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Looking for a way to captivate your players right from session start?
Last game of The Dark Eye, my knight got a chance to clobber some nasty creatures infesting a mine as we quest to rescue a kidnapped witch.
Jochen, the GM, had a very strong start to the session, which is one of my key session ingredients. Although, I like the way Sly Flourish says it better: Start With a Bang!
In this case, we started with a treasure bang.
Jochen handed out a list of treasure (or more accurately, a loot box in the Foundry VTT) to kick things off, and we excitedly divvied up the cool loot.
This made everyone eager to tackle the next room in the dungeon to test out the new stuff. It got everyone engaged from the start because who doesn’t love treasure? It got us perusing our character sheets and roleplaying as we decided what things could be of most benefit to whom.
A strong beginning indeed. Well done, Jochen!
I encourage GMs to add this as a periodic way to Start With a Bang. I tend to focus on conflict to jump the players back in immediately and garner attention, focus, and engagement.
But a treasure-full start ain’t so bad, either. 🙂
A couple of quick tips if you decide to start a session with a loot drop:
- Make sure there’s something for everyone so a player doesn’t feel left out.
- Add major treasures to spike engagement and get everyone excited to dive into the next scene.
- Maintain a wishlist of treasure ideas so you can populate loot drops easily and ensure the treasure will excite everyone.
- Once the coolest loot’s been divvied, get the party back into the adventure to capitalize on the current high excitement level. They can sort the minor stuff out later.
- Make your world deeper one treasure at a time by creating a bit of lore for the major treasures.
- Tie a piece of treasure to your campaign plot.
- Tie a piece of treasure to a character arc.
Start With a Treasure Bang!
Every so often begin a session with a loot drop. Players lurv their treasure and it sets the tone for a fun and exciting night.
And, if you begin with rewards, that means you ended last session with a cliffhanger:
“Good job, everyone! The beastie is dead. Nothing lies between you and its horde now…except for the clock! We’ll end here and start next time with what you find.”
That’s sneaky way to get everyone coming back, heh. Just be sure to have your GM screen up for when they chuck their dice at you in protest. 🙂
Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!
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