DM making PC decision as part of an opening sequence/plot hook

Question

I need to bridge two adventures together, and the easiest way is through a narrative where players are going through the woods, and are surprised, knocked out, and awaken to find their NPC group members kidnapped. Is it reasonable to narrate that sequence or does it take away from the autonomy of the players to have been knocked out without them being able to interact. I was looking to see if there was a magic spell that I could have tied to it or just say it happened.

Answer 1

Is it reasonable to narrate that sequence or does it take away from the autonomy of the players to have been knocked out without them being able to interact.

It is reasonable to narrate something you don't want to play out in length. It is also reasonable to remove agency for that short time.

But what rubs me personally the wrong way when a DM does that to me is that just as in your plan, it is absolutely unrealistic. The scenario and resolution you describe "oops, you got all knocked out" would never happen if the players had agency. They would fight tooth and nail, rather die than being knocked out. Why? Because there is no point in "knocking out" someone. At least not in a game where fights are normal. If the whole party is knocked out, there is very little in-universe reason not to take all their valuable stuff and slit their throaths. But you don't want that to happen either.

So find a sceneario where the NPCs get seperated and kidnapped, without the PCs doing things that normally would not happen.

Maybe the NPCs stay behind while the PCs fight through a dungeon/abandoned starhip/corporate espionage run. When the PCs are back with their loot, the NPCs are gone. Looks like an abduction.

Maybe they cross a dangerous river and all get swept away by a huge magical wave. Let the PCs save themselves with whatever they can muster, but the NPCs are not seen again. A search party is needed.

You can obviously tell any other story, the core here is: remove as little agency as possible and don't narrate a scenario that would never have played out that way if the players had had the control.

If you have to take control away, narrate something that your players will see as unfortunate, but possible. Not a weird alien mind control thing their characters would never have done.

Answer 2

It depends

In media res

A scripted narrative is often used for one-shot adventures that start in media res¹. Often, the reason is the adventure is intended to be run at a convention in a specific time slot and this can abridge the run time significantly. In the past, this was often done with tournament-style adventures, so every party would start with the same parameters, making it easier to judge with parity. You also often have pre-generated characters, so expressing some of the character behavior before the player takes control is generally acceptable.

Campaign

In a standard campaign, player agency of the character is paramount, so even playing the same tournament module, the DM would likely allow the players to play out the introduction, rather than feeding it to them as a narrative.

Something in between

Having said that, it really depends on you and your group's play style. I would imagine most groups want to play the "in between" stuff, while others prefer a more scripted approach that allows them to jump right into the action. This is more likely a spectrum than a binary choice.

Forcing it

You may have a precise sequence of events or circumstances that you want or need to occur. If you haven't done this before and spring it on your players without some in-game reason, it likely will lead to some disappointment. On the other hand, if you use an in-game reason, like a geas spell, then as long as you play it out so the players have the opportunity to choose their responses, you can retain player agency. The risk is you can't guarantee the preciseness.

Your particular case will depend on how you handle it. Most players are unlikely to be satisfied with dropping them in a detrimental situation without the opportunity to respond. You can mitigate this by talking to your players in general terms and determine their willingness to skip a scene for a scripted narrative.

In my experience, when I have offered to narrate epilogues or similar, the players have always opted for playing the scenes. Yet, I have a new campaign starting this weekend that broaches this topic right from the start. Do you want to play out the tavern, rumors and travel, or have a scripted start and jump right into the action?

Good luck!

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_{1. the practice of beginning an epic or other narrative by plunging into a crucial situation that is part of a related chain of events}