Theoretically the fourth part of the "master" edition (after the master rulebook, G2/G3, and the master starship book). Probably the least salable of the four and not a high priority.

By Frank Brooks (Alskdjf) on Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 05:12 pm: Edit

From what I can tell, there are about 380 scenarios [not counting R9 (which I don't have), CLs, (U0.0) Campaigns, or playtest modules, but including (T0.0) Mini-Campaigns and Omega]. It appears that about 180 of these are on a fixed map, and about 175 of these have the text "Any unit leaving the map has disengaged and cannot return."

Assuming that rule (S1.0) would be part of this product (it didn't make it into MRB did it?), wouldn't it be easier to modify the third paragraph of (S1.43) to say that the units can't return instead of repeating it several hundred times in the scenarios?

As it is, you'd expect to find scenarios where units can return after they've left the map, when in fact, no such scenario exists. [See again my list of exclusions before yelling too much please :-)]

By Mike Todaro (Aurelius) on Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 01:30 pm: Edit

I am a Historical Scenerio nut.

I bought S1 years ago so that I could read (read, mind you) the various historical scenarios and see how the events played out. My purchase of Module J came entirely from the scenario about the CVA Zhukov. I think that one is called The Pleaides Turkey Shoot.

I can say with near total certainty the following: barring some galactic evil rampaging through my bank account, I will purchase a copy of the Master Scenario Book.

Crap, I'm all anticipatory already. This even though the product is still vaporware as far as I can tell. Ah well, time and faith will tell.

By Michael Powers (Mtpowers) on Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 01:55 pm: Edit

Mike: Except that the Pleaides Turkey Shoot does not actually include the "historical outcome" of that scenario!

By Mike Todaro (Aurelius) on Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 03:05 pm: Edit

Fair enough, but the setup was the hook, I must admit.

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 05:41 pm: Edit

I could have sworn that the historical outcome for the Turkey Shoot was defined at some point (maybe in CL?), but it obviously wasn't in the scenario itself. My recollection was that the FFV, FFE, and the "out-on-a-limb" DE were destroyed, and all other Fed ships damaged, which (at 17 points) is consistent with the historical level of victory listed in the scenario VC'x.

By Frank Brooks (Alskdjf) on Friday, April 21, 2006 - 09:10 am: Edit

Not sure where it came from, but I show the historical outcome as:

---

Quote:

HISTORICAL OUTCOME: The Konev and Smirnov were destroyed, the Rokosovsky and Moskva were crippled, and the Timoshenko and Zhukov were damaged. The Fire Wind was destroyed, the Fire Warrior was crippled, and the Fire Wielder was damaged. The core of the Klingon fighter and PF training schools was lost and not replaced until the end of the war.

---

By Barton Pyle (Bart) on Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 12:48 am: Edit

Who knows, maybe ADB will put the historical scenerios in cronological order for this product.

By Michael Powers (Mtpowers) on Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 10:00 am: Edit

Barton: How would I find a specific scenario without knowing what year it was in?

Now, I could see a big list of year/scenario in that "Star Fleet Encyclopedia" product they're talking about...

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 12:16 pm: Edit

Like Barton's idea. I think a cross-index in the back could tell you what page number SL237 is on.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 01:03 pm: Edit

Chronological order... well, I suppose it would make for a simpler "sit down and read".

Will this cause Petrick to rip out all his hair?

I think then, that getting this one unpunched and loose will be best for me. (BTW, I like how newer products are available with this choice!)

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 01:16 pm: Edit

It wouldn't actually be that hard to offer it both ways.

By Kerry Drake (Kedrake) on Sunday, June 11, 2006 - 03:35 pm: Edit

Chronological order would be very cool, and I would order that way if it was an option.

By Barton Pyle (Bart) on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 07:47 pm: Edit

Well since the Master Ship book is a "Bigger" project. How about making The "Master Scenerio Book" I would buy this product. I would like to make a request though. That would be all historical scenerios would have an outcome printed as well.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Friday, November 28, 2008 - 06:54 pm: Edit

Could it be delegated to someone else to finish?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, November 29, 2008 - 09:06 am: Edit

It cannot be delegated. It would take more of my time to check somebody else's work than to do it myself, and if I don't have time to do it myself, I don't have time to check what somebody else did.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, July 29, 2019 - 09:36 pm: Edit

Hot to do this:
Copy all scenarios, string them end to end.
Update earlier SL scenarios to Doomsday Standard.
Insert ship names (maybe).
Insert historical outcomes.
Insert the small number of errata items.
Some older scenarios need order of battle adjustments.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Monday, July 29, 2019 - 10:07 pm: Edit

Woo, we might see Titan and the Unicorn after all this time!

