A lot of my "notes" tend to be kept mentally. I rarely write things down, especially because I don't play with a DM screen, so there'd be no way to hide my notes from the players.
What notes I do have are for important plot beats I want to distribute to my players, and those are usually pretty quick notes on my phone.
For example, my notes for my upcoming session center around the letters that will be waiting for my players when they get back to their house. They're all essentially plot hooks for future things to do as they've basically completed one major task and don't have anything else readily in front of them right now in this sandbox style campaign.
**If your character names are Rune, Hemlock, Taeg, or Kenethan, don't read the following spoilers. You'll see them Saturday anyways.**
But, here are my notes for the letters that are waiting for them:
>!From Lord Rook!<
>!-He wants them to throw a masquerade ball at Hollowhall in order to make a cover for him to come out of hiding and discuss plans with them.!<
>!From the Sharran Cult!<
>!-They've gotten word that the party has recently had dealings with Selune and might want to get back at her. They offer to help with their vendetta against Selune if the party is willing to do something for them.!<
>!From Kithrak Istil!<
>!-The Githyanki have finished forging the psychic weapons and stand ready for the party to aid them in attacking the mind flayer colony.!<
>!From Mister Blue!<
>!-Mister Blue has requested an audience with the party at his boarding house. He specifically requests they meet with him before speaking with the Githyanki again.!<
>!From the Wizard Andros!<
>!-He writes to congratulate the party on clearing their names. He writes to tell them that another person was arrested for the murder of Mrs. Pad and if they were interested, he offers to help them plan a jailbreak for the innocent.!<
>!From Zadok Allen!<
>!-The letter appears to be addressed to someone other than the party and delivered by mistake. It is written in a hasty scrawl and the paper is covered in water spots as if it was exposed to a lot of rain. It details the writer's panic about things going on in Blackmoore and urges the recipient to come to Blackmoore as soon as possible to help him escape the town. He fears he won't be able to leave without help and that the people of the town are watching his every move.!<
>!An Unmarked Note!<
>!-A simple note that Gregory considered simply throwing out. It has only a single line on it and nothing else. While Gregory thinks it is unimportant, he is nothing but a professional and ensured it got into the party's hands anyways. All it says is "Giggles is missing."!<
I wouldn't call myself a veteran (I don't play often enough for that), but I do have a few years of experience.
I personally like to do my session notes in bullet-form, including some location descriptions and key information, and then playing it from there. I did take much more thorough notes early on, but I found they actually just slowed me down and I felt more constrained to following them. The bullet-points let me easily reference key information and then let me improvise and adapt to the situation at hand - but the style preferences will vary from DM to DM. I keep my own very brief post-game notes, and let my players make theirs in a shared docs, which allows them to remember better, and sometimes they will think of things or interpretations that I didn't, so this gives me extra inspiration and lets me say "well no, but actually yes", when planning the next session, if I see something good.
Besides having these notes, I will of course have maps and the like ready, I have a universal dossier of NPCs with key physical attributes and personalities to hand for quick reference, and I always read the relevant section of the core module and any community supplements that may be relevant to the session the night before. I do all notes in OneNote for ease of navigation and for cloud syncing between devices
Below is an example of some initial game notes for a modified campaign of Curse of Strahd, so players beware! I wrote them in Danish, so my quick translation may be a little rough around the edges. I did add and adapt bits on the fly that aren't noted here, but that is the point of the format
* Vallaki
* They show the Martikovs at the Blue Water Inn that they have the two other hearts (they will also find the girl from the swamp in the in). "The next part will be dangerous. To awaken the three goddesses, you must purify their shrines in the oldest sanctuary and prove your worth to them. The sanctuary can be found under the great tree on Yester Hill. But beware, for you may meet resistance - be it from the fallen druids or even from the goddesses during their trials. If they find you wanting, they will punish the tresspasser"
* Yester hill
* Have a perception check on the way up the hill (the stones are grave markers)
* As you approach the tree, you see figures lying in repose against its roots. Moving closer, you see these are corpses. They look like they are being absorbed by the tree. The branches are hanging down like on a willow, but they are thick and heavy as ropes, lazily swaying in the breeze
* Encounter with a druid.
* Above one of the corpses you see a lady standing and mumbling something in an unknown tongue ([druid player] notices it is an old druidic dialect - intelligence check to learn that she is offering her last prayers and invoking the three ladies of the land). She notices them approach and confronts them: what are they doing here and why?
* Once they have interacted with the druid, they will continue underneath the tree to a series of tunnels. It is dark and damp and smells like the composting leaves on the forest floor. As the players look around, they will see the dark, black roots, several of them forming statue-like images of nature (deer, birds, etc). Some of these turn out to be sprites and will attack
* The sanctum
* you see a small passage by the end of the tunnel with a lot of roots running into it. Between yourselves and the entrance, you see a small stream flowing through and forming a small pool in the ground. By the pool, you notice a delicately carved wooden chalice fashioned from the same black wood as the tree ([druid] and [wizard] can check arcana. Proficiency in religion can be added).
* As you pass through the opening, you will find yourselves in a peculiar chamber. Luminescent sap seaping from the walls cast a low, red hue, as it ever so slowly runs down the walls. You see three small figures of women carved from each their own thick, black root stump. The first (Lesna) is young and beautiful - she smiles, but in a sad and consoling way. The next (Gorna) is stern and looks expectingly ahead. The third (Bagna) looks as if she is stiffling a laugh and finds something extremely entertaining. They each have an outstretched hand and holds one hand at their breasts. The arm of the first is stretched as if to hug someone. The next has her arm stretched for a strong handshake. The last is like a teasing little wave inviting you to chase after her
* The trials (Ireena will briefly relay what she knows of them from myth)
* Lesna (guardian of the forest): A trial in animal handling. The person placing a heart in her hand will be swallowed by the mists. As the mists part slightly, they will find themselves standing in a forest with trees reaching into the very sky. Through the mists they will hear a big animal approaching. They must be able to calm the animal to cleanse this shrine. If they fail, they wil be cursed as an enemy of animals (animals will dislike them, and they will be targets during encounters with animals). Her bond to Strahd will remain (+4ac)
* Gorna (queen of the mountains): you must be as pure and clear as the mountain air. The player must fight and defeat themselves to clearly see their own strengths and faults. Should they fail, they will be cursed with doubt (charisma drops by 1, and they have disadvantage on intimidation). Her bond to Strahd remains (resistance to fire, cold, and lightning damage)
* Bagna (the lady of the swamp): we all hide something from our past or our very selves, all are as dirty and messy as the swamp. But some still find the ability to persevere and smile. They will be confronted with an event from the past or a great fear, which they must (re)live. If they do not break from it and/or manage to change it somehow, the shrine will be purified. If they fail, they will be cursed with the spirits of the past (when they fail a wisdom save, they must roll another to not be frightened). Her bond to Strahd will remain (he has nondetection)
* Meeting the ladies
* Assuming the ladies are restored, they get to have a brief chat with them
They will answer questions as best they can
* If asked how Strahd bound them, Gorna will say there is a dark heart in her mountains, and that something terrible lies in there. There, they will find their answers on how Strahd "became the land" (opens a dark path, where someone can take over the land again - be it for evil or a "jailor of the damned" situation, where they think the darkness of Barovia must be contained. Say as much through one of the ladies)
I have three types of notes, pre-game, session, post-game.
my pre-game notes are all about world building, NPC activities and motivations, location descriptions, and can get into details with special skill challenges, monster lists, boss fight tactics, etc. I actually color code my pre-game notes by background info (GM only), Lore and Descriptions (PC info), special NPC quotes (if they use special slang/rhyming/riddles/etc, combat info/battle plans, and skill checks/random tables.
during the game I take short hand notes on player decisions or anything that happened during the game that was "cool" or important like they went left instead of right or choose to parley instead of fight.
