Scenarios presented in modular format for greater utility

[Bryan_T]

This is a presentation of some ideas I had to maximize scenario utility.  I start with some background, but if you want to get right to the ideas part, jump to the  ******

By "maximize scenario utility" I mean making as much of the information put into a scenario usable in as many ways in as many games as possible.  Either as an out of the can full story arc, as smaller pieces inserted into other story lines, or as a source of settings, characters, plots and dramatic inspirations that could be used on their own.  This is specifically in response to the anecdotal evidence that very people use canned scenarios the way that they are presented, especially in more story oriented games, since the "story" of the scenario seldom fits within the story of the game.

I first started thinking about this while doing some brainstorming with Jeff Kyer on adventure seeds for the upcoming HeroQuest supplement tentatively called Blood Over Gold, but at the time these were rough ideas and the book was nearly finished so they were not used there.  More recently I developed them more in response to Mark Galeotti's request for thoughts about whether to include a sample scenario in Mythic Russia (the first non-Gloranthan product for HeroQuest), in this thread:  http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=13759.  Mark has read them, given me some feedback, and is looking at whether any of this would be useful to him for Mythic Russia.  What he does in Mythic Russia will doubtless vary from the more raw ideas I present here.

What follows is an edited, revised, and expanded version of the mail I sent to Mark.  Note that the examples that I made up may or may not also get used in Mythic Russia in some way, shape, or form.  I encourage you all to get Mythic Russia when it comes out and see how much this thread may influence the final product!  (no, Mark didn't pay me to say that, I just think Mythic Russia is shaping up to be an awesome game and well worth supporting).

*****

The key to the idea is assembling the information in a more modular form.  This has the immediate benefits of making it easier for narrators to pick up pieces easily, and when presenting larger amounts of material it should actually be slightly more efficient in terms of words used.  I think it has other benefits, but I'll get into them after providing some detail on the modular organization.

Information would be broken into three basic categories: sets, cast, and episodes.  For convenience I'm going to assume that a numbering system is applied to each of these ("set 2A") but that is not strictly necessary.  In each of these categories it is important to provide a good variety of items, that they be quite generic, but that they also have tips for dressing them up to make them look unique.

Sets and Cast are similar in format, and an example of each is provided immediately below.  Note that the Cast example uses HeroQuest format, this would obviously be adjusted by game  Episodes are slightly more complicated, and are discussed in more detail after the Set and Cast examples.

Sets:

2 Forests
2A- Northern forest:  
Set Description: This forest is composed mostly of fir trees, spaces so closely that the lower branches are dead from lack of light and the trunks are no bigger than a strong man's arm.  The dense upper branches limit undergrowth and keep the needle covered forest floor in deep shade.  In these regions visibility is around 100 – 200 paces.  By contrast to the darkness of most of the forest, white birch shine brightly around the frequent streams, ponds, and marshes.  Wherever there is a break in the canopy, such as on steep hills or around fields and the rare wide trails, dense bushes thrive.  Except near villages and farms there are many dead trunks and branches, some still dry, some half rotted, making progress off tracks a meandering affair.  
Dressing the set:  In winter it is much the same, but most of the deadfalls are covered with snow making travel much easier.  Trails cut through the forests, but most are thin tracks with major trails being perhaps an arm's span across.  Occasional forest fires race through the dead needles and fallen branches, exploding some pitch rich trees and leaving others as dead trunks, soon to be surrounded by vigorous new growth.  .

Cast:
20 Vastya, Hunter of Men.  
Description:  Vastya is a minor noble who has become an exceptionally skilled hunter. He and his brother both fell in love with a shapechanged Seal Maiden, leading Vastya to hunt his brother for days, jubilantly killing him, and eating his heart in a dark ritual giving him great recuperative powers.  He then forced the horrified seal maiden (cast 21) to marry him.  He rules his lands with a cruel and heavy hand, but frequently takes on challenging hunting jobs for wealthy patrons—his favorite being to hunt the hardest prey, his fellow man.  He has accumulated several powerful magical tools as well as considerable wealth from these hunts.
Abilities:  Hunter keyword 10W2, spear comabat 10W, know human prey 15W, Strong 5W, wealthy 5W, running 5W, drive sleigh 5W, Tough 10W, recover from any wound 1W2, Find prey's weakness 10W, Find entrance to otherworld 20W, Otherworld magic 20W.
Personality:  Vicious 5W, Proud 5W, Bloodlust 1W2
Relations: Fears losing wife 10W, toadies to wealthy customers 17, master to hunting hounds 5W.
Possessions: Vastya's sleigh (go fast 5W, drive on ground like it was snow 10W, run silently 15), Deep-drinker his spear: (find heart 10W), Sorrow, a mongol bow (shoot far 5W)
Customizing: Can by used for any other master hunter, by removing "know human prey" and altering his magic items.  The young Vastya, just after marriage, is not yet wealthy or in possession of magic items.  An older Vastya gains "scarred face 17" and "pained by old injuries 5W".  

