So, I was thinking about how I plan sessions and campaigns and wondered what kind of approach fellow DMs take to planning a session. To that end I thought I'd share my planning/notes documents and ask if other DMs would share their technique for planning sessions. Is there anything fellow DMs think I'm missing or could do better in planning? I created this outline to be generic for any TTRPG system, and was long before I ever read an official campaign or similar content. So I'm interested to see what other people think.
The after action notes obviously aren't part of planning before a session, but are notes of what happened in the session.
First, this is comprehensive and organized as all get out and I hope your players appreciate how much work you put into your games!
As for me...my session prep notes look like a stream-of-consciousness fever dream. "Cultists? Ruins - insult to gravity. Decay, despair. Ambush @ temple. 2nd round rift. HP 180."
I used to spend hours each week prepping until I realized I'm a better DM when I improv. My notes nowadays serve as reminders of the mood I want to set and the challenges I think might be fun to throw at the party. Everything else I make up on the spot in response to how my players react. Often, it means I throw the "plan" out the window if my players latch onto something I didn't expect, or come up with a conspiracy theory I think is good.
I also run an intrigue campaign, so the most important prep I need to do relates to baddie motivations, which secrets tie together, and how enemies are reacting to what the party's done. Only a tiny portion of that shows up in any given session, especially when the party chases red herrings.
I like to do the majority of my planning by hand in notebooks, and I make sure to title and date each new section, that way you can find them quickly just by flipping through. If anything is super important and I'll need it nearly every session, I can throw in a post-it bookmark.
I do most of my DMing online, and I hate having to juggle tabs and screens while I'm playing, so having hard copy notes to have in my lap really helps me.
And I just love the feeling of a gradually filling notebook that I can then put on the shelf and peruse my past content if I'm looking for inspiration for a new campaign, or adventures I've written that I can adapt and recycle with a new group.
It's already been said, but I'll say it again: That is an impressive amount of work and organization. If this makes your games run smoothly and well, keep doing exactly this.
I learned long ago, that if the tool that you're using takes more time to maintain and upkeep than the time that it takes to perform the task it's designed for, rethink the use of the tool. I started using something akin to this years ago, but found that it didn't suit me and my DM/Organization style. I frankly found myself doing more upkeep on my tools than creating and running the encounters/adventures/campaign. So, now, I use notes and scratch down ideas in a notebook designed for just that, while the players are theorizing what is happening in game. Then I turn this into a short outline document that I use a frame to lean on when the players inevitably break script and head off in a random direction. This prevents me from having to re-edit all of the pages of a plot line because of one discrepancy in the begining.
Best of luck to you!
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Thanks for the compliments folks, but in all seriousness it takes me like fifteen minutes to fill in the first page/part. For the most part I can improv most things but hate thinking of names in the moment. The second page generally are just my notes for when I improved something and know the players will remember it and I'll forget! In total those two pages per session take maybe twenty to thirty minutes on the bad days (I type quite quickly).
I was just curious what other people did as I've been using this format for soooo long it kinda feels like I've never thought to see if there's a better way.
I usually just have about 2 pages of notes in a word doc. Much like theoryofbagels, I’m better when I improv. The notes are mostly, if there’s a fight, use stat block x (on page of the MM) and if there’s more players, add in monster z.
If I have some important plot point or NPC, I’ll maybe script out what they say so I don’t forget something in the moment.
Otherwise, for me, the act of writing down what little I do puts the rest in my head well enough that I can make up anything else I need to.
Also, one more vote for how impressive the OP’s system is.
I usually just have about 2 pages of notes in a word doc. Much like theoryofbagels, I’m better when I improv. The notes are mostly, if there’s a fight, use stat block x (on page of the MM) and if there’s more players, add in monster z.
This is why I find the Creature & NPC, and Monster Card packs more useful than the books. I can pull out the cards I need for a session, plus any others that could feasibly be useful for something I didn't expect. So very handy!
My notes consist of about 15 different doc files I have saved in folders, each tied to a location and many with a map (of the area or town if applicable) I keep a running notebook of handwritten stuff which is a bloody nightmare to sort, and my notes are, as some others have said, a brief overview of the scene and mood. The presentations is all off the cuff and twice now I have had to imrov (100% including names for NPCs they were SUPPOSED to ignore) and ended up with 4-5 pages of written notes, which had to then be turned into more doc files. I am chaotic disorganized, but my players seem to enjoy the sessions.
