to get a feel for the game you were trying to run?

Would you put together a "highlights reel" to do so?  Or would just you, as the GM, do it and keep that in your head and try to impress on the players that the game world was like that?

I ask because tonight I told my D&D group that I was planning, in a month, to kick off a Twilight:2000 campaign.  I started thinking about the imagery I want the game to have, and three pieces of media sprang to mind:

Full Metal Jacket, specifically the Hue City scenes.  Here we have a group of soldiers in "modern" combat, cut off from anything, in an utterly destroyed urban environment.  They're lost, they're without clear leadership and they're being whittled down by an unseen enemy that is seemingly on every side.

Generation:Kill.  While the soldiers of G:K aren't specifically in a "post apocalypse" situation (and neither are the Marines of Hotel 2-5 company in the aforementioned film), they're extended deep into enemy territory and are short on supplies for a good portion of the series (their deuce-and-a-half containing large amounts of their ammo and food (and their unit colors!) is attacked at night by Army recon units who mistake it for an Iraqi vehicle, and they have to abandon it), and mostly without much in the way of support while they're seeking out the enemy.  They're also casting about in open-topped Humvees, cruising through heavily damaged cities...

Strangely enough, saving private ryan has that same feel to it: despite the lack of modernity, (or perhaps because of it) it fits the "Good luck, you're on your own" feel very well, plus it deals with the breakdown of unit cohesion, the sense that, in spite of the larger war, their war is one of simple survival.

Should I suggest prospective players watch these?  I'm not incorporating plot elements, really, at all, I just want them to have a sense of the grim-and-gritty...or is this all my job as a good GM?

I would never ask players to read more than one sheet double sided.   Even that would be a tad much for most groups.

As for films, you may want to find clips on YouTube and create a "view these clips" webpage to convey the tone / feel you are trying to achieve.

I'd keep the clips to a 15 minutes total.  

Even better, do it as A/V presentation at the game table so you have everyone together and their attention focussed and you can bounce between clips (keeping only to the best bits) and whatever other imagery you want to impart to them.

I recommended to a player who hadn't read the Amber books that he do so before playing Amber, but he didn't and I didn't really care.

Seanchai

You can suggest they watch, especially if it's a month away. Odds are, they've seen Saving Private Ryan and Full Metal Jacket, anyways. Both movies have been around and were very popular.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;444320Should I suggest prospective players watch these?  I'm not incorporating plot elements, really, at all, I just want them to have a sense of the grim-and-gritty...or is this all my job as a good GM?

If you can, you should splice together your own trailer of exactly what you want them to watch, and I agree with the 15 minute limit.  You may also want at least parts of the battle scene from near the end of Children of Men.

I have in the past suggested books or movies to players, but have never required it. Usually this happens when I'm running a very specific universe setting, like Stormbringer or my Arabic fantasy campaign. The usual pitch is, 'you don't have to read these books or see these movies to enjoy the game. I won't penalize you for not doing so. However, you will probably get an added layer of enjoyment out of the campaign if you do.'

I've never had a player drop out of a game because he didn't want to read the book or see the movie I suggested. Most of the gamers I've encountered are excited to discover something new.

With my current group, the first session of a campaign is often just character creation and background.

In that context, if I felt that certain movies were particularly important for the feel of the game, I would consider also using that session to watch (some of) those movies, or other similar movies as suggested the group.

I regularly tell my players what my inspirations are. I recommend them for watching if they're good movies. It's all on my players own time for the most part. Some do and some don't.

Recently, for Robotech, I had my players watch the Shadow Chronicles movie to help sort out the type of Space Opera that game is going for. The older stuff hasn't aged well but a few took up watching the original series on Netflix.

We once had an entire Sunday devoted to watching movies that inspired our Exalted sessions. We watched something like 10 movies that day. It was a great time, we made it an in character event (they were invited to a special theatre in Yu Shan) and everyone who attended earned XP. That was a really fun time and it helped the players who had never really seen Wushu and Kung Fu movies get that side of the game. Our Exalted was very more influenced by Master of the Flying Guillotine then Dragonball.

No. I've given up on seeing any real effort even from the best of players. Furthermore, in all honesty, getting me to read a book or a comic is no problem, but getting me to watch a movie is like pulling teeth. Back in the day, my wife actually boght me a dvd player for xmass- just so she could get me to watch The Matrix. I still haven't seen the sequels.

I'd strongly recomend Tough Justice players to have seen at least 1 episode of Garrow's Law to get the gist.

However all my other recomendations are just recomendations.

I made a video like the opening credits of a TV series for my game so that the players could get a feel for the game and the player characters. The PCs are pre-gens.

The last time I ran a pulp game, we watched an episode of Ace Drummond before each game -- 20 minutes long, which is a while, but it helped get everyone in the mood for the time period. "Put our nose in the wind, head for the sun!"

In practice, I've found that it is largely an exercise in futility in getting anybody to read or watch something they are not overly interested in.  (This is in general, especially outside of rpg games).

Even in loaning a campaign setting guide or gazetteer to the players, such books will largely remain unread.

Whenever I'm DMing a game, I just assume most players have very little to no interest in reading anything beyond the character creation sections of a core rpg book.

If the players do show some initiative in reading and doing their own research for a particular rpg game, then I would be more willing to accommodate their interests and efforts in the game.

In a few cases, I ended up changing seats with a motivated player, where they DMed the part of the game which they were very interested in and did a lot of research for.

I wouldn't. What might be fun in a game isn't necessarily fun in other media and besides, it's a hobby so it doesn't come with homework.

For example, I'm happy to play fantasy rpgs but I don't really read fantasy fiction and I wouldn't for a game. That wouldn't be fun.

Others mileage can and of course does vary.

To be honest, even if I thought it a good idea I wouldn't bother because hardly anyone I've ever played with would comply. I wouldn't comply, why should I expect others to?