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

[el-remmen]

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.

And just to be extra clear, the names are based on what is most likely going to happen or was already clearly established would happen. For example, in the list immediately above, the party decided at the end of session #1 they'd be traveling south. So the next session was easily entitled, "On the Road South." That is not a spoiler or a so-called railroad.

 

[Lanefan]

I don't title individual sessions - I'd have long since run out of good ideas! - but adventures get titles; and sometimes connected series of adventures get their own formal or informal titles.

 

[Blue]

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.

Mine are based on what I prep. I am absolutely ready (and regularly do) to go off that. I usually prep a lot around what I'm doing, present 3-4 hooks at a time (including in the middle of other adventures), and expect my players to pull up older hooks or make their own when appropriate all the time.

That said, at the end of every session I usually end on either a cliffhanger or a definitely direction for what the party wants to do next. Which is what I name the sessions for. But I don't hold them to anything - as my example of S8 when they said they wanted to go after one hook, but next session after people had thought about it longer they decided to go after a completely separate one in the exact opposite direction. I'm good with that.

 

[pogre]

Love this idea. I have always named campaigns and adventures, but I like the idea of naming sessions - thanks.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

Sort of. In my campaign they are a group of dedicated dragon slayers, so each arc is named for the dragon they are hunting. The sessions the are Dragon's Name Part 1, Dragon's Name Part 2, etc.

 

[aco175]

I title the adventures/modules and not each session. Each module may last 3-several sessions. I used to write the date and a few notes on the cover page of the module. This helped mostly looking back when the campaign is over and talk about how it went and how long the campaign lasted.

 

[prabe]

And just to be extra clear, the names are based on what is most likely going to happen or was already clearly established would happen.

Mine are based on what I prep. I am absolutely ready (and regularly do) to go off that. I usually prep a lot around what I'm doing, present 3-4 hooks at a time (including in the middle of other adventures), and expect my players to pull up older hooks or make their own when appropriate all the time.

I had hoped I was clear I didn't think y'all were doing anything other than what y'all are doing. My concerns with the practice are entirely about what goes on in my own head--it's a beautiful practice I'm worried would trip me up.

 

[Morley_Dotes]

I started doing this a while ago. . . after my "Out of the Frying Pan" game ended, I briefly ran a Mutants & Masterminds game and part of the conceit of that was that each session was the issue of a comic book, so each one had a comic book-like story title that I either came up with before or applied after (depending on the direction of the game, sometimes the titles would be retroactively changed). The idea was a hit and I found that titling the sessions helped set the tone and stick particular sessions/events in our memories, so when I began what would come to be the last 3.xE game I'd ever run (It was called "Second Son of a Second Son") I started titling those sessions as well, and then it kinda stuck. Sometimes a title is straightfoward, like "Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (part 3)" and sometimes they are more esoteric, "Love will Tear Us Apart."

Anyone do something similar?

As you can see, sometimes the titles aren't great, but they do their job. Other times, as in session #8, what I think is gonna happen (assaulting the Sea Ghost) is delayed, but since they got info about the Sea Ghost that session, it still applied (they just decided to hunt some baby velociraptors hanging in some sea caves rather than just let the two days till the pirate ship arrived go by and getting right to the boarding).

I've titled my campaigns and many of the DM's have named the campaigns I've been in. A current game that I playin the DM allows the pc's to write up a character POV narrative and he writes up kind of a What actually happened. I try to come up with a creative title that is at least somewhat relevant to my character's narrative to entertain the DM and players.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I haven’t ever shared the titles or anything but I do title them during prep, or sometimes afterward.

My most recent adventure, “A Knight In The Nightwood” was really fun.

I’m thinking about starting to write summaries of sessions for my players to read, complete with titles and lists of what the PCs learned or gained, or lost, enemies or allies made, etc.

 

[humble minion]

I've never done it in a D&D game, but there were session titles for Buffy and Firefly games I (kinda) co-DMed. Partly because the TV roots of those games made it seem natural, and partly because there's two different groups involved and the D&D group is less into the episodic storytelling kind of game than the Buffy group.

(Wow, I'm going back in time now though. But all the session summaries are still online, hooray for the internet!)

 

[Green Onceler]

I title sessions. Usually nothing terribly inspired, often just the chapter of the module in question. Players can see the titles in the session synopses I post on our FB group, although I doubt they often pay much attention.

Current campaign:
BO:01 Attack on Sandpoint
BO:02 Catacombs of Wrath
BO:03 Thistletop I
BO:04 Thistletop II
BO:05 Thistletop III
SM:06 Habe's Sanatorium / Walking Scarecrows
SM:07 Misgivings: Foxglove Manor

and upcoming this Sunday...

SM:08 - Magnimar I

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Yes, yes I do. Probably partly because I keep a campaign journal in RealmWorks and make a new session journal entry database page for each session. The program demands I input a name, and "45" just seems more fitting as prefix than as the whole name. I can't remember if the friend who DMed/GMed a lot for me named his sessions or not, but I think he might have for at least some campaigns, and that's probably also part of the inspiration.

