>Some of us also do stories: but again, there's a huge
>difference between a story and a scenario. Even when
>it's written so that the characters are quite
>obviously obeying HQ rules, the author has to be able
>to fiddle every single dice roll, and scenarios done
>like that just won't work.
I think it's possible to convert some stories into scenarios. I've got one, which Jane's seen, but I'm not really happy I'm doing it right. It needs someone with experience of writing scenarios to review it.
Certainly stories which are about the actions of specific heros are rarely suitable for conversion.
>No, I don't have a solution. But is that a step
>towards understanding the problem?
>
>And does anyone actually use pre-written scenarios, as
>written? I know I use them as inspiration, borrow NPCs
>from them, but always adapt for my group. I've run
>them "straight" at conventions, with pre-gen PCs, but
>that's very different. If anyone does use them
>"straight", could you explain how it works for you,
>and what's required to make it useful?
The most useful scenarios are the ones like Cattle Raiding in BA. A clear objective suitable for most PCs with limited ways of achieving it.
More complex ones, especially if they involve a major story arc, become problematical because the group is unlikely to have the right abilities and the results can throw the story right off course.
So to me the ideal scenario book would be something like twenty plots each covering a page or two in a single setting together with a dozen NPCs who appear as allies or opponents in several of those plots.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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