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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 2227578" data-attributes="member: 13098">I first heard about Cut Scenes in the 1st Ed Star Wars book from WEG way back when.  I didn't like the concept at the time.  Years later, I decided to try it out without stepping on all the things I didn't like about them.  I have used them to really fill out my games since then.  Cut scenes that serve to only let the audience know what is happening on the other side of the field or to arbitrarily railroad in a story plot are not my style.  I use cut scenes to show different parts of the campaign world without revealing crucial.  They are great for establishing an ambiance to an event.  They are also mostly for the enjoyment of the players.  As an example, the PCs in one game knew there was an army of undead on the march.  I knew the army was going to assault a city.  The PCs were not near the city and were uninterested in visiting.  When the invasion hit, I described it cinematically as a cut scene.  Later that session, the PCs met the refugees that had managed to flee the city.  I was able to portray the refugees as shocked and overwhelmed so the PCs would know what happened and have empathy toward the NPCs.  The cut scene allowed me to prep the players with the scale of the invasion.  There wasn't any information in the cut scene that the players picked up that the PCs didn't pick up in the same session, but the RP impact of the night was improved because the players were better able to envision the carnage.Later in the game, the PCs were able to stop the army before it invaded their base of operations.  This helped my play up the impact of heroes saving the world.  Places that didn't have heroes were hurting and that was part of my theme for the game. Overall, I was quite pleased with it.  But I do try to keep in mind a few things before I use a cut scene.What information will this convey (and what information will I avoid conveying)How do I present a context for that information to reach the PCs in the game Will the players enjoy the cut scene more than playing that extra 5 minutes or soIf I can't address these points, then the cut scene is the wrong idea at that time.</blockquote>

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