Intro Credits Montage
At the start of each Blades in the Dark session, I play the main theme for Dishonored 2 and we describe the city and characters like the opening of a TV show. The theme song sets the tone and our descriptions highlight small details in the fiction. I do this for a few reasons.
Signal the start of the session
I play online with old friends across the globe so we often spend the first few minutes catching up and discussing administrative details of the campaign. When we’re all ready, I start the music to signal we are in game-mode now and focusing on this session.
Reinforce the themes and moods
I describe it exactly like I would a TV show. “The camera pans over a shadowy Duskvol before zooming down to Nightmarket”. During my prep, I list a theme or two that I would like the session to highlight and I use this intro to quickly describe scenes that build that. I also use this to describe the rumors and random events that happened during the downtime. One of my recent favorites was describing a light from a boat piercing the foggy canal and then incrementally described a Spirit Warden looking for wayward spirits.
Build characters through “micro” scenes
The last part of the montage is focused on the characters. I do a call out and have them describe a ten second scene involving their character to flesh them out a few details at a time. Sometimes it is how they are reacting to recent events, other times it’s a general scene that could slot in before any session. It is also an opportunity to clarify any misconceptions the players have. I also find it useful to see how the players describe their own characters. Maybe what I thought was a minor quirk, they see as a key aspect of their character.
Overall the whole thing takes less than 5 minutes (when my theme song is ending, I know to wrap it up), but when we are done, someone usually gets inspired and takes the initiative on starting the action. I think the key is limiting each description to 10 seconds, including nudging players to wrap up lengthy dissertations.
I think this works for episodic games, but if the current session picks up immediately where the last one left off in the middle of the dungeon, it doesn’t make much sense to describe them sharpening a blade beside a campfire. Instead, maybe they highlight past experiences. What has your character done that defines who they are as an entity in the fiction? Was it bringing an ally back to life, running along the wall to bypass the mooks and engage the boss directly, or something else? So far, I have only incorporated this into my soon-to-be concluded Blades in the Dark game but I think it’s going to carry forward into all my future games.