What are the basic building blocks of creating a scenario?

let me know, with some detail, a good mission for our games.

They need to have some of these properties listed...

Strategy
Options for change/diversity
guarding/attacking
ratio of said groups
night time or day time preferred
woods, field, building or other place
ETC.

Example: Ed brought up a VIP move from point A to B, with attacking forces losing if they kill the VIP. Why is this relevant? There is no huge firefight, it has to be selective. STRATEGY.

Example: in our last brainstorming session we came up with waves of attack. For a given timeframe you can attack any of two or three objectives. Based on what you accomplish in the first wave, the second wave starts with different options and/or different objectives. Say you only take one FOB, you get to use something, maybe disabling power to the main base for the second wave. BUT if you get two FOBs you get another option, maybe the use of grenades to take the main base. Maybe they cannot use communications if you can take out an antenna array as a third objective. Give the defending team other options as well, especially since they will have all these things going against them if the attacking team is really good. Make it a decision on what is more important to each team. STRATEGY, NIGHT GAME, OPTIONS







Lately we have been a little stagnant in selection and i want diversity.

Do we want a missle site to dismantle in combat? Say the attacking scout team gets to it in the specified timeframe, they then would be allowed reinforcements. (helicopter can land with more troops)

Maybe only allow ten people in the game every five to ten minutes like waves of support if they DONt get the missile taken down in ~10minutes as a punishment.

Things bases need to survive in real life...

Water tower to destroy, cuts their time down 20 minutes from the total time. (A 2 hr game window)
Food supplies destroyed same thing
Ammo dump destroyed somehow limits weapon types or usage...
Power at night for lights eliminated
Communications dismantled for coordination
supply road for more troops blown up, limiting players actions or reinforcements...

for the attackers:
Again some objective allows the use of grenades, (finding an ammo drop from a plane?)
Starting with pistols until they find the ammo dump?
use of night vision through a set up process of objectives...
Reinforcements given per objective. Start with a squad of 10 and get reinforcements faster
based off of objectives.

Get x amount of objectives in a certain amount of time unleashes the horde of waiting troops.

What about consequences for failing?

Only list core components and not actual scenarios....!

Also talk about things to liven it up. In the beginning we had speakers playing the prayer from the middle east as we attcked. It was a nice effect. if we have a helicopter squad, should i pull them in a trailer behind my truck with my subwoofer sounding like a chopper for effect? Imagine the low flutter of a chopper in silent mode, and guys/gals "repelling" down. Bob has some bright red LED flashers we could use as the scout team directing me in to "land" with the troops in the Blazer/Chopper. Like popping smoke.

Actual bomb sounds and gunfire on speakers the whole time? or only the sounds of something being done like the chopper for the three minutes it takes to unload...?

If we have a missile site that needs to be taken down, can we engineer some reusable fake C4 pack that makes a loud POP and a bright FLASH so someone can see it in the distance. "Oh shit, there went our missile site, more troops are landing soon..."

What about building actual buildings?

I want to build a CQB area out in the woods. Especially after playing one yesterday.

I dont want square buildings anymore either. they need to be dynamic. Ed and i discussed having modular walls that can be manipulated/moved to change walls for perimeter breaching. Less impenetrable, as well.

I want bridges and tunnels.

I want a truck with one machie gunner in it, like a technical, but the catch is he has a shield that the opponents must flank. Grenades will kill him.

What about hostages and/or civilians.

Trench warfare.

Sniper platforms.

bring back the downed pilot scenario?

In another thread we brought up independent snipers. theyre on no ones team but can pick off anyone that isnt them. Just for the hell of it.

Drop in mortars?

traps? Attention traps or kill traps. (sound/flash trap for giving away position vs claymore style)

Pillboxes? partly underground?

Hey these are some great ideas. I'm liking the stream of consciousness of this thread as well Ted.

A lot of the game design for airsoft games is very similar to video game & modular programming. I've taken a lot of courses in interactive non-linear storytelling, which is basically what airsoft is. Interactive means that the audience is interacting with the media, storytelling is similar to a regular story, but it is non-linear. Stories are linear by nature, they follow one set path.

In order for the author to express his "story" he needs to maintain control of the scenario while still providing people with options.


If you guys are into video games, I should show you Project Reality. It's a battlefield 2 modification that is based heavily on realistic game play, teamwork, and low level squad tactics.


Now as for scenario design you are looking at a couple of things here Ted. You have:

1. Basic field design (bunkers etc)
2. Game specific field design (Nam FOB, special scenario props)
3. Full Scenario Structure (aka replicating some military event)
4. A subset is the individual scenario design - - the pure mechanics.

