Cinematic Cut-Scenes: Anyone use them?

[DanMcS]

I like to do some side-scrolling of the camera, to show the players things that are happening around their characters which would really freak them out if they knew about it.

So after they all tried to pantomime communicating with this ghost that seemed to be trapped in a mirror, and thought they knew what it wanted, they left the room to get on with it, and turned out the lights, and then I cut back for a second to describe the ghost's eyes glowing red in the sudden darkness of the room.

For quite a while I've wanted to start an adventure with an action sequence, with no explanation, just start calling for critical die rolls, and describing things happening very fast, get to a cliffhanger moment, and then cut back a day or so to see how the PCs got themeselves into this mess to begin with. It will be very hard to pull off, but I think I can do it.

 

[Altalazar]

I really don't favor the concept - I think the players should see what they'd really see. The closest I've come are scenes that I type up to give in between adventures. But they are all told from the personal perspective(s) of the characters involved. So really, they are more like scenes where things happen involving the players that don't necessarily need to be played out, but which may have some importance - like after one adventure - There was an audience with "the" king. Really, the characters were restricted by etiquette and power to simply be there and observe, so it made sense to just write a short story to give to the players to indicate what happened - they each got rewards as well, which I could then also detail as part of the handout. It worked out rather well. I've also done it for minor, but individual, "scenes" between adventures - things that a single player wants to do outside of the group, such as find a particular item or person to train, etc.

 

[Beard in the Sky]

I use them all the time... we came up with the idea from the computer game Tie Fighter. hehe