An insightful, surprising, or explosive scene to draw the players back into the story.
Start every session strong. It’s been a week or more since the last session, or maybe its the first session, and you want your players fully focused. You want your opening to be the only thing the players are thinking about. You want nothing to have more pull than what’s happening at your table. When this happens, you’ve created an engaging hook.
What captures your group will vary depending on individuals in it. But there are some general guidelines you can follow. Below are some examples of these. Use them in tandem with each other and on their own. This list is not exhaustive. Just use them as a guide.
Knowledge Drop
Knowledge and lore and information will drive the story forward. Players will be driven to discover more as you move through your games because everything will link to the threads they want to follow. The challenge lies in how knowledge is transferred. Starting a session with a sprawling expositional speech is going to develop snores. But having the players draw it out of an NPC through conversation is better. Explaining what is found in the ancient tome will do the trick, but creating a page for the party to read at the table will top that.
Plot Twist
The narrative will develop itself through play, but the Gamemaster still can sway the direction of their interests. A plot twist should be plausible. It should be something that makes sense in the narrative but takes the players by surprise. The catch is that the surprise should still be foreshadowed. The parties note’s in The Chronicle will be a filled little titbits of information. Tiny fragments of what could be. The small things that the players notice that can be woven into major, compelling plot points.
Interactive Cinematics
These are fast-paced narrative scenes that propel the characters into a new scenario or location. This often works best for a monumental event, something that might be impossible for characters to affect, but can still engage with. This includes things like natural disasters, huge military invasions, or otherworldly cataclysmic events (or something else weird). These scenes play out with description from the Gamemaster and the players explaining how their characters react to the things happening around them. This creates a back and forth between Gamemaster and players as the world around them changes. Scenes like this can bring up a discussion around player agency, so they should be used sparingly and broadcasted to the party well a head of time. If the city is literally going to collapse, the party should know this before it happens.
A New Location
A new location gives the players things to explore. Provide a short, evocative description that outlines some of the more easily accessible places for exploration. A town, a city, an adventure site, it doesn’t matter. All of them make for excellent hooks at the start of a session. Let them explore before throwing an NPC with a quest giving exclamation mark hovering above their head at them. A new location will also draw characters in. Be sure you’ve checked The Chronicle for some of the individual goals, wants, or needs of the characters so they can be peppered through out.
Combat?
Sure. If you want. This really depends on the system you’re using and what combat is like in that system. Something slow and laborious will not get the same impact as a system that is fast punchy and exciting. Combat can work though, just has to be timed right, have the right party, and an accommodating system.
Adding and blending
This list is not exhaustive. They’re just some of the things that can be used. They were great blended together. A new location that provides a knowledge drop or an interactive cinematic that divulges a plot twist will make a power start to the session.
Thanks for reading, folks. As always it’s been a pleasure.
Stuart.