[UA] In media res

[Kevin Elmore]

> We've been discussing the technique of 'in media res'
> recently - starting the game in the middle of the action.
>  One of the points raised by one of my players was that
> when it happens to James Bond whilst the _audience_ are
> dropped straight into the action, Bond isn't.  He's gone
> through whatever has taken him to the point where the
> audience join him.

I'll throw out an idea I have right now.  Someday I'll
write this puppy.

I'm thinking of a 2-part event.  The first part has the
characters (all pregenerated) in a strange place, like a
supermarket where the aisles never end or some labyrinth. 
The only people they see are each other.

Sometimes, one of the characters will see people from his
own life and interact with them.  The others can only watch
and not intervene.  Eventually, they all interact with
segments from their own lives.  In each instance, they see
a man whose very essence is void.  Just a man that they
instantly hate and fear.  They want to flee, but they want
to kill the man.

The characters are actually demons all killed by the same
man.  They see him as the void they fear and hate.  In
actuality, they are all in the same place and can interact
with each other.

When a person interacts with a segment of his own life, the
demon actually possesses someone in the real world (I think
a supermarket is a good place for a diverse mix of people).
 What he perceives as his own family/friends are actually
family/friends of the person he possessed.  However, their
lives are so similar that the deluded demon only sees his
own life through this person's eyes.

So, say a demon was a banker who neglected his family and
caused his son to take drugs and kill himself.  The demon
may possess a lawyer who works hard and neglects his
family.  However, he happens to be at the market with his
wife and teen-aged son.  The demon thinks it odd that his
son is alive now, but he sees a chance to convince the kid
not to take drugs.  In reality, the lawyer has a chance to
stop the kid from killing himself.  Through the banker's
mistake prior to death, the lawyer is saving himself.

Then part 2 might involve the living characters, fully
possessed by the demons.  Thus, the players have an idea of
the personalities and why the characters are so whacked. 
Each of these characters have a burning desire to kill this
one man.  

So, the demons save these people by patching up their home
lives but then ruin them by killing their murderer.

I haven't fully fleshed that out.  It's somewhat media res
in that the demons could possibly receive visions of their
past, and in a sense, they are reliving the past through
the people they possess.

Kevin




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