How you open a session sets the temperature for the whole night — and most of us open with "so, where were we?" without realizing what that quietly promises the table.

This episode is about the first five minutes: why the recap-and-housekeeping open drains the room before the game starts, and how to open in motion instead. You'll get three reliable ways to hook your table from the first sentence — an image, a tension, or a change — plus a one-sentence prep trick you can use at your very next session, and a level-up move that hands the spotlight to your quietest player.

First episode of Prep & Presence, the workshop for dungeon masters. Hosted by Soren Blackwell.