In the west marches series I talk about the Chronicle. It is a player led account of the adventures. I mine it for threads to explore in the campaign. If they don't write about something, it doesn't matter.
I just want my players to have a vague idea of ‘what happened last session.’ Anything past that is gravy, and I’m more than happy to fill in Lore Holes the characters would know.
Agreed. It's taken work for me to move away from being annoyed with the players for needing reminders to instead telling myself to streamline that particular bit of lore or connective tissue to the world.
I like to take notes as a player only about the NPC names and their relationships (in the form of a diagram) so that I dont need to stop the flow of the game to ask the game master what is the tavern keeper called or forget who hired the mercenaries to kill us, etc
Exactly this, note-taking isn't necessary but it can definitely be handy if there are a lot of relationships going on. I usually write a summary of the session and post it on our discord. This way the players can reread before the session starts, so they are up to scratch.
It helps with them avoiding asking to many questions during the session about details that might bog the game down, but they can also still open the discord on their phone to check things. I use AI to transcribe the short sentences I scribble down, and let the AI make a full summary out of it. Saves me as a GM a lot of time too.
Damn, now to think of it, I might just record the audio and let the AI transcribe that.
Someone else who believes this! (I just wasn’t brave enough to say it). As a GM I always assume my players won’t make notes, it’s my job to have the critical info down and I want them immersed in the moment. If they decide to make notes of their own accord, all the power to them.
Eh, I agree in that too detailed notes aren't all that useful. But so far I've ran into multiple issues coming from not having any notes and not a single case of a player actually not engaging cause they're taking too many notes.
"Just make stuff memorable" doesn't work, people will anyway misremember these moments or remember just one thing out of the whole session.
Makes total sense. When I started our family DND game I bought everyone notebooks. Not one note was taken. lol! I suggested it but nope. I never pushed it and moved on.
Been in games where I've taken no notes, and games where I annotated almost everything. Depends on the game, I guess.
The systems run most have a set of "Ignobles" (Achievements) which must be checked to level up. Players MUST write down their "Fame" and "Personal Growth" Ignobles (especially so I can copy them down and the end of a session). Otherwise, whatever you want to take notes of, take notes of. "Fame" is the important one for me to devise future hooks and encounters. If you take a Fame Ignoble for, say, killing Lord Skinny, I need to note that down because Lord Skinny's allies now have a problem with you. The Fame Ignoble absolutely implies either other people are spreading the tale, or you're bragging about it at taverns between missions. Cuz, FAME!
If players later need to know something the players have forgotten everyone can make the system equivalent of an intelligence check for me to remind them...
Which is a simple and obvious mechanic for memory...
Or, last week, at a con, running a sci-fi armor trooper game none of my players had heard before, I had the squad leader roll on "Event Triggered Orders" (so, data files hidden in a neural implant triggered by a specific situation). If the Sarge made his ETO roll (about 75% chance of success) I'd give them hints about what they should do (skills, which Troopers to activate - half the squad was swapped in and out of cryostorage - etc). OK, nothing to do with note taking, but just stating one can use game mechanics to remind players of what they may have forgotten, or (with new/inexperienced players) provide hints.
Lots of different ways to handle it, for sure. I tend not to play games with a lot of achievements or plot bennies, so I don't run into many situations where the players absolutely MUST write notes.
Like in the article, there's always going to be a game that does require a certain amount of notes (diplomatic games, intrigue games, games with plot bennies like you mentioned, etc) but I think notes in trad fantasy adventure games in the vein of DND is (usually) unnecessary.
We tend to make quite a lot of notes, mostly names and places, but I don’t think a lot of dialogue gets written down (not by me anyway). But our games and characters tends to be about connections, who you know or need to know, who did something for (or to). Especially the latter actually. Our GM has a nack for remembering all those dirty deeds we do, and bring them into play later. Also he is running a lot of groups in the same setting and all the different campaigns shape and form the world (and has been for 40+ years now). So what you do (or don’t) might end up in other groups games as hooks or main stories. So the entire community around our game thrives on the collective note taking.
We do try to do the note taking when other players have the main focus, and then only focus on key elements so we can get back to the story.
When I first became a teacher, I would get kind of offended when students forget something or ask an already answered question… “Weren’t you listening?”
I wonder if this is why some GMs really insist on notes. It feels almost personal when players can’t recall some fact—you explained it in great detail! And it feels so easy for you to recall (because you wrote it).
I have learned, though (now with a few years under my belt) to embrace the fact that my students (and my players) need me to repeat things.
I love this take.
I've intentionally started my new campaign with no specific BBEG in mind, just an overall tension.
I'm waiting to see who my players respond to and then I'll ramp them up as the main villain.
This is the way!
