The tradition in my group is for a player to do the recap in exchange for an inspiration token (or a hope in our Daggerheart game). Then the DM fills in gaps.
As I’ve started co-DMing the group I’ve also realized that it’s a great way to reinforce the plot points that players may have missed or not seen as important.
One of my groups has the DM giving us some bonus exp for writing a “journal entry”
That’s kinda how Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman wrote Dragonlance. One of them DMed while the other took notes. The first trilogy, at least, was a retelling of the campaign they ran in their brand new setting. Which they made, because at that point in D&D there were tons of Dungeons, but scant few Dragons.
Protip: First thing you do when the group meets is fix the date for next game night.
First thing you do, when the group is done gaming for the night, is write the recap.
I’d call that a recap. If the players need retelling of the entire session, adjust to the reality and play one-shots.
I like having a player write the recap, or notes as we go. If they goof something up we follow the notes!
At least everyone is on the same page that way and I don’t have to keep track of my own shenanigans.
Best change I made for games was having a fixed schedule. I used to do a “when can everyone meet next?” but it was a disaster of people not responding or actually showing up when they said they would.
Now we just play every Thursday. Quorum is two players*. Anyone who can’t make it, tough.
*Turns out Fate works fine with two players. DND would probably be harder.
I always wrote a recap right after each session because it helped keep a history of what happened and made sure I didn’t lose track of things.
I hadn’t seen this, fantastic!
Three times for three different endings, too!
Four times. They just never released the fourth ending.
