You gotta suck ‘em in and keep ‘em hooked
Everyone loves a good movie. Tastes differ, of course, but no one can argue about the effectiveness of a memorable opening sequence. It immediately sets the tone of the movie and makes the audience want more. Let me give you some examples:
- Jaws – A woman swimming alone. She feels a nibbling on her feet. She giggles. Then she realizes something’s wrong. Then she goes under.
- X-Men 2 – Nightcrawler’s bampfing his way through the White House was spectacular.
- Dirty Harry – “Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”
- Saving Private Ryan – D-Day.
- Jurassic Park – “Shoot her!”
- Raiders of the Lost Ark – Traps. Betrayal. Boulders. Snakes. What more could you ask for?
- Star Wars: A New Hope – Holy crap! That ship is huge!
- Reservoir Dogs – “Let me tell you what Like a Virgin is about.” I’ve never been so intrigued by an opening scene where people were just sitting around a table doing nothing but talking.
- Gladiator – “On my mark, unleash hell.”
There are more, of course, but these help make my point. No matter what kind of game you run, D&D, Vampire, LARP, whatever, you need to start off strong to make the players want more.
Here’s an example of what I’ve done in the past to start off a memorable campaign set in Eberron.
The PCs meet on the Lightning Rail. They’re all going to meet an old friend of theirs, Bonal, in Sharn. They introduce themselves to each other. A few folks go to get food and some stay in the car. Suddenly, a warforged breaks through the window and stabs the wizard, dropping him. The others take a few punches and the warforged pulls a rope, flying through the car and back onto the roof of the speeding train. The PCs pursue, with one almost falling off the train, and corner the warforged on the back of the train. The warforged yells, “Say hello to Bonal for me!” before jumping off. This was all within the first 30 minutes of the campaign.
Needless to say, the players knew they were in for something once they got to Sharn. It not only peaked their interest, it was something they remembered throughout the campaign. In fact, when the PCs purchased a home in Sharn when they were at higher levels, they purposefully made sure it didn’t have any windows.
So what about you? What have you done to get your PCs immediately into the thick of things and wondering what the heck they’ve gotten themselves in to?
