In July of 2012, I shot my first IDPA Match at Lower Providence Rod and Gun Club. I enjoyed it and thought that it was a nice change of pace from the USPSA Matches that I had been shooting prior. When the USPSA Season geared down for the winter, I filled the holes in my calendar with IDPA.
While I don’t have a ton of IDPA experience, I noticed a trend develop in the matches that I shot. The scenarios, which sprinkle a bit of realism on the sport, tended to be a bit generic. You’re at an ATM, at home lying in bed, or out for a casual stroll when suddenly the bad guys attack. This is all fine and good but seldom did I feel any sort of connection with the scenario. I wanted to change that, but how?
What if I crammed an overly-detailed and amusing story into the scenario? Would shooters see it as dumb and ignore it or would it be a nice change of pace? The only way to find out would be to try my hand at crafting a story in order to find out first hand.
Coming up with a base to build the story on wasn’t too difficult. Most people can relate to the economy, so I started off with that. Our character needs to get a second job, which people can also relate to. At this point we are already getting pretty thick in description, especially for a club level IDPA scenario, but why stop there? I introduced a non-lethal means of defense, whipped up a villain (with a name) and drove the story forward with a dash of dialog.
When it was all finished and the written stage briefing was complete, I chuckled a the finished product. Even if no one liked it and the stage never saw the light of day, I amused myself and would consider it a victory. I posted the scenario on my Walt In PA Facebook Page
and didn’t expect what happened next.
A few comments were posted and a handful of people Liked the scenario. Things were going well and I stepped away from my computer for a little while. More comments and likes began rolling in and I was shocked by how well it was received. By the time I got back to a computer, I was astounded to see that the scenario had reached over 3,000 people and was picking up speed.
The IDPA Facebook Page was kind enough to share the scenario, along with some kind words, and made the scenario my most popular Facebook Post, by a huge margin. As of this morning the scenario had reached over 7,000 people, generated 37 Likes, 42 Shares, and over 25 comments (this doesn’t include the interaction on the IDPA Facebook Page).
A Run In With Milly has been far more popular than I had imagined and a number of people have commented that they plan to run the scenario at their home club. This begs the question, should Milly return to seek revenge or do we go down a new path?
Using the IDPA Scenario
A couple of the comments on this scenario have recommended a few changes. I have left the finished product as originally designed but please feel free to adjust it as needed.
Some of those suggestions included swapping out the car with a low port and a chair (to simulate a car) and others recommended using the car as low cover (to avoid any potential sweeping issues while entering the vehicle).
The files for this IDPA Scenario have been included below. Please feel free to make adjustments and run the scenario ar your local IDPA Club. I would love to hear how the stage worked out for you and any video shot would be a huge bonus (I’d love to share that both here on the Blog and on my Facebook Page).
Downloads:
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