Effectiveness of "Painting the Scene"?

#41

Adding my voice re the “change of gear” perspective. I generally like being involved in defining the world, introducing colour, and so on. When I play a game where I’m expecting to have to do it - e.g. if I’m the Watcher in a Lovecraftesque game - then I really get into it and (I hope) add a lot to the atmosphere of the game.

But I’ve experienced games where I thought that wasn’t on the table, where it comes out of left field, and I get stumped. It can really knock me out of my comfort zone and leave me feeling off-balance.

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#42

I was thinking about this technique recently, and something occurred to me: the Painting the Scene Technique is particularly good at conveying the feel of a film montage.

It feels like a montage, because we’re going around the table and getting multiple, fairly quick “takes” on the scene. A single GM relating details just can’t generate the same effect, because it’s all presented in one “voice.” Maybe a really talented voice-actor or monologist would be able to mimic the effect, but in general, a series of quick descriptions presented by the GM will feel like a single long “shot” more than a montage.

And that realization–that Painting the Scene basically mimics the effect of a montage–points at the best times to use Painting the Scene. It’s going to work best in the same sort of moments that a montage works in film: to establish a new scene; to transition between scenes in a way that implies considerable distance in time/place; to gloss over “downtime” or “preparation” or “training;” to show epilogues, etc.

I guess you don’t have to use the Paint the Scene technique specifically, but any technique that rotates through quick contributions from each player will have some of the feel of a montage.

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#43

I like what you’re saying here.

So I might use this for journeys: Where I (as GM) would otherwise say “Okay, you start riding, and now you’re there” I would then ask “As you are traversing a steep mountain slope, what does Samed see to remind him of the tragedy that happens years hence?”, or “As you are riding after the faerie huntress into the forest, what trail does she leave for Bridget to follow?”

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#44

I’ve used it this way. It is very effective!

I actually started a “finale” session with a scene setting montage where players all gave shots of themselves preparing for what was about to happen.

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#45

I’m now imagining giving players a physical slider to indicate visually where their individual preference lies between authorial-and-reactive at any given moment: You-can-pass-the-GM-role-to-me at one extreme and I-require-perfect-character-immersion-and-no-authorship at the other, with plenty of room in between to indicate just how much they’d like to participate in generating the fiction outside their character.

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#46

@sa_liberty It’s really cool to use this technique for a “lock and load” montage. I also had fun using it to paint the final battle, giving players the chance to narrate how their favorite NPCs contributed to a sprawling cast-of-thousands final confrontation.

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