Tips for starting a game "in media res " ?

[silva]

What the title says.

I always though about beginning a new game/campaign/chronicle/story-arc like this, but never put it to practice. What tips can you give for doing it ? Any potentially interesting tricks, like players having flashbacks/memories, etc ?

Thanks in advance.


P.S: I remember having this idea when Ive read Heroquest for the first time, and found its character creation method "create as you go" really cool! Imagine making a In media res intro where the characters only can declare their abilities if they describe some flashback related to it ?!

Cool, huh ?

[Stahlseele]

MTP?

[Dean]

Heroquest didn't have character creation. You just chose Elf, Dwarf, Conan, or Merlin and played. Was there some kind of character modification rules?

[nockermensch]

What the title says.

I always though about beginning a new game/campaign/chronicle/story-arc like this, but never put it to practice. What tips can you give for doing it ? Any potentially interesting tricks, like players having flashbacks/memories, etc ?

Thanks in advance.


P.S: I remember having this idea when Ive read Heroquest for the first time, and found its character creation method "create as you go" really cool! Imagine making a In media res intro where the characters only can declare their abilities if they describe some flashback related to it ?!

Cool, huh ?

The closest I think you can get to this in a RPG is to quickly tell your players right at the first game's beginning the adventure setup ("two days ago you were in a tavern and a mysterious stranger gave you a treasure map. You're following that map when ... ") and follow with ROLL INITIATIVE.

Just like that. Have each player describe their character only when they start to act. No motivations, etc by then.

After the combat, have a random player tell their character's background. After some more adventuring, another player does the same, until everybody's backgrounds have been done. I think this attends what an in media res beginning does: It shows some action already, and then fills the audience (MC and players) with the details later. In a RPG, the only "background" that's probably safe to introduce like this is the one that's totally dependent of a single player's whims (their own character background).

[Prak]

I think what I would do is, first, tell my players "Ok, I want to try something out, I'm not going to say what it is just yet, but please trust me and lets try this out. Don't select your feats or skills in character creation (or whatever), or your equipment. But definitely have some idea of what you want to play."

Then when we sat down to play, I would just put them directly in the scene, possibly with hp missing to indicate the battle's been going on for a bit--"You're fighting five orcs. The one in front of *you* swings his axe!" and let them choose feats and rough skill allocations on their turn and in response to things. Fill in the backstory of the situation in combat, and let them narrate their flashbacks. I would also pay attention to whether they were enjoying the IMR opening, and change tacts if they expressed that they weren't.

Finally, I would be open to them tweaking their stats later if they made a poor choice in the heat of the moment.

[Username17]

4.5 edition D&D ("D&D Essentials") had a questionnaire that outputs a character from one of a couple of races and a couple of classes. It's pretty limited, and at the end of the day you get a 4th edition D&D character, so it's not that exciting. But certainly an interesting idea. You're presented a short vignette about fighting off goblins who are attacking a caravan and your answers to a short series of questions keys out to a character.

The thing is that it would have been actually trivial both in design time and page count to present 30 starting characters and a slightly longer set of questions and gotten something you might want to do more than once. But 4th edition was always an exercise in making puzzling design decisions to present less than half as much real content as people obviously needed.

-Username17

[silva]

Interesting idea,Frank. I wonder if it could be fused together with lifepath systems (so you create a character and then a instant situation).

This reminds me of Dogs in the Vineyard too, where each player must play out a situation before play actually begins, and the outcome of this situation results in the gaining of an ability by the character, related either to its sucess ("Killer of Long-Dong James: 6") or its failure ("Maimed by Long-Dong James: 6").

I think what I would do is, first, tell my players "Ok, I want to try something out, I'm not going to say what it is just yet, but please trust me and lets try this out. Don't select your feats or skills in character creation (or whatever), or your equipment. But definitely have some idea of what you want to play."

Then when we sat down to play, I would just put them directly in the scene, possibly with hp missing to indicate the battle's been going on for a bit--"You're fighting five orcs. The one in front of *you* swings his axe!" and let them choose feats and rough skill allocations on their turn and in response to things. Fill in the backstory of the situation in combat, and let them narrate their flashbacks. I would also pay attention to whether they were enjoying the IMR opening, and change tacts if they expressed that they weren't.

