It is hellaciously difficult and usually ends up failing. It is about as easy as turning that way-cool TV show/movie/book into a game and then getting upset when the players either are too smart, too stupid, or too hip to your plan.
(I still squirm at a really, really, really blatant attempt at a Yojimbo remake that was inflicted on us by a very ham-fisted GM. Though watching him have a tantrum as we spotted the plot and proceeded to make hash of his scenario does give me a warm, fuzzy feeling to this day.)
> 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.
You're welcome! These are more of a situation or type of scenario than something more specialized such as the "Sheep Clouds Thunder" adventure that is based as a very specific . However, it depends on the group. Someone might really like "Chasing Kites" which can be viewed as a MacGuffin hunt while others may hate it as a "blatant railroad attempt" (quoted from an email I got to that effect...)
> 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.
I feel you are being too cut and dried here. I think the amount of flexiblity depends on the arc and the situation and the forethought of the writer/wackyness of the playtesters (hi guys!). An involved arc like Trader Princes, where the players are working for The Man can be readily plotted if you keep to mind that players are going to have certain key skills and that there's always a half dozen ways to deal with a scenario. A similar arc exists in the 7th Sea "City of Freiburg" where there is a large set of adventures of varyign difficulty which have a very loose progression - but are divided by several watershed adventures. These, like crucial episodes in a tv show, change all the subsequent episodes (What? Marge Flanders is dead?!!). In between those watersheds, a lot of things can happen though...
However, you are right in that an arc will - must! - experience drift. As you suggest, it may be better just to set up the pieces for the scenario and let the narrator adapt them to the situation the group has created over time. Again, writing this is a matter of setting up a narrator toolkit but one more specalized for the situation - however the loss of plot and increasing genericifciation can drain the life out of a situation very quickly.
> 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.
I don't know. I like to have something like a plot that advances and adventures that are contingent upon the things that are done not only by players but by the sea of NPCs that surround them. My more successful games have given a feeling of depth and being surrounded by forces that the players are only partially able to control or influence (I think that's how Bryan Thexton phrased it). And that takes more than a simple recipe book of initial plots as setting often feels somehow static. Again, a personal preference but one I am comfortable writing with.
Who knows? Trader Prince may prove to your liking if this is the style of scenario and story you like. It has a large selection of plotlines and hooks but there is a certain amount of progression as time goes by.
Of course, if players want to do something else like run their own caravan or boat (a-la black book Traveller) its a bit harder to finagle. But one can't prepare for everything. Something must be left to chance. Personally, I'd like to hear a criminal game in Fay Jee or a group that decide to work for Prince Jhoraz as spies.
Sorry to ramble. Its late. I need sleep.
Jeff
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