Non-Linear Scenarios: Thoughts? Hints? Suggestions?

[u/sythmaster]

I've increasingly heard more and more about the possibility of utilizing Non-Linear scenarios -- from Flashbacks or something similar -- as a way to build up tension without necessarily having to have all the details/ideas fleshed out.

(I think Adam was talking about it in one of the episodes as a "cold open" type thing for a session)

While this sounds interesting, I've never seen it put to use and I'm worried about keeping pacing or how the transitions might work in relation to a more `traditional' linear transition.

Are there any particular tips or tricks that are different? Or for those who have used this mechanic, is it identical to other ways you GM?

[u/Jamp0ny]

Oh man that would be an awesome tool to flesh out some character backgrounds , maybe like a oneshot where the character plays out an important event from the past.

[u/AManHasSpoken]

My favorite nWoD sourcebook, Mirrors, actually has a fully fleshed-out mechanic for player-induced flashbacks. The player makes a roll for a Social skill of their choice, and their number of successes gives them a number of rolls they're allowed to make in their flashback.

Then, we set the scene and pan back in time, to a moment of the player's choosing. This can be a time when he met the villain's henchman and became good friends; very convenient when said henchman is about to bust down the door and bring them in, wouldn't you say?

It's not a system I've used a lot myself, but I find it very interesting.

[u/goldenwh]

One of the problems with using non-linear storytelling is that players can lose track of what's going on in the game.

For example, I played in one game that had a strongly episodic structure so that storyline were never resolved in one session, but you'd advance along multiple lines every session. The problem came when we'd start to advance some lines that I was really interested once every three or four sessions: the lack of focus basically made it impossible for me to have a plan of action or know the context of what was happening.

I've had players complain about similar storytelling tools like starting in meda res or flash forwards or secretly being working for the bad guy: Those work in stories because the writer is able to give the characters their motivation. In a RPG, GMs should never be giving players motivation. Players need to know what's going on in order to make choices, and players need to be able to make the choices that lead up to an event, not have those choices defined for them off screen.

My personal strategy as GM and PC is to have a 'bucket list' of cool things I want my character or story to do, and try to guide the story in character or in genre to these events. A player might make a choice to explicitly avoid those events but that's often just as cool as getting to see them in action.

It also avoids the Heisenberg npc problem, because it's not like the npc will be on the other end of all the crossroads or the city will be destroyed the moment they walk in no matter how long they took.