Work in Progress - Am I going the right direction

[Zepp]

Alright, been playing with AE (trying to get an interesting mission going). I came up with:

 

Mission name: My Gun Fu is stronger than your Gun Fu.
ID: 33386

on Excelsior

 

Not sure what people are looking for in AE, so I thought I'd ask the experts as to whether this is a story I should develop further or nay.

[cranebump]

I should have some extended play time Friday, so I can give some feedback. Now is it expert feedback? I'll never tell.:-)

[Kyksie]

"John Woo" says "I need you to go kill a guy". No story, no explanation, go kill a guy. You go into a one room map and kill a guy. There's a custom group with one member with no minion description and a glowie with no text. That's it.

 

[cranebump]

First, DON'T STOP SCRIPTING! This is just the beginning!:-) 

 

Okay, now that that's done...

 

Well, Kyksie don't lie, y'all, so, if the question is, Should I develop this? the answer is, absolutely. Because what you've got here is neither fish nor fowl. It's not an SFMA arc, nor does it have the germ of an idea for one, because we have no sense of who we're dealing with, or their agenda (or any hint of either). So, if it's a story mish you want, it'd be best to know what the story is before diving in. Even a basic plot outline that develops as you design would be beneficial. Now, if this is supposed to be a farm, it's got issues, as well. No mobs. I'm assuming this is not the goal, however, since you said, "Story I should develop."

 

So, let's start with this:

*Who is the contact?

*Why are they contacting the hero? (or rather, why do they say they're contacting the hero?)

*Who is the target? (beyond just a name)

*Why does the contact want the target eliminated? Or rather, what do they say is their reason? (on that: this is tagged as a villain/rogue arc I assume?)

*What's the character's motivation for going along with the plan? (outside the fact we're just playing missions in a video game; here's where Hero arcs have an advantage, because Heroes do Hero things, and need less incentive; you're asking for a murder--better give a good reason).

*What does the character NOT know about the contact/target/mission, etc.? (This answer is for you, because you're likely going to reveal some sort of nefarious twist or something later, right?)

 

That's just the very basic stuff you should know before you even start SFMA scripting. Know your scenario, at the very least. Judging by Kyksie's report, there's no current way to figure out if you've done the grunt work, because your single mish has a sparse framework that is missing very basic elements (like NPC descriptions and no clues). This doesn't honor your attempt, nor does it honor the player's time (which means the arc is on a quick route to true oblivion).

 

BUT...

 

This is a first stab at it, right? So, figure it out--what's the story? The questions, above, are simply a starting point for Mish #1.

 

Now, Mish #2's guiding question is: 

*Now that the character has killed the target, what happens? 

 

All subsequent missions use a similar stem--"Now that the character has ______________, what happens next (within the confines of the scenario you've created)?" It's really basic GMing, the kind you'd do at the table (if you play TTRPGs), but with limited options due to the video game script format. Is basic storytelling. PLOT IS ESSENTIAL. It should have some internal (or at least explainable) consistency.

 

Anyway, I'll check out the arc so I can get a look at the map. Sometimes the map will tell me things about the story. In any case, I want to see what's actually there, so I can provide better feedback, if needed.

 

Again, DON'T STOP SCRIPTING! This is just the beginning!:-)

 

Thanks,

 

Crane

Edited December 10, 2020 by cranebump

[cranebump]

Okay, finally ran it. Verdict: not much effort put in here. The Boss put up a decent fight. But:

 

• No story at all.
• Everything Kyksie already mentioned.

Lots of work to turn that into something worthwhile (if that is your aim).