment Set
Pre-game, post-game, and one-week follow-up instruments with administration instructions – so you can show whether the training moved anything, not just whether people enjoyed it.
Operation Aetherfall Facilitator Kit
Three PDFs, instant download. Run it as many times as you like with your own team.
$39
30-day refund, no questions, no returns required. Compare: a facilitated workshop runs $3,500 – this is the same scenario and method, run by you.
Who runs it
One person facilitates instead of playing – a team lead, an L&D partner, or whoever on your team already runs game nights. They don't need GM experience. They need the guide, an evening of prep, and the willingness to read scripts with a straight face.
If nobody wants the job, we run facilitated workshops using this same scenario. Get in touch and we'll talk details.
Players
4–6 + facilitator
Time
~7.5 hrs or 2 sessions
System
Daggerheart™ Compatible
Materials
Printer + dice
Questions teams actually ask
Does our team need tabletop RPG experience?
No. The kit includes a simplified rules reference designed to be taught to complete beginners in about 30 minutes, and the six pre-generated characters mean nobody has to build anything. Most pilot participants had never played a tabletop RPG.
Does someone need to be a Game Master?
One person facilitates rather than plays. The facilitator guide is a block-by-block run-of-show with verbatim scripts, timing budgets, and troubleshooting notes, written so a first-time facilitator can run the session. If you'd rather have it run for you, Conflict Campaign also offers facilitated workshops.
How long does it take?
About 7.5 hours total: roughly an hour of instruction and framing, 30 minutes of rules teaching, four hours of gameplay, and a 90-minute structured debrief. The guide includes a plan for splitting it into two shorter sessions.
How many people can participate?
The scenario is designed for 4-6 players plus one facilitator. Six players is ideal - there are six characters, six secret motivations, and six pieces of hidden information, one per player.
Is this team building or actual training?
Training. The scenario exists to create specific, repeatable practice in three skills: interest-based problem framing, challenging authority productively, and navigating competing priorities with peers. It comes with pre/post assessment instruments so you can see whether it worked.
Won't people find roleplay awkward?
Some will at first - the guide addresses this directly. The fictional setting is doing deliberate work: research on aesthetic distancing shows that practicing hard conversations through a character reduces defensive reactions by roughly half. The kit includes safety tools and framing scripts that make participation feel voluntary, not forced.
What exactly is in the download?
Three PDFs: a facilitator guide (the complete run-of-show, adventure, and debrief guide), a print-ready table pack (6 character sheets, 12 secret cards, reference cards, adversary stat blocks, and a facility map), and an assessment set with pre-game, post-game, and one-week follow-up instruments.
Do we need to buy the Daggerheart rulebook?
No. The scenario is built on the free Daggerheart System Reference Document and the kit includes its own simplified rules reference. You'll need a few standard dice sets (or a free dice-roller app).
Is this affiliated with Critical Role or Darrington Press?
No. Operation Aetherfall is Daggerheart Compatible under the Darrington Press Community Gaming License, but it is an independent product - not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Darrington Press or Critical Role.
Can we run it remotely?
It's designed for an in-person table, and that's where it works best. Teams have run it over video with a shared dice roller and digital handouts - the facilitator guide notes what to adapt.
How do we know it worked?
The assessment set measures conflict-approach self-ratings and situational judgment before and after the session, plus a one-week follow-up on whether people actually used the skills. You're looking for directional shifts, not grades - the guide explains how to read the results.
What's the refund policy?
If the kit isn't right for your team, reply to your receipt email within 30 days and you'll get a full refund. You don't have to return anything - it's a PDF.
The next hard conversation is coming either way
Your team can meet it with practiced skills or with the same silence as last time. One session is enough to feel the difference.
Operation Aetherfall is Daggerheart™ Compatible. This product includes materials from the Daggerheart System Reference Document 1.0, © Critical Role, LLC, under the terms of the Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL). More information at daggerheart.com. This product is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Darrington Press or Critical Role. Darrington Press™ and Daggerheart™ are trademarks of Critical Role, LLC.