Starting a Campaign in media res?

[jrients]

I guess I'm concerned that if I start players in the midst of a battle, they'll turn to me and say, "How did we get in this fight? We would have posted sentries if we'd been given the chance, and I would have cast ( ____insert spell here___ ) if I'd been given the chance, and..." etc etc.

My plan is that the first time someone asks this to reply "All will be explained AFTER the fight."

The second time someone asks I will announce that the player's PC is lost in thought, contemplating the events that led to this situation, and that he doesn't get to go this round.

But really, the way to avoid this issue is to be upfront about it. Lately I've taken to handing out a one-sheet campaign summary before embarking upon a new campaign. My one sheet for this campaign explicitly warns that I am starting each session with a fight. If someone really thinks that's too railroady they have plenty of time before the campaign begins to object. Or in the alternative they could sit this one out. I'm not the only DM in town so it's not like I'm holding my players hostage to my whims.

 

[Odhanan]

Anyone who's done this before, share your thoughts and insights. I'm planning on starting my next campaign that way, with the characters rolling for initiative as their fox hole is rushed by another swarm of ratmen.

The first encounter/action sequence should always come quickly to not get the players bored. Starting in media res is a good way to kick off the first session. Perhaps not every time if you're playing with the same people (since they'll expect that kind of stuff), but definitively a good way.

 

[Nightfall]

Heh.
I was actually planning on using the SL Ratmen, but I only have access to the CCII and the ratmen in that one aren't what I was looking for (though I may just use the uber-cool picture of the Ratman Stalker). I'll probably design my own. Seeing as this probably won't be run for a while, I'll have plenty of time to work out the kinks.

Well if you need access to CCR, I do have that on hand. I can let you see that if you think you might want something else, like a Red Witch, Foamer, Brown Gorger or Diseased. (Even got a "regular" Slitheren/Rat man). If you want say a Black Pelt (Mesosian), Storm Chaser (Lethene), Unseeing (Golthain), or Forge Crawler, I have Warren as well for you input/insight.

 

[Thanee]

[smallcaps]In Medias Res[/smallcaps] – Lat., adv. – in or into the middle of a sequence of events, as in a literary narrative.

This does not necessarily mean you start with a combat, just that you start with some situation, without having the players previously decide how they get there, but rather let them decide how they got there, retroactively, or just forget about that part completely.

Bye
Thanee

 

[DonTadow]

I started out my previous campaign in the middle of a combat with the drow. It was a great way to suck everyone in and it played into the storyline. The pcs could not remember there reason for fighting the drow. All they saw was a destroyed carriage and another set of drow riding horses and a wagon away from the scene.

The pcs later found out that the wagon contained an artifact in whiche's sideeffect was memory loss for those whom were not wearing special rings.

 

[S'mon]

*nitpick* Actually, it's "in medias res", in the middle of things .

"in media" = "in the middle"

"res" = "things"

 

[S'mon]

My best "in media res" openings have generally been at the start of a campaign - or in Conan RPG, which uses an episodic structure - "one year later..."; also I've foiund the best intros are often not a big fight (which may kill brand new PCs) but rather in the _aftermath_ of that fight - either the PCs have won, and are standing amid mounds of corpses, or they've lost and wake up buried _under_ mounds of corpses... If they've been stripped of gear, I give them a (Conan) Fate Point to compensate for being 'screwed over by Fate' - FPs can be spent to avoid death when reduced to -10hp, so they're very valuable & a reasonable compensation.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

I love using this technique. It often does require the "Wait and see" technique. Some like it, others don't. All of my current players like it.

I've done it a number of times, each time memorable and exciting.

Godlike - I started a bunch of ten talents in the middle of a German outpost.. after they'd blown it up. Amazingly, the first roll I made in the campaign was a character death. Machine gun shot to the head. Set a nice tone for people stupidly running in front of already firing machine guns.

Spycraft - In the middle of a pitched firefight after a blown mission that none of them knew anything about, but kept coming back to haunt them. Interestingly, a firefight in a warehouse filled with explosives ticking down one minute is rather frantic.

Iron Kingdoms - I basically sent an airship from a remote island crashing down into the middle of a battlefield between Cygnarian Warjacks and Cryxian Deathjacks.

Players kept their heads down.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

The one I always wanted to try was in one of the cyberpunk books, I think.

Basically the PCs all start in the same elevator. It stops. Door opens above them. Someone tips a bucket of rats in.

Figured it sounded like a lot of fun, although it isn't quite a ratman army.

 

[Thanee]

"in media" = "in the middle"

"res" = "things"

[smallcaps]Kasus Wrongus![/smallcaps]

[sblock]in (in, into) + medias (middle, accusative pl. feminine of medius) = in the middle of + res (thing)
~ In the very midst of things.[/sblock]

Bye
Thanee

P.S. [smallcaps]Romani Ite Domum![/smallcaps]