Finally, I would be open to them tweaking their stats later if they made a poor choice in the heat of the moment.

Nice rundown of the whole process. I think I would d exactly like this. Thanks.

Heroquest didn't have character creation. You just chose Elf, Dwarf, Conan, or Merlin and played. Was there some kind of character modification rules?

I was referring to the Heroquest RPG, not the boardgame.

[Atmo]

MTP is a better choice.

[Scrivener]

There are two styles of this, build the character and figure out mechanics, or build mechanics and figure out the character.

If seems you are hedging towards the former, which I don't like. It is too easy to have a backstory that doesn't quite fit, or plot hooks that fall flat. The whole "what do you do?" part tends to play out like this "since I want to be a wizard I zap him with a spell." Or "since you've ruled nothing out, I pull out my lazer rifle, shoot the Orc and ask my AI to start scanning for life forms." While sci-fi commando versus the Orc horde could be fun, it likely isn't what you had in mind, so you start saying no, then quickly the question comes up "what can I do?" Which is why you use mechanics.

The lazer example is extreme, but expect to hear about a magic sword, or some sort if power grab.

The opposite method works great though. Roll up some guys and insert yourself into the backstory when you want, makes for great cooperative story telling and avoids that awkward "how did you start hanging out together?" question. You can expect one PC to want to be the kings long lost son or some nonsense, but just make sure that isn't an instant win or attractive position and your fine.

[Orion]

Most of the replies seem to be assuming you have minimal or no time for character creation. Is that a fair assumption? From the wording of your original post, I had assumed that you were allowing for normal pre-game setup, but just wanted the first "in-game" scene to be in the middle of something. For instance, if you normally ask players to create a character at home before the first session, just tell them what the premise of the first scene is. I happen to like the "Arcanum."

"You are a passenger on an airship in the dwarven merchant marine. The ship has just crashed into a zombie-filled wasteland. The ship was ferrying typical dwarven freight goods, but also a human "surveyor" team and a priest who paid exorbitantly to rent a private cabin for himself and his ominous, triple-locked adamantium box. Make a 3rd-level 3.5 character and be prepared to give a one-paragraph explanation of why you were on the ship."

[Mask_De_H]

Starting In Media Res is as simple as having players roll up with their characters during the first session and saying "shit is going down now" with an encounter or something. You can ask them questions to fill in the blanks or you can make up some background and let them run wild.

[Desdan_Mervolam]

I did this at the beginning of my last D&D Campaign, and it was well recieved. I started the party out at fifth level, and at the end of a quest to track down a wyvern who had been harassing a mining camp. I gave them a bit of boxed text to set them up, and then had them fight the wyvern. The party was given a writ for their reward that they could cash in at the mining company's office in the main town, which put them into position to get the plot hook for the real adventure.

As for character creation, I let the party do that as normal.

[Username17]

So for a hard example of the flowchart question system (I'm only doing one of the samples for each class, because "fuck it"):

1

The gates to the Dwarvish halls strain as the fiendish allies of the Durzagons pound with their infernal battering rams. As cracks begin to appear, fire imps begin squeezing through. The call to arms is put out and you rush to battle. You are going to assist in the defense of the Dwarvish halls by...

• Personally slaying the imps before they can torch the defenses. Go to 2.
• Providing support for the defenders of the hall. Go to 3.

2

The imps are running around wildly, leaving trails of cinders in their wake. You'll have to use your strongest attacks to bring them down before fires break out among the defenders. You begin by...

• Drawing a weapon. Go to 4.
• Casting a spell. Go to 6.

3

The best way for you to assist in the defense of the stronghold is to use your support abilities to tip the tide of battle in your favor. This is because...

• By rallying the defenders, the attack can be thwarted. Go to 5.
• By distracting the fiends, the attack can be thwarted. Go to 7.

4

With weapon in hand, the next thing to do is to take the most advantageous tactical position. Which naturally is...

• At the front! Go to 8.
• Around the flanks. Go to 12.

5

You can rally the troops most effectively because...

• They are my troops. Go to 9.
• I have magic healing powers. Go to 11.

6

You draw upon your most destructive spell knowing that...

• You might not be able to use it again. Go to 14.
• You've memorized this incantation and you can use it all day. Go to 20.

7

The best way to distract opponents is with...

