Draft

RRTF Golden Guardian Scenario Prep

By Doug Moran

Create multiple checklists of desirables

Before laying out the scenario, create lists of what you want included in the scenario, then as you create the scenario, mark off the items as they are included. As the scenario is iterated/refined, some items will be removed - temporarily or permanently - or moved to other sections of the scenario. Having separate checklists greatly facilitates this process.

You typically wind up with a fairly fine-grained listing of the desirables because, as you try to fix items from the list into various slots in the scenario, you wind up subdividing them into component parts - some which fit there and some which will have to go elsewhere or be omitted. You can start with only a high-level list of desirables, and let the scenario-creation process drive the enumeration of the components, or you can try to do a lot of the decomposition early in the process (understanding that there will be some changes later). The choice/balance depends upon the size and dynamics of the group.
Caveat: I have never done this in a group as large as the RRTF. My experience has been with a layered environment, where the scenario is primarily the work of 1-2 people taking comments from two larger groups: a interactive group of 5-10 in a conference room (lots of white boards), and a larger group

Some checklists for RRTF Golden Guardian:

Scenario elements have list of explicit slots

As you build the scenario, each element should have a list of slots to document what you are trying to do in that scenario element. This helps avoid the common problem during scenario refinement - You fail to take into account all the implications of a change.

A start at a scenario element block: