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

[TGryph]

We game on alternate Sundays. ONnthe Friday before, I send out an e-mail giving a detailed account of last session. I tend to jot down notes during play, and try to make sure everyone's character gets mentioned at least once. My session recaps tend to run a bit (maybe 10-12 paragraphs depending on the session..I take copious notes).

It is a lot of work but (a) the players seems to appreciate it and (b) it makes a great campaign journal to refer back to.

TGryph

 

[chriton227]

I used to do a 1-2 minute "when last we saw our hapless adventurers" blurb at the start of each session. In my latest campaign, I've been posting more detailed session recaps on a wiki site I set up for the campaign. (http://paulrhod.wikidot.com/sessions)

 

[Arkhandus]

Oh heck yeah. I think it's really important for getting the group ready to RP, reminding them of where we left off, reminding them of any really important details (like what their current quest was), and getting them into the right mindset for the game.

In a face-to-face session, I typically spend just a minute or two on recapping the previous session or previous few sessions. In my OpenRPG campaigns, I often type up anywhere from 2 to 4 short paragraphs of recapping.

 

[Herobizkit]

Every session. I always start each session with the phrase "When last we left our intrepid heroes..."

 

[Roadkill101]

I think my players memories are like sieves sometimes they barely retain anything at all, so a re-cap always begin our sessions. We meet every other week, so I know not a lot is always retained from between sessions, and it can get worse when RL kicks in and we miss a session or more in a row.
I have the players tell me what they remember from the previous session. Usually one player will speak up, mention something that sparks another players memory and pretty soon the entire party is discussing what happened among themselves. I have to step in and make corrections to some details the players have wrong (but their characters would definately have right), mostly on the bigger and important issues.
The re-cap process sometimes takes upwards of 15 minutes as my players settle themselves in for the session.

 

[the Jester]

We usually spend 5-10 minutes on a recap or status update at the start of the session.

 

[Jeysie]

Since my group roleplays in IRC, we always have the benefit of full logs of all of our sessions. However, since I'm the group's de facto secretary, I usually will post some "Last Lines" consisting of the text of very last event from our last session.

The GM will then generally start off the IC roleplay proper with some sort of "When we last left our Heroes..." recap paragraph summary.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

As DM, I normally start each session by giving a short 1-2 minute recap of what had happened previously in the last session (and sometimes last couple of sessions if required).

I always did the recap as I thought it was just easier and less confusing that way. My players sometimes misremember things so getting them to do the recap may be a little confusing.

However, I think it may be worth letting the players have a go at recapping next session. As a couple of posters have pointed out, it shows you as DM what points the players picked up on and what points they missed.

Olaf the Stout

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

I let the players do it. Whoever does the best job as far as covering the key points gets a bennie chip.

 

[blargney the second]

We use the variant from Unearthed Arcana called Players Recap All The Dice. It works great for us.