To recap or not to recap

[akr71]

One group (my family) plays weekly (ish) and I just say "So, we left off ___ and you were going to ___. Does that sound right?"

My other group plays monthly, at best and I give a more detailed recap.

 

[Bawylie]

Yeah I recap. A lot of times I’ll put something “wrong” in there too. At which point the players jump straight in and finish the recap.

 

[Immortal Sun]

I do a short recap reminding the players of where they are, what their immediate quest was, and what the general story has been so far.

Generally along the lines of "LAST TIME ON DRAGONBALL Z!" Because while I read the Angry GM post about recaps as [MENTION=6801558]robus[/MENTION] linked me and much of that is more or less what I already do, I just enjoy being dramatic.

 

[5ekyu]

In my game, we have a shared page where I publish bullet point style recaps, along with an intro checklist of meta-data (date played, who was there, character advancement total, and in-game dates covered.

Always invite them to add more.

Sometime detailed lists added like "loot haul" or an "aftermath summary."

So, that info is up for them to see for the between session time.

I recently added a "high spots" tab where each player is encouraged to point out a particular thing that was of special note to them in the session, with wide latitude to how they define it. I plan to use that as a sort of "spotlight" on stuff I see they had strong interest in.

If it ended with them heading into a new town or place, I try and post some "big picture" nuts and bolts stuff, maybe even maps, that we can all use as reference next session.

But the st table recap is flimsy at best. Our face to face time is limited and precious so unless there us an obvious need, we mostly just jump right in after a quick description of where we are.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

One of the players, not always the same one, writes an adventure log each session as they go though it. Then each week we re-read last week's entry to refresh memories. I don't add in what they missed or foolishly didn't record since the writer apparently didn't think it was important. Its fun and gets everyone mostly up to speed and refreshes the moments of player foolishness or glory from the prior week.

 

[Oofta]

I give the players at the table a chance to recap, filling in anything they missed I think others would know. If no one can give a recap, I do it.

I also do a quick write-up and post it online so I can look back 6 months later and remember what the heck we were doing.

 

[Shiroiken]

My group has 4 DMs, with 1 regular, 2 irregular, and 1 waiting in the wings (for when he gets his Midgard game running). In addition, most of us play in other games as well, so a recap is kinda necessary to keep everything straight!

 

[Nebulous]

At my home group, I always used to write up adventure summaries from the prior session. With this latest campaign, one of the new players took those duties over. You'd think no one would need a recap, that they could just read those...but that's not the case. But I don't mind - in a lot of ways, those recaps are for me. I wish I had accounts of past adventures like that, but I didn't start the habit until the 4e era.

I do a full story recap (with art and photos) after each session. Been doing it for years now, I started in an old Cthulhu campaign and it worked so well I just kept on doing it. I've probably written 300+ by now over the years. One incentive was to keep everyone on the same page. Another one was to remind myself of stories and details from years past. Sometimes my old players will mention something from our 2e or 3e days, and it doesn't ring a bell at all, I have no recollection of it happening. But if i had written it down I would have remembered!

 

[MNblockhead]

I do a recap but it is short. The main point is not so much to remind them of everything that happened in the game so far, but it is a good way to get people into the game. It is the transition from settling in and socializing to "what do you do?"

 

[Bupp]

I do a "When we last left our heroes..." followed by a few sentence summary. The players usually throw in comments of their own before I start in.