Whether you’re writing a story or running a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, here are a few ideas for maintaining the focus of your narrative.

Engage the Heroes’ Senses

For every major room or area in an adventure, make sure you note not only what the heroes can see but also what they smell and hear. Sound travels well underground and in empty ruins, so be sure to have an idea of what sort of events going on will be heard in the nearby rooms.

Ideally, you’re drawing individual rooms while the players are adding them to an overall map, so the layout of the room is immediately obvious, and you can focus your description on the contents of the room or area, including smell and sound.

Reveal the Focus Last

As you’re mapping and describing, survey the room first, then bring the players’ attention to the thing they’ll naturally focus on. That’s typically whatever is most dangerous, most desired, or otherwise most likely for them to interact with.

If there’s a monster, consider describing it as “emerging from the shadows/smoke” after you’ve described the rest of the room. If there is a magic item or other object of desire, mention it last as being up high, in the shadows, wrapped in smoke, etc.

Of course, sometimes the focus is overwhelming, especially if it’s a monster. Withhold details the heroes wouldn’t notice because something obvious commands all their attention. A clearing full of trolls is all the heroes see until they deal with the trolls; only then do they notice the captive lying under a bush. A guillotine poised to chop off a captive’s head leaves no room in their minds until it’s made safe; only then do they see the delicate crystal figurines occupying niches in the walls.

Prep Events for Lulls

When players get bogged down discussing their next move, light a fire under them by informing them of weird noises or other new events that put pressure on them or actually force their hand. In the old days, this was often just ominously rolling dice for an extra random encounter, but it’s better to have a small list of things.

If you use my system of luck and danger, you can use these moments to give yourself a point of danger with an ominous sign.

• Weird noise (natural or distant monster)
• A flock of birds or cauldron of bats whooshes by
• A thunderstorm or sudden stillness of wind and birdsong
• A door flung open or slammed closed by a gust of wind
• Part of the ruins collapses (or just a stone falls)
• Any clock you have ticking runs down, and the event occurs.
• Random monster encounter

Park on the Downhill

Stephen King’s advice to writers once was “park on the downhill”, which he explained as meaning to leave something unfinished that you’ll be able to pick up easily the next day. Then you don’t sit down facing a blank page but rather one that just needs that ending you’ve already thought about (and given more time to stew overnight.)

In RPGs, this means ending a session with a cliffhanger, hook rumor, or question you want the players to think over. It could merely be a shopping session, but it’s better if it’s a moment of mystery and drama:

• A cryptic warning
• A veiled threat
• A mysterious message
• A sudden hazard
• A turning of the tables

Not only will this ensure that you’re able to start quickly with a known event, but it will help draw your players back to the table for the next session.

A good way to accomplish this is to have the cliffhanger in your back pocket and spring it on the players after a natural stopping point for the session. So, instead of saying they returned to town and replenished their supplies, say they returned to town, replenished their supplies, and showed an unusual piece of their booty to the sage, only for her to croak in disbelief, “Why, this is the Lost Orb of Galcus. Do you have any idea what this means??”

It’s also a great cheat for you. I mean, do you even know what the Lost Orb of Galcus is?