Villian Exposes

[Erywin]

I was wondering if anybody did Villian Exposes in thier campaign, alla cutscene while the PCs are off in a dungeon, the BBEG is talking with his 2nd or doing some other evil act. Now I don't mean revealing everything, just a few tidbits to help the PCs understand whats happening. I know it would take alot of trust on both parts, mainly the PCs not acting on the OOC info, but I think it would really be an interesting way to add some more depth to a campaign.

The reason I am asking this is that I tend to hold most my cards close unless a situation dictates I show them. Over the last year the PCs have been following the Eberron adventure path (starts with the Forgotten Forge) but all the encounters were buffed up seeing as its a 32 pt buy gestalt game with the characters at 8-11th lvl, they just finished Grasp of the Emerald Claw. Now before the last session, they were all complaining that there were too many story arcs happening and that they couldn't just focus on one without letting everything else go to the wayside, mainly due to the fact of the time constraints on most of the missions. Now I knew that all the arcs they were complaining about seemed to be all different and unrelated, but when in fact they were just part of a larger arc (changeling Hexblade/Cleric that was really good at taking on multiple personalities, he was actually playing about 3-4 different bad guys the PCs had to hunt down/find). I think I nearly had a revolt on my hands up until the point that they finally confronted him and realized that he was the key to everything.

They have unraveled one thread but there are many more to go, just wondering if any other DMs had been in this situation and what they did about it.

Cheers,
E

 

[Hjorimir]

I had a GM do this in Star Wars to great effect. It was a lot of fun and he was very crafty on how he used it to keep us going without giving away the farm (so to speak). I’ve often considered how I’d use it in my D&D games.

The fundamental question is are you trying to present it to your players as if they were watching a movie (and are going to allow for some small amount of metagaming) or are you trying to present it as something the PCs are aware of (if so, how do they come into the knowledge? Divination spells? Dreams from the gods?).

Either way, if done right, it could be interesting.

 

[Erywin]

I would be interested in hearing how your GM managed it. I am flexible either way, not going to be giving them alot of info, maybe BBEG has a small convo with a "Shadowy figure" that seems to be his boss. One interesting thing is that one of the PCs, the Changeling Rogue/Crusader who is basically the parties info getter has a really cool custom item. Basically its a mirror that allows him to see events in the past, altho he never uses it unless I poke him hard enough So I might be able to modify that a bit to make it work.

Cheers,
E

 

[LostSoul]

Used to do this in Star Wars a lot.

Did it in D&D once in a while.

In a recently completed campaign of Burning Empires, I had to do this. The rules are set up so that you only get a number of scenes per session, and you have to play them out in front of the whole table even if no PCs are involved.

If the players are able to separate in-character from out-of-character knowledge, it can heighten the tension and make for some really cool decisions.

 

[Hjorimir]

Well he started each session by queuing up the title track for Star Wars and read the introduction (the scrolling yellow text of every Star Wars movie). During play he’s announce “fade scene” (which I still use to this day) and describe the scene…often to a different Star Wars score.

For us, he was presenting this to the players as part of the movie we were “watching” and I have to say it really made the game feel like Star Wars.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

I've done something like this, although I try to keep the information presented as both in-character and out. Dream sequences are good for this, especially if the PCs have an otherworldly "sponsor" that they may not be aware of.

I've had issues in the past with players not remembering what precisely was in character and what was out of character, so keeping everything I reveal in-character helps to prevent confusion.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I used to do villain cutaways in superhero games, I don't think I will for D&D though. D&D is less storyfied and more tactical so it's less appropriate.

 

[Erywin]

I've done something like this, although I try to keep the information presented as both in-character and out. Dream sequences are good for this, especially if the PCs have an otherworldly "sponsor" that they may not be aware of.

I've had issues in the past with players not remembering what precisely was in character and what was out of character, so keeping everything I reveal in-character helps to prevent confusion.

Had forgotten about dream sequences, only issue is that some of the party members don't actually sleep, silly warforged. But they do have a "spiritual" sponsor that hasn't been played up much, maybe its time to implement something.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, keep em coming. I might end up using it to recap the last session at the beginning of the new one.

Cheers,
E

 

[senodam]

I've pulled this one a few times, mainly to give the players an idea of the BBEG's plans when they seem to be struggling with what I consider obvious clues. Then again, I'm a fan of using a lot of 'cinematic' tricks in my games- cut scenes, flashbacks and in media res opening scenes- it's all good.

I will add the caveat that both my groups appreciate this kind of thing however, so it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

 

[Piratecat]

I do this quite a lot, and gave the wizard in the campaign a special spell to make it easier. It's a lot of fun.