This paper presents a novel approach to make it possible to create a complex scenario (CS) of real value which can be used for risk analysis, validation, overall understanding, sensitivity analysis, research etc. A framework is defined that specifies data, methods and principles and makes it possible to handle CS for vehicle platoons. A CS consists of states and transitions between them, i.e. branches, and reflects possible situations but without specifying detailed behaviour. The pieces of data define what is included in a state and are a reasonable compromise between details and abstraction level but, in principle, there is nothing that prevents that other or more pieces of data are used. The main issue is how to limit the length and number of branches in order to create a truly useful scope and a number of methods are presented for handling this.