Degenesis

A few years ago, I abruptly ended my Legends of the Five Rings (L5R) campaign because the "open" structure of La Cité des Mensonges imposed a play time / preparation time ratio on the order of 1/10. In parallel, I discovered the Degenesis line, whose scenarios have become more and more linear as the publications went on. A sacrilege, for some. A lifesaver, for me.

Like all hobbies, tabletop RPGs go through trends widely shared by the people who practice them. In the 90s, fashion urged us to ignore the rules, perceived as a brake on "fun". "Rules don't matter". Sometimes, authors would downplay their own system over paragraphs reeking of self-flagellation (see L5R v1 or Maléfice v3, to mention just two examples that come to mind). "Rules kill creativity", "they take autonomy away from the PCs", "don't let them gag you". I sometimes felt like the rules were being presented to us as a necessary evil. Then times changed. A common understanding developed: rules forge a framework that facilitates narration, with each system encouraging a different mood. Yes, they must not stifle play, but they exist for good reasons.

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Nowadays, the "free-form, or even improvised scenario" trend resonates quite a bit with the "Rules don't matter" of yesteryear. This belief dictates that a scenario's script forbids improvisation, that it "kills creativity", that it "takes all autonomy away from the PCs". "Authors, avoid any presupposition in your scenarios"! Over the last few years, a whole heap of RPGs have chosen to favor "unbuilt" scenarios, as "non-linear" as possible. These attempts lead to different outcomes:

• The hook paragraph, in the style of Tianxia: Blood, Silk & Jade. It literally consists of roughly 200 words containing an idea or hypotheses to develop. For me, that is lazy filler: an evocative setting easily sparks ideas on the fly. No need to write hooks worthy of ChatGPT.
• The play context paired with a short scenario, like La Cité des Mensonges for L5R v1. You are presented with a location in more or less detail, then offered a way to exploit it along a generally rather tenuous thread. Fun as it may be, such a context requires a heavy investment, hence a completely unbalanced ratio between preparation and play time.
• The "front line", as in Dungeon World. You define a goal for the PCs, you define the various groups of interest revolving around that goal (the "fronts") as well as their means of action, then you let the players tie it all together (often through shared narration mechanics). Admittedly, the approach is fascinating, and having experimented with it in the playtest of the late Tomb Raider: Shadows of Truth, the fact is that preparation time is reduced to the strict minimum. On the other hand, shared narration weakens the overall consistency of the storyline, and this approach demands tremendous effort from the whole table.
• The "I want to do too well" scenario, which tries to anticipate every possibility across its many pages, like the first scenario of the Shadow of the Sorcerer campaign for Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of. As much as I loved that campaign, the display of sometimes improbable options mostly complicated my preparation. Why burden yourself trying to anticipate everything in the text, all the more so as one can never imagine the full range of possibilities?

This depressing observation pushed me to look elsewhere, to go back to "scripted" scenarios, especially when they take the trouble to elaborate on the characters' motivations. That last point makes it possible to efficiently anticipate their reactions when the PCs stray from the "straight path". In addition, scripted scenarios often benefit from an interesting plot that makes you want to play it, unlike those that dilute themselves out of fear of linearity, leaving you, the GM, to build a rich narration (sometimes with the players' help). Of course, bringing things to a boil on your own initiative is very rewarding, but having to improvise these moments of grace means pulling them out of your own head - and you will quickly notice that the range of your ideas is often limited, because you are, after all, a single person, with specific knowledge and interests. The most exciting scenarios will expand that knowledge and spark new interests.

In upcoming posts, I plan to dissect our experience with the Degenesis scenarios (official + free, in order: En Ton Sang, Blue Screen of Death, Augur of Pain revisited, Embargo, Opération Firewall, Jeu de Massacre, then Black Atlantic to come). We will see that at certain moments, linearity indeed brings no good, and that some passages were difficult to manage (especially in Jeu de Massacre). Still, I am spoiling spoiling the ending for you: I enjoyed my time running Degenesis, unlike the very disappointing La Cité des Mensonges campaign.