I've used them many times in my game, and it's quite cool for the added information / atmospherics.
1) while in Karina for the festival, I had them share the same dream :
“Ral DeNonna had been more intoxicated in his life, but never had so much fun! The songfests of his village in Kartakass couldn't hold a candle to the revelry of Karina during Carnival! The day had been a whirlwind of dancing in the streets, scantily-clad women, and more wine than he thought existed in the world. It was past midnight now, and he staggered alone down Front Street, singing at the top of his lungs, enjoying the sound of his voice echoing off the walls of the buildings and that of the wine sloshing in the bottle he carried. Then he saw a fellow reveler, a slender man in a dark cloak and wide-brimmed hat. He called to the man, offering him wine and the opportunity to join him in song. The man raised an arm, in what Ral thought was a greeting... until he saw the blade flash in the moonlight. In his final moments, Ral was stone-sober. As Ral's blood mingled with spilled wine and flowed into the gutter with all the money he stole that day, the darkclad man merged with the shadows…”
Benefit : intro to the Midnight Slasher. Someone is out there to kill. But added mystery, the man killed was a thief. What are the killer's motivation?
2) they cross path with the Midnight Slasher in Karina, and think the guy
is evil. Then a cut scene was added to the session journal.
“You are a child, may be 8 or 10 years old. You come back from the market with your mother. You are carrying sweet smelling bread. It is a very sunny day and you are happy. When you arrive home, your mother and yourself surprise your father with another woman. This woman is incredibly beautiful. As this woman stands by laughing mockingly, the young couple starts a violent fight. Prompted by the beautiful woman, your mother grabs a knife and the argument escalates into something that neither of them can control. In the end, husband and wife kill each other, utterly consumed by their overwhelming rage. When it is over, both are lying on the floor. The beautiful lady laughs and before she leaves the bloody scene, she pauses on her way out just long enough to kneel beside the almost catatonic child and kisses you gently on your forehead”
The dream ends with this image (strip from a Batman comic) :
- 06 mid slasher - the promise2.jpg (504.72 KiB) Viewed 999 times
Benefit : another point of view, to make him more sympathetic.
So you see cut scenes can be added anywhere anytime.
I also did send cut scenes to my players by emails days before the next game session. Added anticipation.
3) I use cut scenes to go back in time, to give players added info. Ex, with the Effigy of Ivan Szimin (a golem), I ended a game with the moment Szimin was killed and the golem animated from hatred :
“Meanwhile, Ivan Szimin struggled to his window, desperate for one last look at his assailant. Holding one hand to his wound to stem the flow of blood, he used the other to pull his head up to the window. There, he saw the night lit up by a bonfire. No, not a bonfire—a burning statue, which appeared to be looking directly at him through a black knothole in the wooden head. As he caught a glimpse of gold on the torso of the construction, realization dawned upon him. Filled with a rage and hatred of Gundarakites like he had never known before, Ivan’s last moments were spent staring into the eye of the effigy...” (from Stu's original article)
Benefit : a cool clue as to when/where does this thing comes from.
Nothing that gives too much information, and something they could have found from a maid (i.e. not deus ex machina source of info that was impossible to find otherwise). Cut scenes can help the players focus in the right direction and helps quicken a game.
And that text is well written, it's a shame it's not shared with the players
Same for other RL sources.
4) another historic flash back, this time from Jules Weathermay's point of view :
"George and Alice are gone, and Daniel is raising the twins Laurie and Gennifer with the help of servants. Your lordship office in the Foxgrove Manor seems so cold, so bare. Days and weeks pile up on your aging frame like earth on a coffin, steady and inexorable.
When monster hunting George finally returns home with a fiancée, years after you gave him up as bones in some beast's lair, you feel a surge of joy with the thought that your son may settle down and continue the Weathermay name he's fought so hard to ennoble. Your heated arguments with your son went unmentioned and you were able to make a modicum of peace for the sake of his new bride.
Such a delicate beauty, too, with a demure, exotic air and a name to match: Natalia."
Benefit : back in time, from Jules's point of view. Suddenly, the bitter old man is more sympathetic. And whay Natalia was so welcomed in teh family .. and so Natalia was a bitter disapointment.
5) and, as other suggested, a reward for their action. After battling werewolves, a fight where Natalia Vorishkova was hurt :
After the battle, Natalia is alone in a small hole in the rocks. She is licking her wounds and is shaking with rage …
Benefit : She is still alive and was hurt. They have a new enemy.
You see I often use visions or dreams to pass cut scenes. Players now think it's in the ways of the world, more or less like ethereal resonance. Or places have a memory for negative emotions, and transmit them through dreams...
6) after fighting and destroying the golem Azenwrath, another foreshadowing cut scene sent by email :
This very night, in a lonely village way north of Canondale, a small wooden house stands outside the field limits. This house is inhabited by an old woman, who is not seeing much since a few years. Her sharp eyes went darker and darker with the passing years.
When she hears noise in her kitchen, she assumed it was that mouse again. But somehow, the noise was different. It was like an object was slowly vacillating, like a beating heart or a trembling hand. “The poor mouse is stuck somewhere”, she thought, “and is shaking from fear.”
She then found the origin of the noise to be her kitchen tools drawer. “The poor little thing”, she thought, “got stuck in the drawer while foraging for food.”
She was to open the drawer when a loud electric storm bang was heard in the distance. She waited in anticipation. Another bang was heard seconds later, but nearby. The old woman went quickly outside before the incoming storm to get the linens she had displayed for drying.
This night, during the storm, no one heard her screams of pain.
Benefit : be careful, what you just destroyed can/will return ...