cut scenes

[Ed Cha]

I've never used them, but I can see how they could be helpful for convention games and one-offs.

 

[Berandor]

I only use cutscenes rarely in game, but they happen a lot in my Story Hour. I am careful not to betray too important information in there, but I think it otherwise enhances the game if the players know something is afoot or why the BBEG exactly plans to kill them.

I think they work great.

 

[Henry]

I used to use cutscenes all the time for my Star Wars games. I used to occasionally use the phrase, "picture it," followed by a description of the scene. In fact, it became an in-joke in my group, that any time a GM besides me starts a session, they say, "Picture it"

Cutscenes can be used to great effect in games, but, just like prophecy, they have to be used correctly, and with the constraints of the game in mind.

A cut scene should set some dramatic tension, but without giving characters a chance to change the events of the cut scene so as not to invalidate it. I don't mean, the characters have no influence, I mean, the characters should not gain metagame knowledge from the scene, nor be right across the next ridge when the scene's going on.

Good cutscenes to use:

• The PCs are searching for a lost child. The child wanders into a generic scene (no distinguishing landmarks) followed by a mysterious stranger with glowing red eyes, stalking at a safe distance. This sets dramatic tension, especially if the PCs are tempted to delay or go on a diversion.
• The PCs crash land on a planet in their shuttle. Elsewhere, another craft with menacing features lands silently, and a Hutt bounty hunter slithers into frame, wielding a repeating turret blaster and power pack, before engaging cloaking and becoming invisible. Talk about some paranoid players!
• Two shifty-looking individuals are discussing what to do about the PCs. One tells the other that the master is displeased, and is sending someone to fix the problem, at which point both of them mysteriously drop dead, as a booted pair of feet come walking into view...

In each of these, the players get a nature of the threat, without needing a ton of exposition later in the game by some NPC or by reading a bunch of documents. None of these (except the Hutt bounty hunter) give the PCs any real info, and even then, knowing that the enemy is cloaked and not having an easy way to detect him before he busts them long-range adds even more tension. They KNOW he's out there, but where?....

 

[JesterPoet]

Cut scenes work in computer games, not in face-to-face games.

I totally disagree with this. I use cut scenes in my Midnight campaign and my players love them. It is a fantastic way to give the characters a window into what is happening in the background that they don't know about.

I like to use lots of imagery in my descriptions, and I've found players tend to get bored quickly. How in the world do I expect them to sit patiently through two minutes of me relating a story that doesn't even involve them directly?

The trick to making cut scenes fun for your players is to involve them. Sure, they're going to be bored if they just sit there while you roleplay a cut scene all by yourself. That's no fun for anyone. As a regular game scene ends, I'll ask, "Who wants to be Kargg, the orc chieftan?" and whoever speaks up first gets to be him. I'll do this with all the parts (it takes about 2 minutes) and then I'll tell them a small snippet of what Kargg is doing: "You're entering into your master's tent, to report to him that the fey he sent you to pursue [the characters] were not in the city when you sacked it. You know he's not going to be pleased" and then we quickly roleplay out the scene (I'd play the master).

The trick is to be suitably vague so that metagame content isn't an issue (and to have players who can make it not an issue if you happen to slip up). All of my players love the cut scenes, and the first time we did it in game, they had no idea what they were volunteering for. Now they all race to get one of the parts before they're all taken (usually there's only 2 or 3 parts available).

Granted, I don't do a cut scene after every scene, or even in every game session. The important part is to keep them relevant. It really makes for a fantastic story when the characters know that little bit more about how their actions affect the world around them, and what is going on behind the scenes. But, like I said, player involvement is the key.

 

[Gez]

Cutscenes are non-interactive narrations -- scenes where the players shut up and listen to the DM's rambles. By this definition, cutscenes only involve NPCs.

There's two kind of cutscenes -- plot expositions and railroading.

In plot exposition cutscene (PECS), several true NPCs are doing stuff, unbeknowst from the PCs.

In railroading cutscenes, the PCs become NPCs, under the control of the DM, and the players can't affect what happens during the cutscene. Because, if they could, it wouldn't be a cutscene anymore.

Both types annoy me, both as a DM and as a player. It's frustrating to get his PCs torn out of your grasp and puppetted by a DM that will make him do stuff he wouldn't otherwise. It's also upsetting to be fed information about the plot, information that you would not have otherwise.

