Email Recaps-Good or bad idea?

[OnlineDM]

When I first started playing D&D in early 2010, I volunteered to take campaign notes for our group (I was running a PC, not DMing). I sent out an email after each session with a link to a Google Docs document where I was keeping a campaign journal, written from my character's point of view (although there wasn't anything like an internal monologue from him - more of a recapping of what happened as he observed it). I really enjoyed it and would frequently refer back to it. Some of the players read it and and the DM sometimes did, too, but I'm sure not everyone read every update.

Once I took over the DM chair, no one else stepped up to write anything, which I'll admit was disappointing at first. But it made me realize that, well, I was the only one who really cared about that sort of thing (which made me a pretty natural fit as a DM, I suppose). I generally start off sessions asking the players for a recap, and I help out as needed (which tends to be pretty frequently). I'm okay with that in the end, though - I respect that in between sessions the players really aren't thinking about the game the way that I am.

 

[Hrevelax]

Recap: yes or no? Yes!

But it made me realize that, well, I was the only one who really cared about that sort of thing (which made me a pretty natural fit as a DM, I suppose). I generally start off sessions asking the players for a recap, and I help out as needed (which tends to be pretty frequently). I'm okay with that in the end, though - I respect that in between sessions the players really aren't thinking about the game the way that I am.

That makes total sense. I don't expect the players to be as dedicated as I am. After all, to them it's just a weekly game. To me, it's like stepping up on stage on open mic night and trying to tell a joke I can't remember. So yeah, I'm going to put a lot of thought into the game to prevent myself from dying in the spotlight.

Then the best solution is to do both. Write up a recap how I see it, without expecting the players to repeat it verbatim, and let the players try to recap at the beginning at the game with their versions anyway. Woo!

 

[Hrevelax]

I do it, fairly frequently. It's a good way to update players, who couldn't be present for a week or two, in the ongoing campaign, and it helps to solidify information in the players' minds between sessions. Even with good notes, it can be tough to remember what happened in detail.

The game just happened yesterday, and I've forgotten most of it, ha ha.

 

[Mummolus]

Our group recently started doing recaps, and while the players who were in attendance are somewhat meh about them, everybody agrees that when they miss a session the recaps are very helpful.

 

[Mengu]

Email recaps are cool. But I'm not sure if the players will read it or not, so I don't feel like spending time on something that will be largely ignored except maybe one or two players. And between the time they read it, and the start of next session, they might forget all about it anyway. I tend to ask for one of the players to give a recap at the beginning of each session, so players who may have missed the previous session are updated. This way usually the recap is from a player's perspective and I don't accidentally reveal something or do any unnecessary guiding as to what's next. If there are any crucial bits the player misses, I'll fill in.

In one of my previous campaigns, one of the players was playing Indiana Jones Halfling, and kept a diary early on. We occasionally used the diary as recap, though the story was always told from his perspective, and could contain lies of omission, or some exaggerations here and there which just made things more fun.

In one of our campaigns, a very vigilant DM did summaries periodically for each character, and events that they would know of. So not all character summaries were identical, though most contained overlapping content. It was an intrigue and secret filled campaign so this worked well.

I guess it's all a matter of how much time you have, how much effort you want to put in, what kind of campaign you are playing, how serious or casual your players are, the frequency with which you play, etc. It's usually good, sometimes not necessary, and probably never bad.

 

[Blue]

I've been using a method for rewarding good play with "chips" for years. I've let players know that recaps and "session names" are worth extra chips (or a chip for the best name). We got some but not much, more when I prompted players to do a recap when we ran a session missing a player.

I used to maintain a serious campaign wiki for my game, and some people loved to add in and others never did. While I loved to add to that, in a game I'm in I rarely ever add to the wiki.

I don't like sending a recap since there are usually multiple plots going at once and I drop plot details all over the place, but don't want to call out little things by including them in a recap. (DM Hint: Rule of 3 - always make sure every hint from a clue is in there at least three times.)

 

[Aegeri]

I write up what happens in my games in this thread at the end of every session - though I am pretty far behind right now. Other than recapping, I also like to publish stat blocks of interesting monsters I made and explain my design goals for special encounters/adventure. This is partly for other DMs who might want to use my ideas or see the logic in how I build my adventures. I've found this very useful for my own design, because I can see what worked and what didn't quite easily. Plus it lets my players see how I'm designing the game and provide feedback (if they wanted).