For encounters/fights, I use the encounter builder here and have for a long time. For quite a while it was only good for keeping a set of stat blocks handy, but now I find it an immensely useful tool. I build heavy and skip some "trash" enemies early on, as they may or may not come in as adds as the fight progresses. I like the players sheets updating real time as they change their HP too, so if your players all use DDB it's outstanding. If not, and the monsters you want to use are available, you can throw in generic parties for placeholders and then add the enemies. I ran a dungeon crawl 1 shot and just threw ALL the monsters into one encounter and used that abbreviated, selected list for encounters as I went. Pick a couple of these, one of them and OOOH, one of those, heh heh heh.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
(100% including names for NPCs they were SUPPOSED to ignore)
Good lord, I feel this! What players do vs. what they're supposed to do.
Love encounter builder too. I use DDB EB for all character sheets and encounters these days...but like having extra stat blocks handy (just incase) hence the cards I mention. Map making is something I did on occasion when I first started but I now have a collection big enough that I continue reusing older ones or remaking them with newer tools. Like ten years ago I used to use the Neverwinter Nights Aurora engine to create battlemaps...thank goodness tools like inkarnate came along!
(100% including names for NPCs they were SUPPOSED to ignore)
That’s why I keep a long list of names clipped to my DM screen. NPC names, tavern names, boat names, town names, a couple horse names. You never know who players will decide to chat up or what they’ll ask about. I keep a list, and then makes notes on it as I go.
I don’t think they’ve caught on that the random people they meet are in alphabetical order.
(100% including names for NPCs they were SUPPOSED to ignore)
That’s why I keep a long list of names clipped to my DM screen. NPC names, tavern names, boat names, town names, a couple horse names. You never know who players will decide to chat up or what they’ll ask about. I keep a list, and then makes notes on it as I go.
I don’t think they’ve caught on that the random people they meet are in alphabetical order.
That made me spit pop on my monitor.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
We play online, so for mechanics I write them on the map on the gm layer and for the rest I either handwrite tables of possible fights using the encounter building tables at xanathars or write single words or small sentences to represent what happens next session and what the likely results are. That said, are my handwritten notes tend to be in a few pages and in no particular order since I only care about which one represents next session.
I rely almost entirely on OneNote to keep everything organized. Easy to maintain, and I use the snip & sketch app to take snippets of what I need out of the scanned version of the PHB, DMG, and MM rather than having to re-type it or copy and paste a bunch of stuff. Not perfect, but it helps my brain out. The whole "can create a check box" thing for what information I tell my players and what I don't has come in CLUTCH for me!
I rely almost entirely on OneNote to keep everything organized.
I used to use OneNote for University notetaking. Never thought to use them in this way. Absolutely LOVE it! You've given me a lot of ideas. They're amazing.
So, I was thinking about how I plan sessions and campaigns and wondered what kind of approach fellow DMs take to planning a session. To that end I thought I'd share my planning/notes documents and ask if other DMs would share their technique for planning sessions. Is there anything fellow DMs think I'm missing or could do better in planning? I created this outline to be generic for any TTRPG system, and was long before I ever read an official campaign or similar content. So I'm interested to see what other people think.
The after action notes obviously aren't part of planning before a session, but are notes of what happened in the session.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
First, this is comprehensive and organized as all get out and I hope your players appreciate how much work you put into your games!
As for me...my session prep notes look like a stream-of-consciousness fever dream. "Cultists? Ruins - insult to gravity. Decay, despair. Ambush @ temple. 2nd round rift. HP 180."
I used to spend hours each week prepping until I realized I'm a better DM when I improv. My notes nowadays serve as reminders of the mood I want to set and the challenges I think might be fun to throw at the party. Everything else I make up on the spot in response to how my players react. Often, it means I throw the "plan" out the window if my players latch onto something I didn't expect, or come up with a conspiracy theory I think is good.
I also run an intrigue campaign, so the most important prep I need to do relates to baddie motivations, which secrets tie together, and how enemies are reacting to what the party's done. Only a tiny portion of that shows up in any given session, especially when the party chases red herrings.
I like to do the majority of my planning by hand in notebooks, and I make sure to title and date each new section, that way you can find them quickly just by flipping through. If anything is super important and I'll need it nearly every session, I can throw in a post-it bookmark.
I do most of my DMing online, and I hate having to juggle tabs and screens while I'm playing, so having hard copy notes to have in my lap really helps me.
And I just love the feeling of a gradually filling notebook that I can then put on the shelf and peruse my past content if I'm looking for inspiration for a new campaign, or adventures I've written that I can adapt and recycle with a new group.
It's already been said, but I'll say it again: That is an impressive amount of work and organization. If this makes your games run smoothly and well, keep doing exactly this.
