Just curious if any of you guys have used any "cut scenes" for lack of a better term. A glimpse into the bad guys lair as they discuss part of some plan. Maybe something to throw some urgency into the party with a ticking time bomb of a plot point? Or just a peek behind the curtain to maybe emphasize some things the party has already learned but solidifies what they should know. I haven't done anything like that yet but I was thinking I might try it. Thoughts?
I think giving the information that you would convey to the players through use of a "cut scene" to the players in a way that more directly involves their characters has a better chance of the players actually absorbing that information and realizing whatever importance it might have.
So the closest thing to a cut scene like you describe that I would use is the player characters scrying upon those involved, or seeing a vision, having a dream, or watching a stored memory - the key point being to have the player's character present and in an active role, even if they can't interact with the other involved parties in many ways.
Because, in my experience, if you tell a player some bit of information they can't use in any meaningful way, they don't really care about paying attention and it ends up feeling like wasted time (both for the DM because of all the talking that no one cares about, and for the players because of all the time spent on something other than what their characters are doing).
I think that you're viewing your campaign as more of a movie, than as an unfolding story. Nothing wrong with that, if it works for you and your players.
I tend to view a campaign as more of a simulation, so I - personally - wouldn't give the players views of events and people that they can't realistically see or experience.
Overall, I think you're trying to convey information to the players - which is good. What I would do is to find events or clues that the players will witness & interact with directly: the bad guys have started the assault on the Northlands while the players are lounging on the South Coast? Send a wave of refugees from the North flooding into their city. Want to confirm that the bad guys are searching for the Lost McGuffin of Irrelevance? Have someone hire the PCs to retrieve it, and put them in race with BBEG's minions - or have the sage they consult about the McGuffin comment that they are not the first to seek information of it, etc.
You can use the NPCs and Environment to telegraph the clues in an interactive manner.
Additionally - if you can find a way to make the PCs work at, or earn the information - they'll value or pay attention to it more than if it is just handed to them.
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I have actually done something along these lines. More of important scenes that the party encounters though than having the players randomly see something. Like when they party entered the final room of a catacomb they'd been sent to explore, they were all hit with a magical wave that showed them a glimpse from the past. The "cut scene" was this confrontation between a king and the ruling empire. I was then able to drop some hints pertaining to one of the character's backstories. Another was a scene as the party left a ravine to see a landscape in chaos. That might fall into just explaining the scene they see, but I was also conveying the devastation to the land which was hugely impactful for two of them.
But I believe that the story you're telling is the party's. Unless they decide to look for what someone else is doing, they shouldn't know. It also helps ground them in the immersion, since getting that glimpse is something that only happens in movies and the like.
So the closest thing to a cut scene like you describe that I would use is the player characters scrying upon those involved, or seeing a vision, having a dream, or watching a stored memory - the key point being to have the player's character present and in an active role, even if they can't interact with the other involved parties in many ways.
I've used many these in campaigns.
Scrying is the most obvious but you can use it in various ways - 1) Scy an enemy and catch them discussing/doing something, 2) overhear a BBG talking to an even bigger BBG using scrying or 3) use a scrying device to get information from a BBG who mistakenly believes they are talking to someone else.
Dreams are a fantastic method to relay information. Ive used dreams at an adventure location to inform the party of its backstory and to foreshadow the final battle. Similarly, I have used dreams to foreshadow the ultimate antagonist of a campaign. Dreams are a great foreshadowing tool but, like anything, be careful not to use them with the same group too often or it becomes stale quickly but as first time tool, they are a perfect 'cut scene'.
I've never use a 'stored memory'. Is this a repressed memory that is triggered under certain circumstances?
I've never use a 'stored memory'. Is this a repressed memory that is triggered under certain circumstances?
That would be one way to do it, but I was actually meaning things more along the lines of the pensieve from Harry Potter lore, or things like objects which store the memory of one person to later be experienced by another.
To use an example from a campaign of mine, the party had devised a way to enter the mind of the librarian at their local academy in such a way as to treat that mind as a physical place to be explored. While they were in there looking around for the way to open a particular door they had found in the library that was impervious to their usual methods, they saw a few other things before finally finding the right spot - all viewed as if they were in a dark room looking out eye-shaped windows at what the librarian's eyes saw during a particular brief past event.
Just curious if any of you guys have used any "cut scenes" for lack of a better term. A glimpse into the bad guys lair as they discuss part of some plan. Maybe something to throw some urgency into the party with a ticking time bomb of a plot point? Or just a peek behind the curtain to maybe emphasize some things the party has already learned but solidifies what they should know. I haven't done anything like that yet but I was thinking I might try it. Thoughts?
I think giving the information that you would convey to the players through use of a "cut scene" to the players in a way that more directly involves their characters has a better chance of the players actually absorbing that information and realizing whatever importance it might have.
So the closest thing to a cut scene like you describe that I would use is the player characters scrying upon those involved, or seeing a vision, having a dream, or watching a stored memory - the key point being to have the player's character present and in an active role, even if they can't interact with the other involved parties in many ways.
Because, in my experience, if you tell a player some bit of information they can't use in any meaningful way, they don't really care about paying attention and it ends up feeling like wasted time (both for the DM because of all the talking that no one cares about, and for the players because of all the time spent on something other than what their characters are doing).
I think that you're viewing your campaign as more of a movie, than as an unfolding story. Nothing wrong with that, if it works for you and your players.
I tend to view a campaign as more of a simulation, so I - personally - wouldn't give the players views of events and people that they can't realistically see or experience.
Overall, I think you're trying to convey information to the players - which is good. What I would do is to find events or clues that the players will witness & interact with directly: the bad guys have started the assault on the Northlands while the players are lounging on the South Coast? Send a wave of refugees from the North flooding into their city. Want to confirm that the bad guys are searching for the Lost McGuffin of Irrelevance? Have someone hire the PCs to retrieve it, and put them in race with BBEG's minions - or have the sage they consult about the McGuffin comment that they are not the first to seek information of it, etc.
You can use the NPCs and Environment to telegraph the clues in an interactive manner.
Additionally - if you can find a way to make the PCs work at, or earn the information - they'll value or pay attention to it more than if it is just handed to them.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I have actually done something along these lines. More of important scenes that the party encounters though than having the players randomly see something. Like when they party entered the final room of a catacomb they'd been sent to explore, they were all hit with a magical wave that showed them a glimpse from the past. The "cut scene" was this confrontation between a king and the ruling empire. I was then able to drop some hints pertaining to one of the character's backstories. Another was a scene as the party left a ravine to see a landscape in chaos. That might fall into just explaining the scene they see, but I was also conveying the devastation to the land which was hugely impactful for two of them.
But I believe that the story you're telling is the party's. Unless they decide to look for what someone else is doing, they shouldn't know. It also helps ground them in the immersion, since getting that glimpse is something that only happens in movies and the like.
Cool, thanks guys you make good points.
M
I like that idea. How did they access his mind?
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