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Foreshadowing Effectively
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<blockquote data-quote="toucanbuzz" data-source="post: 7313295" data-attributes="member: 19270"><p>I'm seeing two things here: (1) actual foreshadowing of major events and (2) giving out clues so players don't get upset or die.</p><p></p><p>Foreshadowing in my game is creating expectation or tension, wherein if done right players go "aha" when the dots connect. In the Matrix movie, the glitches in the system make sense later when Neo is liberated. The bad guy pulls a gun out of nowhere. Where'd he get it from? Ah, it was foreshadowed earlier when we saw it in the hidden drawer. Gandalf muses about Sméagol having a greater role to play after Frodo says it would've been better if Bilbo had slain him, setting up that aha moment in the volcano at the end. It needs to have purpose and can be preset by the DM or drawn from a character's background.</p><p></p><p>In theory, we could foreshadow more often but I feel too much and it loses its luster and begins to feel a bit false. <em>E.g. If Gandalf also said if you wear the One Ring too long, they'll have to cut it off your finger, that'd be a bit too much. Every time he talks or acts, it happens to have prophetic consequence and play out?</em></p><p></p><p>Alternatively, there are clues, to give a fair shake to PCs as to the unknown. These should be a reward for effort whereas foreshadowing is generally slapped on your plate. A clue keeps you alive whereas a foreshadow makes you go "aha" later and entertains you. Players who get a Tarokka Deck reading that "a powerful resource to aid you lies beneath the blue waters" will go "aha" later when they find out it wasn't treasure buried at the bottom of Coldwater Lake but instead a wise sage hiding from the corrupt authorities in the basement of the Azure Pond Inn.</p><p></p><p><strong>In summary,</strong> I wouldn't worry about giving clues about dangerous monsters ahead (players probably expect it by now that you don't scale monsters for them), and I would definitely incorporate infrequent foreshadowing into every campaign by use of a significant prop, whether that be an NPC picture during dialog, a handout, or the like. Further, foreshadowing comes into play during character creation and doesn't always have to come from the DM. If a player says they have an evil wizard brother, they're slapping you the DM with an expectation that should play out later.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="toucanbuzz, post: 7313295, member: 19270"] I'm seeing two things here: (1) actual foreshadowing of major events and (2) giving out clues so players don't get upset or die. Foreshadowing in my game is creating expectation or tension, wherein if done right players go "aha" when the dots connect. In the Matrix movie, the glitches in the system make sense later when Neo is liberated. The bad guy pulls a gun out of nowhere. Where'd he get it from? Ah, it was foreshadowed earlier when we saw it in the hidden drawer. Gandalf muses about Sméagol having a greater role to play after Frodo says it would've been better if Bilbo had slain him, setting up that aha moment in the volcano at the end. It needs to have purpose and can be preset by the DM or drawn from a character's background. In theory, we could foreshadow more often but I feel too much and it loses its luster and begins to feel a bit false. [I]E.g. If Gandalf also said if you wear the One Ring too long, they'll have to cut it off your finger, that'd be a bit too much. Every time he talks or acts, it happens to have prophetic consequence and play out?[/I] Alternatively, there are clues, to give a fair shake to PCs as to the unknown. These should be a reward for effort whereas foreshadowing is generally slapped on your plate. A clue keeps you alive whereas a foreshadow makes you go "aha" later and entertains you. Players who get a Tarokka Deck reading that "a powerful resource to aid you lies beneath the blue waters" will go "aha" later when they find out it wasn't treasure buried at the bottom of Coldwater Lake but instead a wise sage hiding from the corrupt authorities in the basement of the Azure Pond Inn. [B]In summary,[/B] I wouldn't worry about giving clues about dangerous monsters ahead (players probably expect it by now that you don't scale monsters for them), and I would definitely incorporate infrequent foreshadowing into every campaign by use of a significant prop, whether that be an NPC picture during dialog, a handout, or the like. Further, foreshadowing comes into play during character creation and doesn't always have to come from the DM. If a player says they have an evil wizard brother, they're slapping you the DM with an expectation that should play out later. [/QUOTE]
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