 

[Voadam]

In my last campaign I did so. It was a gothic horror game using the Pathfinder Carrion Crown adventure path. In emails to the group I would riff off of A Series of Unfortunate Events with things like "I am excited for tomorrow's first session, The Bad Beginning, Part 1"

 

[Oofta]

I write up a quick summary after the session and post it to Obsidian. It helps me keep track of things, what happened and when. All titles are prefaced with the in-world date followed by something either descriptive or humorous if I can think of it.

I don't always go into a great level of detail, but try to capture important decisions, events, names and so on. I find it a useful reference and will sometimes use the "GM Notes" section (I can see, players can't) so I can refer back later. Always fun to bring up tidbits and pieces from previous sessions, even ones we played months ago that everyone else may have forgotten.

 

[Istbor]

We do chapters, but not really individual sessions. I have some groups of friends where that probably wouldn't work well. lol.

Definitely would end up with some titles like: "To bring the fish, or not to bring the fish, that... is the question."

 

[The Green Hermit]

I started doing this a while ago. . . after my "Out of the Frying Pan" game ended, I briefly ran a Mutants & Masterminds game and part of the conceit of that was that each session was the issue of a comic book, so each one had a comic book-like story title that I either came up with before or applied after (depending on the direction of the game, sometimes the titles would be retroactively changed). The idea was a hit and I found that titling the sessions helped set the tone and stick particular sessions/events in our memories, so when I began what would come to be the last 3.xE game I'd ever run (It was called "Second Son of a Second Son") I started titling those sessions as well, and then it kinda stuck. Sometimes a title is straightfoward, like "Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (part 3)" and sometimes they are more esoteric, "Love will Tear Us Apart."

Anyone do something similar?

Here is the list of the names I've given the sessions in my current game (as they appear on our campaign wiki):

• Session #0 - Stat Draft & Character Creation [Saturday, November 23, 12:30 pm EST]
• Session #1 - "We'll Take the Low Road!" [Saturday, January 11, 12:30 pm EST]
• Session #2 - "The Laughing Crow" [Saturday, February 22, 12:30 pm EST]
• Session #3 - "Love & Other Demons" [Saturday, March 28, 12:30 pm EST]
• Session #4 - "Hello, We Must Be Going" [Saturday, April 11, 2:00 pm EST]*
• Session #5 - "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (part 1)" [Saturday, April 25, 2:00 pm EST]
• Session #6 - "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (part 2)" [Saturday, May 11, 2:00 pm EST]
• Session #7 - "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (part 3)" [Saturday, May 23, 2:00 pm EST]*
• Session #8 - "Sea Ghosts & Turkey-Lizards" [Saturday, June 6, 2:00 pm]
• Session #9 - "Dino-MITE!" [Saturday, June 20, 2:00 pm]*
• Session #10 - "The Sea Ghost" [Saturday, July 11, 2:00 pm]
• Session #11 - "Rollo's Rage" [Saturday, August 8, 2:00 pm]
• Session #12 - "Danger at Dunwater (part 1)" [Saturday, August 29, 2:00 pm]*
• Session #13 - "Danger at Dunwater (part 2)" [Saturday, September 19, 2 pm EST]
• Session #14 - "Lizardfolk Parley" [Saturday, October 17, 2 pm EST]
• Session #15 - "Thousand Teeth" [Friday, October 30, 7 pm]
• Session #16 - "Love will Tear Us Apart" [Saturday, November 14, 2 pm]*
• Session #17 - "Salvage Mission" [Saturday, December 5, 2 pm]
• Session #18 - "Welcome to My Parlor…" [Saturday, December 26, 2 pm]
• Session #19 - "Like Rats…" [Saturday, January 16, 2021 - 1 pm]*
• Session #20 - "Song of the Fens" [Saturday, February 20, 2 pm et]
• Session #21 - "Song of the Fens (pt 2)" [Saturday, March 13, 2 pm]
• Session #22 - "Against the Cult of the LOAF" [Saturday, April 3, 1 pm]
• Session #23 - "Into the Temple of the LOAF" [Saturday, May 1, 2 pm]

* XP was awarded this session

As you can see, sometimes the titles aren't great, but they do their job. Other times, as in session #8, what I think is gonna happen (assaulting the Sea Ghost) is delayed, but since they got info about the Sea Ghost that session, it still applied (they just decided to hunt some baby velociraptors hanging in some sea caves rather than just let the two days till the pirate ship arrived go by and getting right to the boarding).

No, but most of my sessions end mid-"session," due to my son's ADD. He likes the game, but can only focus on it for so long. Yesterday, for example, we only played a little over an hour. Because of this, it usually takes four or five "sessions" to equal a true session.

 

[bedir than]

When a player I name them based on how my character thinks about them. This often leads to my DM being rather confused by the write ups.

When a DM I name them based on what I think are the main elements of plot being advanced. Usually half the table is confused by the name.

 

[jayoungr]

I sort of do. I record mine, and I always name the recordings with the date and a few words to help me remember what happened. Sometimes this takes the form of a title. For example, a recent one is "Showdown with a Lich."

 

[R_J_K75]

Yes I do this for most of my adventures. I'd have to go and try and reference my files but its a lost cause as I'm horrible at file management. The one I do remember off the top of my head is:

"THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOONSEA".

 

[S'mon]

There is normally a session account & blog entry for each session IMCs, so the blog post needs a title, so yes there's a session title. Forgotten Realms Campaigns