Start your RPG session. Get players into character. Show your world. DM tips & lessons TTRPG DnD

How to start your D&D session can be a challenge. Everyone is assembled but now it’s up to you to get things rolling. A journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. In D&D that first step can be awkward. This video shows how I tackle the issue.

To start a session, it’s important to lay the foundation of what is to become a group hallucination. There are many ways to do this. It doesn’t matter how you do it, but doing it will go a long way to getting everyone on the same page.

Players come to the session with different expectations and remembrances of what has and will come to be in the group’s world. Some may remember a past session and want to continue from the moment the last session ended while others may be anxious to move on.

I usually ask someone to give a synopsis of where things last ended. This likely will start a discussion. Try not to linger too long here. Though, listen up as they are probably talking about things they did or didn’t like and may give you ideas for future adventure.

Try not to spend too long at this step. Everyone is here to play.

A brief narration should include a line or two about the past sessions and character motivations while setting the stage for where the PCs will start.

First: Describe where the players are starting including the weather and time of day… almost like a fade-in for a movie. In fact, think of a movie trailer.

Next: Include what’s happening on a grand scale in the area known and obvious to the party. Include sights, sounds, and smells. All of these are good memory triggers to help the players get in the mood.

Now add some Character specific descriptions regarding downtime/fasttime things that interested them at the end of the last session.

Finally, have the world do something at the end of the narration to provoke interaction between PCs and the world. Either have something to spark a party discussion or create a situation that they must react to.

Putting them in a bit of a crisis or a have-to-act moment quickly gets players into character and interacting.

The James Bond movie-opening action sequence is a tried and true method to get things started and it takes care of some dice rolling right away.

That should do it. Step aside and let the game begin. As a DM, I try to be true to the world and fair to the players. I try not to think in terms of encounters. Sure, there are things to encounter, but I try to stick with having the world react to whatever the players do. But, that’s another video.

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