My Top 3 Ways To Focus Before A Game

Use these tips to come in swinging for high-stakes sessions

Being able to rise to the occasion of a planned epic moment within a session isn’t accomplished with good improv, it’s properly planning. Your routine does not have to be complex - mine isn’t. Try these techniques to bring your best to the session.

The walk of solitude

An hour or two before a session I like to go on a walk and listen to music. I deliberately build a list that I can glance at once in a while of things I want to ponder and build hypothetical tools to fall back on. Sometimes this requires that I take notes to reference later - which often means I just voice to text into my Notes on my phone as I’m strolling.

This allows me to formulate “scenario hooks”. This is a concept prominently featured in several The Alexandrian YouTube videos and advice blogs. Scenario hooks are top tier ways to provide yourself with options to improv off of as a starting point.

Jacking steel

You don’t necessarily have to squat heavy weight like I prefer to, sometimes all you need before a session is a set or two of pushups to get your blood pumping. I most often use this before a confrontational opening - like when you’re starting a session with initiative into combat or altercation. Having your blood pumping will help you engage with the confrontation - your roleplaying will be more present.

Bullet point session goals

Sometimes I only go into sessions with 3 bullet points, depending on how comfortable I am with the area the party is currently playing in. The more reading I’ve done (or development) for the world surrounding a location, the less actual prep I need to do. I have a heavy-improv style, so you may want to outline more and more until you feel comfortable.

These bullet points are often things that force the party to engage. Something that just happens, rather than relying on the party to choose to do something beforehand. Example 1: “A guard arrives and questions the party about their identity and accuses them of being X group of thieves.” Example 2: “A roc swoops down and begins attacking the village.”

That’s it for today! Thanks to all of our Kickstarter backers for bringing us to $17,000! We’re over 1/3 of our way to funding The Vineyard RPG. If you are thinking of pledging but you’re uncertain - I encourage you to shoot me your questions to my Twitter, Discord, or send me an email (isfriday at gmail dot com) with any questions. I’d love to hear from y’all!