Perhaps you might want to post an example or two here or in the files section? It sounds like a useful concept - very similar to the story seeds I use but somewhat more fleshed out.
> Part of the reason behind their inception was as to how I dealt
with
> the "introductory scenario". While I obviously want to support
> indigenous characters and campaigns, I'd suggest that most folks
who
> would be interested in such a book would be Gloranthan completists,
> folk interested in a read, and/or people who have their own
campaigns
> and want to try somewhere a bit 'different'. Thus while the
vignettes
> are meant to be as applicable for indigene and foreigner alike,
some
> are tailored slightly towards the outsider.
This is true but there's also a problem with something designed as too generic - they can err on the side of blandness which is a big turnoff to me. I like to make use of some local (or more generally Gloranthan) hook and run with it.
One of the things that has been drummed into my head by several different editors is "show, don't tell". Its nice to have lots of deep background and quaint cultural byways but its even more useful to show how they influence play. Way back when, the Garhound Wedding in "River of Cradles" illustrated just how different the Yelmalion and Sartarite-exile cultures were (and how they functioned).
Similarly, it's all well and good to know that Orlanthi have kites but a scenario about a kite-contest between rival clan's shepherds is even better... and just what happens when the heroes are asked to serve as judges.
> By their nature, introductory scenarios can be a bit prescriptive
and
> hand-holding. Rather than make too many assumptions in a scenario,
I
> found that the vignettes allowed a good way to present a variety of
> options, and make every 'introduction' unique.
>
> Do you make friends or enemies? Do you flee and escape into the
> forests, or are you captured? If the latter, are you cast into
> sulphur mines, the bubbling arena, or honoured as a sacrifice to
the
> volcano god? In the forests, do you save a prince from a savage
> beast, or a beast from a savage prince? Do you find a lost temple,
a
> Lunar base camp [JUNGLE MOON MEN!] or the SET OF THE LAVA BADGER
> WAZIR?
Pick your own vignette to adventure! My, that does take me back. I
suppose one could set it up as a flow chart - I have seen that more
than once in campaign and scenario settings over the years.
> That kind of stuff. By stringing three or four together, you can
> create your own 'scenario'. Furthermore, such vignettes are not
just
> useful to an introductory adventure, but written so as to hopefully
> have relevance throughout any campaign.
That's the hard part. Very difficult to do, I find, but I find that if you try to cover ever possible contingency, you end up covering none of them terribly well.
Consequences are equally hard to determine from that standpoint unless _some_ assumptions are made. And without consequence and epilog, things can become depressingly bland once more.
> Thanks for the comments, Tim. When? "Next year." :o)
>
> Cheerio,
>
> Stew.
One hopes!
Perhaps if you post the format, we might organize a contest or some such among the more vocal writers and designers here.
Jeff
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