How To INSTANTLY Engage your players

[@masonnash9396]

My favorite start to a campaign that I've had is starting in the middle of combat. When each player's turn came up, that was their chance to describe their character for the first time to the group.

[@goblinsalvagerites]

That sounds awesome!

[@erikellis4766]

I love this idea!

[@robertnett9793]

The Conan RPG is big on starting 'in media res' - like the starting adventure throws the party directly into the aftermath of a large scale battle - their side lost. So, crawling out from under some corpse that hid yourself from the enemy blades, seeing just some surviving stragglers (the other players) amongst the corpse littered field, a stench of blood and rot in the air, vultures circling overhead... the real winners of this clash.... And from there you rarely have a dull moment, chased by enemy cavalry and doing heroic things...

[@goblinsalvagerites]

YES EXACTLY! Picking and setting a tone is important to pull this off, that's why the song choice is so impactful.

[@robertnett9793]

@@goblinsalvagerites That seems to be a bit of a struggle for me, though. Maybe I have the wrong taste in music in general, or just don't stumble upon suitable gems. I use - if I have enough time to prepare - soundtracks for sessions, though. Instrumentals first and foremost, as lyrics tend to be quite distracting, in my opinion... Not the same, but works for setting the mood.

[@laurence4352]

song choice: murder on the dancefloor. I think you can see where this is going lol

[@goblinsalvagerites]

Love it! 🤣

[@DeeImaginarium]

I have a 9 Lives of Valhalla game I want to run soon, and since it's a "death metal viking cat" ttrpg I thought to give this song inspired session prep idea of yours a go! Here's my results! Theme Word: Intensity Song Choice: Bloodshed by Reboot the System Action Sequence: Hunters hear of a helpless and divine "Primate God" that somehow escaped the wrath of elite hunters. This time there will be no salvation, through a ruthless way of mass destruction blood shall be spilled and no one is safe now. (I pulled directly from the lyrics to write the action sequence) Coyfact: The Primate God escaped but it is not known how or to where, the other group of hunters calls to the PCs for aid to finish the job because the players are in possession of the mummified hand of a Pantheran Saint (pg 23). If the Primate God is not found and/or slain it will teach the ape cults to rebuild the city of men to supplant cats from their feline throne. Together the two groups of cat hunters (PCs and NPCs - read NPCs as "cannon fodder") will storm the ape stronghold and put a stop to this heresy or get to Valhalla trying. I'll post the Outcome in the Discord server 😄 This was a fun little exercise to spark a get up and go kind of game though, I plan to play with it a bit in some other sessions too. Keep up the good content!

[@goblinsalvagerites]

THIS SOUNDS FUCKING EPIC!

[@protochniy]

Thought about this exact method of starting sessions for 2 weeks already. Its great to see someone actually thinking of somethimg similar and speaking this out loud. Also i consider this is great way to start sessions if you have some juice action planned out but know that your players will spend 2 hours planning stuff in front of entrance of dungeon instead of actually playing fun part. great vid!

[@goblinsalvagerites]

Thank you! We really think frameworks are important, they help us communicate these ideas in a way that people really understand. What's your next cold open going to be about?

[@protochniy]

​@@goblinsalvagerites We have in our campaign this underground like second city underneath current one, where unlicenced fights take place. And these are no usual fights but beast arena fights where different creatures, monsters and sometimes people fight to death. Only elite have access to this place: pirate captains, kingpins, corrupt dukes etc. and lots of really dark schemes take place there. So party wanted to destroy the whole thing and they made alliance with 3 different factions: bandit gang, adventurers guild and vikings pirate crew, there was great very tense negotiation part of session where party just did their best to bring these 3 VERY different groups to cooperate. And here we are - on the very next session these HORDE of misfits and losers will fight the worst scumbags of the city in underground caves and arenas, however I was afraid they would spend half of session trying to figure out how to split groups and where to send forces instead of actually exploring the place. So yeah, my cold open will be just setting the scene in the middle of a fight with something already going off the original plan, just you know SHOVE THEM INTO THE ACTION FURNACE immediately!

[@dlarso11]

Great ideas🎉

[@goblinsalvagerites]

Thanks! We hope you found something you could use.

[@CoffeeMaus]

Note, DON'T try this with new players. Mine almost died to orcs and kept asking what dice to roll. It took so long they were falling asleep around the time I threw the assassin cult recruitment drive at them post fight.

[@goblinsalvagerites]

Yes and no. A good session zero should be the place for you to explain narrative devices like this to players. That's also a good time for you to learn how "gamey" your players perceive a TTRPG to be. A good GM should ask players if they are limiting themselves to the abilities on their character sheet. It sounds like in your case, the players are on the y-er side of the spectrum, which is totally fine. These narrative tools may be a little jarring for them specifically, but once they open up to the ideas of improv, they'll have a good time.

[@CoffeeMaus]

@@goblinsalvagerites Actually 3/4 of the group were ~23-30 including me. One forever DM who's never played paladin and two new guys who've only played 1-3 one shots prior. They were and still are pretty bad at the game and at improv. We ended up moving to FATE eventually because of how slow our combat was. Suits me, I liked the roleplay more anyway.

[@goblinsalvagerites]

That sounds like a great fit for FATE. @@CoffeeMaus

[@Iudayus]

would this happen before or after a session zero?

[@robertnett9793]

Considering it should helping you designing compelling starts for single adventures, I'd say after. But it might be a good idea to adress the idea of 'in media res' starts during a session zero, checking the waters if your players are OK with it. Starting off the deep end can be seen as taking away player agency - as you throw them into danger without THEM making the deciding step to bring them into said danger. This may lead to 'Hey, if we had a say in it, we never had alienated THOSE guys who now giving us a hard time. Not a big thing, and from experience, once announced, most players are cool with this kind of style - as it's incredible dynamic. You also should make sure, your PCs have a compelling reason, why they are IN the mess they find themselves. For example - I did this for 'Vultures of Shem' the introductionary adventure in the Conan RPG sourcebook - which itself doesn't give a good hook for players to BE at the given place (a certain battlefield) so I gave them a shor introduction mail, where I explained how they arrived in the city, were introduced to the Prince leading his army helping his cousin etc etc. A bit personalised so every character had some kind of a reason to be there: "Your mythical mentor spoke in your dreams, telling you to go to Koth as something strange begins brewing there." "You are a soldier of fortune - and fortune had it, that the local Prince is in search of able bodied soldiers. You and your skill may even grant you being a Seargeant if you are quick." and so on...

[@goblinsalvagerites]

Definitely after session zero, This is a way to design a single session of the game you'll be playing with your players. But definitely shouldn't be overused, because it can get pretty tiring if done in succession. One in every five or six sessions is probably a good mix.

[@erikellis4766]

If I'm understanding your question right, it's whenever you feel you can get the highest amount of player buy-in for the idea. If your players like surprises, then spring it on them in medias res. If your players are control freaks about their own character agency, then give them a heads up before you prep for the session so you don't waste all that energy. I don't feel it's fair to ask a GM to declare every tool they want to use during the Session Zero. That's feels controlling to me. At the same time, players shouldn't have to sign off on a campaigns worth of GM tricks before session one. It comes down to reading your table so you keep the Feelbadz to a minimum.