Episodic play / beginning sessions In Media Res

[EditorBFG]

Do it!

This idea works well and I've done similar things.

In my opinion, the key is, do not stress too much over whether the previous 48 hours do not happen in such a way that the characters get to the exact same spot. That way, railroading is not a problem, because you just don't bother to railroad at all. How will get away with this, you ask?

Because in my cases, the players hate inconsistency worse than you. As a DM, we expect the PCs to screw with our stuff, but if you just make it easy to get to the same spot, most players will not want a "plot paradox." It screws with their imagined experience, not just your "plan."

Besides, if it is a fantasy game, and things go totally different, you just dice out a similar battle over again when and if the time comes and say the PCs had a vision or dream or something of the first one. "This is the way it could've gone" or whatever.

I also did a version of this where the PCs started with combat, but at the end of each round I gave a couple sentences explaining how they got there instead of playing out the previous 48 hours or whatever. That worked great too, but is generally better in games that have a more organized premise than "a company of adventurers seeking fortune"-- something with a boss or a goal or whatever. But anything that works for you is right.

 

[lior_shapira]

I strongly support this as a viable alternative to starting adventures/sessions/campaigns. You can't always do the old 'characters meet in a tavern' scene, it grows old

lior

 

[Thanee]

For game purposes, what I am thinking here is that perhaps I can dispense with some of the "playing out all the PC decisions" and jump them in with a summary of how they got where they are and begin the action.

That works well in my experience.

Bye
Thanee

 

[jsewell]

I think starting in medias res is an excellent idea to begin a campaign or 'new' adventure, but it would bother me if the GM said something along the lines of 'roll initiative' or 'an arrow barely misses you, what do you do?' every time I sat down at the game. Basically, I like to have a feeling that there's 'a storm brewing', and I think starting all or most sessions in the middle of the action would spoil that feeling. The GM should use literary techniques, but with care and consideration of the players' attitudes. Giving your players 'veto' power can be dangerous. If you do, I'd suggest not always allowing a veto of unimportant details, and occasionally allowing the veto of important details. Otherwise, meta-game thinking could become a threat.

 

[Gold Roger]

Jsewell puts it quite well I'd say.

I love this technique as starting point for a campaign (background is background after all) and once in a while it's great in an ongoing campaign, but if it's always used it would grow bothersome and lose it's actual impact.

 

[grodog]

There's a great scenario entitled "In Medias Res" which was originally published by Pagan Publishing in their Call of Cthulhu magazine The Unspeakable Oath. It was my first or second introduction to them at a local midwestern con in the early 1990s. As the title suggests, it starts out in the middle of things with the four PCs (one of whom is a mute sans tongue) not recalling anything about how they got to where they are; they are wearing prison-inmate-like jumpsuits (for the con, Pagan provided jumpsuits we actually put on, as well as various other excellent props). It was later published in a middle-era TUO issue (don't recall the number offhand), and then reprinted in the recent collection The Resurrected vol 3: Out of the Vault.

 

[Psion]

I think starting in medias res is an excellent idea to begin a campaign or 'new' adventure, but it would bother me if the GM said something along the lines of 'roll initiative' or 'an arrow barely misses you, what do you do?' every time I sat down at the game.

I don't think it has to be that extreme. What I am getting it is more like this.

Instead of spending 2-3 hours having the characters contacted by a patron looking for some (rectally extracted example) rare blood diamonds which can only be purchased on the planar city of Ter-Na-Esh, and have them mull over and discuss the job in character, arrange transportation, get to Ter-Na-Esh, and find a merchant (which is where things get interesting and I start adding adventure like things like the merchant passes of jewels stolen from, er, Ethergaunts who start attacking them and they try to peice together why), I tell the players that their characters are in the city of Ter-Na-Esh buying jewels from a blood jewel merchant and why they are doing it, and start the game from there.

 

[Sammael]

I've used the in medias res approach to kick off D&D games, and I can tell you it worked the best in one-off games. It also worked better if the players were surprised by the approach than if they knew it was coming (which would be the case in Feng Shui, I presume?).

 

[shilsen]

I don't think it has to be that extreme. What I am getting it is more like this.

Instead of spending 2-3 hours having the characters contacted by a patron looking for some (rectally extracted example) rare blood diamonds which can only be purchased on the planar city of Ter-Na-Esh, and have them mull over and discuss the job in character, arrange transportation, get to Ter-Na-Esh, and find a merchant (which is where things get interesting and I start adding adventure like things like the merchant passes of jewels stolen from, er, Ethergaunts who start attacking them and they try to peice together why), I tell the players that their characters are in the city of Ter-Na-Esh buying jewels from a blood jewel merchant and why they are doing it, and start the game from there.

A campaign of your description sounds fairly episodic anyway, so starting sessions in media res sounds like a very good idea. It wouldn't be an option for my two campaigns (both of which began in media res, incdentally), because of two primary reasons.

One is that it's a heavily character-driven game, so the PCs are free to head in just about any direction and can accept/refuse any job or create jobs of their own. Which means I can't assume that they'll actually (to use your example) go looking for the blood diamonds now or ever. The other reason is that at any given point there are a large number of intersecting threads, such as the results of their (usually ongoing) interactions with other NPCs, aspects of their backgrounds, local/national/global events, possible plots that they know exist and that are emerging, etc. So handwaving away large chunks of in-game time means losing much of what makes the campaign meaningful and enjoyable. I do skip over things when possible, but the game doesn't really have much in the way of what you're describing as a preamble to the good stuff. There really is very little "in between", so to speak.

All of that being said, in a game where the good stuff is the action, I can see your approach working very well. In a game where there's less of such a clear-cut distinction between the the filler and the meat of the game, not so much.

 

[Gold Roger]

I don't think it has to be that extreme. What I am getting it is more like this.

Instead of spending 2-3 hours having the characters contacted by a patron looking for some (rectally extracted example) rare blood diamonds which can only be purchased on the planar city of Ter-Na-Esh, and have them mull over and discuss the job in character, arrange transportation, get to Ter-Na-Esh, and find a merchant (which is where things get interesting and I start adding adventure like things like the merchant passes of jewels stolen from, er, Ethergaunts who start attacking them and they try to peice together why), I tell the players that their characters are in the city of Ter-Na-Esh buying jewels from a blood jewel merchant and why they are doing it, and start the game from there.

Actually this is a good example for why I wouldn't always use this approach. For one Shilsen already mentioned that some people like a more character driven approach (and I'm one of them).

The other thing is that some of the stuff you describe would be skipped can actually be fun. I mean, we are seeking a planar locationl and the travel is skipped? Sorry, that would be lame to me, unless you're so high level that it's the matter of a simple spell (and then it's just *blamm* we're there anyway).

Instead I'd prefer another pulp/movie device for that, a montage. Instead of endless streams of and then and what do you do knows it's:

*blamm*
You get a message for a meeting, you go?
(yes they do)
*blamm*
You're at the meeting
*short description of a basic moment in the meeting and what that guy wants*
You take the mission?
(yes they do)
*blamm*
*research time-instead of letting them mull on their own it's some knowledge/gather information checks, a cinematic description of mulling over the libary/contacting contacts and based on the roll x options*
*blamm*
*players shortly discuss which option they take (maybe set a time limit?)*
(they take the route through the astral)
*blamm*
You all find yourselfes on the astral-githyanki attack!-roll initiative
*blamm*
Gather information check-You're in the streets of the planar city X in front of what a shady tiefling was the shop of a merchant that will get you the item you are here for...