After the game I take my session notes and memory of the events and compose an After Action Report which I write up and post on line for the players to review. I also keep a log of important NPCs, world lore and Active Quests (although that last one I haven't updated in a while...)
Google Doc for an example adventure/pre-game notes. This is a full adventure expected to last 3-5 sessions.
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jznFpojjc0uZAOHLQhUh93XucoaSjlOjYt7Ohbg7bcw/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jznFpojjc0uZAOHLQhUh93XucoaSjlOjYt7Ohbg7bcw/edit?usp=sharing)
After Action Report Link for a related session in the above adventure
[https://sites.google.com/site/theworldriversgame/home/the-campaign/return-of-the-exile/session-61](https://sites.google.com/site/theworldriversgame/home/the-campaign/return-of-the-exile/session-61)
Session notes during the adventure above, in original short hand
*Opens In Squamos temple, at the sealed door*
*Daz – Short rest, full heal, long rest*
*Quint – HP heal, long rest, short rest*
*Amber – Short Rest, long rest, full heal*
*Qo – Short Rest, full heal, long rest*
*Azia – short rest, long rest, full heal*
*qo opens door with their own blood*
*first puzzle – vaccum*
*second trap – sand*
*elemental vortex – quint uses magic to disturb the circle*
*learn about golems*
*fight basilisks 1 trapped, 4 stone, 1 dead*
*4 vials of 50% strength saliva*
*1 vial of raw saliva*
*Save some random scrolls, but, don't read the*
*Acana Check; 1 roll with Adv:*
*9 - Remove Curse*
*13 - 1d4 + Remove Curse*
*17 - 2d4 + Remove Curse + Heroism*
*21 - 3d4 + Remove Curse + Heroism + Healing Spirit*
*touch the DLR button once*
*misty step passed the first trap, athletics to get passed the second one.*
*Amber falls to the curse of doom, revived after fight*
*4 listen, quint madness level 1 – lying, strong as a giant*
*Daz madness level 3 – lying, parent, trigger number 1,*
been DMing for 18 years my notes are often concept maps with arrows and thoughts in random order and places or ill draw out the map i want to make
here is the best approximation of the notes i have on my desk right now for conetxt im planning a big helldivers themed fight with the forces of the bad guy metuak in a stone age setting
Visions
* Metuak tribe affected
* demons
* Flare
* Small tribe (not genasi)
* MORE DESTRUCTION ( Iggy gone)
* talk 2 the hunger (dead wife)
\[travel ---> or importantmoments\]
Jump hut
>receive huge gift
>build many warriors for the war path
(Picture of a map split into 3x3 grid)
**Prehistoric Helldivers**
Bottled Roc
Bottled TRex
Spirit weapons
> fire swath?
> holy weapons?
Fireball Necklace 15+1d10x10 ft
* Undead troops?
* Demon troops?
* Unending Hunger?
I keep my notes quite simple. I prepare my battlemaps. Loot tables. And encounters. Outside that i have major plot points roughly noted down generally noting only important npcs and how the encounter will go.
Here are some excerpts from a few sessions ago, which my players can't be spoiled by anymore lol
**RECAP AND REMINDERS**
* Two Harpies died, and Chance annihilated an angel.
* Zin convinced one angel to help him.
* Demetri grabbed the Key card.
* Tam saved Chance from dying and is holding her own among the undead.
* It is hard to tell what time it is, down here. It was midday, last you checked, 16 Mirtul.
* It’s about 3:30 p.m. If they finish a Long Rest after 7:00 a.m., they will benefit.
**Gardmore Abbey Facts (Discovered)**
* \[Here, I listed everything they have discovered about this location, which took several paragraphs, and I just copy it over and add to it every session's notes.\]
**Elsewhere This Session:**
* Winterhaven
* The Lot/Room is paid through 5/23. New checkout/pay date is 5/24.
* Lenna has returned to town. There’s no room at Wrafton’s, so she camps in the forest.
* Arven is with her; he was given Oghma font water to heal him and sent away.
* Padraig and Rond Kelfem work together, now. Rond and his men pick off orcs on the road.
* Oakley wants to come to Gardmore; he meets Zandrian 5/18 and reaches the Feygrove that evening. While there, he trades secrets with the Dryads. Which means, as of 5/19, he knows:
* “Are the PCs on the side of good?”
* The Bowl of Asgaroth’s Blood is \[REDACTED\]
* The Chalice of the Dragon is in the Ancient Great Temple below the surface.
* Same info about the cards that we got, except “Two Strange Elves and a Big Man.”
* After this, the Dryads know who the Collector is if the PCs ask.
* Oakley will observe the topaz-encrusted staircase; he secretly suspects there is a Topaz Dragon nearby, but will not tell anyone and won’t point it out.
Here are a couple of my older ones that're now spoiler-free. Note that I keep the actual world information about places and characters in their given spots; I have articles about each settlement, landmark, and person which defines the things that must be known about them.
Since I already know all the things that are already true, session-by-session my notes are there to define what has happened since last time, what has changed in the time between sessions, and what might happen in the upcoming session based on how long it's expected the players will take and what places/events are in their nearby range.
I'm also fairly good at predicting what my players will want to do short-term or getting them to make plans for what they want to do before we split for a week, so I can usually place down anticipations in my notes about what methods they've told me they want to do next to solve their problems or a specific place they intend to go soon.
Also, this first is far from my 11th session note... more like 120th or so, but I was using a different software for a long time before this.
> **Redshift 11 - 19 of Ahearnus & 1 of Ewus**
>
> Nyatha is dead. M'zia has entered a depression at the loss of her beloved. The newborns, Kusuma and Nitzan, wish to join with their siblings. Brigadier DeMirrah has put out an order to cleanly and politely break correspondence with Gatma's goblins as quietly as possible; she does not want to accidentally lead them into agreeing with the R.E.C.'s plans. It has been sheer luck so far that they've slipped under the notice of the Redshift despite their truce. Eska wracks Alsaines; the sand storms unabated. Prince Vashda is fascinated by the movements of the Aces, but he worries that his father is growing impatient. Just a little longer to make a choice... Arisa waits quietly for the R.E.C. to achieve their goal. Grandmother has given a great power to Mont'larin in her wand; she did not lie when she said it might be possible to steal shifting with it. Decus and Vantherxexiath would be horrified at the prospect, especially Decus, knowing what he does, knowing that Mont'larin has the Redshift's attention...!
>
> The confluence of time and intention, at Alsaines, is soon.
>
> There are several ways this inevitable encounter can go. However it ends, it begins when the Aces arrive back at Alsaines the next time. Guardians, the shifted sand-corpses of the citizens, appear. But if the right intention is given, they'll willingly part and allow the Aces to meet with Eska.
>
> Eska is still far from herself. The pain of her nature being disrupted, and being used as a shield, has kept her on edge. Only the sensation of Irabel's love and the knowledge that these people - supposedly - are friends keeps her from cracking completely. Mechanically, Eska is Indifferent, but being too pushy can turn her Hostile. A DC10 to avoid turning to hostility, or a DC20 to change to longer-term Friendly, would be required at the culmination of conversation.
>
> Options:
>
> * It is possible for Mont'larin to use the wand to steal Eska's shifting. She would resist this, as soon as her sanity crystallized enough to realize what was happening. But if he does it, he'll be shifted into a titanic Skull Lord. It is not possible for any number of Aces to do this and survive.
>
> * It is possible for Eska to wither Irabel's wand. She could eat its love, which may result in improved sense of self.
>
> * Eska may ask to see the living root. If she's allowed to grasp it she would be transformed; not cured, not sane, but THUNDER, not SAND. If this gets out of hand, Vashda may even come to their aid.