In fact, there's only two ways I use cutscenes:
PECS if they're, in game, told by something. It could be a scry spell cast by a PC, an ominous dream, a bard retelling a story, or, in a more modern setting, the PCs watching the tape from a security camera.
Railroads are only used for non-crucial stuff, like when the character goes shopping. For example: "You found an alchemist that could sell you healing salves, tanglefoot bags, and potions of spider climb. You bartered to get a cut, and you got one but only after you bought also half a dozen thunderstones, so you spent more than you wanted to anyway." This is also known as glossing over it.

 

[JesterPoet]

Cutscenes are non-interactive narrations -- scenes where the players shut up and listen to the DM's rambles. By this definition, cutscenes only involve NPCs.

Says who? Why does a cutscene have to involve no player interaction? I can see why the players aren't playing their characters, but to say that they can't play an NPC is not something I understand. "The players shut up and listen to the DM's rambles" and "Cutscenes only involve NPC's" are two completely different statements. I would agree with the latter, while the former is complete BS, as far as I'm concerned.

There's two kind of cutscenes -- plot expositions and railroading.



In plot exposition cutscene (PECS), several true NPCs are doing stuff, unbeknowst from the PCs.



In railroading cutscenes, the PCs become NPCs, under the control of the DM, and the players can't affect what happens during the cutscene. Because, if they could, it wouldn't be a cutscene anymore.

Both types annoy me, both as a DM and as a player. It's frustrating to get his PCs torn out of your grasp and puppetted by a DM that will make him do stuff he wouldn't otherwise. It's also upsetting to be fed information about the plot, information that you would not have otherwise.

So don't use railroading cutscenes. I don't.

As for having information about the plot that you wouldn't have otherwise, why is that such a bad thing? I guess I can understand your personal preference against it, but I can tell you from personal experience that, when done properly, it makes for a much more compelling story.

I have no issue with your personal distaste for cutscenes, but I think your definition is faulty and innacurate. Your cutscenes may be non-interactive narrations, but this is by no means the all-encompassing definition of what a cutscene is.

 

[ST]

Heh. I started to write about "scene cutting", which I suppose is quite different. (I do frame scenes very aggressively, no walking from town to town if nothing interesting happens.)

I think a noninteractive cutscene should be short, enough for a single revelation, because otherwise it's a monologue. But I've definately run interactive cutscenes where all the players grabbed an NPC and we played it out for a while.

One important distinction that's worth stating is that it depends on whether or not you believe in keeping player knowledge and character knowledge separate. I personally do not; a lot of people do. (Heck, my new campaign involved all the players making their characters at the same table, and even talking openly about their dark secrets.) They're different styles of play and obviously techniques that work for one don't work for the other.

 

[devilish]

I've done it twice --- funny, I was just (yesterday) thinking about doing
for the BBEGs as they are travelling from town to town but got
bogged down with giving away too much meta-game information.
Was trying to find a way to give the players urgency that didn't
seem artifical.

The two that I did were :
1) comedic value : the Warforged walked into a shop and the shopkeeper
rolled miserably opposing the Intimidate check. I wrote an email to the
group explaining how he packed up and moved out of town that day.

2) Time Saver: We ended a session where the party split up to buy
equipment. I wrote them a narrative on what happened in each case
and gave them some license to change what I had written. It was a bit
of railroading, but they had the opportunity to say "I wouldn't have done
that -- I would've done X .." and I eased it back in. It was more than it
would've been : "You go to the weapon shop and buy a sword : and added
some roleplaying opportunities when we got back to the table "...I made friends
with Sven the Smithy who told me the tale of his dead wife ..."

-D

 

[Ruined]

I keep debating on the use of cutscenes. I have a friend that runs a great Star Wars games, and he makes very effective use of cut scenes. Perhaps it lends more to that setting, where you're familiar with the various sides and angles. In my games, I want my players to be surprised when they hear of certain news from another NPC, or to actively seek out information about something that's happening across the realm. In many cases, their active imaginations come to far worse conclusions than what I provide.

I'll be they'd be great used in conjunction with a good pulpy setting like Eberron.

 

[Empress]

When we played Vampire, our Storyteller/Game Master sometimes showed us what the prince and the Camarilla were doing while we were either trying to weaken their hold (as Sabbat) or on a suicide mission from them (as Camarilla neonates).

I always thought it was fun, and very atmospheric