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Message: <blockquote data-quote="amerigoV" data-source="post: 5568489">I think I have posted this before:-=-=-=-I wanted to share an concept that I have implemented in my campaign. I now start the gaming session with one or two roleplaying scenes. The scene is personalized for the player/PC and is not dice/abilities based, just pure roleplay (if a “skill” comes into play, I just presume they rolled a 15 on a d20). I limit each scene to 5 minutes.I use the scenes to (1) show off the world and (2) give the players a chance to explore their PC’s personality in a “non-threatening” situation. It was really for the first function that I came up with the idea—there is just a ton of “neat” stuff in Eberron that a GM would never be able to show it all off in a campaign. It allows me to give out world flavor without having to force it into the plot. The second function just happened to be a nice by-product. My group has new PCs that they are getting used to playing. I tell the players that it does not matter how they react in this original scene, but to think about how the PC would react in the future.Note that most scenes do have some pressure or tension, but that there generally is not the risk of a fight based on their choice/reaction (the PC is alone, and I do not want this to take too long). Also, the scene is usually is not tied directly to the current plot. If there is some tie in, the link is usually just informational. For example, one of the PCs had a scene from childhood with a group called Cloudreavers (out of control privateers). It gave her nice context when I then said that a Cloudreaver ship was in port in the main part of the session (it was in essence, a cutscene for her). Furthermore, she went to great lengths to add detail in her backstory about the Cloudreavers.In theory, I would pull the player outside the room to run the scene because it is just for them. However, I run it in front of everyone (and make others stay quiet) and the player states at the end if they ever told the other PCs about this event. Allows me to get more information about the world across to more players.So far, the players really like this idea. It has allowed me to show off the Dragonmarked Houses, convey some warforged “religious” options, detail Cloudreaver pirates/privateers, create a contact in mysterious continent of Xen’Drik, and show off parts of the massive city of Sharn. Everyone gets a few minutes of pure attention with no input from others. I tend to do two a session, rotating through the group. They last no more than 5 minutes each so as not to eat up a lot of time.</blockquote>

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