“A prevalent form of fan literature often associated with turn-based and real-time strategy games, including 4X games, and Role-Playing Games. Frequently overlaps with Fan Fic. The style also sees use in Alternate History works.
Originally, an ‘after action report’ (AAR) referred to a blow-by-blow account of an engagement prepared by a military official. These reports were typically prepared for military analysts who would read them in order to deduce the enemy’s strategy and refine their own. As many early Strategy Games were essentially tactical combat simulators, it was only natural that fans of these games wishing to share their own stories and compare strategies adopted the format for their own use. Also related to sportscaster analysis, where they analyze the play-by-play and deliver a verdict on why Team A lost.
An AAR occupies a sort of odd place in Fan Fiction; since the media they’re based on often feature few or no named characters and little concrete characterization, the author generally has to resort to creating his own characters within the setting. This tends to have the effect of having them resemble a Web Original work more than actual Fan Fiction.
Nowadays, AARs can be divided into two distinct formats: Gameplay (or play-by-play) AARs and Story (or literary) AARs.”