D&D Session Planning

I have been running tabletop RPGs for what I consider a long time. 5 years of almost weekly sessions has helped flesh out a style that is flexible but able to keep players on a story line.

This past Monday I brought two new characters into a campaign after helping them develop their backstory and make the character feel more alive. To do this I used some cinematic imagery taken from one of the characters backstory.

When preparing for a session I make a skeleton, a series of events and situations that I plan to introduce to the characters. it looks something like this:

intro:
A red feather drifts on the wind above the plains near Phandalin. From its high vantage point we see two travelers about to meet on the road just outside town. One of them stands tall, watching a group of people at work building a small temple outside of town. The other, making fast progress despite short stature. The wind shifts and the feather dives toward the ground, brushing past Mynydd Mab and catching his eye (describe your character) (Mynydds Dreams). The feather, unnoticed catches on the haft of a glaive protruding from its resting place on the back of Leofwine Silverbough (describe your character) (Leofwines Dreams).
(Mynydds Dreams)
brief overview of the obelisk, cracking, spreading across the land. Goblins collecting pieces while shadows orchestrate, the uncle Doeth Mab asking him to find and close the gate.
Doeth said: "Follow the dreams. They will name a town. When they do, go there."
but there was never a name, just a seemingly endless string of red feathers guiding the way
(Leofwines Dreams)
Similar but with Khepra-vey Sunmane flipping through the visions like a book
-~= Player interaction =~-
sounds of fighting (sick cow sounds)
cut to
Lucine being approached by an Acolyte to meet with Brother Garrick... Alone
Cut to
Acheron and Phil
Cut to combat
Frostjaw and Rorland joined by the new folks
-~= Player interaction =~-
outro:
As night deepens the wind picks up again. A single red feather drifts away from the town of Phandalin. Its job done the feather simply drifts where the wind takes it. The music from the inn fades as soon as it begins and the watchers look on with interest.

This session started with the existing party already split and my goal was to bring them all together while resolving existing challenges. At the end of the last session I had 2 characters in combat, 1 wandering the town, and 2 characters resting at their bastion. The town has become a sort of safe haven with NPCs that the players have developed relationships with so being split up in town is fairly commonplace and I use it to give players time to think while I focus of different things happening.

This session moved a bit faster than I expected and outpaced my skeleton. That is where the -~= Player interaction =~- sections come in. These are sections where the players have interactions with each other and NPCs, driving their personal development along and let them guide the session based on the decisions they make. I think that player decisions are very important and should have impact on the story and the world. As such I like to give them a lot of room to discuss things while I step aside and listen.

The skeleton lets me have a way to resolve or nudge along existing situations and keep the flexibility that comes with years of practicing improv storytelling. During a session I take note of things that that need attention and build the next skeleton from those. After next Monday I will likely update this page with the skeleton I used for that session, I wont add it now because it contains spoilers for my players and I don't want to give away the plot.

This feels kinda scattered, its not advice, more of a stream of consciousness as I think about my GM method.