Tolkienesque Summaries

[MattG]

I like your idea. Just ask your friends for feedback. Maybe this narration will encourage them to feel and act more in character, especially if they do want to try to roleplay more by acting. Maybe it will help. Maybe not. You won’t know until you try. However, it should be more their preference than yours. If they don’t like that, do not bother.

I’d be quite okay to have GM trying to do what you are thinking about doing, and your writing doesn’t have to be perfect, nor their acting very talented. It is just a hobby, a game for fun, pretending, not profession. After all, it is not like the group will stop being outside of the character more than otherwise, but it might encourage to act a bit more often and a little bit of longer, etc. The only thing I would probably try to avoid in this narration is a dialogue between the PCs, if those were not theirs words, but only what you as GM thought their character could’ve said. What they did, saw, felt, perceived and how the scene was seen from the narration perspective is okay. Maybe someone in the group will be encouraged to bring for the next session her brief summary, PC’s point of view, and that could be a good insight for LM.

You mentioned “among other things”. What else are you planning on doing to encourage/discourage?

[TheMonarchGamer]

I like your idea. Just ask your friends for feedback. Maybe this narration will encourage them to feel and act more in character, especially if they do want to try to roleplay more by acting. Maybe it will help. Maybe not. You won’t know until you try. However, it should be more their preference than yours. If they don’t like that, do not bother.

I’d be quite okay to have GM trying to do what you are thinking about doing, and your writing doesn’t have to be perfect, nor their acting very talented. It is just a hobby, a game for fun, pretending, not profession. After all, it is not like the group will stop being outside of the character more than otherwise, but it might encourage to act a bit more often and a little bit of longer, etc. The only thing I would probably try to avoid in this narration is a dialogue between the PCs, if those were not theirs words, but only what you as GM thought their character could’ve said. What they did, saw, felt, perceived and how the scene was seen from the narration perspective is okay. Maybe someone in the group will be encouraged to bring for the next session her brief summary, PC’s point of view, and that could be a good insight for LM.

You mentioned “among other things”. What else are you planning on doing to encourage/discourage?

Thank you for the insight. Certainly, I don't intend to monopolize the game into what I want instead of what they want - I'd just like to make it a bit more story focus. I'll definitely pay more attention to what they say in the future, and work that into the summaries if I decide to keep doing them. Of course, I'll see how well they're received.

Well, I'm thinking I'll section off a twenty minute or so chunk of time before the game and a ten minute chunk after the game to just yip-yap. That way its not like, "You can't say anything out of character and you must play the game this way etc." Also, and this one's on me, I need to prepare a bit more. I tend to be a 'fly by the seat of my pants' type LM - I changed what was going to be in the tunnel about three times over the course of the session, having no idea when I started. The 'Gandalf' arrival was actually completely spontaneous. Effectively, I need to work out some dialogue ahead of time so that I'm not stuttering (Gandalf doesn't stutter ).

Other than that, try to start enforcing the 'only one person talking at a time' rule, since we play in a game store and its hard enough for me to hear what one person's saying if the other four aren't talking to me at the same time. Basically, just common sense stuff that we/I for some reason haven't done before.

-TMG

[Indur Dawndeath]

Hi TMG,

I do a different version of your idea in my game. I write a teaser for the players to read before the game starts to get them into the fantasy mindset, but this teaser is often seen through the eyes of the enemy or the common people...
I make an effort to make it interesting, ex. reveal that their actions have had an impact on the enemy's plan or perhaps that the player's actions have made it worse or better for the common people in the region.
Last session, I gave them a background history for an unknown prissoner, they rescued. Now they know that he was not insignificant and that they'll probably meet him again...

By doing these teasers I present some background and insight, that would not be learned otherwise and the players get a feeling that their actions or lack of action matters in the World.

This works for us Cheers

[TheMonarchGamer]

Hi TMG,

I do a different version of your idea in my game. I write a teaser for the players to read before the game starts to get them into the fantasy mindset, but this teaser is often seen through the eyes of the enemy or the common people...
I make an effort to make it interesting, ex. reveal that their actions have had an impact on the enemy's plan or perhaps that the player's actions have made it worse or better for the common people in the region.
Last session, I gave them a background history for an unknown prissoner, they rescued. Now they know that he was not insignificant and that they'll probably meet him again...