I learned long ago, that if the tool that you're using takes more time to maintain and upkeep than the time that it takes to perform the task it's designed for, rethink the use of the tool. I started using something akin to this years ago, but found that it didn't suit me and my DM/Organization style. I frankly found myself doing more upkeep on my tools than creating and running the encounters/adventures/campaign. So, now, I use notes and scratch down ideas in a notebook designed for just that, while the players are theorizing what is happening in game. Then I turn this into a short outline document that I use a frame to lean on when the players inevitably break script and head off in a random direction. This prevents me from having to re-edit all of the pages of a plot line because of one discrepancy in the begining.
Best of luck to you!
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Thanks for the compliments folks, but in all seriousness it takes me like fifteen minutes to fill in the first page/part. For the most part I can improv most things but hate thinking of names in the moment. The second page generally are just my notes for when I improved something and know the players will remember it and I'll forget! In total those two pages per session take maybe twenty to thirty minutes on the bad days (I type quite quickly).
I was just curious what other people did as I've been using this format for soooo long it kinda feels like I've never thought to see if there's a better way.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
I usually just have about 2 pages of notes in a word doc. Much like theoryofbagels, I’m better when I improv. The notes are mostly, if there’s a fight, use stat block x (on page of the MM) and if there’s more players, add in monster z.
If I have some important plot point or NPC, I’ll maybe script out what they say so I don’t forget something in the moment.
Otherwise, for me, the act of writing down what little I do puts the rest in my head well enough that I can make up anything else I need to.
Also, one more vote for how impressive the OP’s system is.
This is very nice.
I personally prefer to have named key characters in the adventure / general vibe of them.
I also try to anticipate encounters and have these planed in the encounter builder. So I don't have to look up stats on the fly.
This is why I find the Creature & NPC, and Monster Card packs more useful than the books. I can pull out the cards I need for a session, plus any others that could feasibly be useful for something I didn't expect. So very handy!
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
My notes consist of about 15 different doc files I have saved in folders, each tied to a location and many with a map (of the area or town if applicable) I keep a running notebook of handwritten stuff which is a bloody nightmare to sort, and my notes are, as some others have said, a brief overview of the scene and mood. The presentations is all off the cuff and twice now I have had to imrov (100% including names for NPCs they were SUPPOSED to ignore) and ended up with 4-5 pages of written notes, which had to then be turned into more doc files. I am chaotic disorganized, but my players seem to enjoy the sessions.
For encounters/fights, I use the encounter builder here and have for a long time. For quite a while it was only good for keeping a set of stat blocks handy, but now I find it an immensely useful tool. I build heavy and skip some "trash" enemies early on, as they may or may not come in as adds as the fight progresses. I like the players sheets updating real time as they change their HP too, so if your players all use DDB it's outstanding. If not, and the monsters you want to use are available, you can throw in generic parties for placeholders and then add the enemies. I ran a dungeon crawl 1 shot and just threw ALL the monsters into one encounter and used that abbreviated, selected list for encounters as I went. Pick a couple of these, one of them and OOOH, one of those, heh heh heh.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Good lord, I feel this! What players do vs. what they're supposed to do.
Love encounter builder too. I use DDB EB for all character sheets and encounters these days...but like having extra stat blocks handy (just incase) hence the cards I mention. Map making is something I did on occasion when I first started but I now have a collection big enough that I continue reusing older ones or remaking them with newer tools. Like ten years ago I used to use the Neverwinter Nights Aurora engine to create battlemaps...thank goodness tools like inkarnate came along!
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
I use a journal with the left-hand leaf being things I've begun but haven't finished and the right-hand leaf being story beats for tonight's session.
That’s why I keep a long list of names clipped to my DM screen. NPC names, tavern names, boat names, town names, a couple horse names. You never know who players will decide to chat up or what they’ll ask about. I keep a list, and then makes notes on it as I go.
I don’t think they’ve caught on that the random people they meet are in alphabetical order.
That made me spit pop on my monitor.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
We play online, so for mechanics I write them on the map on the gm layer and for the rest I either handwrite tables of possible fights using the encounter building tables at xanathars or write single words or small sentences to represent what happens next session and what the likely results are. That said, are my handwritten notes tend to be in a few pages and in no particular order since I only care about which one represents next session.
I rely almost entirely on OneNote to keep everything organized. Easy to maintain, and I use the snip & sketch app to take snippets of what I need out of the scanned version of the PHB, DMG, and MM rather than having to re-type it or copy and paste a bunch of stuff. Not perfect, but it helps my brain out. The whole "can create a check box" thing for what information I tell my players and what I don't has come in CLUTCH for me!
I used to use OneNote for University notetaking. Never thought to use them in this way. Absolutely LOVE it! You've given me a lot of ideas. They're amazing.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.