Hollywood Directors become Dungeon Masters!

[Erebus Red]

What if you could have a celebrity director come and DM a few sessions for your group? What unique stories, moods or themes might they bring to the game?

In fact the concept is not just pie in the sky.

At the moment David Lynch is 'directing' my medieval campaign. The players don't know this of course, but when I develop the story and themes I'm keeping it fresh by asking myself 'how would David Lynch approach this?'

So my noble tale of knights and kings has become a -in-your-pants experience, replete with very odd dissapearences, low-spirit serial killers, uncanny resemblances and eerie visitors from a darker realm.

Such a 'guest DM' has helped me to deliver something that is full of events my players are not expecting from me.

Any other nominations for 'guest DM's' and what they might bring to the game?

 

[Tsyr]

Any other nominations for 'guest DM's' and what they might bring to the game?

Not an actor, so much as a character they played... Cap'n Picard! That man could tell a mean story, I just know it.

Outside of that... I dunno, anyone but George Lucas I guess.

George Lucas, as a DM: "Ok, as your party enters the castle of the Evil Overlord Trun'latha, the elf NPC notices something off in the corner. He shouts out "Messa gonna go figger out what it be!" and runs off, his ears flapping wildly. Meanwhile, Paul, the army that your character recruited from the native elf populus is advancing forward, but encountering heavy resistance... And Marie, the scrappy elf girl you are playing has bungled her way into the heart of the lair of Trun'Latha... while flailing about wildly trying to get her torch to re-light, she smashes the Orb of Sen'kasa, and all the animated skeletons that Paul's army is fighting fall apart in a clatter of bones..."

 

[rijeagle]

Peter Jackson...imagine what worlds he could conjure, with his deep love for Tolkein and his affinity with horror movies. His imagination knows no bounds, and now I'm scaring myself...

 

[F5]

I try to bring just a little bit of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark to each and every game I run. But, then, I don't generally try for a particularly serious tone...

On a tangentally-related-but-funny topic, the Dork Tower comic is dealing with just this issue. Uh...sort of.

http://www.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/archive.asp?nextform=viewcomic&id=727

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I'd like to game with Christopher Nolan, who made Insomnia and Memento. He seems like he'd do that "Keep the players in the dark and guessing" thing really well. He could probably make some sick puzzle traps too.

 

[Kesh]

Mmmmmm....

Oh, sorry. I was just imagining: Clive Barker's Ravenloft.

 

[John Crichton]

I channel David Fincher. He likes to make films that scar. I tend to do the same with my games. It's not even on purpose most of the time. Just turns out that everything I run is really dark. There aren't alot of character deaths (hardly any really) but the characters go through alot mentally and physically. I also like to throw twists in there (think The Game or Fight club just not as good ).

He is also very visual so I try and describe as much as possible. And then there is that sick sense of humor....

 

[s/LaSH]

Just consider what would happen if you got Orson Welles to do it...

Worse still, Masamune Shirow. Not Hollywood; in fact, not even a director. But you read his stuff, and you come out of it feeling like you just took acid while reading the schematics for the Space Shuttle or something. (Never having taken acid, I don't actually know, but it can't be weirder.) That kind of frenetic immersion is enviable.

I'm gonna have to start doing that... look out, players.

 

[Agback]

G'day

I have run some good sessions by channelling (variously) John Ford and Sam Peckinpah, but my absolute favourite guest director is John Huston.

And that is why 'cinematic' as a descriptor for RPGs doesn't evoke for me what it means for most of the people who use it.

Regards,


Agback

 

[John Crichton]

How about a session with Quentin Tarantino? Lots and lots of talking about essentially nothing but the mundane with short bursts of violent combat where half the main characters are killed.

The game would also be run on a weird time loop where even if your PC dies, you would still be in the next scene as your death hasn't actually happened yet. But even if you die you are assured of having a stylish and cool character...