Good After-Action Reports (AAR) offer useful game-related information in a “digestible” format for those who will play the subject scenario. AARs should note significant details and pivotal factors to forewarn would-be players of pitfalls and opportunities, but need not recount every zig and zag; in fact, too much detail is a drag. They can leverage humor, metaphor, pictures, etc., to express their points as suits the author; but nothing more than plain text is required. The bottom line is to offer useful information in an accessible format about how to play that scenario which will result in better play across many scenarios.
This is one of my favorite topics since reading about the reflections and experience of others is a great way to learn. We do this in every field of human endeavor, just under different titles: hot wash, lessons learned, touch base, whatever. We should do more of it in ASL. We already have too many scenarios to actually play. So rather than focus so heavily on making more, we might as well divert some effort into reflecting on the body of work that already exists, with pictures if you like.
My one request (pet peeve) is that we please try to avoid useless AARs, those that provide no useful information, but rather just share some very general memories. The surest sign of a useless AAR is very brief text that could apply to any scenario. For example, the classic dud AAR goes something like this: “My dice failed early on. Couldn’t make a morale check. Threw in the towel after turn X.” Which scenario was that? What did I learn from those reflections? Another “dud” hallmark is way too much preamble about how long it’s been since you and Buddy sat down to play; a sentence or two is fine, but not half a page. Think about your audience. Consider what useful information you are conveying.