golden delicious
Posts: 5575
Joined: 9/5/2000 From: London, Surrey, United Kingdom Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: rhinobones Should also note that Golden Delicious is one of a number of players/authors who’s criteria for “good scenario” requires an accurate Order of Battle and a scenario design that concludes in the historical outcome. Or at least, so you keep telling me. If the game is in a historical setting, then the starting conditions really must be historical. Otherwise what's the point in calling it historical? However I also play hypothetical and even fictional scenarios. Note that for these, the starting conditions should also be reasonable. See your War of the Ring- would it be much fun to play if the Hobbits kept on thrashing Saruman on their own? The historical outcome should be possible- but if that's the only outcome you can have, there's probably something wrong with the scenario. Some designers work like that, though. quote:
After all, it is a game, right? That and more. See the introduction to the manual. quote:
OOBs and history have little meaning to me as compared to the challenge of playing the game. Well, a historical scenario puts the game into context. Your actions have meaning which you can understand in terms of the real world. Even looking at your own fictional scenarios, you endeavour to put them into some context. "Revisionist War" by its very title has been given a background and a reason for fighting. "War of the Ring" is set in a fictional world so rich that it's almost as compelling as the real one. You can't possibly deny that a familiar setting- which in the vast majority of cases means a historical setting- makes a scenario more interesting to play. A fictional setting is a trade-off for the purpose of removing the benefit of hindsight. quote:
In this regard, some of the standard TOAW-COW disk scenarios that are considered junk might actually be quite entertaining using my alternative definition. Well, even if we're to overlook that most of the scenarios are also pretty unbalanced since there was no time to playtest them properly, there's also the fact that because these scenarios present themselves as being historical, they are in fact deeply misleading. I keep coming back to "France 40"- this scenario actively serves to reinforce the commonly held myths about the campaign in question. Players come away from scenarios like this and think they understand the battle. It would be fine if the scenario had included a disclaimer to the effect that it was actually a work of fiction and is just intended for fun. It doesn't. quote:
Suggest that you download and try as many scenarios as possible. Quite. There's a huge range of works out there to suit any interest. There are also various ratings systems and "What's your favourite scenario" threads dotted around the internet.
< Message edited by golden delicious -- 5/5/2006 5:03:58 PM >
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"What did you read at university?" "War Studies" "War? Huh. What is it good for?" "Absolutely nothing."
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