When all players have seated themselves, the GM performs this opening in a toneless voice:

When you sat down at the gaming table today, the game master seemed a bit strange, sitting there in a dark hood, having no books, no dices, and no words of greeting.

(the GM clears the table of his belongings as he says this).

When all of you were sitting, he asked you in a toneless voice, to lay your hands flat on the table. Please do so now; place your hands in the middle of the table, side by side in a circle.

Then the master extended his own pale hands, and placed them on top of yours. His hands are very cold. The touch chill you to the bone.

(the GM extends his hands while saying this, placing them on top of the player hands)

You are freezing cold now, in spite of your clothes and the warmth of the room. You feel the coldness emanating from the masters hands, and you feel your own hearth responding with the same cold.

(the GM suddenly retracts his hands, placing them in his lap).

The shock of cold make you miss the subtle changes taking place around you, so you do not see that the room you now sit in, is not the room you entered. Please remove any items still on the table; papers, pencils, dig. Empty the table completely. Then place your hands flat on the edge of table in front of you. Keep your hands still, for all to see. Look at the hands.

You still believe this to be your everyday world. You will go on believing that this is a game session for some time, but little by little you will come to realise that it is a new reality.

Little by little you will also realise that you are captured by a strange game in this reality, a game that decides your destiny, and the destiny of your old world.

You will be yourself in this game, playing the role of yourself, but you will come to see that your abilities and skills may be different in this game, than in your everyday world. You may be as brave and skillful as you like; ride horses, wield swords, kill trolls, lead armies, anything you need in any situation! Change if you like, but be on your guard, the other players may change in dangerous ways. It is up to all of you to change yourself in this game, to forget your old personalities , in order to save your world...

You must all protest to this game, in some way of your own choosing. You may refuse to take action, even refuse to speak, or you may curse the master. Still; eventually you will all come to realise that the game is for real. Eventually you will accept both the game, and it's premises. And once you accept this, you will never really leave the game until it has been won. It may take months or years, and hundreds of game sessions, but you will be in the game all the time. Between the sessions you will live a dream of the world you are trying to save in the game.

You are here now. You may feel the table under your hands. It is real. The game has begun.

(the GM sits without speaking or moving, until one of the players speak to him. Then he proceeds with the game, by describing the first scene. He will never mention the opening again, and will ignore any and all questions about it.)

I did this once, with a player group of mine. They were a bit shocked. The game got instant nerve.

It was the start of a fantasy campaign in Fabula (Norwegian RPG), and their mission was to save the world from the evil trolls and their great leader. The GM is not to use the toneless voice again in the game, until the players encounter the mighty leader of the trolls; Angekok. His is the toneless voice, and his is a face as stiff as a mask, smiling at the players all the time. And he emanates a severe coldness...

The players had next to nothing that could help them survive in the harsh environment of the fantasy world, but they were afraid to change (toneless voice: I find that very strange...).

Any comments? Similar experiences?