"Previously on..." - Recapping the previous session

[Lanefan]

As DM I've always done a quick recap if only to set the scene; sometimes a longer recap if someone missed the previous session and I didn't get around to e-mailing an update.

For my next game, I'm considering instead the possibility of doing a story-hour in here, that players can refer to if needed. Depends if I think I have time.

Lanefan

 

[Jorunkun]

As a player I think I'd hate being called upon to recap, it's too much like being called out in class. Plus, of course the GM, having spent all this time preparing, should have the best grasp of what the state of play is anyway.

As a GM, I find a short 5 or so sentence recap really helpful, not just in tieing up the last session but also in setting up the one about to begin.

 

[pogre]

My son has been playing since we started this campaign and he has an amazing memory. He usually gives me his version of the recap on the way to gaming and he always remembers what we were doing. I steal some of it to put the players back in the game situation, but always give my son credit.

 

[meomwt]

We generally meet weekly. When I am DM-ing, I generally try to summarise where the game ended the session before. If I need to add a couple more points, I do.

Playing 2e years ago, I signalled the end of idle chit-chat and the start of carnage by reading "The Journal" - a couple of paragraphs written by an omnipotent author (or, perhaps, an important NPC), summarising the game events to date. Mind you, with a table of 8-10 players , I needed something to keep them in line!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

We play every week, but every week, a different member our group DMs. That Keeps the workload manageable for all of us. Unfortunately, it also manages that we forgot most details.

We have only began recently to always make a recap (usually it's the DM, because he has prepared the game and knows where it stands). (Damn, how stupid where we! Though I remember that in our Banewarrens campaign, my Kobold Sorceror had a diary that I posted on our groups website.)

 

[jmucchiello]

As a player I think I'd hate being called upon to recap, it's too much like being called out in class. Plus, of course the GM, having spent all this time preparing, should have the best grasp of what the state of play is anyway.

And this is why I find myself as DM the worst to do a recap. I know too much. I need to know what my players have forgotten. That tells me what stuff I'm doing is forgettable. I don't want to work on stuff that's forgettable. So if the group always forgets about the king's shadowy adviser, you can drop him from the plot since who wants to find out the BBEG is "Oh, yeah, remember THAT guy....?"

 

[Fenes]

I make notes during the session, and later type them up as a sort of campaign history, often add a (rendered) illustration, and then then mail and/or print it out before the next session.

 

[jensun]

Sometimes I will do a recap but a lot of the time it isnt necessary. several members of the group are very active blodders and they tend to do AP write ups after the game.

One technique I do like is to use the "Next week on..." method as a slot at the end of any game to get the players talking about what they want to do, issues they want to address or stories they want to push in the enxt session. Its an excellent way to gather ideas to help prep.

 

[B4cchus]

I always start my weekly SCAP session with a short recap. The length usually depends on what actually happened last week. It tends to be longer if there was a lot of RPG/NPC interaction. It also depends on what the cutoff point was. Yesterday I ended with a certain Deva appearing in front of them warning them about some 'false sisters' and where to find something called 'Alakast'. I probably will be rehashing that entire speech next week.
All in all it never takes more than 5 minutes.

 

[Keith Robinson]

We always do a recap if a player was missing (for the benefit of that player), which the players usually do. This can take around five mintes or so, I guess. Otherwise, we just remind ourselves where we finished the last session - which is normally sufficient for everyone to remember what happened