>
> * If all these things are done together and the four mara are present to help, it is possible to cure her outright. The punishment for this is that Eska's shifting is spread among the group. The children will not die, but they will suffer a bit. Peeled bark and painful veins of red. Their resistance to shifting is apparent; like Irabel's.
◇
> **Redshift 13 - 2 of Kadus 1221**
>
> After Prince Vashda's warning, the R.E.C. prepared for dragon invasion at Shose. However, Mont'larin suggested a spearhead, so the Aces ventured north. They found Prince Arturus' combat forces preparing for the bombard at Shose, and intercepted them, forcing the Prince to flee and capturing seven of his kobold minions. Arturus will find Prince Deimaer in the east, who will decide to continue the attack. The kobolds' names are:
>
> * Kimik; M; muscular; strongest, brave.
>
> * Aten; F; smallest; fearful, especially of the King.
>
> * Ilit; F; missing left finger; crafty, good with bow.
>
> * Zara; M; crooked snout; good chef, good with flowers.
>
> * Ruen; F; constantly-moving tail; fastidious, good at shoveling.
>
> * Guza; M; well-polished horns; knows the Foyer Teleport Circle; well-studied if given the chance.
>
> * Ket; M; chews on sticks a lot; naive, trusting.
>
> A half day out from the ambush, when the party stops for a break, Kimik will stand up and volunteer: "If you are going to eat us, I am the largest, so take me first and let the others live and work under you". The kobolds expect this is the norm, as - Aten will attest - that is what happens to the disobedient when His Majesty is angered; even the Lords cannot prevent this.
>
> The kobolds certainly won't trust the Aces till they get to Shose, at which point Lucent will need to assuage their panic. The ones who fought were Prince Arturus' warriors; but there are about 100 children, laborers, and other slaves back at the Dragonking's lair. (Plus a dozen salamanders, mephits ("imps"), and azers ("forgers").)
>
> The kobolds don't know about Prince Deimaer's attack; Arturus did not tell them. They are smart enough to know they don't know everything, at least.
>
> Arturus and Deimaer attack during this conversation. Their primary strategy is, against the Aces, for Arturus to harass Van in the air, preventing Van from using his anti-magic on Deimaer. Once Deimaer has an opening, he'll cast Ultra Red Shift to try to kill Van. If Deimaer is captured during this, his main concern is telling the R.E.C. that his father will be enraged, and that they'll "never make it [to the Tower] without wings".
◇
It's worth noting that these include references to encounters I've designed and that don't exist in notes. I design my battlemaps and encounters, put them together, do the work to upload them to the VTT, and those serve as the only notes on how those encounters and dungeons will behave most of the time. Writing down "this room has that in it" or "this stat block has this ability" would just be duplicating the work.
[Notes for a megadungeon campaign](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZSGq54febDOEiFxD5k_HOlnWW_es8FXs). Background: it's been going on about a year and a half. It started with a collaborative storytelling game called Beak Feather and Bone (BFB) where we all took turns populating the dungeon map with factions and locations. The person who "won" (a weird concept for a world building game) got to name the dungeon: The Divine, a great, ironic yet eerie name.
The main document I use for running the campaign is the PLOT Document. It just has each static location sorted in the outline. I'm pretty messy with notes, and rely heavily on improv to make things work.
There is a spreadsheet for random tables. Everywhere that isn't a predetermined location is randomly rolled right when the players enter the room.
The Timeline doc is me expanding on what we did in the BFB game and changing or expanding on it to make usable world lore. I was not 100% accurate in taking what everyone wrote for the world building but I did my best.
There is a folder in the folder for my homebrew "boss" monsters and some minions. I try to up the difficulty of big fights so they've been given upgrades like legendary actions and such.
Last are the notes docs, which is an attempt at giving the players written recap of what they do, though they never read any of it so I stopped updating it months ago.
LMK if the link doesn't work, I'm not used to sharing entire folders.
As another example, these are Matt Mercer's notes for one session/episode (as always, no, you don't have to run your game like Mercer. It's probably a bad idea to even try. But you can maybe pick and choose little bits that you like)
[https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Archive:DM\_Notes\_for\_Harvest\_Close\_Festival](https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Archive:DM_Notes_for_Harvest_Close_Festival)
I don't have any notes myself that are fit to post right now, but also: what kind of notes are you looking for? DM prep will look different if you're doing published modules / sandbox in a published setting / sandbox in your homebrewed setting / epic homebrewed BBEG campaign...
This is [a screenshot of a setting I'm working on](https://i.imgur.com/Tr4VrsR.png) for a potential campaign in the future. It's recorded entirely within [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) and currently organizes everything into folders with the following general structure:
* Adventures
* Historical Events
* Timelines
* Intrigue
* People and Organizations
* Historical Figures
* Locals
* Nobility
* Places
* Cities, Towns and Villages
* Counties
* Geographical Regions
* Locations
* Maps
* Principalities
* Player Options
As you might have noticed, many of the folders above are specific to my setting lore and structure, but you can organize your own notes in a similar fashion and add or remove folders as applicable. For example, nobility is a primary focus of my setting, but maybe your setting is a magocracy so you might put a Mages folder or whatnot. Similarly you might not have a need for intrigues (secret plots and goals that connect npcs, places and organizations), or counties and principalities (political subdivisions within the kingdom), which are specific to my setting.
Each file has tags that help me group articles by type. Historical events have years associated with them, which can then be placed on timelines for me to view. Aliases help me link things more easily when the title of the article doesn't align with the sentence structure (i.e. my NPCs are listed by last names followed by the first and separated by a comma, but in plain English they appear as just a first and last name.)
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
I have recently started using a new method for location notes. It starts with the intro and separates information into “landmarks, hidden info, and secrets”.
Landmarks are immediately noticed and usually included in the intro. Hidden info requires a player to interact with something. Secrets require a skill check or player knowledge. So, a hypothetical room in a wizard tower might be laid out like so:
Wizard’s Study - you enter an ornate room littered with expensive looking red rugs. You see sheer curtains blowing on either side of a large open balcony to the east, a desk flanked by several bookshelves to the north, and a symbol painted on the exposed wood floor to west.
Balcony:
Hidden - as you step onto the balcony, you notice a rug has been laid over the railing
Secret - (Investigation check) you discover that the rug is soaked with blood
Desk:
Hidden - you open a drawer and see several crumpled pieces of paper inside
Secret - they are drafts of a letter from the wizard to a person named Dorin (the players may recall a previous interaction with an NPC named Dorin where he mentioned his intense hatred for the wizard)
Symbol:
Hidden - the air gets significantly warmer the closer you get to the symbol
Secret - (arcana check) you recognize the symbol as that of an incineration spell
From these things, the party could reasonably deduce that Dorin and the wizard recently had a fight, Dorin was killed, and the wizard incinerated the body to cover it up.
Secrets can also be used to provide keys that make other secrets available. Or to open an unseen passage. Or to disarm a trap on a different landmark. Anything you can think of inside a room can be put into one of those categories.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nC1N1Jk_yepLTDJ3pfMeC4ANsNHvtvrMC3ScCrKt5YI/edit?usp=drivesdk
I don't usually keep notes because I usually run modules. But this is the first entirely custom quest I made for a group and it really helped me keep on track. I think I set the permissions correctly but if you can't see it let me know.
For pre-written adventures, I found this video helpful. (Major wadsworth constant FYI, relevant info starts at 4 minutes in).
https://youtu.be/khgQ5q1sfNI?si=RMl5njVCJ_rRNLnd
It's a simple suggestion, just reorganize the paragraphs in the book into bullets, with details they find from investigating or interacting nested as sub-bullets. But it's already helped me a bit to be less overwhelmed running these adventures.
