Remember the scene in Pulp Fiction where Vincent Vega talks about his experiences with fast foot in Europe? If Tarantino was a gamemaster, and Travolta was controlling Vega as a PC, you might think of the scene as fun dialog, but I doubt you’d consider that monologue as part of any roleplaying game mechanic.
In Savage Worlds, the Le Big Mac scene serves as a great example of an Interlude. Those are the scenes that take place when the characters are traveling (as in Pulp Fiction), waiting at a restaurant (the “Like a Virgin/tipping” scene from Reservoir Dogs), at a stakeout or while waiting before a battle.
Interludes provide backstory about the character who’s performing the monologue. The theme of an interlude is randomly chosen by drawing a playing card. Clubs means a tragic tale. Spades inspires a speech about a victory. Hearts of course means love. Finally, Diamonds get a story about desire. I think the Le Big Mac interlude was triggered by drawing a Diamonds card, since it reveals Vincent’s fond memories of visiting Europe.
If a player successfully roleplays an Interlude, he gains a Bennie or gets a bonus card from the Adventure Deck.
Until recently, I’ve used the Interlude rules as described above. Then, I started an East Texas University (ETU) campaign. Unlike Deadlands or The Last Parsec settings, ETU doesn’t have a lot of travel or waiting for combat. It’s about typical college students who have Scooby Doo-like brushes with the supernatural. That doesn’t mean Interludes are irrelevant. I find they serve a new purpose: to flesh out the setting.
The ETU sourcebook and campaign book provide plenty of NPCs who live and work around the campus, but no way are these lists comprehensive. The GM could go through a lot of work figuring our every little shop on Main Street and who works there, as well as every sorority and their members. It’s more fun to have the players make up this information.
Perhaps Rob, who’s portraying baseball player Wayne Hopper, is in the library with Allison Wonderland researching spirits. Wayne gets bored and starts chatting. As GM, I give Rob a chance to perform an Interlude. He draws Spades, which means a story of victory. He tells about how the team’s star pitcher, Jorge “Hawk” Sanchez, took an interest in Wayne and started mentoring him. If I need a character to put in peril that the characters will care about, Wayne will rush to action if Hawk Sanchez is in danger.
Maybe Lorna, who’s playing Allison, says her character’s chugging coffee and getting chatty. I offer her a chance to do an Interlude. She draws Diamonds and tells how the manager at the Caffeine Cottage, Tricia Manning, doesn’t understand the basics of brewing a quality cup of joe… and Allison frequently argues with Tricia over the quality of the coffee. Great! Lorna provided me with a location (Caffeine Cottage) and a possible antagonist. There doesn’t need to be a knife fight between Allison and Tricia. It could be a witch’s tome was hidden in the walls of the building that eventually became the Caffeine Cottage. An antagonistic Tricia won’t respond well to Allison asking for permission to bust open the walls of the coffee shop to look for an old book.
There’s already a mechanic in ETU where the players select an extracurricular activity their character is focusing on the current semester. This includes part-time job, athletics, partying and dating. As my campaign progresses I might ask the players to focus their Interludes to reflect their chosen extracurricular activity, bringing that aspect of their college life to greater detail. Who are the staff members of the student newspaper, and what are their personalities? What are the Biology Department professors like? Is one of them stressing because he’s up for tenure and has a bad feeling he won’t get it? Can that be worked into a plot line?
As written in Savage Worlds Deluxe, Interludes provide a wonderful way of providing background and personal information about the PCs. In a setting that’s about developing the world and community around the characters, Interludes can be used to have the players do the work of creating the flavor and details of the campaign locale.
