[Spycraft] Piratecat, In Media Res

[LcKedovan]

Hey PC, (and others) had a quick question, how exactly as DM do you handle your In Media Res starts. I haven't used that trick since mainly I haven't been running games where it makes sense to do it. I was specifically curious how you handle the "flashback" after starting In Media Res. Do you narrate, or is it played out etc. Tips and tricks would be handy. Thanks

-Will

 

[Piratecat]

I started the game by saying, "Here in Florida it's a warm, beautiful night. Somewhere above you the stars burn brightly in the sky, and the sound of sea birds and chittering cicadas fills the humid air. You wouldn't notice, though; you're screaming across Alligator Alley in the Everglades at 90 miles per hours, pursued by three black vehicles and a lot of men with guns. Roll for initiative."

It got their attention.

After two or three rounds of combat, just when things were getting tense, I said, "The limo pulls along side of you and a man leans out with a shotgun. And you can't help but wonder what took you to this stage. Why, it was just this morning that you were sitting in a briefing room...." And then I went into a flashback mode and played it like a normal game. I knew that the chase would have to come at some point, so when it did the flashback ended and we snapped back to the middle of the fight! Voila; two chases for the price of one, and lots of fun. The cool part is that the players will subconsciously steer you towards the chase scene, because they want to finish it as much as you do!

How do other people do this sort of thing?

 

[LcKedovan]

Yeah I would be interested to see how others do it as well. That really did answer my main question about if how you handle the flashback. I suppose you can leave it loose enough that if the characters don't steer it in a certain direction (i.e. they do something really boneheaded like start blasting the place to hell) then you as a DM can drop the chase in at the right point. Cool, I like it. I have been wanting to do something like that since your Feng Shui freefall in media res.

-W.

 

[Bagpuss]

Well for for an example you could do "in media res" for classic D&D campaign, by starting the game in the dungeon, as the party fighter kicks in the door to chamber full of orcs (but not impossible odds); tied to an altar is a frightened child and standing behind the altar, dagger in hand, is an evil wizard.

Action!

(The evil wizard will of course escape via teleport or secret tunnel or the like to be the thorn in the side of the party for the rest of the campaign.)

Most players release what they need to do without the back story. Once they rescue the kid explain they were offered a reward to rescue him and return him safely. If a player insists on knowing what the hell is going on explain as quickly as possible during the fight.

Watch any Bond movie for inspiration.

It works best with heroic campaigns where most people are playing characters which don't need much more motivation than point in the direction of the bad-guy.

It is also useful as a campaign start to bring a mixed party together. Either by with the above example, it goes without saying the party will have been hired by the same person and that's why they are working together for the first time, instant team formation. Or putting everyone in the same situation, your in a tower block thats on fire "what do you do?".

Some players might see it as GM rail-roading the plot since they start in a situation beyond their control... those sorts of players need to lighten up (I suggest slapping them in the face with a wet dish cloth). Besides people find themselves in situations beyond their control all the time.

The alternate start for the same situation could have been the players arriving in town, a man approaching each in turn asking for someone to save his son, roleplaying out the fee, some players deciding they are not interested, DM pulling his hair out, some players wandering off to the tavern, some going shopping, eventually after 3 hours doing nothing really the party sets off to the dungeon. They then scout the place, attack the front but screw up, so the cleric blows all his healing spells before they get to the main battle. Before you know it the evenings over and they haven't met the main villian.

Railroading can be fun, players need to learn to hop on the train before it leaves the station.

 

[Bagpuss]

Yeah I would be interested to see how others do it as well. That really did answer my main question about if how you handle the flashback. I suppose you can leave it loose enough that if the characters don't steer it in a certain direction (i.e. they do something really boneheaded like start blasting the place to hell) then you as a DM can drop the chase in at the right point. Cool, I like it. I have been wanting to do something like that since your Feng Shui freefall in media res.

-W.

Was that Feng Shui freefall firefight a Piratecat adventure? I ran it at GenCon UK.

As for the chase you know if the party are opperating in Florida they are going to be driving down Alligator Ally at some point.

Flashbacks are generally harder to work in than straight starting during the action, and going from there.

 

[Piratecat]

Was that Feng Shui freefall firefight a Piratecat adventure? I ran it at GenCon UK.

Nope, probably just a happy convergence of ideas.

I'll never put in a flashback unless the module has a linear choke point that I know the PCs will have to travel through. I'd hate to start in an encounter, flash back, and never get to the encounter!

 

[Ascending Crane]

I've avoided in media res starts for just some of the concerns stated above - despite them being one of my favorite things to do.

I usually start with the de-briefing from the previous mission (if they've just completed one).

However, I *do* tend to end sessions that are in the middle of a mission with action.

The first mission stopped halfway through with the PC's waking up in their cabins on a chinesecult compound they'd been investigating while disguised as a film crew. What woke them up was the realization that the industrial incinerators they heard had been purchased by the cult were in fact the cabins themselves! The doors locked, and the flames started erupting through the floors...

I just ended the last session with the PC's being chased across the Antarctic wasteland with a russian attack helicopter in hot pursuit.

So while the MISSIONS do not begin with in media res, the SESSIONS often do.

AC

 

[Darkness]

So while the MISSIONS do not begin with in media res, the SESSIONS often do.

Which is because you've ended the previous session with a "Cliffhanger," of course, to get even more "technical."

 

[Ascending Crane]

Ayup, yup.

 

[Bagpuss]

Military or Agency type campaigns are the easiest to start in media res, as the you can easily get away with a railroaded start.

It not like they can ever say no to a mission assignment so its fair to say they could have ended up in a 'in mission' situation. You don't get Bond saying well actually M I don't fancy spying on the Russian Embassy I'ld rather go on holiday.