End Your Online Sessions 5-10 Minutes Early

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Hi all,

I'm writing a devlog for combat in Glint, but work has picked up a bit, delaying its publishing. To not lose my meager blogging momentum, I thought I would share some quick practical advice about a topic that's been on my mind.

Transitioning to Online Games

At the beginning of 2024, my group transitioned to playing sessions online. It wasn't all bad, some information is easier to present and organize in a digital space. However, one thing that I immediately missed was the after-session table talk. When a session ended in person, there would often be a 10 minute period as we packed up and walked out the door when we would just talk. Seems simple, but it gave us a small window of time to process the events of the session in an informal setting. When we moved online, we lost that time. Sometimes, everyone was off the call within a minute of the session ending.

As a GM, I came to realize that these, now missing, informal moments were invaluable to my understanding of where the players were at, what was working, and what they were excited about going forward. Hearing my players talk about the session was highly validating for me and highly useful for jumpstarting my prep for the next session.

The first thing that I tried was simply asking my players, "What worked for you guys in that session? What are you guys thinking of doing next?" I found this direct approach produced less sincere feedback than the informal chit-chat I enjoyed before and only managed to prolong the session by another minute or two.

So, what did work?

End Your Online Sessions 5-10 Minutes Early

I found that when I reserved time at the end of a session for a bit of light bookkeeping, we managed to recapture some of the in-person candor that had been lost. Specifically, we have been tracking XP by using an XP dice system. So, we needed to reserve time in the final moments of our session to roll the dice and tally our progress... But I don't necessarily believe that the specific form of bookkeeping is all that important.

From my perspective, it was by keeping our hands busy with a simple task and our minds relatively clear, that we reproduced the conditions for immediate and candid reactions to the events of the session. It almost felt the same as being in person and I am glad to have that small window into my players' perspectives restored.

This likely isn't a problem at every online table. At least, I hope it isn't! But, if you experience this at your table, I hope this idea has some value for you.

-2cp

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