D&D General Does anyone else title their D&D sessions?

[Shiroiken]

I have for my DM notes and for player reference, but not in a very meaningful way. The player reference is on our Discord to remind players where we're at. For example (DM only notes in parentheses):

Session 1: Introduction to Saltmarsh
Session 2: To the Haunted House
Session 3: In the Haunted House
Session 4: Return in Saltmarsh (Dinner with Primewater)
Session 5: Smugglers (Sea Ghost)

 

[Marc_C]

Yep. Each of my RPG Sessions has a title. The players don't know this. It helps me quickly recall the overall narrative before the session.

 

[el-remmen]

Yep. Each of my RPG Sessions has a title. The players don't know this. It helps me quickly recall the overall narrative before the session.

Ever considered player-facing titles to help them too?

 

[Marc_C]

Ever considered player-facing titles to help them too?

They are 20 years younger than me. They don't need that. ;-)

 

[prabe]

My wife keeps notes during the sessions, and types them up to share afterward, and she titles them then, looking back at the events of the session. I don't title sessions, or even campaigns, because I rarely think I know what will happen.

 

[Blue]

I run completely homebrew. My session notes for what I expect to come are named, but that's a pre-naming based on what I expect to happen, not a post-naming on what did. As you can see from some repeated elements of names, sometimes my group didn't get as far as I expected, or took care of other things first, or sometimes went off the track I expected for that session - S8 was an example of this, as they reversed which hook they were interested in, which got continued in S9.

S1: Prolog, An Unexpected Encounter, and The Head Honcho of the New World
S2: An Assassin - Caught; Mask Dreams; Arrival; Places to see, people to do.
S3: The Road To Bristen
S4: To Bristen and Beyond
S5: Bristen, Beyond and Beneath
S6: God Kill The Queen, Statues under the Earth
S7: Statues under the Earth
S8: To the East (this is a Conan reference)
S9: To the West, Actually
S10: Questions and Answers
S11: Skyfall
S12: Disturbing News
S13: To the Volcano
S14: Jarl and Back Again: A Hobbit’s Tale
S15: The Unusual Case of the Missing Monarch
S16: Escape from the Wild Hunt
S17: Back Home
S18: On the River Home
S19: Into the Catacombs

 

[Blue]

Ever considered player-facing titles to help them too?

I also pre-name my sessions, and that would be bad at my table.

It would give away twists and plot points that are coming up in the session. It would also show what I expected to happen, which with at least one of my players who is very "you follow the adventure the DM puts in front of you" would curtail their freedom a lot. I'd much rather my players follow what they find interesting.

 

[prabe]

I also pre-name my sessions, and that would be bad at my table.

It would give away twists and plot points that are coming up in the session. It would also show what I expected to happen, which with at least one of my players who is very "you follow the adventure the DM puts in front of you" would curtail their freedom a lot. I'd much rather my players follow what they find interesting.

I am not casting aspersions on anyone by saying this, but I would be worried about committing myself to things happening in a session, if I titled them based on what I thought would happen. It's easy for me to dump or back-burner something, working without titles or other expectations, and it's pretty clear that neither @Blue nor @el-remmen are forcing anything--this is just about my own shrinkology.

 

[el-remmen]

I just change the name retroactively!

 

[el-remmen]

I figured I'd also share the session title names for the first campaign in which I did that:

Session #0: Stat Draft
Session #1: A Party in Sluetelot
Session #2: On the Road South
Session #3: Into the Bog
Session #4: Delirium Tremens
Session #5: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. . .
Session #6: Smuggler's Gambit
Session #7: Negotiations & Love Songs
Session #8: Frog Chase
Session #9: Returning to Sluetelot & Leaving Again
Session #10: Drunken Chiefs & Cattle Thiefs
Session #11: Strange Brew
Session #12: Choices. . . Choices. . .
Session #13: Massacre at the King Stones
Session #14: Skunk Cabbage Ambush!
Session #15: (Aborted) Goblin Genocide!
Session #16: Hezrah's Maternity Mayhem
Session #17: Into the Moor-Tomb
Session #18: The Broken Circle
Session #19: Return to the Moor-Tomb
Session #20: Moor-Tomb Denouement
Session #21: The Journey Home
Session #22: Alarm & Intrigue
Session #23: Sleepless
Session #24: Dreams of Fire, Dreams of Ice
Session #25: Smoke & Ruin
Session #26: Challenges, Trials and Tests
Session #27: Loose Ends, New Threads
Session #28: Drie-Hoek Jaunt
Session #29: Bogged Down with Bog End Blues
Session #30: The Vineyard Vales
Session #31: The Darkness of the Deep Mire
Session #32: Assault on the Old Apshai Temple
Session #33: Untangling
Session #34: Of Knights & Knaves
Session #35: Proving Grounds
Session #36: Barking Up the Right Tree
Session #37: Empty Nest
Session #38: Moon City Gathering
Session #39: The Devil's Grasp
Session #40: The Devil's Grasp Tightens
Session #41: Blood Moon, Hopeful Dawn
Session #42: The Darna: Blood Moon (part two)
Session #43: Demonfall
Session #44: The Tower of Stanislaw Torn
Session #45: The Game is Afoot
Session #46: The Post-Game Report
Session #47: Return to Thricia
Session #48: Parties & Preparation
Session #49: The Singer at Strathern Point
Session #50: The Skeleton Crew
Session #51: Sinking Ships & Squids
Session #52: Navigating Parties