Inspired by another thread, where there was a discussion of "DM notes" and "Player summaries", I got curious as to what people's "end of session DM notes" looked like.

Are people feeling brave enough to post their latest session notes? ;)

I'm really curious as to what people's note and recap styles are like - and it would be really interesting to see tiny "snapshots" of your current campaigns ( although I suspect that not all things will make sense out of context)  :)

Can't ask people to post, if I'm not willing to, so my lastest "DM summary" emailed out to my players is below. Be kind :p

 Player-Characters:

• Akna Hunab-Kutli: 5th level Rogue ( Arcane Trickster )
• Alaster Reinholdt: 5th Level Ranger ( Gloom Stalker )
• Bethany Owain: 5th Level Monk ( Way of Shadow )
• Dan Gerous ( sigh ): 5th Level Paladin of Keddon ( God of Protection, Law, and War - Oath of Vengeance ) 
• Skildur: 5th Level Fighter ( Champion ) 

When we last left our heroes... 

As T.A.L.O.N. company stopped on the shore to catch their breath, to contemplate the implications of the last of the thieves guild captains' ships arriving, and to contemplate the significance of the signal fires lit by The Eyes, they were greeted by Urian - second-in-command to Darrion Malas - coming to seek out T.A.L.O.N. in the wake of recent developments. The task force had been signaled, and messengers from both the prison camp and from the task force had made contact with The Eyes.

 

With Allister and Dan deciding to keep watch over the compound from a position on the ridge, Akna, Bethany, and Skildur returned to The Bellows with Urian in the mid-evening hours to consult with Darrion.

 

Intelligence provided by one of Septimus Darzarian's loyalist officers ( Pelias Mutos ) indicated the guild leadership had declined coming ashore until the summit was to take place, and that it was scheduled to occur the following day. An officer from the Highguard flotilla ( Wendelin Brecher ), had come bearing the operational plans of the fleet - and news that the task force was now under the direct command of Piotr Vergas -Vestarches of the Highguard.

 

Going over the operational plan, and the objectives that would need to be accomplished before the naval task force could assault in the morning, it was decided that T.A.L.O.N. would use the hours before dawn to attempt to disable Mattias Dungragon's ship - The Gorgon - while The Eyes would attempt to remove or replace the guards in the east watch towers of the camp, so-as to prevent an early warning of the task force's approach for the guild and the disloyal Highguard officers. 

 

Provided that all went well, T.A.L.O.N. would join the main assault with the dawn, and task themselves according to opportunity and the plans discussed during the council-of-war with Darrion the previous day ( supporting the landing operation, securing the archer high ground, holding the north gate to prevent the conspirators from fleeing to the mines, breaching the tower-keep, etc. ). It was understood that T.A.L.O.N.'s primary objective was the retrieval of their kidnapped teammate Miri Dundragon, although Darrion stressed that the Highguard loyalist faction's priority was the capture of Mattias Dundragon. For now, at least, the goals of  T.A.L.O.N. and The Eyes were similar enough to work together.

 

After returning to surface with an escort of three of The Eyes ( including Urian ), and spending some time tracking down Allister and Dan encamped in an observer position over the compound, the group tasked with sabotaging The Gorgon slipped over the water to the vessel, cloaked by Bethany's shadow art abilities.

 

T.A.L.O.N.'s plan was that they would slip below decks, and attempt to hole The Gorgon - fighting a holding action when they were detected hacking through the hull, if needs be - and escape as the ship sank.

 

As the coracle slid up beside The Gorgon, Akna noticed a peculiar odor coming faintly from the vessel - an odd mix of perfume, spice, and background notes of decay.

 

The oddities of The Gorgon did not end there. With Skildur expertly wrapping a muffled grappling hook over the ship's railing, Allister and Bethany made their way up onto the deck, there to find a series of peculiar shapes literally rooted to the deck of the ship; vaguely cylindrical, facing out over the water, fluid rounded organic lines, thrumming with a soft discordant sound, gleaming with a trace of bio-luminescent light, and extruding long sharp roots which literally dug into the ship's deck.

