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The audience can't help but respond in preparation to the
action. You can achieve the same heightened effect in
your Actors by selecting, and preparing ahead of time, the
appropriate musical themes. Drop in some theme music
before the action it heralds, and drop the Actors further
into their roles. This is supposed to be a visceral experi·
ence, after all. If you don't have the time to create your
own personalized musical score, then you might consider
using the sound track from one of your favorite movies,
which works almost as well.
To make your Scenes even more visceral, add
sound effects. There are many collections of sound
effects available in music stores. The sound of storms,
gunfire, or traffic, can g1ve the appropriate Scenes a
texture all their own. Your Actors will gain an appreciation
for this texture when during your battle Scenes, they're
separated by some distance. ducked down behind your
living room chairs, and are attempting to communicate
across loud gunfire. Just make sure the neighbors don't
misunderstand.
FORESHADOWING
Foreshadowing is the technique of describing im­
ages which give a taste of events to come. Like the storm
swept dark castle of a television horror show, running in
the background of a Scene, which alludes to the real
castle soon to be encountered. The occupants of the
horror show's castle might even give the Actors a fore­
taste of that which awaits them. Foreshadowing is most
strongly meant for the Actors, but can also be used to give
the characters information wh1ch they'll need later m the
plot, such as the long shadow of a church spire's cross,
cast in front of a character as she walks home towards
evening. A similar shadow cast m front of the character by
a smaller cross, as the vampire approaches later in the
plot, might tip her off to the salvation hanging in the
bookstore window behind her. Such twists of fate tie the
plot together, lending it a sense of Continuity
Foreshadowing can take the form of television
shows, dreams, the passing words of a stranger, odd
shadows, newspaper headlines, etc. This technique is
often meant to be obvious to the Actors, but not to the
characters they're portraying. The images described stand
in stark relief to the Actors through the attention g1ven
them by the Director, but are too far removed tn time and
context to be immediately usable by the characters To
them, the usefulness of such images is only revealed 1n
the fullness of time.
CUT SCENES
A Cut Scene puts the present plotline on hold, 1n
order to unfold a sequence of events that 1s Important to
the story. The Cut Scene may contain different charac­
ters, and occur at a different time and place than the
Scene it interrupts. The Director Will call out 'Cut Scene'
at the appropriate time, and describe a new Stage and the
action that occurs there. The main sequence of the plot
picks up again when the Cut Scene is over
Our classic use of Cut Scenes 1s to show the Actors
what the villains are up to, without granting that knowl-
Theatrlx - The Core Rules 23