Cast 53
Serf type 3
Description:  This serf serves a harsh master.  He is half-starved, and will do pretty much anything to get food and avoid punishment.  He feels no sense of right or wrong anymore, just what he can get away with and what he can't.  He is dressed in ragged clothes, stooped from working in the fields, and looks aged and unhealthy, even if still fairly young.  
Abilities:  Farmer keyword 17, lie 1W, hide 19, trap small game 15
Personality:  Amoral 15, defeated 17, sneaky 1W
Relations: Fears master 10W, loathes master 1W, protects fellow serfs 13
Possessions: none of note.  Maybe have some hidden snares or other petty contraband.
Customizing: A skilled black-market trader.  Deeply religious but thinks god will forgive his sins due to desperation.  Worships the devil.  Ensures favorable treatment by tattling on his fellow serfs.  


Episodes are slightly more complicated for a number of reasons.  First of all, they will call upon typical sets and casts that could be used in that episode, so they are the element which ties everything together.  Second they should be designed as discrete elements.  That is, each episode has a very focused set of events that could be introduced into a larger story.  Third, episodes should have some natural relationship to at least some other episodes, so that they can be naturally strung together into a larger story if the narrator desires.  Finally, they have to be generic enough that the narrator can easily replace the stock sets and casts with ones from his or her own game.

A couple of example episodes are shown below.  Because I'm lazy they have some sections which are not completed in full (marked as XXXX).

Episode #9: Steal Vastya's Sleigh
Premise:  A patron or other powerful contact is willing to grant a major favor, if the heroes will bring him or her the magical treasure held by an evil and powerful man, in this case the sled of Vastya Hunter of Men.
Elements: Sets: wealthy house (5C) and northern forest (2A), but any strong residence and isolating set will work.  Cast Vastya (20),Seal-Maiden (21), and serf #3 (35), or reasonable equivalents.
Story: The heroes are asked to steal Vastya's sleigh, as a favor or payment to some other powerful figure.  They may or may not know of Vastya's reputation.  On the way to Vastya's remote home they interrupt his hunt of a serf, and see some of his nature.  They then either have to get him to give them hospitality or else find some way to sneak into his compound.  Finally they need to somehow trick, fool, or disable Vastya long enough to make off with his magical sleigh.
Dramatic inspiration: Dealing with Hannibal Lecter in the movie "The Silence of the Lambs"
Scene 1 Meeting the Hunter of Men: The heroes are traveling along a wide dirt track through a northern forest (set 2A) when they hear the baying of hounds, and the baying gets steadily closer.  Then a ragged and bloodied man staggers onto the track.  The serf is from a finnish tribe and begs for help in his own obscure language, then manages "help" in Russian if nobody has responded.  The heroes have time for a quick action, then a pack of hounds (cast 75, 2 per hero) break out of the woods and try to bring down the serf.  

The heroes have enough actions to resolve the immediate drama, then Vastya strides out of the woods carrying a spear.  He explains that he caught the man poaching in the woods, and chased him when he ran off.  He demands the return of the serf for "appropriate punishment."  Otherwise, he warns, the rest of the village will suffer for concealing this man's crimes  What do the heroes do?  If Vastya gets the serf back he invites the heroes to continue to his house, another hour along this track.  If he does not, he warns "the village will suffer, and you had best not be in my woods when I am finished with them", and then he melts into the woods.  

Scene 2: Vastya's House of Horrors.  Vastya's house is a typical wealthy rural compound (set 5C).  Six warriors (warrior keyword 10W) guard it.  If the heroes go there directly they will get there about an hour before Vastya returns, driving his sleigh back from the serf village.  Vastya's sled gets parked in the animal's shed, right beside any vehicle that the heroes arrived in.  However Vastya then ties the door shut with a shaman's spell string, a sure sign of magical protection.  (hold doors shut 20W)

If the heroes were invited in, Vastya now demands to know why he should not have them whipped for trespassing on his lands.  "Are you men of importance?  Or thieving serfs looking to eat for free at my table?"  The heroes can choose how to respond, Vastya will usually resist with his wealth rating, then treats them appropriately to the contest result.  If the heroes are skulking outside his compound, they will no doubt be trying to find an opportunity to sneak in, resisted by the guards collective keep watch rating (20W).  

