|
Making
a good scenario
By Cherub bobT
I don't know
how many times I have sat in front of my computer and started playing
with a game editor only to shut it down a few hours later with nothing
accomplished. It has taken me a number of years and many countless
hours of practice and planning to realize that any kind of adventure
you create should always have a logical beginning, middle and end.
So if I were asked how I plan out a good adventure I would have
to say PLAN is the most important of all.
Let me try to
set up for you my approach to good scenario planning. Each of the
below points may get a bit lengthy but in the end, I think everything
I may have the thought to spell out here, may help you as an adventure
creator.
1) Right from
the very beginning it is important that you have at least some sort
of planning on paper. Zeus has a great adventure editor and with
proper planning you can create a very playable and fun adventure
without to much editing once you think your project is complete.
So your first thought should be, what story do you want to tell?
Will this story be based on pure Mythology or will it be a story
of your own, that you wish to have unfold for your players? What
kind of resources will I need in order for this adventure to work?
Will Gods interact within the Adventure? Will there be monsters
or military issues to deal with? Once you have all of these thoughts
on PAPER you can begin the adventure creation.
2) Step two
in the creation of a good scenario for me is to enter the world
map. As I plot out my tale I have decided how many colonies I will
be wanting, how many allies and rivals I want to interact with the
parent city. I will have all of this listed on paper ahead of time.
When entering the world map it is very important to follow these
simple rules. Place your parent city first; follow that with any
allies and vassals you may have planned. Then place your colonies
and finally your rivals. The reason for the above is simple and
is explained in the Zeus Adventure Editor manual as well. By placing
your cities in this order it will be a lot easier for you to set
up random gift events and requests as well as invasions if you keep
the cities in order. If you have three colonies and two allies and
one vassal for e.g. you will know while setting events that cities
"0' (parent) and cities 1-6 are all under your domain. Any cities
on the map with a higher number than 6 would be your rivals based
on the above. Knowing this you can now set up your events based
on those numbers.
When setting
up your scenario also remember that any city that you have on the
map as a vassal will pay you tribute at the beginning of each year.
Additionally, any city you have set as a Rival that you later conquer
will also send tribute. If you have a large number of vassals and
conquered cities early on in an adventure some players may become
annoyed by the amount of gifts being received each year in popup.
On
to page 2 -->
|
