The art of storytelling changes with us. As our cultural needs shift, so do our stories—and the way we tell them. Once, our predecessors looked to oral and written traditions; now, many of us are drawn to visual storytelling. It’s hard to deny that our society is becoming more and more visually oriented. Perhaps because of this predilection, we often mine film and TV for rich storytelling techniques and seek to build on them. Mind’s Eye Theatre (MET) employs many storytelling techniques we see every day in film and TV.
It makes sense to employ visual techniques for live-action roleplaying (LARP), since much of what we do in Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade (MET: VTM) and MET: Werewolf The Apocalypse (MET: WTA) is visual— creating a story directly from the minds and thoughts of the players. Thus, it is instinctual to utilize film techniques during play—techniques such as Fade to Black (FTB). In film, FTB takes the story “off screen” by fading out of a scene, leaving the viewers to imagine what, exactly, has occurred.
This method can be used to pass time or to increase tension. But how do we take a technique like Fade to Black from film and use it successfully in a live-action setting such as MET: VTM and MET: WTA? Traditional Use of Fade to Black In some instances, FTB can be used precisely in the same way. For instance, in film, FTB is often used to signal the passing of time. The scene darkens as it ends, and we come up on a new scene. It’s presumed that time passes, but because nothing essential to the plot happened, we can effectively skip over it.
In a LARP, FTB can be used to save time. For instance, in MET: VTM, player-characters may wish to travel a long distance. They race to their Scooby van, dive in, and they’re off to adventure. It’s elementary that the Storyteller need not play out every second of this interlude unless it’s important. Use Fade to Black and return to the scene as they stand in front of a creepy warehouse where enemy Sabbat are hiding out. Perfect! The Storyteller can get to the action without wasting a lot of time describing every minute step of the journey.
However, there are times when Storytellers must be cautious while using FTB exactly as it is used in film. Consider the horror genre: Nearly everyone has seen a movie where the monster is kept in the shadows, where there is a closed door with something terrible behind it, where that thing is, in effect, in the dark, unknown, unrevealed. In such a movie, the audience may see a young girl in a darkened park, hear a growl, then see a flash of teeth, hear a scream, and she falls. Then from off-screen, the audience hears the visceral crunch of flesh and crack of bone—immediately, their minds go to their wildest imaginings.
By fading to black, the film director engages the unknown to increase tension and a sense of horror. When running similar scenes, Storytellers must be careful when using FTB. A live storytelling experience is not 100 percent identical to watching a distanced visual medium like film. Because we embody our player-characters (PCs) in MET, feelings can run high, and emotionally charged scenes can be potentially triggering. In the above example, FTB’s inherent mystery is meant to make a scene darker or harder emotionally.
In MET, Storytellers take care to make their players feel safe and supported. Ideally, storytelling techniques enhance trust between players and Storyteller staff. Using FTB to increase tension during an alreadytense scene can erode player trust and cause excess bleed and out-of-character (OOC) issues. Enhancing Horror with Fade to Black So how do we make use of FTB to make a scene dark and intense? How do we, in essence, torture a character but not its player? It’s all about placement.
Storytellers can alter the technique slightly by putting a FTB in the middle of the action instead of at the end. For example, the intrepid band of werewolf Cubs mentioned above might be ambushed and captured by a pack of Black Spiral Dancers. The PCs are helpless as their captors enter the room, bloody weapons of torture in their hands. They hear only the screams of their friends as they are tortured…and then you Fade to Black. During this interlude, time passes, but the FTB doesn’t signal the end of the game session, like in the horrorFade to Black From Film to LARP Eldredge movie example above.
Instead, we come up on a new scene just as the PCs, battered and against all odds, escape. By engaging each player’s imagination of what “Black Spiral Dancer” torture looks like without getting into gory detail and graphic description. Then by showing the heroic aftermath, you’ve provided a tense scene, and then you’ve relieved that tension. That relief is key. The PCs’ story goes on. Who knows what tortures they endured, only to heroically escape and take revenge? Galliards will sing about it for ages—leaving those Galliard PCs license to get involved in story too.
Challenges when Using Fade to Black Of course, there are instances when using FTB is problematic. Consider the instance of violent character death—a character fights valiantly but is overcome. The Storyteller describes an image of a rival swinging a bloody mallet at the PC’s head, and then…the Storyteller calls for a FTB, leaving the characters in figurative darkness— a place where anything can happen. The PC’s death is not the only problem for the player—t’s also the absence of closure—not knowing what happened before, during, or after the PC’s death.
