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Re: Campaign Story

On 18.08.2004 03:33, Dave Fancella wrote:
On Tuesday 17 August 2004 12:18 pm, Jens Granseuer wrote:
> > Hmm, not sure about the setbacks, but you probably don't want to have the
> > story later on tell the player that battle wasn't important after all. > > ;) Better to have the player start the map knowing what he's up against
> > then tell him later on "Oh yeah, that map you did such a job on? Doesn't
> > matter at all, don't know why you even played it". ;)
>
> What's the difference?

The difference is that it makes the player feel bad. ;)
Hm, I meant what's the difference between telling them the last battle wasn't
important and telling them "Oh yeah, that map you did such a job on?  Doesn't
matter at all, don't know why you even played it".


> Isn't having scenarios the player must _lose_ really pointless? And yes,
> the branching stuff scares me.

Yes, you're right, but luckily I have solved the problem.  ;)

My, aren't we lucky today.
The problem with having maps that you have to lose, assuming for a moment that we did that, is that the game then becomes a role-playing game rather than a tactical wargame, where your role is to just play the story we've assigned you. But players don't want that, and we don't want that, so you're absolutely right that each map must be won in order for the campaign to proceed. So I suppose the trick is to write the story right. ;)
Fine with me, we just need a writer ;-)
The first few (2-4 maybe) maps should see the FNA advancing, though, as
they start out with virtually nothing at all. They first need to make some
headway before being able to hold any position.
I pulled this solution by considering the new Star Wars movies. Have you considered that the new Star Wars movies represent a story which concludes with the bad guys winning? Yet at the end of each movie (so far), we're still seeing scenes where the heroes are prancing around victorious. Because the victories they have achieved have amounted to holding their position, without advancing, and the enemy is still advancing around them. Make sense?
I've only seen the first one so far (and I barely remember that) so I
don't know about Star Wars but yes, sounds like it makes sense.

Jens