[zero-prep] Need more Challenge scenarios
stefoid:
Hi, Im playtesting a game that I did call Ingenero, but then decided to change to Zero-prep. Ingenero doesn't tell you anything about the game.
I could post a link, but I think its easier to just post the details relevant to my request straight here, so you dont have to download and hunt.
My specific questions are:
1) Is it clear what the GM and players have to do?
2) I need more challenge scenarios -- please help me come up with some. Like I want to roll d100 percentile dice to select.
Here are my thoughts on the attributes a challenge scenario should have
a) the key effect of the phrase should be to kick start the players imaginations. They are sitting their saying "what happens next?". The challenge phrase should get all sorts of ideas churning about how the story might go from where it is towards satisfying that phrase.
b) it shouldn't be restricted to a certain genre - it should be open to interpretation, which could be affected by word choice
c) It phrase should imply something challenging is about to happen. Not something banal or something that did happen.
thanks for any suggestions given!
Relevant excerpts from doco follow:
---------------------------------------------
"GENERAL PLAY:
After initial setup, the game proceeds in two alternating phases: 'Story phase' -- a kind of cooperative story-telling system that provides a back-story, and the 'Challenge phase' . The Challenge phase is more of a gamey system with the GM being adversarial.
At the start of each Story phase the GM randomly selects a Challenge scenario from a list that presents a situation that must be addressed by the player characters. The challenge will be described by a short phrase that is not specific at all about the finer details of the situation or who in involved in it. examples might be:
A direct confrontation
A stinging betrayal
Sweet revenge
Rebellion!
etc...
During the story phase, the playing group narrate the series of events that lead from the current situation directly to incorporating the new challenge, up to the point in which the exact nature of the challenging situation is finally determined and it is about to occur. Once the new challenging situation is established in this way, story phase ends and Challenge phase begins, and it is played out to its resolution in a more 'traditional' role-playing fashion, with the players saying what their characters are going to do to resolve the challenge and the GM taking on an opposing/adversarial role with dice rolling and so on.
Everything that occurs during story phase 'just happens'. Players can call BS on other players, but otherwise if they accept a players assertion during story phase, then no dice rolling or anything else is required..
The idea of the story phase is to give the Challenges meaning by giving them context, and to have fun inventing fiction. The key to the story phase process is for everyone to think about the story as it has progressed so far, and what would be a natural, cool or fun thing to happen next. Suggestions are accepted or rejected by the group, with the GM having final say. It might be a good idea for the GM to concentrate more on the goals of any significant NPCs during the story phase, and what they might do to achieve them, as other players will naturally be more concerned about the goals of their own characters.
Players (and GM) can just say anything they think should occur, bearing two things in mind –
a) the aim is to steer the near term story (eventually) towards defining exactly the details of the next Challenge and the moment just before it occurs
b) their own characters individual short and long term goals.
"
And the other relevant part of the doco:
"CHALLENGE SCENARIOS:
Below is the list of challenge scenarios. Be creative with their interpretation. To apply in some situations, they need not be taken literally. For example, number 20 (A ritual is enacted) might simply mean that some often repeated behaviour occurs – it does not necessarily have to be a religious ceremony.
Some Story phases or Challenge phases might turn out to be epic, while others might be over in a minute of real time. Don’t worry about how long it takes to play a particular phase – just play it to its natural conclusion and move on to the next phase. The same goes for the in-game time period that the phase covers – minutes or years is fine, as long as it makes sense in context.
01 A direct confrontation
02 Make an enemy
03 An unexpected windfall
04 Thievery!
05 A stinging betrayal
06 Sweet revenge
07 Rebellion!
08 Make a friend
09 A chance to shine
10 A tense meeting
11 Attracting unwelcome attention
12 A problem with authority
13 Searching for answers
14 Infiltration…
15 Party!
16 Ambush
17 An interesting proposal
18 Hot pursuit
19 Imminent disaster!
20 A ritual is enacted
21 A reputation is tested
22 Rescue…
23 Stave off the inevitable
24 A tough decision
25 Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
26 A request for aid
"
Simons:
A few new scenarios that I can think of. I might post more if I think of any...
A stranger approaches
First contact with others (aliens, foreigners, demons, your estranged father, etc)
New technology discovered
Colonizing/founding a new area/place
Something involving love (?)
An election in approaching... (or just over)
A need to escape...
An illness (or possibly wide-scale plague)
Simon
stefoid:
Thanks!
I just thought of another guide line.
One of the keys to genre flexibility is that the phrase should be able to be (also) interpreted in a political or social context, if possible.
Like, "Ambush" could be a physical ambush, but it could also be a social ambush in the sense of having a plan to unexpectedly confront someone.
stefoid:
I got this from your input, in order of your list:
Newcomer(s)...
Outsider(s)...
Contact!
A discovery
Exploration
A claim is struck
Establishing relations
Improving relations
A change at the top
Taking the lead
A real occasion!
Out of the frying pan...
Cut and run
<couldnt think of anything for the last one>
AWESOME!
keep em coming!
Quote from: Simons on January 16, 2011, 05:07:52 PM
A few new scenarios that I can think of. I might post more if I think of any...
A stranger approaches
First contact with others (aliens, foreigners, demons, your estranged father, etc)
New technology discovered
Colonizing/founding a new area/place
Something involving love (?)
An election in approaching... (or just over)
A need to escape...
An illness (or possibly wide-scale plague)
Simon
Ron Edwards:
Hiya,
Do post that link, please. It's now a requirement for posting in this forum.
I mean, it's great that you broke out the part you wanted to talk about, no question. But the link does need to be there.
Best, Ron
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