As a player, do you take notes during an adventure?

insubordinate polyhedral · July 28, 2019, 09:05:51 AM

Yes, every session. Names, places, attributes, and goals/desires of any NPCs encountered, any architecture/places encountered, anything that seems like there might be use or significance later. Not a narration or huge quantity of notes, though, kind of a bullet journal of RPG NPCs, places, items, and significant events.

Funnily enough I am really bad at recording treasure the party acquires, but another friend in the group is on point for treasure so it works out and our party gets paid.

I guess I kind of treat every game like a murder mystery note-wise, even though I don't think I've ever played an actual murder mystery campaign. Any detail could turn out to be useful or important later.

rawma · July 28, 2019, 05:14:22 PM

I take a lot of notes as GM. Even down to what each character does each round, and so know when a ten-round spell just expired or what action they said they held.

And I also take the same notes as a player, but I try not to slow down the game by pestering anyone to repeat things or to give the exact spellings of NPC names or places. So the notes are not always as useful as they might be.

GIMME SOME SUGAR · July 29, 2019, 12:11:47 PM

If I ever get the chance to play again, I will take notes like there's no tomorrow. I am always the GM. But there might be a chance in the near future that I'll get to play once more. I feel disappointed if players don't take notes, forget everything between sessions and stuff like that, because I spend so much time preparing everything.

Steven Mitchell · July 29, 2019, 02:11:00 PM

Yes and no. Yes, in that I write a few things. No, in that I never refer to those "notes" again. If I did, they'd probably be illegible even to me. The act of making a few scribbles that vaguely resemble the English language is enough to fix the thing in my mind.

Bren · July 29, 2019, 02:14:00 PM

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1097474Yes and no. Yes, in that I write a few things. No, in that I never refer to those "notes" again. If I did, they'd probably be illegible even to me. The act of making a few scribbles that vaguely resemble the English language is enough to fix the thing in my mind.

If they are handwritten, yes. Typed notes just don't stick in the brain the same way. And just looking back at a few written notes often helps me recall much more of the adventure than what I wrote down.

Naburimannu · July 31, 2019, 07:46:06 AM

Right now the only group I play in regularly gets 1.5 hours every 2 weeks (at work), so I write a summary on a laptop as we play the game and recap it at the start of every session - otherwise even the DM forgets status. I'm the most experienced player so (1) take less time than most to make up my mind and (2) am trying really hard not to overshadow the others. Also, the player who originally volunteered to write summaries wrote them in character as a hyperactive know-nothing gnome.

Azraele · July 31, 2019, 08:58:05 AM

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1097162I have taken to doing this. I got exasperated from constantly saying stuff like "We look for that dude the other dude mentioned about an hour ago..."
So I jot down important names and info for later reference during the adventure.

I'm usually the mapper when we dungeoncrawl, so I take a ton of notes. It's super immersive, really puts you in your character's shoes. I also love coming back to those notes on the next sessions; there's stuff like "secret door?" and "Nobody trusts Archimon because he contradicted himself" and fun stuff like that.

I dunno. It's fun.

Bren · July 31, 2019, 05:20:27 PM

Quote from: Naburimannu;1097760Right now the only group I play in regularly gets 1.5 hours every 2 weeks (at work), so I write a summary on a laptop as we play the game and recap it at the start of every session - otherwise even the DM forgets status. I'm the most experienced player so (1) take less time than most to make up my mind and (2) am trying really hard not to overshadow the others. Also, the player who originally volunteered to write summaries wrote them in character as a hyperactive know-nothing gnome.

The IC Gnome summary sounds fun. But not as the only summary. As a GM I really appreciate it when I have a player who takes good notes.

wolfhillrpg · July 31, 2019, 10:00:55 PM

Many moons ago, one of my favorite computer games was ultima underworld (PC) which I played a lot during D&D breaks. Unlike todays console RPG's, quest details, locations, NPC's were not created for you. It was there I learned the value of taking quality notes.

WillInNewHaven · August 01, 2019, 01:18:38 PM

Yes, I take notes. The amount of detail in my notes depends on whether there is a real detail-hog in the game. If there is, my notes are sparse and concern only things directly involving my character. If there isn't, I assume that duty and keep track of everything.
In the campaign that I am playing now, as opposed to GMing, Bruce writes down a narration of our adventure and has a meticulous list of the stuff we gain, as far as we have found out the details. I note every NPC by name and what they do and will include what each of our characters thinks about them when I am told. Jeff maps. Other players might jot something down but we three are the major note-takers.

ffilz · August 01, 2019, 01:54:37 PM

I should take more notes... (as player AND as GM...)

I did just copy a bunch of notes out of a play by post game so I can keep track of things in that game better...

As GM I have relied on player notes.

Frank

Omega · August 01, 2019, 07:06:54 PM

Please remember to put the notes back when you are done with them. :mad:

fixable · August 03, 2019, 01:42:48 AM

OMG yeah... my character sheet is usually filled with notes and such.

Honestly, this is kind of why I am not a fan of digital character sheets. I want to just take things down and map on paper.

fixable · August 03, 2019, 01:43:45 AM

Quote from: wolfhillrpg;1097828Many moons ago, one of my favorite computer games was ultima underworld (PC) which I played a lot during D&D breaks. Unlike todays console RPG's, quest details, locations, NPC's were not created for you. It was there I learned the value of taking quality notes.

I remember playing those old school dungeon crawl games. I made hand written maps and notes of them as I explored them.