From Screen to Tabletop 1
From Screen to Tabletop 1
The Cold Open
By Craig Campbell
RPGs are, at their core, an exercise in storytelling. We engage in them as a group and often with specific roles to play, but they’re about telling interesting, engaging, human stories.
That said, there are plenty of other storytelling mediums. I’m particularly interested in film and television. I’m fascinated by the methods and techniques TV and film writers, producers, directors, etc. use to tell a story. And I’ve found myself wondering if the things I see in TV and movie production can transfer to RPG storytelling. Are there clear analogs between techniques used by TV/movie makers and roleplaying groups? Are there aspects of film and television methods that can be harnessed conceptually and translated to the different, yet related, medium of tabletop roleplaying games?
This series is an exploration of the connection between TV/film storytelling and RPG storytelling, with the hope to find correlations that GMs and players can latch onto and perhaps discover a few things even the most experienced roleplayer hasn’t thought to bring into their games.
For this first entry, we’ll begin at the beginning…
The Cold Open
A cold open is one or more opening scenes in a TV show that begin before the show’s titles or credits have come up. The show just starts, so you’re “coming in cold.”
Example: House M.D. S2-E17 “All In”
In the cold open, a young woman leads a group of children through a massive model of a heart at a learning museum. We quickly learn she’s their teacher. And she’s also pregnant. (Uh-oh.)
One of the kids needs to go to the restroom, so she asks for a volunteer from among the others to go with him. Suddenly, the teacher doubles over in pain. (Oh, no!). The kids ask if she’s okay, wondering aloud if the baby is coming.
As she gives the kids instructions on how to find her some help, she spots blood. One of the little boys is bleeding. Tension rises. He’s bleeding quite a lot. The teacher yells for help.
Roll opening credits.
On the Screen
A wide variety of TV shows use cold opens. The intent is to get the viewer right into the story and not give them time to flip channels during an extended opening credits sequence. In the streaming age, this has less importance, but the cold open has become a trusted way to open a show, so it doesn’t really matter.
Cold opens are often a microcosm of the show. They introduce some characters you’re likely to see in the show (in the above example, a future hospital patient and a parental figure). They present a situation or conflict that is typical for the show. And they get one of the episode’s stories moving, often the main story.
In mysteries—and most police and medical procedurals are mysteries to some extent—the cold can present a mini-mystery, as in the above example. Who’s going to get sick? What will the illness be? Who are the loved ones through whose eyes we may view the entire episode?
And they set expectations. They remind you of the things you like about the show and get you excited to go on a journey with your beloved characters again.
At the Table
We can apply the principles of the cold open to the beginning of a game session pretty easily. It’s a matter of identifying the primary aspects of the game, the player group, and current, ongoing storyline (if there is one). And let that opening scene hit on those things in very clear ways.
Let’s say you’re GMing a Masks game with a table full of introspective players who really get into the teen angst aspect of that RPG. Your cold open might:
Introduce an NPC who just manifested a superpower and is nervous of what their family might think when they find out. They don’t know the characters are super; but they can give some super advice. Later, that NPC becomes integral to the session.
The characters learn that their mentor, a protector in the city, has gone missing, and it’s up to the characters to find them and save the day. Pepper the opening with anything that will make characters doubt themselves or worry excessively about how they’re being forced to grow up too soon and deal with something so serious.
Start the session with the whole school having spread rumors about two of the characters and their dating/love—whether true or not. How does this information impact their friends? The teachers? Have multiple NPCs bring the relationship up to the characters and push them each into their own personal hell about revealing—or denying—such things.
If you’re GMing a kick-in-the-door Dungeons & Dragons game with players who love to show off their weapons and spells, your cold open might:
Start in the middle of a fight, on a bloody battlefield. Assign some hit point loss to the characters and deplete some of their favorite spells. Then introduce reinforcements! Invite the players to dive right into the fight and reveal what it’s about during the remaining battle or in a wrap-up scene at the end.
Start with the characters on a cliff, overlooking a devastated, burning village. On the far end of the wrecked hamlet, they see a massive, multi-tentacled monster, slumping its way down the road toward the next town.
Have a rival group of dungeoneers challenge the characters to a tale-telling contest in the tavern. Give the players the chance to recount their characters’ greatest moments and earn free drinks and coins in the process.
There’s nothing wrong with “easing into” a game session. Much fun can be had with character banter, shopping for gear, and searching for leads on adventure. But starting things by kicking into high gear with something intrinsic to the game can serve to impel the characters forward quickly. It reminds them of the things they love about the game and their characters. It reinforces the central themes of the game and current storyline. And it wastes no time in getting everyone engaged.
This type of game opening is particularly useful in convention games and other one shots, as well as when the previous session set up a big plot moment and you want to get right to it.
This IGDN blog article is brought to you by Craig Campbell of NerdBurger Games. If you want to get in touch with the contributor they can be reached at NerdBurgerGames@gmail.com or visit their website at NerdBurgerGames.com.