I'm working on being more organized with my campaign notes, but I could use some good examples of how it's done from people more organizationally-minded than I am. Books on GMing and stuff count, if you have any recommendations. If you just have some examples of generic notes and how you organize yours, even better, but if they're specifically from your game, I'm down. Anything is good. I'm trying to let go of any habits and preconceptions in order to be able to rebuild (if necessary) my entire GM prepping and managing style.

Thanks!

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 16:27, Tue 08 Dec 2020.

GM-level organization isn't my strong suit, but I do make heavy use of game wikis. I don't use RPoL's built-in system (not pretty enough for my terribly shallow self), but I'll put up hundreds of pages of content, detailing weapons and equipment, NPCs, locations, game events, and so on.

I'm not super comfortable with posting an example publicly, but if you're interested in seeing one of them, let me know and I'll supply a link privately.

I would, yes. I'm trying to do things like make a list of important NPCs and their goals and stuff, same with locations and everything else, as well as writing down at least a brief account of what happened in-game. Since I do all my gaming PBP, it does help, but I'm still not very good at it. I'm trying to be better at it!
This message was last edited by the user at 18:22, Tue 08 Dec 2020.

 For Me.. I  run 3  games here.. I have  3  Journals.. i keep track of  NPCs that  have a good chance of showing up down the road again...places,  buildigns  ect ect.

::chuckles:; I also have a  stack of  small tablets  and scratch papers that i write down things  and  characters , that  will be important  in the lastest actuions, and  that i may need to add to the journal.

 It's not fool proof, by any means. But... Imagination  is what being a  DM/GM is all about. Its easy enough  for a NPC,whose name i lost..to have been killed, transferred   , whatever.

 It works  well enough, have  used that system  in thespace game that is closing in on 10 years old, the other  2  games are a bit older, but  less  active..

I have a  friend who has her  own server, she downloads things  onto?... it  doesn't  stop her  from makign 'mistakes' when it  comes to  history stuff.

 Bottom line?..organize it how you think best.... Index cards... sheets of paper..spiral notebooks... you are in charge? so  set it up as you  feel you are able to access informtaion?...and..when the worst happens and you can't  find , or access it?... use your GM skills to  'reset' what you need.

Every game I run on rpol has a GM Sandbox thread with 10 posts for short-term notes which the players ill never see.  I also keep a GM Notes thread for longer-term plans.

I typically only keep two GM "players" around: Control (who deals with mechanics and metagame stuff) and Narrator (who does strictly in-character stuff).   I try to make heavy use of their respective RPOL character-sheets to keep track of longer-term stuff that I know I'll want to refer to a little more often.

There's a few websites out there that seem dedicated to the world-building side of things... I don't think I'm supposed to mention them or link to them, though...

I use a lot of private threads, broken down a lot so none of them gets to be very long. If it has one post, it's good for me.

I have one with basic character info. It is about five posts long. One for AC and hit points, one for classes and exp, one for spells, which includes which were memorized, which were cast and when circumstances apply, what round they were cast. (I also use this one for turn-undead attempts) Also one for experience points.

I have one for in depth character info, where I keep their belongings and such.

I have one where I keep encounter stats. I pre-generate several wandering monsters as well, just to have something ready.

Stuff like that.

In reply to NowhereMan (msg # 3):

NowhereMan, I'm interested in seeing an example of your Wiki-organization, if you'd be willing to rMail share. I used to use wikis all the time to organize NPCs and locations and so on, but wandered away from it when my favourite source stopped being free!

As for the original question, here on RPoL I also make use of a private thread for notes.

In one thread, I'll have a post for each character, and as they get into shenanigans, I'll edit and add to that post. Whether their actions have secretly come to the attention of this NPC or that, whether they've inadvertently tripped a trap, whether something good should be coming their way, etc. If I have an idea for them as they play, I add that idea there. In theory. My organization is often aspirational! And I tend to run games that are heavy on intrigue, so there's usually a lot going on behind the scenes.

In another thread, I'll have a rough timeline of things done IC, as well as things from characters' backstories.

And in a final thread, I'll jot any overarcing notes I may have about plot hooks, but that's more of a mishmosh.

If you're interested, I can rMail you an example of "organizing plot threads" I did! Just let me know/toss me an rMail.

I started using Dungeon World Fronts and Threats a few years ago, and I’ll never go back. I also use John Fours “five room dungeon” format. Professor Dungeon Craft (YouTube) has a good video on how he breaks down adventures and such.

I have used OnNote as a digital notebook before and found that it is a really powerful tool for linking across platforms and indexing.