This is a good take. I like the summary "they didn't need to take notes, you need to run something memorable"
Thanks Jack! It's my mantra for the foreseeable future.
In the west marches series I talk about the Chronicle. It is a player led account of the adventures. I mine it for threads to explore in the campaign. If they don't write about something, it doesn't matter.
I just want my players to have a vague idea of ‘what happened last session.’ Anything past that is gravy, and I’m more than happy to fill in Lore Holes the characters would know.
Agreed. It's taken work for me to move away from being annoyed with the players for needing reminders to instead telling myself to streamline that particular bit of lore or connective tissue to the world.
I like to take notes as a player only about the NPC names and their relationships (in the form of a diagram) so that I dont need to stop the flow of the game to ask the game master what is the tavern keeper called or forget who hired the mercenaries to kill us, etc
Exactly this, note-taking isn't necessary but it can definitely be handy if there are a lot of relationships going on. I usually write a summary of the session and post it on our discord. This way the players can reread before the session starts, so they are up to scratch.
It helps with them avoiding asking to many questions during the session about details that might bog the game down, but they can also still open the discord on their phone to check things. I use AI to transcribe the short sentences I scribble down, and let the AI make a full summary out of it. Saves me as a GM a lot of time too.
Damn, now to think of it, I might just record the audio and let the AI transcribe that.
Someone else who believes this! (I just wasn’t brave enough to say it). As a GM I always assume my players won’t make notes, it’s my job to have the critical info down and I want them immersed in the moment. If they decide to make notes of their own accord, all the power to them.
Exactly this. The exact last place I want my players during a session is in Google Docs. 💀
Eh, I agree in that too detailed notes aren't all that useful. But so far I've ran into multiple issues coming from not having any notes and not a single case of a player actually not engaging cause they're taking too many notes.
"Just make stuff memorable" doesn't work, people will anyway misremember these moments or remember just one thing out of the whole session.
Makes total sense. When I started our family DND game I bought everyone notebooks. Not one note was taken. lol! I suggested it but nope. I never pushed it and moved on.
Been in games where I've taken no notes, and games where I annotated almost everything. Depends on the game, I guess.
The systems run most have a set of "Ignobles" (Achievements) which must be checked to level up. Players MUST write down their "Fame" and "Personal Growth" Ignobles (especially so I can copy them down and the end of a session). Otherwise, whatever you want to take notes of, take notes of. "Fame" is the important one for me to devise future hooks and encounters. If you take a Fame Ignoble for, say, killing Lord Skinny, I need to note that down because Lord Skinny's allies now have a problem with you. The Fame Ignoble absolutely implies either other people are spreading the tale, or you're bragging about it at taverns between missions. Cuz, FAME!
If players later need to know something the players have forgotten everyone can make the system equivalent of an intelligence check for me to remind them...
Which is a simple and obvious mechanic for memory...
Or, last week, at a con, running a sci-fi armor trooper game none of my players had heard before, I had the squad leader roll on "Event Triggered Orders" (so, data files hidden in a neural implant triggered by a specific situation). If the Sarge made his ETO roll (about 75% chance of success) I'd give them hints about what they should do (skills, which Troopers to activate - half the squad was swapped in and out of cryostorage - etc). OK, nothing to do with note taking, but just stating one can use game mechanics to remind players of what they may have forgotten, or (with new/inexperienced players) provide hints.
Lots of different ways to handle it, for sure. I tend not to play games with a lot of achievements or plot bennies, so I don't run into many situations where the players absolutely MUST write notes.
Like in the article, there's always going to be a game that does require a certain amount of notes (diplomatic games, intrigue games, games with plot bennies like you mentioned, etc) but I think notes in trad fantasy adventure games in the vein of DND is (usually) unnecessary.
We tend to make quite a lot of notes, mostly names and places, but I don’t think a lot of dialogue gets written down (not by me anyway). But our games and characters tends to be about connections, who you know or need to know, who did something for (or to). Especially the latter actually. Our GM has a nack for remembering all those dirty deeds we do, and bring them into play later. Also he is running a lot of groups in the same setting and all the different campaigns shape and form the world (and has been for 40+ years now). So what you do (or don’t) might end up in other groups games as hooks or main stories. So the entire community around our game thrives on the collective note taking.
We do try to do the note taking when other players have the main focus, and then only focus on key elements so we can get back to the story.
Well said, Nate.
When I first became a teacher, I would get kind of offended when students forget something or ask an already answered question… “Weren’t you listening?”
I wonder if this is why some GMs really insist on notes. It feels almost personal when players can’t recall some fact—you explained it in great detail! And it feels so easy for you to recall (because you wrote it).
I have learned, though (now with a few years under my belt) to embrace the fact that my students (and my players) need me to repeat things.
That’s just part of the gig.