I suspect, however, that there is more than one way to format HQ2 scenarios. At the moment I'm adopting a fairly descriptive, wordy approach. The scenario is a police procedural set in Elz Ast. The section reproduced below comes as our detective (called Saggitus here) examines a recently collapsed building.
Examining The Scene
Getting to examine the remains of the building will be difficult while the Decurion remains in charge of the scene. He and his men seem determined to walk on every piece of potential evidence before Saggitus can examine it.
With the victims removed Saggitus may wish to make a move to establish this as a crime scene and therefore his jurisdiction. This should be a difficult extended contest. The narrator should have the Decurion bringing in more and more reasons why this is a militia matter, almost as if he was determined to keep Saggitus away from the building.
Examining the building is a second task. Difficulty can be adjusted according to the pass/fail cycle and depending on whether Saggitus has been forced to come back later with assistance or whether he has bullied off the militia. The clues to be found are as follows:
Anything but a Complete Failure:
Yes, there were a number of catastrophic failures of the main timbers of the building – four in all. With these timbers broken the weight of the building (mud brick lower walls, terracotta tiles, timber frame, and plaster panels) would have produced a rapid collapse.
Any Success:
Several of the roof tiles seems to have been partly painted with thick, black bituminous paint. This is often used for waterproofing older properties but doesn't seem to have been properly applied in this case.
Minor Success or better:
There are markings on the main timbers near to the breaks. These are in the form of scratched runes of a foreign design and unknown meaning.
That's how I'm working on it at present but as I say, I suspect there are other, possibly better formatted, ways of doing it.
Richard
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