I constantly find myself seeing improvements that can be made to the mechanics of our scenarios. You have to take into account the ignorance & impatience of airsofters as a group, but if you sit down and explain to them mechanics that are well prepared, they will listen and do them.

So this means that the focus should be on the individual mechanics of the game (creating a fun scenario) that in the end adds up to a mil-sim exepeirence that "replicates" some event.

Just some of my thoughts at the moment. I'm planning on (talking to Shar and) hosting a big Op as a compilation of everything I've learned in airsoft (large scale events like Lion Claws or semi-large Selva de LLevuia) and from school and game mecahnics and design.

Also I've got a huge 3" binder full of airsoft scenarios I've been collecting over the years. Too many to post here.

you guys are nuts, but i like the ideas

One thing that seems to happen is the game is played exactly how we know it happened. In real life those guys had choices in the heat of battle. i think the games should be played as if it were that specific time, otherwise it ends up being a like civil war re-enactment where you know which side wins. Change history.

As we work on the field I want greater flexibility and diversity. As we build buildings the use of them is stressed in every game. we need more variety in options.

i think if we make stuff viable in a game, people will be willing to try it. The helicopter thing is possible. Hell ive even downloaded sounds to mix for it. i think we need more sapper type objectives with real world advantages. Power station for example...

Finding the ammo drop for the use of grenades would be cool as well. Just like a video game.

these kinds of things would be liked by the general masses i believe.

What about chem warfare? Green smoke bombs are VX gas or something and the use of a building is nullified for 3o minutes until it is clear...

Wow I am in awe when reading your guys stuff...maybe because I've just got too much stuff going on right now to REALLY think about it.

I think that a downside to the "waves" or waiting troops is that those said squads have to wait and while you talk about punishing those on the field for not committing to a time you also could be punishing those waiting. I'd hate to have to wait too long to get in on the fun.

I was working on a balloon light a while back that could be used for a type of base capture like in the battlefield games. The light mechanisms inside the light wands Shar is always talking about is very light and can be carried by 2 ballons. I had the light mechanism in one ballon which lit up VERY nicely and you could still push the button to change the color. (one end is a color and the other is white)

So, with these lights floating in the air identifying what color team has the base, when a opposing team comes in to change the color they have to pull the balloons down and change the color then release it which takes time.

Downside is that they can be shot pretty easily creating a problem. Also wind above the trees might make it hard to control unless you did a multi point tie down.

This whole thing is probably too complicated but I hope it spawns some ideas.

Christmas lights in two different colors (rope lights) unplug the opposing team and plug yours in.

On the waiting thing i thought ten minutes at maximum. Or have one landing point thats in a very good position, and one which is further out or in a hot zone. Again choice.

ive got a lot of homework, so Im done for today.

I like the xmas ligh idea. one step further could we rig it to a flag pole or at least a pole and pulley system that way u can run up your colors. color flags could be used in day games.

The concept of a poor man's MOUT facility was always the goal with FIREZONE. The plans were drawn up,ideas kicked around all it needed was time and money and quite a few donations of material and manpower. With luck ths summer will see a great surge in putting things in that will excite players and attract more teams from around Florida and who knows?? All I can say is Stay Tuned Folks

I saw a boat on orlando craigslist for free, w/no motor or anything... great bunker anyone? Also, tires, tires, tires. Collect enough and you can make a maze w/ doorways. Voila... a killhouse. Most tire places just give them away for free. You just need to haul them yourself.

Okay, I just received some packages of sodium bi-carbonate and citric acid. The packs are about 3"x4" and when you squeeze the citric acid capsule in the bag, it mixes with the sodium-bc and creates a pressure that pops the bag.

It's pretty loud so I thought we might be able to use it as C4 charges or something...maybe a designated item to take out bunkers. It takes about 30 seconds to pop and we could put double stick tape on it to attach to the explosion sight. It's not as loud as a firecracker but it's safe and won't cause smoke or fire.

This would create a couple of dynamics:

1. Attackers have to suppress the bunker enough to get close to plant the explosive.
2. Defending troops have 30 seconds to relocate the C4 pack past the blast parameter by any means.

These are what you were telling me about yes?

They are cheap as well arent they?

Got pics of them?

Party pop bags

Maybe we can find some larger ones for a bigger bang or something? These smaller ones are pretty loud though. Imagine taking one of those packing air squares and slamming it between your hands. That loud pop is what these sound like.

