Scenario generator for sci-fi action game

[Gabe McKean]

I've started thinking about designing a science-fiction action game, possibly using d20 (specifically D&D 4th edition, which is coming out in a few months) as the basis to start working from.  Right now I'm working on a scenario generator, with inspiration from Dog in the Vineyard.  Here's what I have so far:

Scenario Generator:

Go through the following steps, and answer the questions as you go.  The scale can be as small or large as you want.  If possible, try to tie the scenario in to one or more of the PCs' back-stories.

1. Discovery/Advance
Something has been discovered, or a scientific or technological advance has been made.
1a. What is the discovery/advance?
1b. Who made it, and where?
1c. What benefits might come from it?

2. Disaster
While working on the above discovery/advance, something goes horribly wrong.
2a. What happened?
2b. Who or what is responsible?
2c. Who is threatend by the disaster?
2d. What attempts, if any, have been made to correct and/or cover it up?

3. Exploitation
Someone seeks to take advantage of the above disaster.
3a. Who is attempting to exploit it?
3b. What do they stand to gain?
3c. Who stands to lose if they succeed?

Choose the important NPCs from those listed above, and answer the following questions for each one:
What are they doing at the start of the scenario?
How would they like things to turn out?
What do they want from the PCs?

My main goals with this are to provide a tool for GMs to easily create a scenario (Situation in Forge-speak) with the following elements: an interesting science-fictional aspect, engaging NPCs, and someone whose ass needs to get kicked by the PCs .  My main question is if people think this will work, and any additions/changes that might be needed to make it work better.

[Mikael]

Why are the player's characters going to care about this situation?

[brainwipe]

A good idea to extend it to 4. would be adding a Twist. Something might not look quite how it should or an original premise is actually wrong.

[Gabe McKean]

Why are the player's characters going to care about this situation?

That's a good point.  I guess I was assuming the GM use his knowledge of the players and their PCs to tailor the situation into something they'd be interested in, which is what I try to do when coming up with a scenario.  It would be good to add some guidelines on this, I'll have to think of some.

A good idea to extend it to 4. would be adding a Twist. Something might not look quite how it should or an original premise is actually wrong.

Hmm.  I don't know if I want to make that an explicit step.  If a GM wants to add a twist or 2 to the scenario, I feel like there's plenty of room to do that already, and if not I don't want him to try to shoehorn one in.  Adding a comment along the lines of "Don't be afraid to make the situation less straight-forward than it initially appears" would probably be good, though.

Thanks for the feedback so far!

[Mikael]

Ok, so the characters will be "whatever" and it is up to the GM to tie them to the situation in the traditional manner. I was wondering if you were going to set the characters up in a more concrete manner à la Dogs - official troubleshooters of some kind or agents of some sort of galactic patent bureau like in that other game (Transhumanity?).

I know it might be a different game from what you are envisioning, but how about creating the characters as a part of the scenario, to be selected and possibly tweaked by the players for each scenario? I.e. much more In a Wicked Age than Dogs.

[Monkeys]

There's a free, open-content sci-fi scenario generator here.

[Gabe McKean]

Ok, so the characters will be "whatever" and it is up to the GM to tie them to the situation in the traditional manner. I was wondering if you were going to set the characters up in a more concrete manner à la Dogs - official troubleshooters of some kind or agents of some sort of galactic patent bureau like in that other game (Transhumanity?).

I know it might be a different game from what you are envisioning, but how about creating the characters as a part of the scenario, to be selected and possibly tweaked by the players for each scenario? I.e. much more In a Wicked Age than Dogs.

Right now my ideas for the setting are pretty vague, beyond "high technology space opera".  I haven't really decided yet how open character creation will be; I might tie the PCs to a specific group that will give them an excuse to get involved (Galactic rangers sounds fun!), or I might leave the possibilities more open.

If I do end up using d20 as my system, I doubt I'd be able to have the players pick a new character with each scenario, given the amount of time and energy they'd spend creating/advancing the characters.  Having the players be a part of the scenario-creation process, and deciding how their characters get involved, could work, though...

One of my goals with this project is to see how well I can integrate some indie ideas into a traditional system like d20.  This conversation is helping me think this through, thanks!

There's a free, open-content sci-fi scenario generator here.

Thanks, I'll check it out!  At first glance, it looks a little more random than I'd like, though.

[Mikael]

It might be helpful if you could post a couple of situation write-ups, created strictly using this structure?

[greyorm]

I like what I see so far. Once I have some more time to devote to my own sci-fi game -- eXpendable -- I'll see if I can hash some scenarios out with this for the game and let you know how it goes. I would like to see, as Mikael requests, some situation write-ups from you created via this structure. Would you be able/willing to give such a go?

[Gabe McKean]

Definitely.  It'll probably be a few days before I have time to do it, though.