---
title: "How to Write Session Recaps Players Actually Read"
description: "The 150-word recap formula for tabletop RPG Game Masters: second-person hooks, spoiler discipline, and send-it-twice timing."
doc_version: "1.31"
last_updated: 2026-07-13
---

# Session Recaps Players Actually Read

Plain-text Markdown mirror of [storywright.io/guides/session-recaps](https://storywright.io/guides/session-recaps).

A good recap replaces the first ten minutes of every session spent re-explaining the last one. Here is the formula.

## The 150-word rule

Keep it to about 150 words — a two-minute read. Anything longer and players skim past the part that matters. One tight paragraph, maybe two.

## Write in second person

"You cornered the harbormaster" beats "the party cornered the harbormaster." Second-person hooks put each player back at the table and remind them what *they* did, not what happened to some abstract group.

## Spoiler discipline

Recap only what the players actually saw and did. Strike anything GM-only — the harbormaster's secret patron, the trap they missed. A recap is player-facing memory, not your prep notes.

## Send it twice

Send the recap the day after the game, while it's fresh, and again the day before the next session, as a "previously on…" primer. The second send is the one that pays off at the table.

## How Storywright helps

Because your session notes are already linked to the people and places they mention, Storywright drafts the recap for you from what happened at the table. You trim it to the formula above, strike anything GM-only, and publish — and each player gets it as a briefing before the next game.

## Sitemap

- [Home](/index.md)
- [Pricing](/pricing.md)
- [FAQ](/faq.md)
- [Sessions](/sessions.md)
- [Manual](/manual.md)
- [Contact](/contact.md)
- [Storywright vs World Anvil](/compare/world-anvil.md)
- [Storywright vs LegendKeeper](/compare/legendkeeper.md)
- [Storywright vs Notion](/compare/notion.md)
- [Guide: session recaps players actually read](/guides/session-recaps.md)
- [Full site index](/sitemap.md)