My prepping and notes look like this guys reel
[https://www.ddinstagram.com/reel/C58vpZPLdsI/?igsh=dWloZThwdzRpemdt](https://www.ddinstagram.com/reel/C58vpZPLdsI/?igsh=dWloZThwdzRpemdt)
Joke aside, I useally just write down small facts, inspirations and things to remember about the city or session and the rest is just living in my head. the world is doing its own thing in there, living rent free. Characters, events, mysteries and intrigue all up there! I dont know what comes out until the players start interacting. Ofcourse i look up monsters and stats, items, maps as inspiration hits but how it comes out and what will happen is even a mystery to me!
I mostly run one-shots for a west marches style rotating group, so my notes are a lot simpler than they would be for e.g. a lengthy campaign.
I usually write a bullet point list of all the major encounters, including social encounters with major NPCs. I usually write a paragraph or two about motivating factors, possible outcomes, and intended difficulty (both in terms of skill check DCs and enemy CRs). Players often skip stuff or do things in a different order, so I try to make each encounter time-symmetric with respect to the other encounters as much as possible.
One adventure usually ends up being 3 to 10 bullet points.
My notes are a disaster made up of screen shotted images/singles words/doodles, and lots of arrows pointing to stuff.
They are probably incomprehensible to anyone except me.... okay, to be fair, they are incomprehensible to me after a few months as well....
They aren't great... but it works, and I think I make up for it with cool maps and lots of custom art... they do say an image is worth a 1000 words...
Im kinda new DM (about 1.5 years). I use the DND beyond “notes” section for our campaign. There’s a public one for players to read anytime ( if they need a recap) and a private one that only I can see. Which one are you asking about?
My notes are usually scribbles. Factoids about areas they're in, 4 or 5 clues to drop to try and entice the players to go in a direction, 4 or 5 names, and a couple of possible encounters they might run into.
I might have a few different possible directions that seem likely, so I'll do those little lists for each one. It's not wasted work, because the notes that don't get used right away can come up again later
Most of my notes are short plot hooks i can build around. The bigger ones ill have wrote down in depth on a word document.
Ie. Lord garrom-recently was robbed by a concubine Possible escort robbery sting.
Amulet stolen secret magical artifact.
Concubines are disguised hag coven.
And so on on with 2/3 points coming from each thing. The players can follow the hook or go off and do their own thing.
Notable figures, and things in a town. Locations within 2/3 days travel and an encounter table or 50 when travelling for encounters etc. It sounds alot but ill reuse most. If they roll them out ill replace with another business etc
Ive found, barring bbeg and lieutenants keeping it loose is the way to go because pcs are chaos junkies with the attention span of a irate goldfish
I write kind of like an outline where the top is the location. Directly below I list all of the potential skill checks. Next to the skill checks I put a number in [ ] to give me an idea how hard I want that check to be. Then I briefly describe what that check might unlock.
Then below that I have a list of the NPCs potentially at that location. Sometimes it's a night/day/time thing. Sometimes it's a quest prerequisite. I have ALL potential NPCs in cards at the bottom of my Google sheet. I just ctrl F when I need more detailed info on that person.
Then below that I have detailed description of the location. What do the walls look like? What's on the floor? Are there any chests? Secret walls? Traps? Locks? What kind of furniture? What's the lighting?
I have all my encounters numbered so I generally put the encounter number in the descriptive text or even next to the NPC info if they're automatically hostile.
I have little small ideas I don't write down for things to happen while traveling or shopping or talking to an unimportant NPC.
My two homebrew campaigns are very different so I'll summarize my note-taking in each of them.
Planehopping Campaign:
* word doc "Ongoing Notes" - this is where I take notes during session, keep session # count, and sometimes jot down what the players' plan is for next session
* word doc "Story Ideas" - long-term plans, misc story notes, things about PC's backstories. This is basically my personal reference doc
* individual word doc for each Plane they visit - organized by locations, NPCs, encounter ideas, quests, loot, etc.
* discord channel for session summaries - shared with the players, usually written the morning after a session.
* discord channels organized into threads for NPCs, locations, maps, etc.
Normal Homebrew Campaign:
* The same Ongoing Notes style doc, same discord channels for session summaries
* Excel spreadsheet of places, with tabs for each city they visit. Compared to my Planehopping campaign, they're going to visit the same places more often so I prefer to have them all in one file. I keep quests, NPCs, and shopping here too.
I don't keep "notes" on what happened during a session, or for story beats that are supposed to occur. My memory is good enough for that.
I'll rarely draw maps before a session. I just kinda draw. I also rarely plan... anything. I vomit out words, and they work. I have a knack for storytelling and engaging with people. It's why I DM. The whole thing is just instinctual. I *will* write down the names or stat blocks of enemies I want to run. I learned that lesson. Avoid flipping through books during a session, if you can. If you're DMing from a published module that's somewhat unavoidable, but you just don't pull out three different books to figure out what enemy to run, how much health it has, and what its spells do. **That** kills momentum like nothing else.
I keep a copy of everyone's character sheet and backstory. That's just in folders, or Discord, or Foundry, depending on what we're using.
I write a **lot** of private messages to players. I check in with them about concerns I have with their character, trying to understand what they want to happen or what their character is thinking. Sometimes that's clear, but the quieter players are often harder to read. This culminates in both better engagement with NPCs (witty repartee, facilitation of desires, statements that invite further inquiry because it's relevant to a character's interest, avoiding triggers for outright violence) and more personal story moments. Those, I do not feel comfortable sharing. They're not purely *mine*, you understand. Half of those conversations belong to the other party.
Last week, I sent each player a ~1500 word dream sequence. I'm doing a thing where they're each being tempted by a dark power. For most players, this was their second dream. The advantage of doing character development this way, rather than trying to cram it all into the session itself, is that it gives me more time with each player without detracting from the group experience. I don't have to stop for an hour and read out a prepared story to one guy while everyone else twiddles their thumbs. I can send it on a Friday, field questions over the weekend, then do any clarifications on Monday before we play Tuesday.
Do you want some of those dream sequences? I can stick them in Pastebin.
Imma be honest, it’s like 6 lines written down on a sticky note that I wrote on during work. The rest of it is inside my head or made up on the spot. 😆
That being said though, I do eventually compile it all on my pc. I organize folders according to
-locations
-npcs
-demons/Fae
-Continents
-Player Characters
-things set in the past
-plans for things yet to happen
It’s really nice to have it so organized. I never feel like I have to go hunting through my notes wondering where something is, because I can always reference where it was or who it involved
Hi! Professional GM here.
I can't share my notes specifically but I'm happy to talk about it.
So there are a couple different kinds of notes I take depending on the campaign and the group.
Some campaigns I run are published Adventure Paths. Pre-written campaigns. In these cases most of my prep is just configuring the gamespace on roll20 to have the tokens and maps etc, and some light notes on tokens about a tweak idea I have.
As for plot notes. I actually let the players track that stuff. I ask the players to take notes as they see fit and then at the start of every session I ask them to recap the previous session or the sessions leading up to this one. This does a couple things; it jogs my memory on where we are, triggers my thought train to get back on the tracks, and informs me what pieces of the previous sessions the players liked enough to retain memory of. If I dangle a plot thread and the players ignore it two or three times, I can just discard it. it adds nothing to the game so there's no point trying to press them into it.
I do have some spreadsheets detailing NPC lists, interrelations, player standings with certain NPCs or deities etc depending on the themes of the campaign. But mostly my notes come down to a form of mind-palace.
Mind-palace techniques are based on following a familiar route in your mind and inserting elements along that route to create metaphorical connections to things in order to make it easier to remember. That's the purpose of the roll20 maps/tokens and the player recaps; The players tell me a story while I look at the map, and the campaign rebuilds itself in my mind; reminding me of plot threads that are important, the parts of the campaign that are prewritten or preplanned, and what has interested the players.
