Parts of a Scene

Scenes, Sequels and Disasters

Scenes are the meat and potatoes of the story. Sequels are the beverage. Disasters are the herbs and spices. A Scene is a self contained set of story related challenges that the players must use their Avatars to overcome. A Sequel is a short moment of downtime that allows the players to confer and adjust plans, and basically have a mini-Bazaar (see that section above). A disaster is a logical surprise that should end every scene. Every scene should have a story question. Going back to the original 'Star Wars: A New Hope'; while trapped on the Death Star the question is simple: will they escape the Death Star? The answer to this question is either yes or no. The Disaster is the 'however' that should include every answer. In the case from Star Wars just mentioned: "Will our heroes escape the Death Star?", the answer is "yes, however Obi-Won Kenobi sacrifices himself to help them escape". That's a disaster. If there are unresolved Story Elements on the table when a scene ends, then the Storyteller should use an existing Story Element to generate the disaster if at all possible. If the storyteller feels it is necessary to introduce a new Story Element, then they should provide a benefit of that Story Element at the same time so as not to make the revelation feel unfair. In such cases the benefit will frequently be relevant plot information

Phases of a Scene

The Scene is divided into Phases. A Scene will generally have between one and five phases. A combat encounter is a scene, and phases determine how difficult the enemy is to defeat. A heist is a Act (typically the Pursuit or Showdown) and the various locks and security systems would be scenes.