Whether there legitimately or not, night eventually falls and Vastya heads to bed.  Most likely at this point the heroes will take the opportunity to do some exploration.  If they do not find a way to get the sled out, or do not explore, eventually Sharellerin finds the heroes.  Motioning them to be quiet she leads them to the wood shed, then quietly tells her story—she is a seal maiden, Vastya long ago hid her seal skin to keep her captive.  Finally he has her with child, and she does not want her child brought up by Vastya.  If the heroes will swear an appropriately fearsome oath to return in six months time to smuggle away her baby, she will help them steal the sled.

The heroes may find their own way to deal with Vastya, or they may take up Sharellerin's offer.  XXXX (escape and consequences omitted for now)


Episode 16: Hunted by the Hunter of Men
Premise:  The heroes have upset someone powerful, and he or she has been long plotting revenge.  Now either he or she is stalking the heroes directly, or has hired a vicious killer to do so.
Elements:  Set: any isolated area.  Cast: Vastya Hunter of Men(20), or any other powerful, ruthless, and stealthy enemy.
Synopsis: At first the heroes don't know anything is wrong.  Then their supporters start being disabled or disappear or are scared off.  Soon the heroes are almost isolated and aware that something is stalking them.  Eventually they are chased into the otherworld where they will have to fight for their lives against a much better prepared foe.
Dramatic inspiration: Almost every slasher/horror film ever made.
Scene 1, Mysterious disaperances A retainer does not return from some routine chore (watering horses while on a trip, visiting the jakes in a village, etc).  While searching for their missing supporter, another supporter is attacked and half killed.  The head of the first supporter is found somewhere sinister (on a hero's tent, in an oven, etc).  Vastya has watched the heroes and learned their routine, and takes advantage of it to kill or disable as many supporters as possible before the heroes become sufficiently vigilant to make this game dangerous.  While murdering supporters, he will also try and find some way to leave pitch and tallow on buildings or by tents.

Once the group is mounting careful watch, Vastya waits until most of the group is sleeping, then launches fire arrows, from a vast distance, into the encampment or village.  If the heroes did not find the pitch and tallow eventually these will be hit, and make fighting the fires all the harder.  If the heroes are well prepared for this sort of thing give Vastya some one use magic obtained for the occasion to help him deprive the heroes of shelter.

Scene 2: Start the hunt!: With no shelter the heroes will have to leave wherever they are the next day.  Vastya has set several traps along likely escape routes, which may disable beasts, retainers, or even hurt heroes.   Ambitious heroes might manage to catch and fight Vastya at this point, but so long as Vastya is not captured or killed outright this is only a small hold up for him.  

Vastya will focus on driving the heroes away from roads and settlements at this point, into raw wilderness.  He may use such tricks as stampeding horses with his hounds, burning bridges, or starting forest fires to divert them.  If he has an opportunity to deprive them of items of power during this stage he will (such as shooting a burning arrow into the flank of a horse on which a heroes enchanted sword hangs, or collapsing a bridge over a swift flowing stream just as a wagon carrying a magical icon is crossing).  Vastya will generally manage to gather such lost items.

Scene 3: the otherworld.  Vastya finally herds the heroes through a weak spot he has found into the otherword.  He has been to the otherworld many times, and knows a ritual to bind his victims strength into himself when he kills there.  He can also use his otherworld magic ability to augment himself, taking on a demonic appearance with great teeth in a body almost feline in its graceful but fast movement.

Vastya steps up the hunt at this point, looking to actually kill the heroes.  The heroes should realize when they see him, if not before, that they have crossed over.  They may be able to call on special abilities here themselves, possibly even finding a way to call upon the soul of Vastya's brother, which is bound into Vastya's body, to fight against its killer (Pure heart 15W).
......

Anyway, you get the idea.  You give settings that the narrator can use with the example plots or on their own.  You give cast likewise.  You give plots that can be strung together into a story, or used here and there between stories from other sources.  As much as possible you use plots that are reactions to things that are likely to happen, or easy for the narrator to arrange—favors, travel, enemies, holy occasions, bad wounds, being lost, and so on.  There is no "this is the story arc" but the nature of the individual episodes is such that it should be easy to string them together logically to create such a beast.

Obviously the intent is also that the cast and the sets can also easily be used by the narrator for their own episodes.  Of particular notes about the sets, much of this information is usually in a background type supplement, the proposal here is to break it up discretely so that it can be more easily pulled into a particular episode.