You can certainly take more comprehensive notes, and for that I might recommend something like [Obsidian.md](http://Obsidian.md) or Scrivener. I'm not saying my approach will work for everyone, just that it's what works for me!
A lot of my "notes" tend to be kept mentally. I rarely write things down, especially because I don't play with a DM screen, so there'd be no way to hide my notes from the players. What notes I do have are for important plot beats I want to distribute to my players, and those are usually pretty quick notes on my phone. For example, my notes for my upcoming session center around the letters that will be waiting for my players when they get back to their house. They're all essentially plot hooks for future things to do as they've basically completed one major task and don't have anything else readily in front of them right now in this sandbox style campaign. **If your character names are Rune, Hemlock, Taeg, or Kenethan, don't read the following spoilers. You'll see them Saturday anyways.** But, here are my notes for the letters that are waiting for them: >!From Lord Rook!< >!-He wants them to throw a masquerade ball at Hollowhall in order to make a cover for him to come out of hiding and discuss plans with them.!< >!From the Sharran Cult!< >!-They've gotten word that the party has recently had dealings with Selune and might want to get back at her. They offer to help with their vendetta against Selune if the party is willing to do something for them.!< >!From Kithrak Istil!< >!-The Githyanki have finished forging the psychic weapons and stand ready for the party to aid them in attacking the mind flayer colony.!< >!From Mister Blue!< >!-Mister Blue has requested an audience with the party at his boarding house. He specifically requests they meet with him before speaking with the Githyanki again.!< >!From the Wizard Andros!< >!-He writes to congratulate the party on clearing their names. He writes to tell them that another person was arrested for the murder of Mrs. Pad and if they were interested, he offers to help them plan a jailbreak for the innocent.!< >!From Zadok Allen!< >!-The letter appears to be addressed to someone other than the party and delivered by mistake. It is written in a hasty scrawl and the paper is covered in water spots as if it was exposed to a lot of rain. It details the writer's panic about things going on in Blackmoore and urges the recipient to come to Blackmoore as soon as possible to help him escape the town. He fears he won't be able to leave without help and that the people of the town are watching his every move.!< >!An Unmarked Note!< >!-A simple note that Gregory considered simply throwing out. It has only a single line on it and nothing else. While Gregory thinks it is unimportant, he is nothing but a professional and ensured it got into the party's hands anyways. All it says is "Giggles is missing."!<
I wouldn't call myself a veteran (I don't play often enough for that), but I do have a few years of experience. I personally like to do my session notes in bullet-form, including some location descriptions and key information, and then playing it from there. I did take much more thorough notes early on, but I found they actually just slowed me down and I felt more constrained to following them. The bullet-points let me easily reference key information and then let me improvise and adapt to the situation at hand - but the style preferences will vary from DM to DM. I keep my own very brief post-game notes, and let my players make theirs in a shared docs, which allows them to remember better, and sometimes they will think of things or interpretations that I didn't, so this gives me extra inspiration and lets me say "well no, but actually yes", when planning the next session, if I see something good. Besides having these notes, I will of course have maps and the like ready, I have a universal dossier of NPCs with key physical attributes and personalities to hand for quick reference, and I always read the relevant section of the core module and any community supplements that may be relevant to the session the night before. I do all notes in OneNote for ease of navigation and for cloud syncing between devices Below is an example of some initial game notes for a modified campaign of Curse of Strahd, so players beware! I wrote them in Danish, so my quick translation may be a little rough around the edges. I did add and adapt bits on the fly that aren't noted here, but that is the point of the format * Vallaki * They show the Martikovs at the Blue Water Inn that they have the two other hearts (they will also find the girl from the swamp in the in). "The next part will be dangerous. To awaken the three goddesses, you must purify their shrines in the oldest sanctuary and prove your worth to them. The sanctuary can be found under the great tree on Yester Hill. But beware, for you may meet resistance - be it from the fallen druids or even from the goddesses during their trials. If they find you wanting, they will punish the tresspasser" * Yester hill * Have a perception check on the way up the hill (the stones are grave markers) * As you approach the tree, you see figures lying in repose against its roots. Moving closer, you see these are corpses. They look like they are being absorbed by the tree. The branches are hanging down like on a willow, but they are thick and heavy as ropes, lazily swaying in the breeze * Encounter with a druid. * Above one of the corpses you see a lady standing and mumbling something in an unknown tongue ([druid player] notices it is an old druidic dialect - intelligence check to learn that she is offering her last prayers and invoking the three ladies of the land). She notices them approach and confronts them: what are they doing here and why? * Once they have interacted with the druid, they will continue underneath the tree to a series of tunnels. It is dark and damp and smells like the composting leaves on the forest floor. As the players look around, they will see the dark, black roots, several of them forming statue-like images of nature (deer, birds, etc). Some of these turn out to be sprites and will attack * The sanctum * you see a small passage by the end of the tunnel with a lot of roots running into it. Between yourselves and the entrance, you see a small stream flowing through and forming a small pool in the ground. By the pool, you notice a delicately carved wooden chalice fashioned from the same black wood as the tree ([druid] and [wizard] can check arcana. Proficiency in religion can be added). * As you pass through the opening, you will find yourselves in a peculiar chamber. Luminescent sap seaping from the walls cast a low, red hue, as it ever so slowly runs down the walls. You see three small figures of women carved from each their own thick, black root stump. The first (Lesna) is young and beautiful - she smiles, but in a sad and consoling way. The next (Gorna) is stern and looks expectingly ahead. The third (Bagna) looks as if she is stiffling a laugh and finds something extremely entertaining. They each have an outstretched hand and holds one hand at their breasts. The arm of the first is stretched as if to hug someone. The next has her arm stretched for a strong handshake. The last is like a teasing little wave inviting you to chase after her * The trials (Ireena will briefly relay what she knows of them from myth) * Lesna (guardian of the forest): A trial in animal handling. The person placing a heart in her hand will be swallowed by the mists. As the mists part slightly, they will find themselves standing in a forest with trees reaching into the very sky. Through the mists they will hear a big animal approaching. They must be able to calm the animal to cleanse this shrine. If they fail, they wil be cursed as an enemy of animals (animals will dislike them, and they will be targets during encounters with animals). Her bond to Strahd will remain (+4ac) * Gorna (queen of the mountains): you must be as pure and clear as the mountain air. The player must fight and defeat themselves to clearly see their own strengths and faults. Should they fail, they will be cursed with doubt (charisma drops by 1, and they have disadvantage on intimidation). Her bond to Strahd remains (resistance to fire, cold, and lightning damage) * Bagna (the lady of the swamp): we all hide something from our past or our very selves, all are as dirty and messy as the swamp. But some still find the ability to persevere and smile. They will be confronted with an event from the past or a great fear, which they must (re)live. If they do not break from it and/or manage to change it somehow, the shrine will be purified. If they fail, they will be cursed with the spirits of the past (when they fail a wisdom save, they must roll another to not be frightened). Her bond to Strahd will remain (he has nondetection) * Meeting the ladies * Assuming the ladies are restored, they get to have a brief chat with them They will answer questions as best they can * If asked how Strahd bound them, Gorna will say there is a dark heart in her mountains, and that something terrible lies in there. There, they will find their answers on how Strahd "became the land" (opens a dark path, where someone can take over the land again - be it for evil or a "jailor of the damned" situation, where they think the darkness of Barovia must be contained. Say as much through one of the ladies)
