What makes a successful session?

[Reynard]

This isn't a thread about what makes a good "game" or a good "adventure" but rather what makes a particular session of play successful in your opinion. When you have finished for the night, what would have or should have happened to make you say, "yeah, that was a good session." And does this change depending on whether you were GMing or playing?

I know the flip answer is to say "we had fun." And it is valid, but it is just a little to vague, I think, for a good discussion seed. So if that is your criteria, expound a little. What does "fun" mean for you in this context?

I feel, as a GM, that the session was successful if player engagement was high throughout. that isn't to say there couldn't have been jokes and asides. Rather, just that the players were interested in what was happening in the fictional space as well as on the actual table (tactics, etc) and even if the action slowed down, the game did not drag if that makes sense.

What about you? What makes a successful session in your opinion?

 

[TiQuinn]

So yeah, fun. Engagement. But you want deeper than that so what does that mean to me?

To me, it’s when someone does something creative with their character in response to a situation and you see everyone kinda come alive at the moment and start reacting to this.

That’s in comparison to a session where people are doing standard actions and it’s all very much by the book, and kind of rote, and you fight the monster and you kill the monster (hooray!) and yada, yada, yada. I can tell when a game just doesn’t have the juice that night. People may be tired, uninspired, distracted, bored, whatever.

 

[John Dallman]

To me, a successful session involves accomplishing something. The characters have found out something significant, solved a mystery, progressed past obstacles, or otherwise feel they've done something worthwhile. They have changed the setting, a bit or a lot, and possibly changed themselves.

The players have experienced all this through their characters, which usually involves some degree of real-world psychological stress, but they're now relaxed from that and feel a sense of accomplishment. The GM has been able to orchestrate this, and shares the sense of accomplishment; they may well have new insights into the setting and the future direction of the story.

 

[payn]

Ill second what @John Dallman says about accomplishment. I cant put too fine a requirement for that, its kind of a you feel it when you feel it. Though, generally the players are fully engaged and trying to resolve a mystery or bring an adventure to a head. Sometimes, its just laying low and soaking up the setting too. Though afterwards everybody is beaming about the session and talking about the next one already. I think we have had those sessions where folks are tired, preoccupied, just not aligning right. We certainly want to avoid those, but sometimes you dont see them coming.

I've been lucky recently and coming off two successful (IMO) sessions. The first was a Traveller game. The travellers caught wind of a pirate attack and thus lucrative bounty placed on said pirate. The travellers are a few weeks behind the pirate (how warp travel works in Traveller) and are picking up the pieces. The entire session was examining evidence of pirate attacks, questioning witnesses etc.. One surly trader captain that was a victim challenged the travellers to a game of Astral Puck. A little something I made up for the game. Its like shuffle puck, only the puck in this case have tiny anti-grav engines and the board is holographic. The players ate it up. I did not expect them to have so much fun. They are now asking about the Astral Puck league and championships in the Trojan Reach lol. So, to sum it up, lots of investigation and social game play. Not even a whiff of combat. Though, everyone had a lot of fun and felt very successful.

Last night I had a session at the FLGS of a Battletech narrative I am running. I posted it publicly on a discord and got a few hits. I expected like 4-6 players tops. I ended up having 15... Ill prepared to split off with my co-GM and do two maps we did one massive base assault. I kept adding oppfor units, initiative was chaos and a complete mess, I was barking out "next" to keep the game moving. I kept thinking to myself, "what a crapshow" but at the end everyone was high fiving and laughing about the epic showing they had (even though a handful of their allies endup punching out from wrecked mechs). Despite all the wrenches tossed my way, and my stressed out mind, it ended up being very successful and folks are lining up for the next session already. Sometimes, what appears to be a lost session, can be salvaged into something quite successful.

My mighty defenders

The merc company "Two Pour" brought the entire company (why not Steiner opened their wallet for this one?)

 

[overgeeked]

We socialized and caught up for a bit. We threw some dice and had some laughs. We made progress in the fiction of the game. The referee presented meaningful choices to the players. The players made choices that actually mattered to the fiction. A good time was had by most, if not all. We escaped the world for awhile into our imaginations. In short, a good beer & pretzels game session.

 

[Aldarc]

To crush your enemies! See them driven before you! To hear the lamentations of the GM!

IMHO: you are so immersed in the fun of playing the game that you lose track of the time and leave excited for the next session.

 

[TiQuinn]

I almost forgot: quality snacks were brought to the table!

 

[aramis erak]

What about you? What makes a successful session in your opinion?

All of the following are needed:
the campaign was played.
I had fun.
Most of the players had fun.
No one had to have behavior issues addressed.
No uninvolved 3rd parties disrupted session.

 

[Xamnam]

IMHO: you are so immersed in the fun of playing the game that you lose track of the time and leave excited for the next session.

Honestly, I was wrestling with how to describe it, and this gets closest. I really don't care how much we "accomplish," as long as the players were invested, excited, showed they cared about the narrative, the world, the atmosphere we're all trying to create, and we were all on the same page, that truly is the most important thing to me.

 

[Joshua Randall]

The reductive answer: Did people have fun? If yes, it was a successful session.

The long answer when I have time.