> The sort of storytelling I mean may sound worse, but might prove better
> - it requires you to learn enough of the bones of the story to tell, and
> then tell it from memory. You don't have to be word perfect and you'll
> probably find you forget important bits (a GM use that as an excuse? oh,
> would we?). Sounds awful? Well, for a start it's easier than it sounds,
> and more importantly, you will be looking at the players - are they
> looking bored, fiddling whatever - get a move on, are they paying rapt
> attention - you can get flowery if you wish. You will probably also tell
> in a much more lively manner than reading. But rehearse it to yourself
> first, and aim for no more that five or ten minutes telling (ten, at the
> start is ambitious).
Not so much storytelling as cinematics, but I enjoy cutting to the bad guys, or describing things that occur off-scene (off the player heroes' scene, that is). They usually last e few minutes, and they are well rehearsed with a specific soundtrack. Or sometimes I prepare a script for the bad guys to be given to the players so that they may act it out (or at least read it aloud).
For a demo that I ran, I prepared a prologue which was a dialogue between a Hand of Than and Face (one of Ralzakark's shapes). One player took the Hand's role and another Face's. It worked very well as a hook (and in became the prologue of my PBEM).
I also opened the Food Thief scenario by describing how Velet Bolter was captured, and another time I started a session half way through the scenario, playing what happened before as a flashback (after one player hero asked the fateful question "how did we get here anyway?").
Who else does that kind of things? How do they work? (FWIW, I think this is the proper list to talk of such things since this list is devoted to actual play, but if the moderators think otherwise, I'll be happy to move to a different forum.)
-- Regards, Alexandre. Progressive rock: a musical genre where the bass is the loudest instrument.
Powered by hypermail