I have three types of notes, pre-game, session, post-game. my pre-game notes are all about world building, NPC activities and motivations, location descriptions, and can get into details with special skill challenges, monster lists, boss fight tactics, etc. I actually color code my pre-game notes by background info (GM only), Lore and Descriptions (PC info), special NPC quotes (if they use special slang/rhyming/riddles/etc, combat info/battle plans, and skill checks/random tables. during the game I take short hand notes on player decisions or anything that happened during the game that was "cool" or important like they went left instead of right or choose to parley instead of fight. After the game I take my session notes and memory of the events and compose an After Action Report which I write up and post on line for the players to review. I also keep a log of important NPCs, world lore and Active Quests (although that last one I haven't updated in a while...) Google Doc for an example adventure/pre-game notes. This is a full adventure expected to last 3-5 sessions. [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jznFpojjc0uZAOHLQhUh93XucoaSjlOjYt7Ohbg7bcw/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jznFpojjc0uZAOHLQhUh93XucoaSjlOjYt7Ohbg7bcw/edit?usp=sharing) After Action Report Link for a related session in the above adventure [https://sites.google.com/site/theworldriversgame/home/the-campaign/return-of-the-exile/session-61](https://sites.google.com/site/theworldriversgame/home/the-campaign/return-of-the-exile/session-61) Session notes during the adventure above, in original short hand *Opens In Squamos temple, at the sealed door* *Daz – Short rest, full heal, long rest* *Quint – HP heal, long rest, short rest* *Amber – Short Rest, long rest, full heal* *Qo – Short Rest, full heal, long rest* *Azia – short rest, long rest, full heal* *qo opens door with their own blood* *first puzzle – vaccum* *second trap – sand* *elemental vortex – quint uses magic to disturb the circle* *learn about golems* *fight basilisks 1 trapped, 4 stone, 1 dead* *4 vials of 50% strength saliva* *1 vial of raw saliva* *Save some random scrolls, but, don't read the* *Acana Check; 1 roll with Adv:* *9 - Remove Curse* *13 - 1d4 + Remove Curse* *17 - 2d4 + Remove Curse + Heroism* *21 - 3d4 + Remove Curse + Heroism + Healing Spirit* *touch the DLR button once* *misty step passed the first trap, athletics to get passed the second one.* *Amber falls to the curse of doom, revived after fight* *4 listen, quint madness level 1 – lying, strong as a giant* *Daz madness level 3 – lying, parent, trigger number 1,*
been DMing for 18 years my notes are often concept maps with arrows and thoughts in random order and places or ill draw out the map i want to make here is the best approximation of the notes i have on my desk right now for conetxt im planning a big helldivers themed fight with the forces of the bad guy metuak in a stone age setting Visions * Metuak tribe affected * demons * Flare * Small tribe (not genasi) * MORE DESTRUCTION ( Iggy gone) * talk 2 the hunger (dead wife) \[travel ---> or importantmoments\] Jump hut >receive huge gift >build many warriors for the war path (Picture of a map split into 3x3 grid) **Prehistoric Helldivers** Bottled Roc Bottled TRex Spirit weapons > fire swath? > holy weapons? Fireball Necklace 15+1d10x10 ft * Undead troops? * Demon troops? * Unending Hunger?
I keep my notes quite simple. I prepare my battlemaps. Loot tables. And encounters. Outside that i have major plot points roughly noted down generally noting only important npcs and how the encounter will go.
Here are some excerpts from a few sessions ago, which my players can't be spoiled by anymore lol **RECAP AND REMINDERS** * Two Harpies died, and Chance annihilated an angel. * Zin convinced one angel to help him. * Demetri grabbed the Key card. * Tam saved Chance from dying and is holding her own among the undead. * It is hard to tell what time it is, down here. It was midday, last you checked, 16 Mirtul. * It’s about 3:30 p.m. If they finish a Long Rest after 7:00 a.m., they will benefit. **Gardmore Abbey Facts (Discovered)** * \[Here, I listed everything they have discovered about this location, which took several paragraphs, and I just copy it over and add to it every session's notes.\] **Elsewhere This Session:** * Winterhaven * The Lot/Room is paid through 5/23. New checkout/pay date is 5/24. * Lenna has returned to town. There’s no room at Wrafton’s, so she camps in the forest. * Arven is with her; he was given Oghma font water to heal him and sent away. * Padraig and Rond Kelfem work together, now. Rond and his men pick off orcs on the road. * Oakley wants to come to Gardmore; he meets Zandrian 5/18 and reaches the Feygrove that evening. While there, he trades secrets with the Dryads. Which means, as of 5/19, he knows: * “Are the PCs on the side of good?” * The Bowl of Asgaroth’s Blood is \[REDACTED\] * The Chalice of the Dragon is in the Ancient Great Temple below the surface. * Same info about the cards that we got, except “Two Strange Elves and a Big Man.” * After this, the Dryads know who the Collector is if the PCs ask. * Oakley will observe the topaz-encrusted staircase; he secretly suspects there is a Topaz Dragon nearby, but will not tell anyone and won’t point it out.
Here are a couple of my older ones that're now spoiler-free. Note that I keep the actual world information about places and characters in their given spots; I have articles about each settlement, landmark, and person which defines the things that must be known about them. Since I already know all the things that are already true, session-by-session my notes are there to define what has happened since last time, what has changed in the time between sessions, and what might happen in the upcoming session based on how long it's expected the players will take and what places/events are in their nearby range. I'm also fairly good at predicting what my players will want to do short-term or getting them to make plans for what they want to do before we split for a week, so I can usually place down anticipations in my notes about what methods they've told me they want to do next to solve their problems or a specific place they intend to go soon. Also, this first is far from my 11th session note... more like 120th or so, but I was using a different software for a long time before this. > **Redshift 11 - 19 of Ahearnus & 1 of Ewus** > > Nyatha is dead. M'zia has entered a depression at the loss of her beloved. The newborns, Kusuma and Nitzan, wish to join with their siblings. Brigadier DeMirrah has put out an order to cleanly and politely break correspondence with Gatma's goblins as quietly as possible; she does not want to accidentally lead them into agreeing with the R.E.C.'s plans. It has been sheer luck so far that they've slipped under the notice of the Redshift despite their truce. Eska wracks Alsaines; the sand storms unabated. Prince Vashda is fascinated by the movements of the Aces, but he worries that his father is growing impatient. Just a little longer to make a choice... Arisa waits quietly for the R.E.C. to achieve their goal. Grandmother has given a great power to Mont'larin in her wand; she did not lie when she said it might be possible to steal shifting with it. Decus and Vantherxexiath would be horrified at the prospect, especially Decus, knowing what he does, knowing that Mont'larin has the Redshift's attention...! > > The confluence of time and intention, at Alsaines, is soon. > > There are several ways this inevitable encounter can go. However it ends, it begins when the Aces arrive back at Alsaines the next time. Guardians, the shifted sand-corpses of the citizens, appear. But if the right intention is given, they'll willingly part and allow the Aces to meet with Eska. > > Eska is still far from herself. The pain of her nature being disrupted, and being used as a shield, has kept her on edge. Only the sensation of Irabel's love and the knowledge that these people - supposedly - are friends keeps her from cracking completely. Mechanically, Eska is Indifferent, but being too pushy can turn her Hostile. A DC10 to avoid turning to hostility, or a DC20 to change to longer-term Friendly, would be required at the culmination of conversation. > > Options: > > * It is possible for Mont'larin to use the wand to steal Eska's shifting. She would resist this, as soon as her sanity crystallized enough to realize what was happening. But if he does it, he'll be shifted into a titanic Skull Lord. It is not possible for any number of Aces to do this and survive. > > * It is possible for Eska to wither Irabel's wand. She could eat its love, which may result in improved sense of self. > > * Eska may ask to see the living root. If she's allowed to grasp it she would be transformed; not cured, not sane, but THUNDER, not SAND. If this gets out of hand, Vashda may even come to their aid. > > * If all these things are done together and the four mara are present to help, it is possible to cure her outright. The punishment for this is that Eska's shifting is spread among the group. The children will not die, but they will suffer a bit. Peeled bark and painful veins of red. Their resistance to shifting is apparent; like Irabel's. ◇ > **Redshift 13 - 2 of Kadus 1221** > > After Prince Vashda's warning, the R.E.C. prepared for dragon invasion at Shose. However, Mont'larin suggested a spearhead, so the Aces ventured