Planning Ahead for the Cold Dark Winter…

Scenarios are sometimes like military tactical campaigns – long, dreary and held in underground bunkers. But it often pays dividends to plan ahead and try to anticipate the hazards that await you and your group. Mark Newbold gazes into his crystal ball and gives a short page of advice as he waits for the mists to clear…

It’s early dawn on a cold October morning. You hold in your hand an icy flintlock pistol, the bulbous barrel lying easily within your grasp. Directly behind you, broad back pressing against your is the Earl of Lichfield – an outrageous snob and aristocrat who insulted your parentage and took advantage of your young cousin Matilda. Her honour besmirched, you challenge him to a duel. Your second nods to you in encouragement and you return a thin-lipped smile as you walk the ten paces towards the turn…and life or death.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Just as you prepare to turn on ten paces you hear a strangled cry as the Earl of Lichfield is crushed into the ground by the four meter wide foot of an Imperial All Terrain Armoured transport which was hiding in the branches of a nearby tree. Your second runs towards you, victorious smile plastered across his face.

“Good idea sir. Hiding an AT-AT in the branches.”

You smile back and place your hands on your hips.

“Well Andrew, it’s like my mother always said. `Brush your teeth, check your flies and wear clean underwear when you cross the road.’

“And what did she mean by that?”

You smile as you head back towards the mansion.

“Always plan ahead.”

It may seem like a rather unusual example to use to illustrate my point, but it’s true. In some cases it does pay to plan ahead.

Certain scenarios are long haulers, lasting for anything up to twelve sessions. Other, shorter missions are over and done with in less time and flow so fast it’s pointless to make plans, but a true campaign requires more than simply reacting to situations. It’s like the difference between one-day cricket and a test match. Same game, different approaches. In one-day you go in, swing the bat at every ball that comes close and try to amass the most runs you can in fifty overs. In a test the idea is to stay at the crease for as long as possible, cultivate a decent score and make life hard for the opposition. In this case the GM is the opposition. He’s the bowler who sets the agenda, the pace of the game, places obstacles in your path and generally determines who you’ll meet and what their reactions to you will be. You’re the batsman who has to react to whatever he throws at you and make the best of it. So in a multi-part scenario you have to have at least a vague idea of where you’re going and how to get there. Because the GM has a storyline laid out if it’s a long batch of sessions and he’ll expect you to play the game accordingly.

So, you’ve gauged the kind of game you’re in for – a short session. You know it will be a short blast for you the gamer, but the GM also knows he or she has a limited amount of time to rip through the game. So here we go. No long chats over the cantina table, no shopping for coats or getting haircuts. In, out, shake it all about. No messing. The GM will be making fast and furious rolls, the gamer will throw more dice in two hours than in the usual three session run of games. And the posterior will be perched firmly on the edge of the seat. Which is where it should be. So we all know where we are. Which means that everybody at the table has a rough idea of how to approach the game.

A long series of sessions brings a totally different approach to the table. You can let ideas percolate and brew, whether you’re a gamer of a GM. Plot threads build and grow over the sessions and plans of action can be worked out. GM’s can hit on ideas and return to them later, and if the game doesn’t go down an avenue they’d like it to or to a story idea they’d like to use then that can be inserted at a later date. But both kinds of game are equally memorable – unless you’re like me, who needs reminding what happened at the last game almost every time, even now. Especially now – my brain cells must fall out of my ears in the night when I’m asleep…

So, to recap the recap of the recap. Whichever game you enter into, be you GM or gamer, you’ll probably have a good idea of what pacing to expect. A slow, deadly dull three-hour one-off session is a waste of everybody’s time. However, a slow three-hour game in the middle of a twelve-part scenario is a good opportunity to catch your breath and recap. Make plans with your fellow gamers or, if you’re a GM, decide on the next twist in the game by listening closely to what your players are planning and slowly trapping them into doing what you wanted them to do in the first place.

Cynical? Moi?

You betcha!