Anything could happen in those moments. The PC could be killed, dismembered, sold for parts, or built into a robot body. For many female players in particular, the fear remains that the PC could be raped or other depravities visited upon the body. It’s no wonder that such scenes can be potentially triggering and enhance bleed. While FTB enhances tension and provides a good story, responsible participants in MET put the safety and well-being of players ahead of even good story.
In this instance, where a narrow interpretation of FTB proves more hindrance than help, it can be useful to seek alternate ways to use this technique—specifically to deescalate tension and provide closure. Alternative Uses of Fade to Black Shared Narrative A Shared Narrative uses FTB to focus on closure before the end of a scene. This technique is best used when both players have a serious emotional stake in the scene’s outcome and normally when one player either has gotten, or stands to get, her victory condition over another—for instance, in the case where one PC wants to visit a horrific death on another PC.
Some players call this technique “Mediation,” but I don’t prefer this term. Mediation infers rules, and to many people, “rules” means “challenges.” Instead, place the focus on the story as a Shared Narrative: a story that both the dominant player and the non-dominant player control and tell together—a shared story that preserves the victory condition, but also allows the non-dominant player to have the closure that is so often lacking in PC death scenes. Applying the Shared Narrative takes trust, and setting expectations is key to fostering that trust.
For example, expectations should be set that the announced victory condition—character death, loss of resources, etc.— cannot be changed. However, allowances should be made for the non-dominant PC to “go out in style” before the scene goes dark. For a character in a death scene, dramatic death could mean the PC having the chance to soliloquy before it dies, getting in a final shot before going down, or even harming the other PC’s person or resources. Such details pay homage to the dying character as a rival and opponent, and let its player close out the story respectfully.
Allowing the non-dominant player to narrate a large part of the PC’s death not only shows good sportsmanship, but it also lessens tension, bleed, and emotional reactions. One-Sentence Summation A second variation on FTB, the One-Sentence Summation, focuses on immediate, unemotional closure before the fade. This technique is best used when a player becomes or has the capacity to become too emotional for the scene to continue. Once again, the scene provides closure and preserves the dominant PC’s victory condition, but it does so in a factual, straightforward way.
Instead of increasing the scene’s tension by using FTB, the players and Storyteller work together to create a simple, neutral statement that sums up the PC’s plight. For example, the Storyteller might state, “In a pitched battle, Billie X kills Danny D.” This description is cut and dry, with no embellishment. There is no question of what happened, no ambiguity, and yet it is emotionless, not a judgment call. It provides a simple statement of fact before the lights go down on the scene.
Vignettes The third variation, the Vignette, is not strictly a variation of FTB, but FTB is a film technique and is often paired with a vignette at the end of a movie. Much like in Westerns where the heroes ride off into the sunset, a Vignette describes a final scene that provides a bookend for a character’s story. This scene could be a retelling of an epic victory in flashback, where we see the PC in its prime. It could be as simple as noting that the PC’s loved ones spread her ashes on its mortal family’s grave.
A Vignette can take the form of a narrated memory of a PC’s political or artistic triumph or offer a glimpse of the work it has left behind as a reminder of its lasting effect on the world. A Vignette can be narrated by a Storyteller or the non-dominant player. It is meant to be a fictional bookend, an assertion that the PC lives on, if only in the memories of those left behind. While fictional, a Vignette provides closure in a very real way, by letting the player see a PC’s closing image before the final Fade to Black.
Fade to Black as a film technique has many and various uses that can be echoed in MET. However, since the medium of a LARP constantly changes and is unscripted, unlike a movie, Storytellers need techniques for altering the technique in order to use it effectively. A movie is not a shared narrative; it’s a slice of action we consume from a safe distance. But LARP is a living, breathing, collaborative creation. As such, it deserves alternative FTB techniques that are fluid, open to assessment, and geared toward player safety and well-being.
Biography Genevieve Iseult Eldredge (GIE) writes LGBTQ Young Adult (YA) fiction because, as a young adult, she never had any lesbian heroes like her. In her lesbian YA series, Circuit Fae, she brings together her love of LGBTQ literature, urban fantasy, young adult fiction, and the secret world of the Fae—so that young adults of the LGBTQ community can have heroes that understand, think and act, and live and love like them. GIE is an MFA grad, a martial artist, a self-rescuing princess, and all-around strong female character.
She’s multi-published, and in her role as an editor, she has helped hundreds of authors make their dream of being published a reality. GIE believes in fairies (in fact, she’s clapping right now), true love (not “to blave”), and championing the oftenunheard female voice. She might be using D&D figures to plot out an epic fight scene right now.
Originally published in Mind’s Eye Theatre: Immersion Secrets by By Night Studios. Presented here under Resources for chronicles and live play.