Start Your Session With a Question

I'm going to try to keep this one pretty short~ So if you haven't read Ty's rad post "Tension Cheatsheet" go do that now! Not because it's particularly relevant, but because it's great and it got me thinking about formalizing some automatic things I do as a GM. One trick I've started to implement that I don't see often is pretty simple: Start Your Session With a Question. Let me explain. Tell me if you've ever been here:

Your session is supposed to start at 7, but really you end up hanging out and chatting from 6-7:15 (you are all friends at the end of the day). You look at the time and decide we need to get started! All of a sudden everyone needs to switch gears and jump into a world of high fantasy like a skinny twink jumping into an unheated pool. Tanner is now Blorpo Fillerbeard and Joshua needs to collect himself after the hilarious TikTok he just got sent and remember why Jerbreedo the Wizard is even here in the first place. Worst of all, if you don't start with a cold open or in medias res ((two tactics I use often and will hopefully soon blog about)), your session is probably doomed to start with something as vague as "You wake up from the long rest outside the dungeon entrance. What would you like to do?"

Not ideal. Instead you could start your session, or rather your pre-session, with a question. Tanner has gotten here early so you let her know first and ask her your pre-prepared question; "What does your character eat for breakfast?" She has plenty of rations on her character sheet sure, but she'd never really considered what the rations actually were to Blorpo. "Don't tell me now, just think about it, how you'd usually cook it, if you cook it and keep it in the back of your mind for the session."

After a few moments you go back to chatting as usual; Tanner tells you about her Valentine's day plans with Sofia, and you recount how you're about to take a long vacation to play through Dragon Fantasy XXI. Joshua and Mike show up and you ask them the same question, again asking them to keep the answer in the back of their mind. The trio of players catches up and hangs out, maybe Mike asks you if it's OK that Tril (his ranger) has had a large wok with whole time (and of course you say yes), and you take this opportunity to finish your last minute prep.

7:15 rolls around as always but this time you're not throwing your players into the deep end. You set the scene:

GM: "After slaying the Roller Beast you'd decided to make camp outside the dungeon. You've gotten a full night's rest so heal back up to full if you haven't already. The magenta sun begins to slowly crack over the Cruxian Wilderness. Which of you usually wakes up first?" Tanner and Joshua instinctively point at Mike.

GM: "Mike, describe to us what Tril is eating for breakfast and how he's preparing it."

Mike: "Tril has already been up for a bit before the sun rises and cracks 6 eggs into his wok, no spices, just oil. And begins scrambling them. When they're at that nice gooey consistency he takes them off the heat and dumps a mountain of hot sauce onto them."

GM: "Jerbreedo you've woken up a bit earlier than usual and see Tril dumping hot sauce onto these eggs, what's your reaction."

Joshua: "Jerbreedo gags a bit before pulling out an ornate pan and frying two eggs, sunny side up. He then gently wraps them in a Mountain Leaf with a slice of cured ham and lets all the flavors simmer together, before delicately eating the meal with an equally ornate fork."

GM: "How is Tril eating his eggs?"

Mike: "He's just shoveling them into his mouth with the cooking spoon."

Joshua: "Jebreedo is trying his best not to look and still isn't used to this."

Tanner: "Blorpo groggily wakes up, only in a loin cloth, all his dwarven hairs hanging out in the morning sun. He pulls out a pouch of Rockram jerky and plops down beside Tril before taking a bite."

Mike (in Tril voice): "Care for some hot sauce?"

And just like that your session has started and you're able to ease into the immersion with a question that the players already know the answer to! I usually like to set this kind of scene to music and weave a kind of montage going from character to character as I collect player descriptions. It's also a great way to prompt players to develop the more mundane and human aspects of their characters without putting them on the spot too much.

Some examples of questions I've started sessions with:

1 -  What is your character's morning routine.

2 -  Describe what your character's room looks like.

3 -  You're headed to a Halloween party this session, what costume are you prepping?

4 -  What does your character do to help them sleep? How well do they usually sleep?

5 -  How does your character pass the time on long monotonous treks on foot?

6 -  Does your character have someone they'd write letters to? If so what letter are they writing today?

There's other ways of easing players back into a fictional world, especially if you're playing a more narrative focused campaign, that I'll go into in the future! But until then hopefully I've inspired you to get your players' gears turning before a session even starts, and to start your session with a question that's more focused than "What would you like to do?"