OK more crap to think about!

First off... Ever thought about the use of one those kid finder devices? Put one on an ammo drop or warhead that needs to be found, or a downed pilot. Give the finder to the team to find it.

Ever play those video games with skill points to customize things?

How about this:

At the beginning of the game EACH opponent is given 100 points to use.

Their side has the option for using those points for what they want to use...

Examples:
60 points for use of night vision during night ops
50 points for use of APC super attack golf cart
50 points LUCK OF THE DRAW (see below)
30 points for a medic that cannot die
40 some kind of bribery (to be figured out later-see below)
20 grenade usage for destroying buildings
10 points C4 usage for buildings (less points because you have to mount it)
10 points kid finder for zeroing in on objects
etc...

Bribery may be complicated, but somehow before the game a person on the opposing team is selected for this option, unknown to his team. If this option is used, the coordinator informs him/her of the situation. Kinda like how that girl was hired to kill me as a spy. They can either assasinate, sabotage, and if brave enough friendly fire. Depends on the objective.

LUCK OF THE DRAW:

This is a gamble, but a good one. The user of this option gets to chose two unknown cards from a stack of mediocre cards and only one from the better stack.

Mediocre stack includes:
Strategic maps. (preferably with a changable field, unknown to all players)
objective disabling info (how to shut off communications/power/supply/etc)
List of opponents' objectives
Initial manning at certain areas
Armament numbers("opponents team has 2 SAWs, 3 Snipers, 10 Field people", # of each)
grenade usage for buildings only
C4 usage for demo of objectives
Invincible medic usage.
More? tell me...

Highly desired
Whos a spy?
Radio channels of the opposing forces!
Opponents leader has a Kid finder attached at the beginning of the game. He will not know if he/she is being tracked or not...
NVG usage
APC truck usage

So for example if a team picks a medic for 30 pts, grenades for 20 pts, and then you take the luck of the draw option for 50pts (100 pts total) BUT you pull the medic card... You get your 30 points back to use on something else, you cannot pull another card. You are stuck with the medic since you pulled the card for it, its the initial 30 of 100 points you are getting back.

So instead of just getting the truck, grenades and a medic... You can now possibly get more if you are willing to gamble for it. Should I include negative cards in this option?

Certain things like the truck will have its card pulled from the stack once its selected since we only have one. Opposing teams will flip a coin in the start to see who picks first.

Inputs? Sounds complicated, but its simple enough to work. REMEMBER BOTH SIDES HAVE THE ABILITY TO DRAW THESE CARDS!

I got one to add for you Tedder 100 points for a shocking dog caller instantly killing a random member of the opposition. It would be like airsoft hot potato BTW I am just joking about this LOL.

LOL we could do like the running man at the beginning of the movie...you try to escape the compound and are given a map...you have to navigate the map to escape through a narrow point else your head explodes! Muahahahahaa...

IF I hit the lottery...

Imagine a truck like this...


With a fake helicopter on the lift.


Holds 3 guys total, 2 passengers, 1 M60 or vulcan gunner. Cannot be killed unless by a foam rocket from a LAW or M203... Driven on a specific road through a field, with the high angle they could seriously screw up people during an attack. Have subwoofers built into it so it sounds sort of real.

Just for the hell of it. Just imagine being the gunner from this height.

That is what is so good about playing up north you can actually climb up trees I had to retrain myself today to stop looking up trees every time I saw a branch move.

TKR SixFootCow wrote:

LOL we could do like the running man at the beginning of the movie...you try to escape the compound and are given a map...you have to navigate the map to escape through a narrow point else your head explodes! Muahahahahaa...

Now that actually sounds fun I like that.

Now that we have the golf cart Ed and I were Bsing about using my LUCK OF THE DRAW option with it...

Heres how it would work...

Make it an APC, fully covered and invincible. The catch is it only has X amount of rounds in a saw mounted in a turret. Give them either 1000 or a full box mag at 2500 (TBD). When there are no more BBs left to fire, it gets returned to the starting point. It would have a very high value if picked for use. Obviously 2 people would have to operate it.

This thing could blitz a heavily defended area or be used for recon without firing... To stop people from just cruising around indefinitely, there would be a time limit, say 30 minutes. It would be a surprise attack option with hard hitting possibilites.

never insult the BEAST by calling it just a "golf cart" Tedder!
TAKE IT BACK.
lol.

What about having three to four parts of a bomb separate in specific locations that must be taken and assembled, THEN once together planted in a higher priority target to blow it up...
Could take all day...