[Gingivitis]

With Anarchy being so fully invested in storytelling, it is the perfect venue for storytelling tools that seldom see use in RPGs.  This first one fhat comes to mind is the Montage.

When you need to get some Legwork or Investigation done but want to get into the exciting parts faster (like in a book or movie) these rules can be used to represent that.

MONTAGE SCENES
Steps for Stylized Legwork and Investigation
 
1.       Game Master may reveal certain Scene Tags or Cues as a starting point for the Montage.  Players spend 1 Plot Point each to begin the Montage.

2.       Players roll Willpower + Charisma (if they are working the crowd or hitting up contacts) or Willpower + Logic (if they are working the Matrix or hitting the books) and are ranked by net hits (lowest to highest) opposed by standard difficulty rating.

3.       Players narrate increasingly successful encounters at various locations or with various NPCs (starting with lowest ranked PC).

4.       Players must describe what their character is doing plus what other player characters or contacts are doing.

5.       Players may narrate Cue-reasonable violence but there are no further tests and no combats.

6.       Game Master may reveal clues, scene locations, NPC information, etc. based on Narrations and net hits.

What do you think?

[SINlessSlacker]

I definitely like the idea of making prep/research rolls into montages, but I'm not sure it needs specific rules. Just have them make their rolls as normal and describe the narration as a montage when appropriate. I worry about making too many specific rulings about how to handle things, that's one of the big flaws of the regular SR rules.

[Beta]

I would call this more of a technique than a rule.  Not so much "This is how you shall do this" and more "Hey, here is a cool tool that you might find useful in your games sometimes."

[Gingivitis]

Beta, that's exactly what it's meant to be.  A storytelling technique.  Just a way to reveal cues by spending Plot Points, rolling some dice, taking turns narrating the montage with no combat.  I didn't mean for the numbering of steps to be anything that needs to be looked up later.

The last rule is that you have to play 80's synthpop in the background and the montage has to be over before the song fades out...

[Czevak]

excellent. Thank you.
It reminds me the Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book.
Do you plan, Gingivitis, to extend this idea to handle other topics?

[Gingivitis]

I was thinking of using something like this for Flashbacks.  Not sure I want to de-emphasize preparedness or the punishment of poor preparation.  But it is a storytelling tool that FEELS like it fits into Anarchy.

It will probably look like:

- Spend Plot Point (to break narrative continuity)
- Make a roll (something to represent prep work, forethought, or experience: Logic + Edge or Edge + Edge)
- Spend another Plot Point to swap out gear/weapon or gain some information or some other prep work.

Something like that...

[Czevak]

I had in mind After Run: getting paid, downtime, ...?
Anyway, thanks again.

[Gingivitis]

That's a great idea.  I mean, using a montage to improve your skills is a classic use of the cinematic technique.  In that case you definitely have to play Eye of the Tiger in the background!

[Beta]

I like the plot point for flash-back idea, especially if you kind of set it up earlier.  After all, it is nice to be all prepared, but a little more dramatic to get to the point where it looks like you are hosed, and only then flash back to the preparations you did for just this situation.