diff --git a/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/kernel.js b/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/kernel.js
index 92922ca65ea..9dc31a73a15 100644
--- a/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/kernel.js
+++ b/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/kernel.js
@@ -749,6 +749,9 @@ export default function buildKernel(
         return harden(['error', problem]);
       }
       let ksc;
+      let kres;
+      let vres;
+
       try {
         // This can fail if the vat asks for something not on their clist, or
         // their syscall doesn't make sense in some other way, or due to a
@@ -760,34 +763,39 @@ export default function buildKernel(
         console.log(`error during syscall translation:`, vaterr);
         const problem = 'syscall translation error: prepare to die';
         setTerminationTrigger(vatID, true, true, makeError(problem));
-        return harden(['error', problem]);
+        vres = harden(['error', problem]);
+        // we leave this catch() with ksc=undefined, so no doKernelSyscall()
       }
 
       /** @type { FinishFunction } */
       const finish = kernelSlog.syscall(vatID, ksc, vatSyscallObject);
-      let vres;
-      try {
-        // this can fail if kernel or device code is buggy
-        const kres = kernelSyscallHandler.doKernelSyscall(ksc);
-        // kres is a KernelResult ([successFlag, value]), but since errors
-        // here are signalled with exceptions, kres is ['ok', value]. Vats
-        // (liveslots) record the response in the transcript (which is why we
-        // use 'null' instead of 'undefined', TODO clean this up), but otherwise
-        // most syscalls ignore it. The one syscall that pays attention is
-        // callNow(), which assumes it's capdata.
-        vres = translators.kernelSyscallResultToVatSyscallResult(ksc[0], kres);
-        // here, vres is either ['ok', null] or ['ok', capdata]
-        finish(kres, vres); // TODO call meaningfully on failure too?
-      } catch (err) {
-        // kernel/device errors cause a kernel panic
-        panic(`error during syscall/device.invoke: ${err}`, err);
-        // the kernel is now in a shutdown state, but it may take a while to
-        // grind to a halt
-        const problem = 'you killed my kernel. prepare to die';
-        setTerminationTrigger(vatID, true, true, makeError(problem));
-        return harden(['error', problem]);
-      }
 
+      if (ksc) {
+        try {
+          // this can fail if kernel or device code is buggy
+          kres = kernelSyscallHandler.doKernelSyscall(ksc);
+          // kres is a KernelResult ([successFlag, value]), but since errors
+          // here are signalled with exceptions, kres is ['ok', value]. Vats
+          // (liveslots) record the response in the transcript (which is why we
+          // use 'null' instead of 'undefined', TODO clean this up), but otherwise
+          // most syscalls ignore it. The one syscall that pays attention is
+          // callNow(), which assumes it's capdata.
+          vres = translators.kernelSyscallResultToVatSyscallResult(
+            ksc[0],
+            kres,
+          );
+          // here, vres is either ['ok', null] or ['ok', capdata]
+        } catch (err) {
+          // kernel/device errors cause a kernel panic
+          panic(`error during syscall/device.invoke: ${err}`, err);
+          // the kernel is now in a shutdown state, but it may take a while to
+          // grind to a halt
+          const problem = 'you killed my kernel. prepare to die';
+          setTerminationTrigger(vatID, true, true, makeError(problem));
+          vres = harden(['error', problem]);
+        }
+      }
+      finish(kres, vres);
       return vres;
     }
     return vatSyscallHandler;
diff --git a/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/slogger.js b/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/slogger.js
index fc7944ed28d..811624ea18d 100644
--- a/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/slogger.js
+++ b/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/slogger.js
@@ -137,12 +137,12 @@ export function makeSlogger(slogCallbacks, writeObj) {
     }
 
     // kd: kernelDelivery, vd: vatDelivery
-    function delivery(newCrankNum, newDeliveryNum, kd, vd) {
+    function delivery(newCrankNum, newDeliveryNum, kd, vd, replay = false) {
       assertOldState(IDLE, 'reentrant delivery?');
       state = DELIVERY;
       crankNum = newCrankNum;
       deliveryNum = newDeliveryNum;
-      const when = { crankNum, vatID, deliveryNum };
+      const when = { crankNum, vatID, deliveryNum, replay };
       write({ type: 'deliver', ...when, kd, vd });
       syscallNum = 0;
 
diff --git a/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/vatManager/manager-helper.js b/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/vatManager/manager-helper.js
index 63ceabca341..a2c3d801c75 100644
--- a/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/vatManager/manager-helper.js
+++ b/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/vatManager/manager-helper.js
@@ -166,17 +166,26 @@ function makeManagerKit(
     assert(transcriptManager, `delivery replay with no transcript`);
     transcriptManager.startReplay();
     transcriptManager.startReplayDelivery(expectedSyscalls);
-    kernelSlog.write({
-      type: 'start-replay-delivery',
+
+    // we slog the replay just like the original, but some fields are missing
+    const newCrankNum = undefined; // TODO think of a way to correlate this
+    const kd = undefined;
+    const vd = delivery;
+    const replay = true;
+    const finish = kernelSlog.delivery(
       vatID,
-      delivery,
+      newCrankNum,
       deliveryNum,
-    });
-    await deliver(delivery);
+      kd,
+      vd,
+      replay,
+    );
+    const status = await deliver(delivery);
+    finish(status);
     transcriptManager.finishReplayDelivery();
     transcriptManager.checkReplayError();
     transcriptManager.finishReplay();
-    kernelSlog.write({ type: 'finish-replay-delivery', vatID, deliveryNum });
+    return status;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -189,7 +198,15 @@ function makeManagerKit(
     if (transcriptManager) {
       const total = vatKeeper.vatStats().transcriptCount;
       kernelSlog.write({ type: 'start-replay', vatID, deliveries: total });
-      let deliveryNum = 0;
+      // TODO glean deliveryNum better, make sure we get the post-snapshot
+      // transcript starting point right. getTranscript() should probably
+      // return [deliveryNum, t] pairs. Think about how to provide an
+      // accurate crankNum, because I'm not sure I want that in transcript.
+      // I'm guarding against `.itemCount` being missing because that's
+      // supposed to be a private field of StreamPosition, but now that we've
+      // switched streamStore to sqlite it might be reasonable to make it
+      // public (or just define StreamPosition to be an integer).
+      let deliveryNum = (startPos && startPos.itemCount) || 0;
       for (const t of vatKeeper.getTranscript(startPos)) {
         // if (deliveryNum % 100 === 0) {
         //   console.debug(`replay vatID:${vatID} deliveryNum:${deliveryNum} / ${total}`);
@@ -224,6 +241,7 @@ function makeManagerKit(
       // its sleep. Gently prevent their twitching paws from doing anything.
 
       // but if the puppy deviates one inch from previous twitches, explode
+      kernelSlog.syscall(vatID, undefined, vso);
       const data = transcriptManager.simulateSyscall(vso);
       return harden(['ok', data]);
     }