A different approach to narrative flow.

By O the Owl, in Game Masters

I thought I would solicit some feedback/suggestions for my next adventure from the FFG community.

I have in mind a novel structure, inspired by an ep of ' The Hydian Way .' I don't recall the episode number or I would link to it directly. The set-up is in the vein of a heist movie like Ocean's Eleven. In this case the party will be ship-jacking a submersible mon cal frigate (MC-30c sized) from an Imperial deep-sea mining outpost, simultaneously freeing the enslaved mon cal and quarren crew.

The stylistic twist: the first session will start in medias res. After a bit of action, we will flash back to the planning stage of the mission for some exposition. The players will then have the chance to plan the next section of the heist. Then, a flash forward to have it play out. We'll repeat this pattern throughout the adventure (2 to 3 sessions). I think it would be fun to keep the players in suspense about the end goals until the final planning flashback.

So what are your thoughts? Does this seem like a neat narrative constuction?

Edited by O the Owl

This sounds pretty awesome, but it could be a bit problematic regarding timing. If the PCs earn XP in a flashback episode, shouldn't they have already earned it in the "present time" heist (if the players are ok with this then it doesn't really matter)?

Storywise, it can get complicated I think. What if in the middle of the heist they have a flashback, and in this flashback they plan something for the next stage, for example acquire some gear that will help them. Maybe this piece of gear would have helped them in an earlier stage, so why didn't they have it then, and only have it after the flashback (I know some players who would feel cheated)? But maybe the gear was smuggled into the building and is only available at this later stage, so there are workarounds. Or like in the Ocean's movies, they fail, but that was all part of the plan, but the audience (the players) didn't know that yet.

What I'm trying to say is, it's a cool idea, but I think you really have to think it through to be prepared for any chronological inconsistencies.

Mhhh about the XP points/Skill Levels, just allow for something like " Expierenced: Upgrade every Player Skillcheck once and add a boost die" till the past runs into the now. Allows them to grow their characters, but have the real difficulty in the now/future scenario.

Considering this is a special story arc, you could simply hold off the XP until the end of the adventure.

Regarding gear, if the initial part is just them running around in a combat in media res, then I'd say the first flashback should be the one to establish all the gear they have for the entire adventure.

Our group generally does exp at the end of each adventure (as they are only 2-3 sessions on average).

For gear, that could be part of the fun of the flashback setup. If, say, environmental suits are needed they are now hanging in the airlock of their transport. Want a data spike for the next section of the heist? There is one stashed in the droid's hidden compartment.

I like.