Free resource
“Previously on…” briefing template
The day-before briefing. It is often the same text as your recap, re-sent at the moment it changes play — loading the last session back into everyone’s head before the next one starts.
How to use it
- Send it the day before. The recap captures the memory; the day-before send loads it back in. That second send is the one that affects play.
- Lead with the hook. Open on the unresolved question so players arrive with plans, not questions.
- Name where you left off. A single "we ended with…" line orients everyone in a sentence.
# Previously on [Campaign] — before Session [N+1]
**Last time, we ended with…** [the cliffhanger / open question]
**Remember:** [2–3 facts the coming session will lean on]
**Still hanging over you:** [debts, threats, promises in play]
**Tonight you’ll be deciding:** [the choice the session opens on]
See you at the table.A worked example
Last time, we ended with the buyer learning you are on his trail — and not yet deciding what to do about it. Remember: the reliquary sailed at dawn, the harbor clerk who helped you has fled the city, and the harbormaster now counts you as trouble. Still hanging over you: Sera’s fifty-crown promise to the dockside witness. Tonight you’ll be deciding: chase the ship across the water, or corner the buyer in town before he moves first. See you at the table.