And finally, the cast and episodes were just samples to show what I was getting at.  Yes, they could be better, but they aren't the point—the structure is.

Specific questions in the next post.

--Bryan

[Bryan_T]

Some specific questions (and maybe a couple of general ones too).

1) Would you object to reading a supplement, or background section of a game, where the details of setting was broken up into discreets sets like this?

2) Do you like having the cast and sets numbered, or just find it annoying and bureaucratic?

3) If a game presented a certain number of sets and cast in this manner, and then gave a few episodes instead of the typical "introductory adventure," do you think that would be more useful?  Or less, since it doesn't give the detail of how an adventure would run?

4) If a supplement for a game, describing a region, way of life or culture (i.e. a background supplement rather than a "module") used this format to provide a dozen-twenty episodes that would be typical within that setting, do you think this would be an effective way to show how to adventure within this setting?

5) If you were looking for a canned adventure--for some reason you were flat on ideas--do you think you'd be content with a supplement that was presented in this format?

Now the broad question--if you read through all that, what was your general gut reaction?  You liked it, didn't, not sure would have to see it done for real.....

Regards;

--Bryan

[NN]

1) No, its a good idea
2) For a few sets, annoying. For lots, essential.
3) Why not present an introductory adventure as well? - by suggesting a series or tree of Episodes
4) yes
5) yes - but as with point 3, show me some possible 'arcs' as well

[M. J. Young]

I think this is a good way to present things.

In creating scenarios, I'm always mindful that each one has special needs, and those needs must be met--but there's no specific format that automatically covers all the needs of all scenarios. For example, I'm often surprised at my own use of maps. Decades ago I could not have imagined a module without a map; I mapped everything in my world. Now I publish scenarios many of which have no maps.

This seems like a good approach to what you want to accomplish; it would not be a good approach to every scenario you might want to publish.

--M. J. Young

[Mike Holmes]

I think this format is better than the standard format that HQ adventures are presented in now. But that's mostly because it leans towards the narrativism model of presentation, such as you find in "Well of Souls." It would be easier to convert your presentation for use in narrativism play.

But, of course, for narrativism, I prefer something like the "Well of Souls" presentation itself. http://web.comhem.se/~u31140632/WellofSouls_lowres.pdf

Similar to what you have, it has a chapter on the locale (like sets), a chapter on the NPCs, and a chapter on Bangs, which are precipitating events instead of pre-plotted scenes. It's precisely the use of Bangs instead of episodes, and a PC-centric presentation that makes it suitable for narrativism out of the box (or at least with minimal adjustment).

Mike

[Donald]

In general I like the concept. I'm not sure about the detailed sets, they don't seem to justify the space in a supplement never mind  the main rulebook when I can read similar in travel guides and novels. Certainly NPCs are a big part of what I look for to tell me how the game handles them and what I need to create my own. The episode is probably better than the traditional scenario storyline as it's easier to slot episodes into a game than whole scenarios.

[John Burdick]

My experience with adventures is mainly TSR books available in the early 80s. I read the included adventures with the basic and expert D&D box sets, the early Gamma World, Boot Hill, and Top Secret adventures. I played one of the Gamma World ones, and one of the Top Secret ones.

Those commonly had locations and characters. The characters tended to be static in behavior, and with minimal relationships. Fleshing the characters out a bit more doesn't really change the model, though. The rewrite of the old The Keep on the Borderlands called The Little Keep on the Borderlands adds more depth to the cast, without changing the structure.

The third element in many of those books were called encounters. Sometimes, the GM was expected to roll on a table to determine which happened. This was different than wandering monsters in that social conflicts were dominant. I remember a large number of con men.

This seems to be where you're proposal is significantly different from those old books. You seem to be using the approach of scripted adventures, taken in bite size pieces. I've read later adventures that expect the GM to drive the players step by step through the entire adventure. Like the Alternity adventure The Killing Jar, which freaked me out. What I object to in these is the idea of making sure the players reach step 48 from step 1. If I can't even remember all the steps, how am I going to force the players to follow them?

A rule of thumb in programming is that a procedure shouldn't be so big that you can't see the entire thing at once. A single page, or a double page at the most avoids some problems. If the entire scripted adventure (episode) fits on one page, and I only need to reach step 3 from step 1, I'd be okay with that, depending on what I want from the game. This allows more varied interaction than the old-school encounter system. Since the episodes are disconnected, players declining to complete the episode doesn't need any special treatment.

I've heard things about the Savage Worlds supplement 50 Fathoms that suggest something you might want to look at it. It seems to be well received at least.

John