October is here, and it's been a Long Year.
The year started with a brand new team, with brand new CMs taking the helm across the board. It was a radical departure from the norm, but we had a plan
History will determine how Good of a plan, but never the less, it was a plan.
The Scenario Team has the talent of the Terrain Team as a partner that has produced some Incredible new things for our scenarios. Karelia was the first, with Stalins Fourth. The event was a huge learning curve for not only the new Scenario Team, but for the Terrain Team as well, considering the new object editors and terrain editor they had to work with. Karelia showed that anything could be done if we put our minds together. Brilliant headquarters, stunning cities and towns, observation towers, anything the team came up with, the Stalins Designers were able to produce.
Stalins Fourth was a historically accurate event, with some incredible record keeping requirements. It also was a tremendous amount of fun.
On the heels of Stalins came Operation Downfall. This was designed to be the exact Opposite of Stalins. We left Europe and went to the Pacific. We moved from Ground Heavy to Ship Dependant. We went from Historical to running an event that was mearly Conceptual in it's day. We also, again, had the Terrain Team construct a Brilliant terrain to play on. Bamboo Buildings, beautiful terrain, mind numbing amount of ships and the intent of fewer rules and record keeping.
We learned some great lessons from Stalins, inasmuch as Stalins got delayed, and we ran Downfall much closer to the timetables set in place for Rules, Registration, Terrain Completion. Also learned from the Maxed out settings of Stalins just how much we could really push the systems. This gave us a much better idea of laying out the objectives in Downfall so that the fights weren't concentrated in the areas that cost the older systems their resources. We learned that as much as We think the event will go, there is always something we Didn't think of that can sway the event, and we learned how easy it is to not take a design mistake personally and roll with changes. We learned Very Well that the players that lead these events are the Best in the gaming world, and can handle and suggest changes with that same recognition and lack of personal attack.
In spite of the setbacks of Downfall, that single event more than any soldified the reason I do this, there is no better scenario community out there than ours, and I willingly invest my free time to do this.
After Downfall, we had a choice. We are working Very Hard on the Year End event, and with the setbacks we had in the first few events, I thought it best that we either do nothing but work on the next custom event, or take one "Pre Packaged" or "Off the Shelf" and run it while working on the year end. It was clear that although We are working hard to build another Custom Event, the Reason we are doing this is so that you all have something to play, so it was not fair that You sit Idle and waited for us.
So, we Dusted Off BoB04, cleaned up the rules a bit and ran BoB06, a crisp, clean and Known entity. This gave us both the Time to continue on the Custom Event for December while still giving you something to sink your teeth into and run with. So Far, BoB looks like it has been a good fight, and I am satisfied that we made that decision.
This has now given us the time to prepare for December. We will be bringing you Pearl Harbor. It has been my desire from the Day I took over the Scenario Lead position to use the Years worth of Stalins, Downfalls etc to fine tune the events team, get the terrain team used to its new tools, and for the players to get used to their new team and the possibilities. I wanted to get the team and it's production schedule out from Behind, playing catch up, and get them out front of the calendar. Most importantly, by pushing the envelope of system resources, and historical accuracy, and creative "what if" conditions, I wanted to see ideas spring up with the confidence that you had a team that was not only willing to listen to those ideas, but that had the ability to pull it off. I hope we have shown you this. With the offers of some incredibly clever and historically accurate events that have come my way, I think we are off to a good start.
I look forward to Pearl Harbor satisfying you, and setting the stage for next year. Watch the boards for the Pearl Announcements, you should start to see some ramblings once BoB06 has completed her run.