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Monday, July 29, 2019 - 10:50 pm: Edit

Yes, please.

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 12:58 am: Edit

I would love to not have to go through 50+ issues of Captain's Log for scenarios.

By Russ Simkins (Madcowak) on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 01:52 am: Edit

Some thoughts that will probably lead to scoffs and maybe an angry mob with torches and painsticks storming my outpost but this is a topic I've spoken to on SFU OnCall on occasion. Scenarios books alone have been said to be weak sellers so I spent some time going though ideas to improve their presentation and appeal as well as drive their audience to actually play the scenarios rather than just consider them interesting reading.

1. Set up fiction: Scenarios often read as very dry, "just the facts" news snippets with no emotional attachment whatsoever. Consider a very short story prior to the scenario rules that draws you in with a characters point of view, sets up the reasons for the fight and make us (the players) want to play (and win) the scenario. Set up fiction should set up the reasons for the fight but not touch on what happens during the fight.
Like many, I love the CL fiction and during the reading I get amped up to want to put my self in the lead character's position (aka play the scenario). But when the story unfolds and all has been played out, I already know what happens and my desire to play the scenario diminishes. Why play the scenario when I already know what happened. I know what you are all thinking... impossible to do right? And you are right about not being able to do fiction for every single scenario and I don't think I'd necessarily want that either. Throw in a smattering thoughout to spice up and add to a scenario book. I experimented with the idea, choosing a couple scenarios for which I wrote a short set up story. Each story took only a few hours (about 3, not the months that CL fiction takes) since the point of it is to build emotional investment rather than detailing SFB-legal battles. And writing it was way more fun than attempting CL fiction. For those writers out there, give it a go and see what I mean. Way different, faster, and a blast doing these writing projects. There is a good-sized crowd of players who dabble in writing that might find this venue quite compelling. Learn to stay away from troublesome details and focus on the character experience and you can crank out a lot of this type of content quickly that is enjoyable to read.

Just a simple example of what you might expect to read in one of these pieces would be the captain of a frigate in her quarters talking to family/loved ones on a nearby planet. Interrupted by bridge with reports from that same planet's system defense that a moray eel or some other monster is moving towards the planet. Story follows that captain mustering every resource at her disposal to engage and defend. Story ends as the rag-tag mini-fleet approaches the monster. Now you have to play the scenario to find out what happens.
Scenario zing.

2. History. I love reading the historical outcome section. Sadly, it just kills my desire to play the scenario. Again, why play when I know what happens (or is supposed to happen). It would be amazing stuff to include in the SFU Master Timeline/History of the Galaxy, Part 1 or whatever but it just drains the scenario's appeal having it alongside the scenario rules. I know this won't be a popular idea for a lot players but the whole point is to get you to play the darn game and not just read the books. When you do that, the scenarios become more valuable to you, the game grows, Steve Cole smiles when he thinks of scenario books, and politicians learn to compromise.

Seems like there was a few ideas brought up but it has been a year or two and I don't recall the rest of it at this moment. Besides there is a bunch of people gathering on my lawn and I think something is on fire out there. Argh! Ow! Ok, Ok, I was wrong to mention any of this! EEEE! I take it all back!

By Sören Klein (Ogdrklein) on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 03:52 am: Edit

Honestly,
As much as I appreciate the efforts to keep everything up to the latest standards, I would rather see the developers time go into a new attack module for FC, a new R-module for SFB or most of all the update of F&E and the R-Module SSD-books.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Soeren Klein

By Steven Pow Jr (Asmoridin) on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 09:00 am: Edit

I personally would love a master scenario book as discussed- I find scenarios, and interesting situations, a very compelling way to play SFB.  The fact I know the 'historical' outcome doesn't deter me one bit, either.  How many games on WWII do I have?  Plenty.  I know the results, but that doesn't matter one bit.

This is a product that would be an instant-buy for me.

Are you thinking this would include the currently published Omega and LMC scenarios?  The former (up to a point) are in the OMRB.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 09:44 am: Edit

Omega would need to go into its own book.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 09:50 am: Edit

This is a good product. Will definitely buy it.

I would personally like to see a few of the classic campaigns added to this product - such as the Captain's Game, the Admiral's Game, and Operation Unity. Those campaigns, especially OU have been updated several times and need to have all updates in a single product.