In Media Res: Starting a Game with Combat
This thread is going to be in reference to my Deathwatch / Dark Heresy game. If you're thinking about applying to that game, you might not want to read ahead as there will be minor spoilers.
Still here? Okay, typically with my WH40K games I start with a briefing between the characters and a knowledgeable authority figure. Effective and straight to the point. For this game, I want to try throwing the two characters right into the thick of things immediately, with their shuttle or other craft crash landing in a storm and some rather savage locals coming to administer to local greeting of a rusty axe through the brainbox.
I'm worried though that this will leave the players with too little reference and context at the outset. That initial briefing thread is boring but it serves a purpose. I've thought about it and I see a few options for still getting the crucial information to the players.
Essentially, the briefing documents would be IC documents and the like with the relevant information about locations, people, and objectives. Likely I will include these no matter what, but if I follow this path this will be the only briefing information given IC.
The retcon thread would be an IC thread of the typical mission briefing variety, running concurrently with the action scene. This would allow the players to RP their interaction with the superior and get the information that way while keeping the momentum going.
Last, I could just dump all the information out of character, and answer any questions along the lines of "Would my character know. . ." out of character as well. An inelegant method, but quick and easy and unambiguous, and I'll probably end up using this method in combination with whatever choice I make.
Any suggestions for making this work? I'm definitely open to other ideas, and if anyone has tried a similar game opening before I'd very much like to hear about your experience.
Thanks for reading.
Still here? Okay, typically with my WH40K games I start with a briefing between the characters and a knowledgeable authority figure. Effective and straight to the point. For this game, I want to try throwing the two characters right into the thick of things immediately, with their shuttle or other craft crash landing in a storm and some rather savage locals coming to administer to local greeting of a rusty axe through the brainbox.
I'm worried though that this will leave the players with too little reference and context at the outset. That initial briefing thread is boring but it serves a purpose. I've thought about it and I see a few options for still getting the crucial information to the players.
- Briefing Documents
- A "retcon" thread
- OOC Infodump
Essentially, the briefing documents would be IC documents and the like with the relevant information about locations, people, and objectives. Likely I will include these no matter what, but if I follow this path this will be the only briefing information given IC.
The retcon thread would be an IC thread of the typical mission briefing variety, running concurrently with the action scene. This would allow the players to RP their interaction with the superior and get the information that way while keeping the momentum going.
Last, I could just dump all the information out of character, and answer any questions along the lines of "Would my character know. . ." out of character as well. An inelegant method, but quick and easy and unambiguous, and I'll probably end up using this method in combination with whatever choice I make.
Any suggestions for making this work? I'm definitely open to other ideas, and if anyone has tried a similar game opening before I'd very much like to hear about your experience.
Thanks for reading.