• Magic. Go to 13.
• Traps. Go to 21.

8

You belong on the front lines because your weapon is...

• Backed by you. Go to 10.
• Backed by faith. Go to 16.

9

Your soldiers are...

• Loyal to you because of your great cunning and leadership skills. Go to 23.
• Loyal to you because they are skeletons and ghosts given life and form through the power of your spirit. Go to 25.

10

When you say that the weapon is backed by you, what do you mean?

• I mean that I'm extremely good with a sword, because I'm the protagonist. Go to 26
• I mean that I made it myself with magic and that the warhammer is covered in magic runes that will get me through this. Go to 28.

11

You are a Cleric. You can call upon spiritual aid, which mostly comes in the form of healing and protection. You cannot ask for any particular favor too often, however, and your individual powers must be rationed lest they exceed the patience of the gods. Of course, even without your magic, you're still able to hold a shield and raise a spear, you're nothing like helpless even when the gods leave you to your own devices. Provided are:

• The Human Cleric. Many see Humans a the leaders of the Free Peoples, having successfully liberated more lands from the Demon Lords than any other force. Certainly, Humans have shown that they are not satisfied to merely throw off the yoke of their oppressors and have been taken by a zeal to spread their way of life to the corners of the world still infested with demon loyalists. Many Humans turn to the power of the spirits and the gods to help them in their quest, and you are one of them.

12

Once in position, you make your presence known by...

• Carefully picking off one enemy at a time with your crossbow. Go to 22.
• Harrying the enemy with arrows and sword slices as appropriate to draw the imps away from important targets. Go to 24.

13

You use your magic to blunt the attack. You do this by:

• Harnessing the natural world to repel their assault. Go to 15.
• Creating illusions to absorb and waste their assault. Go to 17

14

A powerful spell leaves your hands. This is bitter sweet. Sweet because many imps are going to be blown to pieces, but bitter as well because...

• Drawing that much power from your pact hurts you. Literally. Go to 27.
• There's no telling when you will be able to tap into that much power again. Go to 29.

15

You are a Druid. You have the power to command natural forces. Roots and wind, birds and stone come to your aid. Nature is fickle, and from moment to moment you seldom know what tools you have available to you. But Nature does provide, and it falls to you to determine how to use what is available to fullest effect. Maybe it's time for those roots to grow into thorn brambles? Maybe it's time for it to rain inside. Plants, beasts, earth, and weather, the four poles of the natural world ebb and flow, but something is always available to the resourceful Druid. Provided are:

• The Goblin Druid. Some would call the Goblins completely uncivilized, but they prefer to think of themselves as being more attuned to nature. Certainly, you are attuned to nature, you're a Druid. Most Goblins are on speaking terms with Worgs, and you are on speaking terms with all manner of beasts. And also on speaking terms with rocks and trees and the clouds in the sky.

16

Your faith drives you into battle...

• ...the spirits of rage will drive your ax into a frenzy of destruction. Go to 18.
• Your divine inspiration will get you through this battle. Go to 19.

17

You are an Illusionist. You can create all manner of things, just so long as those things aren't real. You control the vertical and the horizontal, but only for a short period of time. An Illusionist prepares tricks that are expended when used. Once gone, it takes time to prepare new tricks. But each of an Illusionist's tricks are, at least potentially, very impressive. Minds can be changed, dangerous shadow beasts can be summoned. Some say that reality is an illusion, but to an Illusionist their illusions are reality. Provided are:

• The Gnome Illusionist. Gnomes take to illusion like an overwrought metaphor to poetic thingies. Gnomes don't just have extensive experience with the Shadow Realms and the Mirror Realms from which Illusion magic flow, they culturally regard trickery and deception as praiseworthy. Great schools of Illusionism are in the Gnome Warrens, and as a Gnome Illusionist you probably come from one. And even if you didn't, you can still prove that you did.

18

You are a Berserker. A Berserker's greatest abilities are fueled by fury, and their fury is fueled by pain and destruction. Your place is on the front lines, because that is where you can most easily hurt and be hurt, the two things that provoke you to acts of greater courage. It's not all hitting things with an ax. You might turn into a bear or call upon the spirits of your ancestors if you have shown enough prowess in battle.

