Re: [DS] Scenario Design for Cons

On Fri, 23 Jun 2000 19:23:09 -0600, Don Greenfield <gryphon@aros.net>
wrote:

>I'm kind of afraid
>of going overboard, which is why I'm looking for some tips. Thanks for
any
>response.

The key to finding out if it works is playtest, playtest, playtest. The
problem with most con games (and most scenarios in general, really) is
that
they are too big. There's a tendency to add. This makes the game longer.
I've
found that the best bet is to subtract. This works in all scenarios I've
created. One of my SG2 scenarios had 6 APCs with 2 squads each being
ambushed
by 6 squads of PA. It was a pain to balance and took too long. In the
end, I
went with 4 APCs with 1 squad each against 4 PA squads (one being a
commander). This works much better, and plays in 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

You make a valid point about the decisions players want to make, but you
also
have to make resources scarce enough that the the decisions they have to
make
are nasty ones. My suggestion is create an interesting scenario... then
pare
it down to 75% after the first playtest. It won't be easy, and you may
have to
alter one side more radically than the other, but it will be worth it in
the
end.

I'm not familiar enough with DS2 (yet) to suggest force sizes. I will
suggest
you set it up for between 1 and 4 people per side. Some scenarios don't
work
this way, and you may have 3 or 2 on one side but I try to accomodate 8
players total. If only 2 show up, the game is still playable. The trick
will
be if 3 show up, or 5. Don't be afraid, though, to not have many units
for a
player if 8 people show up. My experience is that with 4 per side,
everyone is
involved in the decision making for the overall tactics. In the above
game,
the ambushed players had 1 APC and 1 squad to run and that was it. No
one had
a problem with that. 

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@interlog.com
Goodall's Grotto: http://www.interlog.com/~agoodall/

"Surprisingly, when you throw two naked women with sex
toys into a living room full of drunken men, things 
always go bad." - Kyle Baker, "You Are Here"