Anybody used vignettes in their games?
- Thread starter NewJeffCT
- Start date
I use vignettes, although make them relevant to the events at hand. I use them for exposition, to explain background in brief snapshots. Many of my players don't really enjoy dealing with background, so I give them a shot at detailing it through these flashback vignettes. I keep them short (usually 10 minutes or less) and use very few die rolls. Sometimes I use them as part of skill challenges, but I never use these background vignettes to screw them over--even if they fail, something relevant happens to the current adventure.
My typical method for 4E is to base them around trained skills. Here are some examples from Keep on the Shadowfell that I'm running now.
When the characters first arrived at Shadowfell Keep, I pulled aside the players who are playing characters trained in Arcana. I ran a short vignette about a strange astrological conjunction that occurred ten years ago (when most of them were around ten-fifteen years old). I asked them to describe their mentor, whoever trained them in Arcana, and the people without characters trained in Arcana played those mentors. they sort of made it up together on the spot. Then, we reenacted a brief vignette where the characters and their mentors had all journeyed to Winterhaven to meet Valthrun. When the conjunction occurred, strange energies were causing barriers between the world and the Shadowfell to grow thin, and the characters had to work to enact a ritual to strengthen the planar boundaries and stop creepy stuff going on during the conjunction.
When the characters went to the graveyard where they fight Ninaran, I had another little vignette after the encounter. Everyone trained in Heal worked to stop a plague in the Nentir Vale about two years ago, and some of the victims of the plague were buried here. I can't really talk too much more about it since we haven't concluded the adventure and I don't want to put out spoilers for my players, but it'll be cool.
My typical method for 4E is to base them around trained skills. Here are some examples from Keep on the Shadowfell that I'm running now.
When the characters first arrived at Shadowfell Keep, I pulled aside the players who are playing characters trained in Arcana. I ran a short vignette about a strange astrological conjunction that occurred ten years ago (when most of them were around ten-fifteen years old). I asked them to describe their mentor, whoever trained them in Arcana, and the people without characters trained in Arcana played those mentors. they sort of made it up together on the spot. Then, we reenacted a brief vignette where the characters and their mentors had all journeyed to Winterhaven to meet Valthrun. When the conjunction occurred, strange energies were causing barriers between the world and the Shadowfell to grow thin, and the characters had to work to enact a ritual to strengthen the planar boundaries and stop creepy stuff going on during the conjunction.
When the characters went to the graveyard where they fight Ninaran, I had another little vignette after the encounter. Everyone trained in Heal worked to stop a plague in the Nentir Vale about two years ago, and some of the victims of the plague were buried here. I can't really talk too much more about it since we haven't concluded the adventure and I don't want to put out spoilers for my players, but it'll be cool.
CharlesRyan
Adventurer
I've used them, or things like them, in the past. They worked really well, and the players really seemed to like them. I'm sympathetic to the issue of vignettes giving players out-of-character knowledge, but I've found that the response from the players, and the drama they add to the game, outweighs that issue. I haven't used them more often mostly because of the prep time requirement.
Something similar that I did for my last big campaign was to run a prologue adventure. Essentially, I ran a standalone adventure set about 20 years ahead of the campaign, which set up a bunch of the conflicts that would occur in the campaign.
It did a good job setting up the campaign world. It let the players try out some homebrew classes and rules relatively risk-free. And I let the players keep the XP and apply it to the characters in the actual campaign, so the characters didn't have to start out as complete pimply-faced noobs.
It was a hit with the players, and I think it really kicked off the campaign nicely.
Something similar that I did for my last big campaign was to run a prologue adventure. Essentially, I ran a standalone adventure set about 20 years ahead of the campaign, which set up a bunch of the conflicts that would occur in the campaign.
It did a good job setting up the campaign world. It let the players try out some homebrew classes and rules relatively risk-free. And I let the players keep the XP and apply it to the characters in the actual campaign, so the characters didn't have to start out as complete pimply-faced noobs.
It was a hit with the players, and I think it really kicked off the campaign nicely.
Lately I´m using a lot of Vignettes. I´m gm´ing a Dark Heresy game which is structured a lot like a tv series with a strict episodes character. I start each episode with a Vignette more or less showing what this episodes mission is about and thereby setting the mood for the story.
Also, we use Vignettes to further flash out the individual characters backstory, contacts and resources.
Also, we use Vignettes to further flash out the individual characters backstory, contacts and resources.
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