I was just thinking of how obviously many movies and TV shows feature scenes of the villains discussing things with their minions, or ambiguous sequences featuring characters other than the main heroes in order to raise the tension of a story.

Do any of you have any thoughts on describing scenes to the players that just feature NPCs, either villains, or victims of the villains, or the like, in order to heighten the drama and give the players a sense that events are continuing around them?

For example, you could describe a scene on board a star destroyer where an Admiral makes a report to his superior, telling him "We've discovered a lead, we're getting closer to tracking them down..." (a la the beginning of Empire Strikes Back)

Or you could have a family on a planet being visited by a mysterious figure who carries out an assassination before leaving as quickly as he came. (a la The Good, The Bad and the Ugly).

Then later in the course of the adventure, these scenes would make sense as the players get attacked by Imperials or they have a run-in with the bounty hunter assassin.

Thoughts?

WEG IS AWESOME!!!!!!

Seriously though, yeah I use these from time to time. Adventure kickoff scripts too. Both are great ways to feed additional information to the players, or set the stage rapidly.

I use this from time to time in different campaigns. Though it's a bit hard to do it "right" from time to time, give enough information to set the theme and tone but not to much. It also only really work well with players that don't metagame to much.

Starting the characters 'In Media Res' is very Star Wars-y, and WEG used it a lot... But my players hate it, so I try not to over-use it too much.

We've played a few scenarios that were actually backstory, the demise of the original Crimson Phoenix squad. Two of the PCs were guaranteed to survive, the others were guaranteed to die, because we were replaying a historical event... but everybody still had fun.

And yes, I use cut-scenes without the PCs being involved, or write little fiction pieces about NPCs. I assume the PCs know these things through gossip, holonet articles, Alliance intelligence, etc. It helps the players when they finally meet the NPC in question, they know what to expect.

I used to do it (when I had more time) : between the game sessions (or especially before the adventure/campaign) I'd write a short mini-story, or a film-like script showing the NPCs doing something etc. and then I'd send it to the players.

I rather avoid doing it during actual gaming - only as very short NPC's viewpoint descriptions. For example:

"I have them now" - one TiE fighter pilot says to his wingmates while the fleeing YT-2400 highlights in his sights.

I used such a "dic*-move the last time i GMd. The players where trying to escape into Hyperspace while being attacked by a Lancer-class, after a few misses i told the players "on the bridge stands a stressed out imperial navy captain that pushes one of his crewmembers from the computerscreen, starting to slice your shields while muttering "I'll not be ridiculed".

Funny thing though, i roll dice in the open, he succeeds with a lot of successes and advantages and the next attack aims for their hyperdrive generator and blows it into smithereens.

I'm in the camp of doing it between sessions via e-mail. I try not to break up the action of the game itself with vignettes like that.

Used sparingly these can be great. I've only used them at the very start of a session to set tone. They need to have a purpose and they need to be quick. 2 minutes tops.

Never done that -- It's just not for me. Instead, I rely on in medias res, flashbacks, visions, surveillance tech, video recordings and the like for that kind of exposition. Fortunately, every one of those things is plausible in a SW game.

I'd hand out some NPC's for the character to play (Stormtroopers, bridge crew) and have them make some info-gathering rolls to give them something to do while the leader monologues or have their character be the one who makes the roll that leads the bad guys closer to catching their main characters. I would keep them engaged even while you use these set up scenes, because my players would probably not enjoy passive listening.

I'd hand out some NPC's for the character to play (Stormtroopers, bridge crew) and have them make some info-gathering rolls to give them something to do while the leader monologues or have their character be the one who makes the roll that leads the bad guys closer to catching their main characters. I would keep them engaged even while you use these set up scenes, because my players would probably not enjoy passive listening.

To be honest, I'm thinking more of a bit of narration that lasts three sentences, tops, and doesn't involve enough specificity for there to be anything for the players to "play".

Never done that -- It's just not for me. Instead, I rely on in medias res, flashbacks, visions, surveillance tech, video recordings and the like for that kind of exposition. Fortunately, every one of those things is plausible in a SW game.

Right? It can be a tired plot device, but I've felt inclined to always keep plot points from the perspective of the players. That way they're forced to research and figure things out. Keeps them guessing, feels a little more real.

I've done it between sessions myself. Generally I use it to flesh out NPCs, both allies and enemies. The PCs never learn any real information but they get a feel for what NPCs are up to and what their personalities are like.

I used to do this a lot when I ran my old Harnmaster campaign many years ago. Every once in awhile, I'd write a 3 or 4 page story about something going on with one of the subplots that the PCs themselves weren't directly involved with, but were affected by. Generally, it was about a secret meeting taking place somewhere between major players in the campaign, whether they were villains, conniving nobles, or clergy interpreting scripture or prophesy involving the PCs. I never gave away too much of the plot; it was more to tantalize the players and to inform them that machinations were at play elsewhere in the world. My players loved it and it made them use their imaginations to assume that the stories had more going on with them than I probably had actually figured out myself

I haven't done too much of this with my SW campaign, but I have written a few short origin stories involving the PCs pasts to give more background and to introduce hidden enemies with whom they may not yet have come into contact. Normally, I hand these out before the session begins and let them read the stories, stew on them awhile, and discuss it among themselves. It still gives them the impression that I'm omniscient and have all of these complex subplots meticulously planned out and ready to spring on them at any moment, even though most of the time I haven't really planned that far ahead and I'm mostly winging it

Certainly. When I do it, it tends to be end of the session (or adventure); gives me a chance to foreshadow / gloat.