• The Orcish Berserker. Rage comes easily to the tusked folk, and wanton destruction is your path to heroism. Orcs break things. They are good at breaking things. You are good at breaking things and you are good at not being broken. The spirits show you favor because you show courage.

19

You are a Paladin. Paladins are warriors, but they also have magical maneuvers in addition to martial ones. A Paladin can heal and protect, but they cannot effectively plan ahead. Divine inspiration simply comes as it likes to, and the Paladin must make do with whatever is available at the time. But if you have faith, the spirits will provide enough to achieve victory. Probably.

• The Gith Paladin. Having freed themselves from the tentacled Mind Lords, the Gith consider themselves to be the first of the Free Peoples. The quest to eradicate their old masters is for some Gith all encompassing, and the path of the holy warrior is well respected and well trod in Gith culture.

20

You're a wizard. You have a spellbook out of which you can prepare a limited number of spells and cast them to your heart's content. Given time, you can memorize different spells. Wizard spells are useful in a lot of circumstances, and run the gamut from simple destruction to minor creation. Provided are:

• The Elvish Wizard. Hailing from a people with inborn magical talent, wizardry comes easily to you. Spellbooks have been written in High Elvish for centuries, and if you have anything to say about it they are going to continue.

21

You are a rogue. You are adept at stealth, scouting, and the finding and creation of traps. The contents of your knapsack may seem to just be ball bearings, some rags, a bottle of cider, and some string - but in your hands that is a deadly arsenal. Also you have like ten knives hidden about your person that they didn't notice. Provided are:

• The Halfling Rogue. The Halflings took great pride in liberating themselves with partisan activity during the scouring, and now sabotage and stealthy mayhem are elevated in Halfling culture to high art. You may be small and homey looking, but your innocent appearance hides a mind that quickly evaluates everything it sees as a potential threat.

22

You are an Assassin. Patience, precision, poison, and play most foul are in your professional parlance. By studying your opponents, you can find their weaknesses and take them out with extreme prejudice. You are not crassly destructive, you're a scholar of death. You don't just have a crossbow and a black cloak, you are also learned in a smattering of alchemy, necromancer, medicine, and shadow magic - anything to give you the edge in your chosen profession. Provided are:

• The Orcish Assassin. During the Reign of the Eye, all leaders served their masters until they died, creating a need for careful and exacting killers to mediate political disputes. The Great Betrayal was only possible because demonic loyalists were carefully and swiftly removed from the hierarchy. The assassin cults are very prestigious in Orcish society, and you have every intention of living up to the hype. Not that your targets will ever know who you are.

23

You are a Marshal. Blessed with a talent for tactics and strategy, you are a natural leader. As the battlefield changes, you can spot openings and shout timely commands to your troops. You attract a retinue of men at arms, and excel at logistics. Provided are:

• The Human Marshal. Among all the Free Peoples, Humans are most frequently tapped as military leaders. Humans are just very good at figuring out ways to kill people, and many soldiers expect to follow a Human commander.

24

You are a Ranger. People turn to you for your abilities as a scout and also for your battlefield prowess. You use your mobility to put distance between you and enemies who want to close, and to close the distance with enemies who want some alone time. You're equally at home with a scimitar or a bow and often switch weapons quickly as the tactical needs change. Provided are:

• The Elvish Ranger. Long at home in the forests, Elves are known as great trackers and fletchers - and it's Elves like you who establish that stereotype. You come from the deepest parts of the forests, the never conquered Old Groves. You have sharp eyes and a quiet step, both of which serve you well when you draw your old growth recurve bow.

25

You are a Necromancer. You have a pool of Essentia that you can dynamically distribute between your necromantic minions. They can use the power that you give them to be stronger, tougher, or faster. But you can also use the power yourself to assist your minions with curses or to defend yourself. After all, death is nothing new for your minions, but you are not so easy to replace. Provided are:

• The Drow Necromancer. In many societies, necromancy is closely associated with the Demon Lords and has something of a bad name. In Drow society, that is not quite the stigma that it is among the other Free Peoples. Necromantic power is encouraged when it is seen among the youth of Drow settlements, and the powers of shadow are seen as aesthetically pleasing to the Dark Elves.

