Starting a Story Hour

[Crothian]

I've never done a story hour, so I was wondering how one should be started. Should one just go into the sesion that is being retold or should some background information be first?

 

[Henry]

I've never done a story hour, so I was wondering how one should be started. Should one just go into the sesion that is being retold or should some background information be first?

My suggestion would be "either - but just be sure to tell it in such a way as would be fun for the reader."

There are many ways - In Medias Res, Expository "Star Wars" Style, or plain prose - but finding out who I should care about, and why, is what I always look for when reading one of these things. Pcat and JonRog1 are very good about that part.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

When I did mine, I did a recap of prior storylines, and a bio on the characters, but I think it can be very effective to start without that, and go right into the story. All that backstory can be a little dry and boring.

I'll point out that almost none of the big story hours had much in the way of backstory. Piratecat's Story Hour had the most established PC's, but still just had a brief post explaining what the PC's were up to at that point. All the other major ones I recall (Sagiro, Wulf, (contact), etc) started right in on the story - though they had the advantage of starting at the beginning of their respective campaigns.

 

[pogre]

A little background helps - but dive right into the action. Extended set-ups begin to bore me. Whatever you do stick with it - it takes time for folks to find you.

Define why you are doing it in the first place - it will help you stay with it as you gaze with awe at PirateCat's view numbers or read the amazing prose of Destan and Sepulchrave.

The purposes of my Story Hour, for example, are a DM log, a player reminder sheet, and the pictures serve to inspire me to do new models and figures.

 

[Crothian]

I am going to be starting at the beginning of this campaign. Actually, the first session is tonight. Does that change anything? And thank you!!

 

[pogre]

Something I think is cool - but I have yet to attempt are the behind-the-scenes interactions of side characters and enemies. If you can do that without giving too much away to your players that would be great - I love that stuff. The alternative is to ban your players from your story hour - which I cannot do.

 

[Crothian]

I'm not concerned with players using out of game knowledge. I trust my players. So, doing something like that might be fun as we get to that part of the story. I like that idea, thank you.

 

[Desdichado]

That depends; how are you going to be writing the storyhour? If it's essentially going to be a play log, then you probably want to introduce the characters first.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

If the Story Hour starts from the very beginning, then just introduce the characters via the story, and let the reader discover the world as they do. It's perfect.

 

[Enkhidu]

Crothian,

Don't be afraid to skip the character bios if you're writing a story hour from the beginning. Sometimes it helps get readers involved in characters if they have to think about their background rather than having it spoon fed to them.