I use cut-aways to various NPCs to foreshadow events and introduce new characters to my players before their characters officially meet them. I got used to doing this in WEG's old D6 Star Wars system and thought it was a great idea. When I watch a movie or read a book I always think it's interesting to see what the bad guys are getting up to without necessarily having the heroes actually present. Of course, it helps that my players are mature enough not to act on out-of-character knowledge in an abusive way.

Only when they have the means to perceive that scene.

Either by a vision, eavesdropping or otherwise witnessing it i give them a cut scene.

I've had them, and i fecking hate them, anything that cuts down on time where players actually get to play game is bad.

Never mind, the fact some players can't help but metagame.

I'm always indifferent to using them. They can be interesting, but they can also be a waste.

There were three occurrences that I've seen players like them, which keeps me trying it from time to time:

1) I was a player for this one. The party and I defeated a MAJOR villain, foiled his plot, and if I remember correctly I placed the killing blow (considering the guy threatened to kill me due to my nationality, I found it fitting). We were ecstatic that we pulled this one off and got away with it.

When we left port, we were given a cutscene of the villain's office. Not only was he still alive, but we learned that he's basically been making "clones" of himself using a powerful form of magic.

After a moment of shocked silence, the first words uttered were "Well. . .f*** me."

2) I was running a Star Wars d6 game, and the party had stolen a Marauder Corvette for the Alliance but had no way of reaching the rest of the fleet. They hit an odd mass shadow and found a damaged cargo ship. While taking the supplies and living crew they could off of it, the Star Destroyer that was chasing them came out of hyperspace.

The group decided to play possum with the derelict (which still had a sizeable amount of fuel on board). When the SD got close enough and tried to tractor in the derelict, the party opened fire on it and put a nice size bit of damage to the hangar. They then gunned it and got away, but not before being hailed by the SD; the captains of both vessels were friends before the party member defected, and the chatted for one round before the connection was cut.

The cutscene afterward was the captain asking for the total damages, status report, etc. He then stated that he would need to report his failure.

He then turned to his crew and asked for volunteers to hunt this group down for the betterment of the Empire. They will need to transfer to a smaller (but faster) ship, and together they'd hunt them down.

3) The game was set in a fantasy version of Victorian London. The party had been having issues with children vanishing or suddenly dying without any signs to cause the death. While they didn't find the culprit or the relic causing it, they did find the objects that would free everyone.

They were given a cutscene as children woke up, returned home, life goes back to normal, etc.

They were also given a cutscene of the villain (cloaked) with the relic that caused all this speaking with another villain (also cloaked) about how the test was a success, and they are preparing for a much larger plan.

All in all, it can work as long as it's timed well enough, but I've always felt it works much better at the end of a story arc than anything.

I like new reports and rebellion information feeds between missions. You can hint at future events, put in some red herrings, and build background information. You email them between games and the players have a little something to think about between events.

Sounds fun and expands the story the PCs are involved in to include the perspectives of other characters - I'd love that.

Maelora , I can understand players in EotE squirming if they start in medias res , (Under a Black Sun had us cursing) because the game's about characters maintaining their freedom / forging their own destiny. In AoR I'd be more appreciative of it - we're already being assigned missions, player choice revolving around how we complete them.

That can be a tough balance, between starting in media res versus not.

Session before last, our group saved some Rebels from an Imperial raid . That was the very last thing in the session.

This session there were some bookkeeping things to start with--the PCs were actually pretty broke so they were able to acquire some loot from the Imperial sub they stole, and keep some of it, and take some of it to a local black marketer to sell.

Not the most exciting way to start the session, but it did involve some player choices and some Negotiation checks, so that's how we started. Then we got into the meat of it.

It might have been more exciting to take care of that narratively in between sessions, perhaps over email.

The latest session ended with their ship being yanked out of hyperspace with alarms blaring and the engines on fire, just minutes from crashing onto an alien planet.

Next session will definitely start in media res

Oh, it's a good technique for a film. Or for an inexperienced RPG group. But my players hate it, so I use it very sparingly.

With regard to AOR, Col.Orange, our group is something like Shepard and the Normandy crew in Mass Effect. They're a SpecOps squad with a mandate to do their own thing for the most part, so they can choose to investigate situations or not as they wish (there are repercussions for not doing certain missions, however, as they have to prevent the Imperials strengthening and they also have to keep their supply chains open). However, they are technically still a part of the Alliance military, and they might get called back for a major plotline and given a mission they can't really refuse... But that would be pretty epic - rescuing princesses or attacking death stars, etc.