![]() ![]() You’ll be building your Flashpoints from the same encounter types found in procedural Contracts.Īs a general statement, the most effective Flashpoints have narratives that can be divided into a series of Combat Encounters in a natural and unforced manner. Capture and Destroy Base encounters revolve around building plots that are baked into the map, and enemy spawn points are always set on the encounter level. Most Combat Encounters are flexible in some respects, but quite rigid in others. The last thing you want is for your combat missions to feel like filler because the gameplay is at odds with the narrative. Because of this, it’s critical to ensure that the major beats of your story are compatible with the encounter types available to you. These beats are then mapped out using the tools at my disposal: Combat Encounters and Group Conversations.Ĭombat Encounters are the building blocks for your Flashpoint's gameplay. ![]() When I’m satisfied that I have a solid idea for a potential Flashpoint, I’ll move on to the Outline stage, where I try to break a story concept down into a series of distinct beats. The goal at this stage is to stay loose and high-level rather than getting bogged down in the details. In the course of working through these questions, I’ll typically fill a brainstorming document with story seeds and character ideas. These Flashpoints lean into comedy to provide tonal breaks from heavier, more serious content like Hearts and Minds. Examples: Tournament of Champions and One Man’s Trash from the Urban Warfare expansion.Is there an unexplored story tone or sub-genre of military science fiction that would be fun to play around with?.Example: Hearts and Minds from the Urban Warfare expansion, which interrogates how far the player is willing to go to complete a contract.Is there a compelling moral or tactical choice that I’d like to write a scenario around?.Special thanks to Bishop Steiner for his invaluable assistance in developing this story!.Example: The Baying of Hounds from the Flashpoint expansion, which delved into some of the fallout from Morgan Kell’s sudden departure from the Kell Hounds.Are there canonical elements of BattleTech lore that we haven’t explored, but should?.Is there a particular type of story that we haven’t told yet in the BattleTech universe, or a new spin that I can put on a story concept we’ve already explored?.When I sit down to author a new Flashpoint, there are a few questions I like asking myself to guide my thinking: Now that we've established what a Flashpoint is, let's talk about writing them. If you want to try your hand at designing a 10-mission structure with 5 branching decision points, go to town! Just be aware that the longer and more complex you make your Flashpoint's structure, the longer it will take to write, and the more onerous testing it will be. To the best of my knowledge, there’s no actual limit to how long or how complicated a Flashpoint can be. For a new designer learning the ropes, a Short Split is a great place to start. Short Splits are the most common form of Flashpoint, and for good reason: they’re focused, they have decision points to enable branching, and they’re short enough that they don’t overstay their welcome.
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