I'm curious what everyone uses and why? How do you organize your game notes? Do you use a service that allows players to read or interact with your world?

Quote from: Godsmonkey on May 12, 2022, 01:48:42 PM
I'm curious what everyone uses and why? How do you organize your game notes? Do you use a service that allows players to read or interact with your world?

I use a Word document.

Played in a game where the GM used Discord discussions & documents. He got annoyed that none of us really cared to bother with it. When I'm a player, my involvement is 100% at the table, and apparently that was true of the other players too. This same GM has also played in games I've run, and he wanted to do exte sive record keeping and journaling between sessions even after I told him I'm not interested in reviewing/reading them,  so maybe it's just his obsession.

Quote from: Godsmonkey on May 12, 2022, 01:48:42 PM
I'm curious what everyone uses and why? How do you organize your game notes? Do you use a service that allows players to read or interact with your world?

  Leather bound notebook.  I do not bother offering to let them read it, if they want to know something beyond where the money and monsters are I tell them.  I get the feeling I care more about who the local Duke is angry at, or who is betrothed to who, or what political problems are brewing than they do.  They make their own notes of adventures, but barely care what the guy's name in charge of the local town is.  No need for their interaction.

Very messy and disorganized slide decks (PowerPoint or LibreOffice Impress). One slide for factions, one for NPCs, one for a map, etc. I prefer it to a word processor because slides let me easily move around text boxes, images, and stuff. It's also easier to use all the space available on a large monitor.

Quote from: Godsmonkey on May 12, 2022, 01:48:42 PM
I'm curious what everyone uses and why? How do you organize your game notes? Do you use a service that allows players to read or interact with your world?

Like oggsmash, I use a leather covered book. Mine is A5 size. Easily the best notebook I have ever owned. It even fits a MOO journal in the center (after using the original book it came with). https://www.amazon.com/Refillable-Leather-Journal-Writing-Notebook/dp/B07CRDWD1K

The size allows me to carry reprints of the LBBs plus whatever folded loose notes I need in addition to the journal. It has a pocket inside and pouch that I use to hold paperclips.

I have not used a service like that, but I have heard good things. One of the guys we game with was showing one to me (I cannot remember the site). I *think* it was mainly free. He is pretty fargin cheap.

In the 11th hour of my 5e days I used D&D Beyond before I decided to no longer do business with them. They were starting to roll out some of those tools, and I have heard they are not bad for people using 5e.

Physical notebook for actual planning.

I often write session summaries somewhere semi-public, this one here is a thread on a forum for my ongoing Crimson Shield mercenary company campaign using my "Dungeons Unleashed" engine. There has been the most Dragons in this of any game I have run.

Others have been on meetup forums,

Made a campaign website once. That's here; I'm surprised it still works. I thought "webs.com" was suppose to be dead. I still use the setting in most of my fantasy gaming. https://darkageofdarsivia.webs.com/

I'd tried out Obsidian Portal once. Seems fun, but maybe too much work unless everyone is keen. I think I only ran one session for this. It was mostly me testing things out. https://amethyst-diceless.obsidianportal.com/ (this was for an Amber Diceless game.)

Last time I ran a sci-fi campaign I used Scabard Campaign Manager. I kept a tablet at the table that players could use to access star maps, news reports, and other data. I don't know that they ever used it between sessions, but it was helpful to me.

I think that feels a bit too techy for fantasy campaigns so I'm currently scribbling notes on loose leaf paper stuffed in folders and pockets. I should try one of those leather journals instead.

I use the notes app on a pen-enabled tablet.  I used to use paper, but I'm lazy and kept losing stuff.  The tablet is almost as good as paper for quick notes and sketches, which is critical for the way I run games.

I've used 3 ring binders, notebooks, etc. I've been using OneNote most recently and it's great since you can drop anything into it, so it makes for neat and clean presentation of information, even though it is bare bones in comparison to some of the dedicated tools.  Scabard's graphs (relationship diagrams) seem particularly useful.

That having been said, sometimes whipping out a sketch or map on a piece of paper with a number 2 pencil is still the quickest ever.

Scrivener does it all. But it's designed for writers, but you can use it for all sorts. No problem with arranging chapters and using pics for reference.

I use Libre Office or Google docs for most word processing tasks.

Anyone highly recommend any of these RPG Campaign Manager tools? And if so, what does it do special?

Quote from: Spinachcat on May 12, 2022, 09:30:46 PM
I use Libre Office or Google docs for most word processing tasks.

Anyone highly recommend any of these RPG Campaign Manager tools? And if so, what does it do special?

I was using World Anvil. It does everything, and is a good tool if your players like to interact with the game world outside the table. Most of my table consists of casual gamers, so they dont do that a lot.

So, I have recently found myself using notion.so for my game prep. It's free, easy to use and powerful enough that it cant do a large percentage of what paid services like World Anvil does.

Sly Flourish of Lazy Dungeon master has a good template for a 5E campaign manager, but its easy to adapt to other games.

Linked is his video explaining his process along with his template, and other useful links in the description:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AfbMNAsyr4

Quote from: Godsmonkey on May 13, 2022, 06:48:03 AM

Quote from: Spinachcat on May 12, 2022, 09:30:46 PM
I use Libre Office or Google docs for most word processing tasks.

Anyone highly recommend any of these RPG Campaign Manager tools? And if so, what does it do special?

I was using World Anvil. It does everything, and is a good tool if your players like to interact with the game world outside the table. Most of my table consists of casual gamers, so they dont do that a lot.

So, I have recently found myself using notion.so for my game prep. It's free, easy to use and powerful enough that it cant do a large percentage of what paid services like World Anvil does.

Sly Flourish of Lazy Dungeon master has a good template for a 5E campaign manager, but its easy to adapt to other games.

Linked is his video explaining his process along with his template, and other useful links in the description:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AfbMNAsyr4

Another one for World Anvil as a campaign organizer for public consumption and display.

Trello is also a very good note/story board option to jot down what your thoughts and ideas are and reorganize it however you see fit.

Organized folders, .txt documents, named pictures and regular documents.

As simple as.