She who Haunts my Dreams

One piece of cinematic storytelling that is often overlooked in roleplaying games is the idea of themes that run through and across scenes. Here we have intercut scenes both dealing with the drawing of weapons.

A way to make use of this in the more dynamic and open-ended narrative of a game is to decide on a thematic element and then insert it wherever you can. The element can be inanimate objects (swords, trees, wells), creatures (fairies, bugs, dragons), environment or conditions (cold, heights, water), or even emotions (jealousy, curiosity, anger). Every time the heroes go somewhere or meet someone, that theme is represented there somehow. Mention it. Dwell on it. Stress it. The idea is to have your players pick up on it, either consciously, or perhaps subconsciously. Either way is good!

Just imagine that almost everywhere they go, there is a well. It could be a mundane source of water, perfectly safe. It might be an entrance to a strange dungeon system. It might be haunted. It could be anything, but there's always a well. After a while the players might feel a bit uneasy every time they spot a well. Or they expect it to be there.

Then you can hit them with the next village, which seems utterly normal, people going about their business... except there's no well.

aurilee writes:

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DNA can be a cool plot device. Its manipulation leads to whole genres of biopunk and transhumanism. And of course DNA can be evidence in modern day crime adventures. Also imagine what could be done if ancient civilisations learn about DNA (maybe from friendly aliens)...

aurilee writes:

Transcript