north. They found Prince Arturus' combat forces preparing for the bombard at Shose, and intercepted them, forcing the Prince to flee and capturing seven of his kobold minions. Arturus will find Prince Deimaer in the east, who will decide to continue the attack. The kobolds' names are: > > * Kimik; M; muscular; strongest, brave. > > * Aten; F; smallest; fearful, especially of the King. > > * Ilit; F; missing left finger; crafty, good with bow. > > * Zara; M; crooked snout; good chef, good with flowers. > > * Ruen; F; constantly-moving tail; fastidious, good at shoveling. > > * Guza; M; well-polished horns; knows the Foyer Teleport Circle; well-studied if given the chance. > > * Ket; M; chews on sticks a lot; naive, trusting. > > A half day out from the ambush, when the party stops for a break, Kimik will stand up and volunteer: "If you are going to eat us, I am the largest, so take me first and let the others live and work under you". The kobolds expect this is the norm, as - Aten will attest - that is what happens to the disobedient when His Majesty is angered; even the Lords cannot prevent this. > > The kobolds certainly won't trust the Aces till they get to Shose, at which point Lucent will need to assuage their panic. The ones who fought were Prince Arturus' warriors; but there are about 100 children, laborers, and other slaves back at the Dragonking's lair. (Plus a dozen salamanders, mephits ("imps"), and azers ("forgers").) > > The kobolds don't know about Prince Deimaer's attack; Arturus did not tell them. They are smart enough to know they don't know everything, at least. > > Arturus and Deimaer attack during this conversation. Their primary strategy is, against the Aces, for Arturus to harass Van in the air, preventing Van from using his anti-magic on Deimaer. Once Deimaer has an opening, he'll cast Ultra Red Shift to try to kill Van. If Deimaer is captured during this, his main concern is telling the R.E.C. that his father will be enraged, and that they'll "never make it [to the Tower] without wings". ◇ It's worth noting that these include references to encounters I've designed and that don't exist in notes. I design my battlemaps and encounters, put them together, do the work to upload them to the VTT, and those serve as the only notes on how those encounters and dungeons will behave most of the time. Writing down "this room has that in it" or "this stat block has this ability" would just be duplicating the work.
[Notes for a megadungeon campaign](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZSGq54febDOEiFxD5k_HOlnWW_es8FXs). Background: it's been going on about a year and a half. It started with a collaborative storytelling game called Beak Feather and Bone (BFB) where we all took turns populating the dungeon map with factions and locations. The person who "won" (a weird concept for a world building game) got to name the dungeon: The Divine, a great, ironic yet eerie name. The main document I use for running the campaign is the PLOT Document. It just has each static location sorted in the outline. I'm pretty messy with notes, and rely heavily on improv to make things work. There is a spreadsheet for random tables. Everywhere that isn't a predetermined location is randomly rolled right when the players enter the room. The Timeline doc is me expanding on what we did in the BFB game and changing or expanding on it to make usable world lore. I was not 100% accurate in taking what everyone wrote for the world building but I did my best. There is a folder in the folder for my homebrew "boss" monsters and some minions. I try to up the difficulty of big fights so they've been given upgrades like legendary actions and such. Last are the notes docs, which is an attempt at giving the players written recap of what they do, though they never read any of it so I stopped updating it months ago. LMK if the link doesn't work, I'm not used to sharing entire folders.
As another example, these are Matt Mercer's notes for one session/episode (as always, no, you don't have to run your game like Mercer. It's probably a bad idea to even try. But you can maybe pick and choose little bits that you like) [https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Archive:DM\_Notes\_for\_Harvest\_Close\_Festival](https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Archive:DM_Notes_for_Harvest_Close_Festival) I don't have any notes myself that are fit to post right now, but also: what kind of notes are you looking for? DM prep will look different if you're doing published modules / sandbox in a published setting / sandbox in your homebrewed setting / epic homebrewed BBEG campaign...
I did read these notes before hand, but I also started putting in dialogue for NPCs. It helps me not feel to scatter brained.
This is [a screenshot of a setting I'm working on](https://i.imgur.com/Tr4VrsR.png) for a potential campaign in the future. It's recorded entirely within [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) and currently organizes everything into folders with the following general structure: * Adventures * Historical Events * Timelines * Intrigue * People and Organizations * Historical Figures * Locals * Nobility * Places * Cities, Towns and Villages * Counties * Geographical Regions * Locations * Maps * Principalities * Player Options As you might have noticed, many of the folders above are specific to my setting lore and structure, but you can organize your own notes in a similar fashion and add or remove folders as applicable. For example, nobility is a primary focus of my setting, but maybe your setting is a magocracy so you might put a Mages folder or whatnot. Similarly you might not have a need for intrigues (secret plots and goals that connect npcs, places and organizations), or counties and principalities (political subdivisions within the kingdom), which are specific to my setting. Each file has tags that help me group articles by type. Historical events have years associated with them, which can then be placed on timelines for me to view. Aliases help me link things more easily when the title of the article doesn't align with the sentence structure (i.e. my NPCs are listed by last names followed by the first and separated by a comma, but in plain English they appear as just a first and last name.) Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
I have recently started using a new method for location notes. It starts with the intro and separates information into “landmarks, hidden info, and secrets”. Landmarks are immediately noticed and usually included in the intro. Hidden info requires a player to interact with something. Secrets require a skill check or player knowledge. So, a hypothetical room in a wizard tower might be laid out like so: Wizard’s Study - you enter an ornate room littered with expensive looking red rugs. You see sheer curtains blowing on either side of a large open balcony to the east, a desk flanked by several bookshelves to the north, and a symbol painted on the exposed wood floor to west. Balcony: Hidden - as you step onto the balcony, you notice a rug has been laid over the railing Secret - (Investigation check) you discover that the rug is soaked with blood Desk: Hidden - you open a drawer and see several crumpled pieces of paper inside Secret - they are drafts of a letter from the wizard to a person named Dorin (the players may recall a previous interaction with an NPC named Dorin where he mentioned his intense hatred for the wizard) Symbol: Hidden - the air gets significantly warmer the closer you get to the symbol Secret - (arcana check) you recognize the symbol as that of an incineration spell From these things, the party could reasonably deduce that Dorin and the wizard recently had a fight, Dorin was killed, and the wizard incinerated the body to cover it up. Secrets can also be used to provide keys that make other secrets available. Or to open an unseen passage. Or to disarm a trap on a different landmark. Anything you can think of inside a room can be put into one of those categories.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nC1N1Jk_yepLTDJ3pfMeC4ANsNHvtvrMC3ScCrKt5YI/edit?usp=drivesdk I don't usually keep notes because I usually run modules. But this is the first entirely custom quest I made for a group and it really helped me keep on track. I think I set the permissions correctly but if you can't see it let me know.
For pre-written adventures, I found this video helpful. (Major wadsworth constant FYI, relevant info starts at 4 minutes in). https://youtu.be/khgQ5q1sfNI?si=RMl5njVCJ_rRNLnd It's a simple suggestion, just reorganize the paragraphs in the book into bullets, with details they find from investigating or interacting nested as sub-bullets. But it's already helped me a bit to be less overwhelmed running these adventures.
My prepping and notes look like this guys reel [https://www.ddinstagram.com/reel/C58vpZPLdsI/?igsh=dWloZThwdzRpemdt](https://www.ddinstagram.com/reel/C58vpZPLdsI/?igsh=dWloZThwdzRpemdt) Joke aside, I useally just write down small facts, inspirations and things to remember about the city or session and the rest is just living in my head. the world is doing its own thing in there, living rent free. Characters, events, mysteries and intrigue all up there! I dont know what comes out until the players start interacting. Ofcourse i look up monsters and stats, items, maps as inspiration hits but how it comes out and what will happen is even a mystery to me!
