I got to play two wonderful missions last night that were submitted via our Mission of the Month system and noticed something I've never even thought about before. All too often we as mission makers are putting the player into a heroic struggle against evil, facing sometimes insurmountable odds.

Granted a few of the themes have suggested in a somewhat stereotypical way that there is a small force going up against a large force, but it's really defined that way by common perception rather than through creativity. What I mean is, if the theme is "hasty ambush", does the player's team have to be the ones doing the ambushing? Does the player's team have to be smaller than the opposing force?

I do not disagree that this is entertaining. It is fun to be the hero or "special forces" that go in and kick some major enemy ass. However, there are other ways to make missions just as entertaining by exploring fac ...