§4.2. Scripted Scenes
Sometimes we want to arrange a scene in which something goes on in the background (as though it were a movie playing) while the player goes about his business; or where a series of things has to happen before the player gets to the end.
The simplest way to arrange background events for a scene is to write the sequence of events into a table and work our way through it, printing one line per turn, until the scene runs out. Day One does exactly this.
At other times, we want a scene to last as long as it takes the player to do something. Entrapment lets the player poke around and explore as much as he likes, but ends as soon as he has accomplished the scene's goal - which, unfortunately for him, is to get into an embarrassing situation so that another character can walk in and make fun of him. The Prague Job has a scene that requires the player to do a more specific set of tasks, but nags him and hurries him along until he's done.
Bowler Hats and Baby Geese assumes that our story is going to be assembled with a number of scenes, some of which will need to prevent the player from leaving the location until the scene is complete: it thus defines a "restricted" property for scenes, so that all such elements of the plot will work in the same way.
For more complex sorts of scripts and schedules, it may be worth consulting the extensions.
See Characters Following a Script for a character whose conversation with the player is scripted to follow a pattern and then conclude
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![]() | Onward to §4.3. Event Scheduling |
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Scenes can have properties -- a fact that is very useful when it comes to writing a series of scenes that all need to act alike in some respect. Suppose we have a plot that features a number of scripted scenes, where we need the player to stand still and wait while the events of the scene play out. One way to set this up is to create a property for such scenes -- let's call them "restricted" -- and then write a rule that keeps the player in place while the scene happens:
And now let's set up our restricted scene. In it, a clown is going to turn up wherever the player is (it doesn't matter where on the map he's gotten to at this point) and do a performance; the player will not be able to leave the area until the performance completes. We'll start with the setting:
...And now the scene itself:
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Scenes can have properties -- a fact that is very useful when it comes to writing a series of scenes that all need to act alike in some respect. Suppose we have a plot that features a number of scripted scenes, where we need the player to stand still and wait while the events of the scene play out. One way to set this up is to create a property for such scenes -- let's call them "restricted" -- and then write a rule that keeps the player in place while the scene happens:
And now let's set up our restricted scene. In it, a clown is going to turn up wherever the player is (it doesn't matter where on the map he's gotten to at this point) and do a performance; the player will not be able to leave the area until the performance completes. We'll start with the setting:
...And now the scene itself:
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