The Scene of the Crime, part II: The Rhythm of the Crime

Now before you go describing anything to the players, make sure that you yourself understand the mood that you wish to establish. If you have to take a few moments to visualize the scene yourself, do so. You need to know what the scene looks like and how you feel about it, and then relate those visuals and moods to the players.

Once I’ve captured the scene in my mind, generally what I do is make an on the spot decision on what is the most immediate and effective method with which to describe the scene to the players. I’ve found that the most crucial aspect of scene description is getting the atmosphere of the place established as soon as possible, as the atmosphere tends to align everyone to the details quickly and efficiently. You have to consider that even if you use extensive diagrams and scenery detail, that the atmosphere still will dictate the posture and awareness of characters. How the characters are standing/sitting, the level of tension present, the comfort level of the environment—these and other variables are going to affect the action just as much as the dimensions of the room, the furniture, etc. By getting the atmospheric/environmental aspect taken care of first or in conjunction with the details, we are allowed to make assumptions of the attitudes of the characters (this assumes that enough play-time has elapsed to establish character personality). Adept roleplayers may even run with the ball and display their posture in RL, or inform the GM verbally.

The following represent an inventory of techniques and heuristics that I use to accomplish the aforementioned effects.

Cadence, pattern and pace

Speech rhythm is one of the easiest ways to convey tone and establish the tempo of the scene. Are the players in a crowded metropolis? You can describe all the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes about them or you can speak in faster, louder, clipped diction about the city in general, describing only items of import, implying with your speech patterns that the city is busy and doesn’t exactly have time for anyone, including the PCs. Keep moving, please.

Or, if you are describing a desolate, barren scene (possibly the desert), just…be boring. Drone on about the unswerving lines of heat, the endless sea of sand occasionally punctuated by a cactus, the unswerving heat, the endless sea of sand, the…well, you get the point. Just as that boredom begins to turn to irritation, you then turn to the meat of the scene and give them some form of action.

The desert example also illustrates the use of patterns—you can use repetitions of a word or phrase to hammer in the mode, but don’t use it too frequently, or you risk immunizing your players to it. What I use it for mostly is to set up sudden contrasts and changes to the environment—something repeats over and over and over and over then boom! something else happens. A great way to do this is to extend the repetition over several sessions and apply it to a place that the PCs frequent. Use the same phrase (or variations of) to describe the place until it becomes something of an in-joke, then change or delete the phrase one time without warning. In doing this you exercise subtle yet powerful influence over how your players perceive their environs, keeping them at a certain state of awareness about where they go and what they do, as opposed to taking places for granted.

Cadence and patterns are used together most often when establishing the pace of the scene. How fast is everything going? Is it a car chase? Is it a quiet Southern farming town? Fast cadence and little to no patterns establish a quickened pace (as do decreased time for players to interact with the environment—in fast scenes I often allow players about three seconds maximum to decide what they are doing), and slowed cadence with an emphasis on repetition establishes the pace as laid-back and leisurely. Pacing is crucial to controlling the amount of player immersion—fast, intense pacing requires a similar amount of player immersion, and conversely slower, less intense paces require less. When you slow down the pace, you allow the players a moment to relax and prepare for the next really intense scene. The way a GM paces is comparable to how a DJ works a crowd, building the energy and mood upwards to a feverish pitch, then decelerating the tempo to allow rest, then building upwards again…repeating this to effect for the duration of the event, sustaining a certain level of immersion and involvement throughout.

Next week, I’ll discuss time travel. No, seriously.

See you then.

-Q.