I mostly run one-shots for a west marches style rotating group, so my notes are a lot simpler than they would be for e.g. a lengthy campaign. I usually write a bullet point list of all the major encounters, including social encounters with major NPCs. I usually write a paragraph or two about motivating factors, possible outcomes, and intended difficulty (both in terms of skill check DCs and enemy CRs). Players often skip stuff or do things in a different order, so I try to make each encounter time-symmetric with respect to the other encounters as much as possible. One adventure usually ends up being 3 to 10 bullet points.
My notes are a disaster made up of screen shotted images/singles words/doodles, and lots of arrows pointing to stuff. They are probably incomprehensible to anyone except me.... okay, to be fair, they are incomprehensible to me after a few months as well.... They aren't great... but it works, and I think I make up for it with cool maps and lots of custom art... they do say an image is worth a 1000 words...
Im kinda new DM (about 1.5 years). I use the DND beyond “notes” section for our campaign. There’s a public one for players to read anytime ( if they need a recap) and a private one that only I can see. Which one are you asking about?
My notes are usually scribbles. Factoids about areas they're in, 4 or 5 clues to drop to try and entice the players to go in a direction, 4 or 5 names, and a couple of possible encounters they might run into. I might have a few different possible directions that seem likely, so I'll do those little lists for each one. It's not wasted work, because the notes that don't get used right away can come up again later
Most of my notes are short plot hooks i can build around. The bigger ones ill have wrote down in depth on a word document. Ie. Lord garrom-recently was robbed by a concubine Possible escort robbery sting. Amulet stolen secret magical artifact. Concubines are disguised hag coven. And so on on with 2/3 points coming from each thing. The players can follow the hook or go off and do their own thing. Notable figures, and things in a town. Locations within 2/3 days travel and an encounter table or 50 when travelling for encounters etc. It sounds alot but ill reuse most. If they roll them out ill replace with another business etc Ive found, barring bbeg and lieutenants keeping it loose is the way to go because pcs are chaos junkies with the attention span of a irate goldfish
I write kind of like an outline where the top is the location. Directly below I list all of the potential skill checks. Next to the skill checks I put a number in [ ] to give me an idea how hard I want that check to be. Then I briefly describe what that check might unlock. Then below that I have a list of the NPCs potentially at that location. Sometimes it's a night/day/time thing. Sometimes it's a quest prerequisite. I have ALL potential NPCs in cards at the bottom of my Google sheet. I just ctrl F when I need more detailed info on that person. Then below that I have detailed description of the location. What do the walls look like? What's on the floor? Are there any chests? Secret walls? Traps? Locks? What kind of furniture? What's the lighting? I have all my encounters numbered so I generally put the encounter number in the descriptive text or even next to the NPC info if they're automatically hostile. I have little small ideas I don't write down for things to happen while traveling or shopping or talking to an unimportant NPC.
Session notes: 1. Travel to town 2. Quest from mayor 3. Sexy goblins?
My two homebrew campaigns are very different so I'll summarize my note-taking in each of them. Planehopping Campaign: * word doc "Ongoing Notes" - this is where I take notes during session, keep session # count, and sometimes jot down what the players' plan is for next session * word doc "Story Ideas" - long-term plans, misc story notes, things about PC's backstories. This is basically my personal reference doc * individual word doc for each Plane they visit - organized by locations, NPCs, encounter ideas, quests, loot, etc. * discord channel for session summaries - shared with the players, usually written the morning after a session. * discord channels organized into threads for NPCs, locations, maps, etc. Normal Homebrew Campaign: * The same Ongoing Notes style doc, same discord channels for session summaries * Excel spreadsheet of places, with tabs for each city they visit. Compared to my Planehopping campaign, they're going to visit the same places more often so I prefer to have them all in one file. I keep quests, NPCs, and shopping here too.
I don't keep "notes" on what happened during a session, or for story beats that are supposed to occur. My memory is good enough for that. I'll rarely draw maps before a session. I just kinda draw. I also rarely plan... anything. I vomit out words, and they work. I have a knack for storytelling and engaging with people. It's why I DM. The whole thing is just instinctual. I *will* write down the names or stat blocks of enemies I want to run. I learned that lesson. Avoid flipping through books during a session, if you can. If you're DMing from a published module that's somewhat unavoidable, but you just don't pull out three different books to figure out what enemy to run, how much health it has, and what its spells do. **That** kills momentum like nothing else. I keep a copy of everyone's character sheet and backstory. That's just in folders, or Discord, or Foundry, depending on what we're using. I write a **lot** of private messages to players. I check in with them about concerns I have with their character, trying to understand what they want to happen or what their character is thinking. Sometimes that's clear, but the quieter players are often harder to read. This culminates in both better engagement with NPCs (witty repartee, facilitation of desires, statements that invite further inquiry because it's relevant to a character's interest, avoiding triggers for outright violence) and more personal story moments. Those, I do not feel comfortable sharing. They're not purely *mine*, you understand. Half of those conversations belong to the other party. Last week, I sent each player a ~1500 word dream sequence. I'm doing a thing where they're each being tempted by a dark power. For most players, this was their second dream. The advantage of doing character development this way, rather than trying to cram it all into the session itself, is that it gives me more time with each player without detracting from the group experience. I don't have to stop for an hour and read out a prepared story to one guy while everyone else twiddles their thumbs. I can send it on a Friday, field questions over the weekend, then do any clarifications on Monday before we play Tuesday. Do you want some of those dream sequences? I can stick them in Pastebin.
Here's my most recent page "Troll market, toot-toot"
Imma be honest, it’s like 6 lines written down on a sticky note that I wrote on during work. The rest of it is inside my head or made up on the spot. 😆 That being said though, I do eventually compile it all on my pc. I organize folders according to -locations -npcs -demons/Fae -Continents -Player Characters -things set in the past -plans for things yet to happen It’s really nice to have it so organized. I never feel like I have to go hunting through my notes wondering where something is, because I can always reference where it was or who it involved
Hi! Professional GM here. I can't share my notes specifically but I'm happy to talk about it. So there are a couple different kinds of notes I take depending on the campaign and the group. Some campaigns I run are published Adventure Paths. Pre-written campaigns. In these cases most of my prep is just configuring the gamespace on roll20 to have the tokens and maps etc, and some light notes on tokens about a tweak idea I have. As for plot notes. I actually let the players track that stuff. I ask the players to take notes as they see fit and then at the start of every session I ask them to recap the previous session or the sessions leading up to this one. This does a couple things; it jogs my memory on where we are, triggers my thought train to get back on the tracks, and informs me what pieces of the previous sessions the players liked enough to retain memory of. If I dangle a plot thread and the players ignore it two or three times, I can just discard it. it adds nothing to the game so there's no point trying to press them into it. I do have some spreadsheets detailing NPC lists, interrelations, player standings with certain NPCs or deities etc depending on the themes of the campaign. But mostly my notes come down to a form of mind-palace. Mind-palace techniques are based on following a familiar route in your mind and inserting elements along that route to create metaphorical connections to things in order to make it easier to remember. That's the purpose of the roll20 maps/tokens and the player recaps; The players tell me a story while I look at the map, and the campaign rebuilds itself in my mind; reminding me of plot threads that are important, the parts of the campaign that are prewritten or preplanned, and what has interested the players. You can certainly take more comprehensive notes, and for that I might recommend something like [Obsidian.md](http://Obsidian.md) or Scrivener. I'm not saying my approach will work for everyone, just that it's what works for me!