D&D General Starting your session - how to announce that the game starts?

[jasper]

We initiate play with a 12-canon salute.

DID that once. Headquarters was not happy because I moved the cannon. But not prints no crime.

 

[Scott Christian]

Three ways work really well, depending on the table:

1. Hit play on the speaker, and have it start with the same exact song every time. Pavlov's dog and all. It really helps if the song's intro is unmistakably unmistakable. I had one DM that always started with the song below.
2. Agree to a time. Set Alexa or a timer and once it goes off, just declare: "Ready?" This is also benefitted by the DM already having something prepared - a short intro or a set scene.
3. The ol' recap. I think it helps to have a rotation of players do this. It provides investment for them, and you sometimes see different points of view.

 

[James Gasik]

A ready check, and anyone who isn't ready gets a 60 DKP minus. Oh wait, we're talking about D&D?

I just let them blather on until they remember why they are sitting at a table with dice and character sheets.

 

[Unwise]

As a DM I found it most effective to loudly announce in a cheesy voice-over voice (think oldschool batman series)

"When last we saw our heroes...."

It quiets people down, allows me to give a recap of exactly where they are, and lets everybody know we are playing now.

 

[James Gasik]

Or..."Lets get ready to RUMMMMMMMMMBBLLLLLLLLLE!"

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Ritual phrases. That's how you resolve this sort of thing. Ritual phrases come from some RPG--I'm not sure which, perhaps it's just a PbtA thing--where invoking certain words specifies a procedure that is to follow. @Mannahnin and @Burnside have achieved the same effect.

For my own game, the ritual phrase is, "Previously, in the Desert..." When I say that, the Session Proper has begun. We don't have a ritual phrase for ending session (though I might see about developing one), since that's usually a matter of "we have to break within 30 minutes of the usual ending time for people who have RL things to do." Sometimes, the ritual phrase changes because the party isn't in the titular Desert anymore; as an example, while visiting the perpendicular plane of Zerzura (my adaptation of the very excellent Gardens of Ynn), I have said, "Previously, in Zerzura..." I didn't make any changes during their (very brief) visit to Thelitaf, an island off the coast of the Tarrakhuna, but if I were to, it would likely be "Previously, in the Sapphire Sea..." or "Previously, among the Ten Thousand Isles..."

Invoking ritual phrases in this way establishes a mood. It sets a clear demarcation of an event happening, and by being a ritual--something memorized and practiced--it induces players to genuinely think differently after it's been said. Like how practicing a piece of music enough times can lead to being able to replicate the motions even without seeing the notes before you.

 

[Mannahnin]

Three ways work really well, depending on the table:

1. Hit play on the speaker, and have it start with the same exact song every time. Pavlov's dog and all. It really helps if the song's intro is unmistakably unmistakable. I had one DM that always started with the song below.

The music cue thing is great. I think the first place I remember specifically seeing it recommended was in the Mekton II RPG, which suggested selecting a theme song for your "anime show"/session, and advised that the authors had used Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone.

 

[Musing Mage]

There's only one truly reasonable response when your players are chattering and won't let the game start:

 

[James Gasik]

There's only one truly reasonable response when your players are chattering and won't let the game start:

Yeah but then they start crying and make you feel bad (unless you're the kind of DM that feeds on player tears, then by all means, go ahead!).

 

[Davo3]

I (player) document our adventures and post them on our private FB group, so everyone can get caught up before the session (we play twice a month). We chit-chat until the last person shows up, then usually get right to it.