By doing these teasers I present some background and insight, that would not be learned otherwise and the players get a feeling that their actions or lack of action matters in the World.

This works for us Cheers

Thanks for the comment! I love this idea, and will certainly try something similar.
-TMG

[Majestic]

West End Games' Star Wars D6 game encouraged something similar, in that they'd do short (one page) "adventure scripts", to get players in the mood, or as a way to start a game in media res. Keep in mind that I know many players bristle at this sort of thing, so it's something that only some players appreciate. I've only done it a couple of times (once with a published script, and another that I wrote, below).

Here's the one I wrote up, just as an example. Again, this is tough to do, as you're (literally) putting words in the mouths of your players, something I'm hesitant to do. I told my players that they were welcome to amend the dialogue, to make it more what their characters would say (the whole point was as a creative way of giving some exposition). I did find that it drew the players into the game more (focused them, much like in school when the teacher had you read in front of the class).

Chapter 2: The Danger of the Hutts
Adventure Script

Bishop: “Well, THAT was a big waste of time! We came to this sleazy chunk of rock following a rumor that doesn’t even look like it was TRUE!”

Thorim: “Do not be so quick to jump to conclusions, my friend. The Force can work in mysterious ways, and perhaps we were meant to come here for some OTHER reason!”

Zren: “Bah, all I know is that the NEXT time we square off with a bunch of those long-haired punks, they’ll not walk away from it so easily!”

Dargin: “They sure seemed to have some strange way of communicating. Reminds me of what I’ve seen of Twi’leks, where they can communicate without even speaking…”

Tumarae: “I’m sorry my information wasn’t more accurate. That’s really the way it is sometimes. Not every rumor or piece of information is going to be true every single time.”

Grevin: “We can still take advantage of our situation. This planet is known for harboring many fugitives and travelers that are not welcomed throughout the more ‘civilized’ parts of the galaxy. I think we should hit another watering hole and see if we can perhaps meet up with some smugglers or pirates. It may be perilous, but the Rebellion really needs able soldiers to join if we’re to truly fight back against the Imperials. These types may be dangerous, but at least they’re known for not having any kind of love for the Empire…”

FWIW, I tend to agree with Rich H and Glorelendil; I'd rather players avoid the amateur thespian routine. Something like this should only be done sparingly, if at all. It was just a method of shaking things up, and I felt it worked decently, though I think it could be overused and would lose its effectiveness.

[Rich H]

Just to be clear I actually think that 'tricks' like those described above really work for some games. For instance, in my Star Wars campaign (and I'm showing off a bit here, sorry) I used to do an introductory 'crawl' video for each adventure. Here's the first one:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/795 ... stress.wmv

These sent tingles down the spine of the players (their words) and really got them in the mood so it does work. For some games. I think you have to pick and choose which games though and the style of delivery; not everything will work. And sometimes it will be better doing nothing and just getting on with the gaming and the intense RPing that develops from playing.

[Majestic]

I've done the SW crawl before, too, Rich. I wrote one up before (the equivalent of) each "movie" in our campaign, and one time I used the software on starwars.com to do one that looked like it was used in an actual movie. A pretty cool trick that does indeed set the mood pretty well for that game.

[Grands-Pas]

Personally, I like your idea of having a summary of the last game's events for your player. Maybe the other fellows here are lucky enough to play every week but our group plays every other week or even once a month. Details of the previous events often become fuzzy after such a long time.

In your summary, I wouldn't speak for the player characters (except if you had noted or recorded exactly what they said). And even if it wouldn't necessarily help me roleplay more, it would put me right back into the context.

All in all, do what you like and what's the most fun for you and your players.

[Majestic]

I agree. I will often read a summary of the last session, being as we play every two weeks as well (at most). With most/all of my players in multiple RPG groups, it can be tough to remember all of the details. In fact, in our session last weekend, being as we were playing through the rescue of the River-maiden, I did like TV shows will do, and read them a short recap of each time the group had encountered Duskwater, so it would be fresh in their minds to relay to Radagast in game.