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Scenario - Systems
working on a post to map different ways TTRPGs tell you what you're supposed to do with them, the stories and settings they're supposed to work with. That's... a big topic, but I'm trying to fit it all in the term "scenario."
This post focuses on the rules-y parts. The other ones will also probably talk about rules but in different ways.
I'll start with rules that apply to everyone. If everyone can interact a mechanic, the game has made it a subject of universal interest or concern. A very basic example here: CAIN's generic action roll rules read "if the outcome of a character’s action is risky, contested, or unclear, a character states their intent and makes an action roll." This rule establishes that "risky, contested, or unclear" actions are part of the game, something that every player character can expect to run into. But that's an extremely common type of rule, so let's look at one more specific to CAIN's goals:
All Sins have traumas, events that have precipitated their birth from their host. When making a Sin, the Admin answers the sin’s trauma questions and establishes traumas based on the answers [...] If they are able to investigate and uncover traumas by discovering their answers, when exorcists fight the sin in an execution scene and the sin reacts to their actions, they can use each answer to counter a sin’s reaction.
This gives us something to work with! It establishes discovering sources of trauma as a recurring scenario objective, something that's expected to be possible and grants specific benefits for accomplishing. This isn't a requirement, the players can choose to ignore it, but there's a gravity here that changes the trajectory of play for everyone.
Character creation
Sometimes rules only apply to specific characters. A subsystem only available to a certain class, or a playbook power, or player-chosen traits invested with mechanical weight. Global rules outline baseline possibilities for the whole table to be concerned with, but personal rules redirect focus according to the choices of the players. A Flying Circus table may be aware of magic in the world without really engaging much with it... but a table where a player takes the Witch playbook is going to find magic on their minds. A Tenra Bansho Zero session where every player wants to play a mecha pilot is going to look very different compared to one where every player wants to play warrior-monks from competing schools, or one where a worm mage, a ninja, and a samurai all want to share the spotlight.
Wilderfeast provides prompts throughout its character creation to establish past events, future ambitions, and present allies for player characters. Before the first session even starts, the GM has a small supporting cast to work with and a palette of future directions the campaign might go. Spire: The City Must Fall also prompts players to describe an NPC ally based on their classes, which can act as either a valuable contact for advancing the players' plans... or a possible weak point that spurs them to action. Strong scenario fuel!
My gold standard for character sheets generating scenarios is the Quests used in Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine and other works of Jenna Moran. Each Quest provides a list of events or prompts, when these are fulfiled, you gain XP or receive some other minor reward. When your Quest's XP bar fills up, your character can now move on from whatever struggle or stage of life it represented. Each Quest provides a personal scenario that the GM can expand on to create the shared scenario for the whole table.
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