26

You are a Hero. You are a warrior and a leader. You can perform incredible feats of strength and skill, and people turn to you for inspiration. You don't have to track much of anything in combat, because your specialty maneuvers can be used whenever you want. As the protagonist of the story, you also simply get more Narrative Imperative than other characters, so go out and take some chances! Provided are:

• The Hobgoblin Hero. The Khans demand just one thing: excellency. And you have it. You're able to excel at everything you put your mind to because you have cunning, strength, and steel on your side.

27

You are a Warlock. You channel power from otherworldly sources. Each day you can draw up a new pact, which gives you different powers you can use. But the most powerful spells of your pact carry a price, they drain you physically, mentally, or spiritually to channel that much power. That's the pact, that's the "payment." All the power you get for free is to try to entice you to draw down just a little more power than you can handle. But you're too smart for that.

• The Tiefling Warlock. During the occupation, some people interbred with the conquerors. Your ancestors from this world did, and sometimes people are jerks to you about it. But having infernal blood in your veins isn't just about getting the stink eye from anti-demon zealots, it also makes it easy (or at least easier) to channel infernal power. You'll fight for this world, it's where you're from, it's where you keep all your stuff. But you'll use the infernal powers to do it. That's ironic, not merely unfortunate.

28

You are an Enchanter. You can place magical enchantments on things to improve them. You can make wards that protect things and enhancements that improve things in other ways. When one of your enchantments is ongoing, you can burn it to get an impressive instant effect, but it will take some time to put your enchantment back together once you've broken it.

• The Dwarven Enchanter. Dwarves have long taken an interest in crafting and forging, so it is almost cliche for one to take up enchantment. The runes you place onto your weapons are a mix of spells that are centuries old and new and innovative ones that have been custom made by you.

29

You're an Elementalist. You have control over the elements, though the power of each of the elements ebbs and flows chaotically. When an element is in ascendancy an Elementalist attuned to that element can do amazing things, and when that element is not... it may be best to use a different element for a while.

• The Kobold Elementalist. You've long suspected that the mighty blood of dragons flows in your veins stronger than it does in other Kobolds. When you found yourself able to breathe fire, your suspicions were confirmed. You may be small, but you are scaly and destructive. The elements are yours to command, and your enemies will burn.

-Username17

[Dogbert]

It depends on what do you understand by IMR.

From where I see it, you'd need to ask your placers anticipated Nth level builds. Just give them the respective WBL, and give each a piece of loot you can assure they'll have by that point no matter what.

Then, open the game with a key battle (one close to the showdown, preferably one that you know will happen no matter what) and hand your players those sheets and run the battle towards a cliffhanger. Once things look at their worst... THEN the real game starts, everyone grab your lvl 1 sheets once again.

[TheFlatline]

My Dark Heresy game started In Media Res. I had players gen characters independent of each other and I told each of them "You are in a powerful woman's debt. Figure out that debt".

Then first session I read the setup. 30 minutes ago this "powerful woman" revealed herself as an Inquisitor and called in their debt for a task. That task was to assault one of three buildings: The inquisitor and her retinue assaulting one, the local Planetary Defense Force assaulting a second, and having the third building but no ready assets, she pulled in the closest assets she had; a half a dozen low level characters that "owed" her. Her protoge was acting as comms officer and coordinator.

Naturally in the first mission everything went to shit, buildings blew up, the inquisitor was killed, and the party was off on a mission to find out who killed the Inquisitor and why. It wasn't until the second or third session when there was down time for the party that they got to know each other somewhat.

It was a way to get disparate party members together and working as a team. If your PCs are already a team, think up a basic adventure and skip right to the climax of the adventure and toss the party in. Make allowances for the idea that the team probably isn't going to play as well together as it will in a few sessions.

[RadiantPhoenix]

For a tabletop RPG, I would read "in media res" not to mean, "we play this, then we play what caused it," because that way lies railroading, but instead, "we start here, and play from here, and we fill in how it happened later."

Basically, don't try to do time travel with causality when some of the authors don't have complete information. It gets really complicated and likely unpleasant.

[silva]

That flowchart question system is really interesting Frank, thanks!

And it just occurred to me that Danger Patrol concept "In the last episode.." where each player contributes with some flashback introducing events or elements, would fit nicely with this idea. I mean, thats already an "in media res" intro, right ?

[zugschef]

It's "in medias res", by the way...

[...You Lost Me]

I guessed everything but rogue and ranger. So close.