Project Scenarios
What better way for a community to prove to itself that it is a community than working together? Whether it be a neighborhood watch program, a petition for local government, a block beautification project, or a wargaming project, these things foster a sense of community by asking for (and getting) involvement. I suspect each contributor to one of the TPG2 projects eagerly awaited the results of the project both out of curiosity of the others contributions, but also wondering if everyone (or anyone) will like his own.
I haven’t been around these pages long, barely more than a year. Yet I have seen (and helped instigate) all three of the TPG2 projects. While not a student of history like Rommel or Bobb, I’d like to revisit those projects for a bit before telling you my thoughts on Project 3. (BTW: Project 3 has no other name yet, I’m leaning toward Our Earl in keeping with the project names, but Project 3 has a nice ring to it as well.)
Ourgame
I don’t remember the exact events of the planning stages for Ourgame, but I remember playing a fairly involved part. I liked the idea because I like working under a deadline and it seemed like something to foster the community spirit. The diversity of the TPG2 community helped a lot. Some of us got very creative with the Ourgames.
The plan was for someone to develop a map. Everyone would download the map from Rommel’s page and create a scenario on that map. After much discussion, Endgame was ‘elected’ for the duty of map design. Endgame tends toward ‘terrain concentric’ maps and the result of the Ourgame map was pure gold. EG used every conceivable terrain type in a way that made sense and provided for a great number of scenario events and types.
Some of the scenarios that resulted included two random ecstasy types, a beach assault, a massive neutral thing with lots of mines, a bug hunt (yes, I said bug hunt), a simple yet complex mission scenario, and a (as yet) un-won puzzle. The creativity displayed in these scenarios was amazing. Pense introduced the idea of ‘virtual engineers’. Ron gave us a scenario that changed the rules on even what the units were. Rommel introduced the Rommelkin defense.
When I think back on that one project, it is really awe inspiring. These different people came up with scenarios that were so unlike one another, yet they all were based on the same map. The differences mean that some scenarios use more of the map, or certain areas of the map more than others, so it seems like no two maps are alike. However, it is the scenarios that are different, as are the personalities behind them. And every one is a ‘keeper’.
Our Island
Some six months or so after the Ourgame project, we decided to start thinking seriously about the next project. Rommel delayed as long as possible to let the shock of eight or so new (big) scenarios wind down. Some of the involved parties, I think, still haven’t played all of the Ourgame scenarios.
Since we had done the map thing already, we didn’t want to do that again. (To be honest we probably never will. We’re that kind of group.) The next suggestion actually came from Rommel. "Design an island scenario that involves achieving a set goal or series of goals." (paraphrased) Bobb complained that, "the restrictions are so loose as to be non-existent." That’s OK cause we got some really wild scenarios out of this one.
As you can imagine, the restriction were very loose and we got scenarios ranging from a ten-turn little jewel, to a massive island assault, we got a standard invasion and take everything scenario, a campaign game, a mission oriented building scenario, and a random scenario that makes the D-Day invasion look like it was planned by girl scouts.
The response to this scenario was even more overwhelming. I think something like 12 scenarios were posted on the grand release date. It took quite a while for the murmur to die down from those scenarios. Unfortunately, even more of them weren’t played. I don’t know whether the response was a good thing or not. We got lots of new scenarios, but not as many people got to them all. With the diversity of scenarios, I think that players got a better opportunity to choose the scenarios that they liked to play rather than playing a scenario because it was the only one available. I will go on record and say that the more scenarios, the better.
The Ourisland scenarios were great fun and even more diverse than the Ourgames. Creativity ran wild. But what would we do next.
Death Stand and Death March
Death Stand wasn’t a real project in the sense that we all designed something for general dissemination. However, it was the first of what I’ll call the ‘contest scenarios’ for lack of a better term. Our resident puzzle master, Ron T. Smith, wrote both these scenarios. Even great generals sometimes pale when a scenario by Ron is mentioned. His scenarios are tough, obsession inducing, trials of fire. And I like every one of them.
As I recall, one debrief long ago, Ron appeared. He had come (so he claimed) to take the abuse he felt he deserved for one of his latest creations. Instead, we handed him the credit card and the keys to the new corvette and said, ‘don’t worry about a curfew.’ What happened after that was a wild ride.
Basically, we wanted a contest scenario. Everyone would play once and report the results. The highest scorer would be declared the winner. What we got was Death Stand.
If you haven’t played it yet, then go play it before reading further. Play once and then compare your score to the scores on Rommel’s Ramble And the Winner is...
Imagine a valley that you have to defend with (including all reinforcements) barely 400 points of units. Now imagine Earl gets something like 2300 points over 40 turns. Now see how long you last. I won’t go into the scores or the current record (after more than one play), try it yourself and let me know.
Deadly Assault was a similar event. It even used the same map as Death Stand. Except we were attacking Earl in his turtle (read: extremely defensive) mode.
A couple of people didn’t like Death Stand and a couple of people didn’t like Death March. I’ll admit that those people had valid concerns, but everyone suffered through the same scenario. These two scenarios are not for the faint of heart. Of the two, I feel that Death Stand is the better scenario.
Contests sometimes divide communities, but ours was strong enough to handle it well. The winners were congratulated with enthusiasm and other results posted and examined at length. These two scenarios really offered more discussion because everyone played them. With the project scenarios, some people play one and not another, so sometimes discussion is necessarily limited.
I don’t think that this community will delve into the contest arena again. It was fun, but it has now been done. Like the project scenarios, it would have to be different.
Project 3
Last (and I hope not least) is the latest in the series of project scenarios. I feel a great deal of anticipation about this one, because my hand crafted the basic outline and plans for it. I hope that it goes over well, though even two scenarios built around it would please me.
With the unparalleled success of the previous project scenarios, the question remained ‘what now?’ In one of the latest Debriefings, long after cocktail hour had come and gone, I championed a new project scenario. The idea behind it came from the discussion we had about making Earl a better opponent. The question in my mind became, "what would all these designers do to optimize Earl under the same beginning conditions?" The end result is Project 3.
Basically, the same map and human player reinforcement schedule was given to everyone. I kind of strayed from the path a bit and designed three different human reinforcement events. Each designer has the option of choosing one of the three events. I’m sure that everyone will feel them too restrictive. I know I do. However, I didn’t design the map or the events with a particular scenario in mind. I built a pretty neat map and then created what I thought were three useful reinforcement events. One of them was purely offensive, the other two could be offensive or defensive as the designer wills. (I guess the offensive one could be defensive if need be, I certainly don’t want to restrict creativity any more than I already have.)
As I write this, only Rommel knows who has even written a scenario for this project. My own scenario is running waaaay behind schedule because of massive PC failure, but I should have something soon.
To all those that participate as designers and players, I thank you.
"Captain" Kevin McCarthy
| 