IT'S ALL ABOUT SIZE by Jeff Vogel When people get their hands on the Blades of Avernum Scenario Editor, they start to dream. This is a good thing. The whole point of the editor is thinking up adventures and making them reality. However, when people dream, they start out dreaming big. And this can be a problem. When people tell me about the adventures they want to make, they never come up with anything that can be done easily, in, say, 4 or 5 towns, and a few outdoor sections. Everyone describes a massive, multi-part epic, something of at least Avernum size, with dozens of dungeons and 60 or 70 outdoor sections. This is, almost universally, a mistake. A big mistake. It's a sure-fire recipe for a frustrating Avernum experience and an unfinished scenario. Before starting any large scenario, I strongly suggest writing a small one. Make your first scenario 2x2 outdoor sections and 4-5 towns/dungeons, at least one of which has a lot of NPCs with a fair amount of dialogue. Please do this. You will achieve two goals. First, you will have a finished scenario, which you can share with people right now. Second, and much more importantly, you will get a good idea of just how time-consuming scenario design is. Most of the scenarios that come with Blades of Avernum have about 10 outdoor sections and around 20 towns/dungeon levels. Each of these four scenarios took a month of intense full-time work, performed by a person with serious rpg design experience, who spent the previous 3 years writing rpgs and who wrote the scenario editor and was highly intimate with every part of it. Most other people, on the other hand, will have to write the scenario in their limited free time and have no experience with the editor. Even a small scenario will turn out to be a bit of a job, and writing one will provide a bit of perspective for how difficult a major epic will be to write. By writing a small scenario, you will also get a feel for just how big a 32x32, 48x48, or 64x64 town is. For each dungeon, there is a correct size. It's important to get a feel for exactly how much space you'll need for your village/castle/whatever. Trying to expand a 48x48 town into a 64x64 town can be an agonizing experience. Also, designing a small scenario will give you a feel for just how exhausting drawing terrain can be. For each empty space, you need to make a concsious decision about what to put into it. Too many blank spaces, and you have pretty boring terrain. You need to figure out how much area you're capable of filling with fresh ideas. This is not to say that anyone trying to make a large scenario is doomed. I am simply saying that experience and perspective are necessary tools if you're to figure out how big a scenario you're capable of making. I freely admit to self-interest in all this. I genuinely enjoy looking at other people's scenarios, and want to see as many of them as possible. This can only happen, however, if they get finished. Every adventure completed makes the Avernum universe a little richer. Honest appraisal of how big a scenario one can reasonably make is a powerful tool in writing and finishing scenarios. Good luck, and don't ask too much of yourself. Remember, it is better to spend 30 hours writing something people play than 60 hours writing something that nobody ever sees. - Jeff Vogel