 

With Allister moving up the rigging into the crows-nest ( and dispatching the lookout there ), the rest of the team moved silently - still masked by Bethany - over the deck, finding a hatch and slipping undetected below into a short ship's hallway.

 

A quick examination of the 6 doors leading to port and starboard - and hearing snoring coming from one - lead the team to conclude that these were officers cabins, and the team quickly secured from opening by tying the door handles together. A door off the hallway to the rear led to what appeared to be the officers mess, and a large multi-paned glass window looking over the nighttime harbor.

 

However, voices in conversation could be heard through the doors towards the front of the ship.

 

Skildur silently slipped open the door, revealing a large open deck, containing another sextet of the strange organic installations on the main deck, a large conference table lit by a pair of ship's lanterns strewn with charts and maps, and trio of humans gathered around the table, apparently in discussion of some matters.

 

However, as T.A.L.O.N. gauged the room, a group of 6 of six more of the Ssalaan assassins folded out of the darkness. With three of their number screening the retreat of the humans through a door toward the prow of the ship, the remainder of the Ssalaan fought a holding action in the doorway.

 

Dan, Bethany, and Akna engaged the Ssalaan  in the doorway, while Skildur attempted to chop through the floorboards to open up another path below deck and toward the inner hull below the waterline. With the three humans withdrawn through the door toward the prow of the ship, two of the three Ssalaan screening the humans' retreat crawled out the deck's side hatches ( one hatch per odd organic "thing" rooted to the deck ), and up the side of the vessel - while the remaining Ssalaan  stood as door sentry in front of the door leading towards the prow.

 

On deck, Allister  had not been idle either - first using his skill with a bow to drop the crew members on watch, and then opening up on two Ssalaan coming out of the water.

 

Spotting Allister, they had come up  the rigging after him, first using their telekinetic abilities to attempt to throw him from the crows nest - to no avail - and then one of them misty step'd into the crowsnest itself, there to wrestle with Allister in an attempt to throw him physically from the mast. When Allister managed to win the physical contest and throw his assailant into the water, he turned his bow back on the other Ssalaan  assailant, only to have that one - bloodied and heavily wounded - also use misty step out over the water, and dive into the harbor to also escape.

 

When Allister spotted the two Ssalaan crawling out of the deck side hatches below, climbing on deck, and attempt to make their way to the hatch which  T.A.L.O.N. had gone below decks - thus catching the team between two groups - he successfully threw a "Molotov cocktail" of flaming oil onto the hatch, pushing the Ssalaan back from the hatch, and splashing one of them with flaming oil.

Below decks, Skildur  abandoned his attempts to cleave through the deck, and charged into the room, with Dan coming close behind him - with Dan engaging 3 of the Ssalaan in single combat, and Skildur  attempting to tackle the remain Ssalaan through the doorway it was guarding, and push into the next room. When that failed, combat took a distinct turn for the worse. Dan, flanked and heavily outnumbered, could not stand against the Ssalaan, and - heavily wounded - was forced to dive out one of the deck's side hatches, managing - fortuitously - to find the hatch overlooking T.A.L.O.N.'s boat.
 
While the three Eyes fought a holding action in the doorway,  Bethany and Akna - both seriously wounded from fighting the Ssalaan in the doorway - pulled back to the officer's mess - there searching and finding a number of bottles of brandy, which they used to set the mess on fire in an attempt to fire the vessel if they could not hole her.
 
With Skildur heavily wounded fighting the Ssalaan sentry, Dan withdrawn from the fight ( with a single Hit Point remaining! ), the hatch above the team now set alight, the officers' mess behind them aflame, The Eyes barely holding the three Ssalaan below deck at bay, and the two Ssalaan above deck turning their attention to Allister, we drew the session to close due to time constraints.

Sounds fun! Your recap is wonderfully detailed.

I am terrible at taking notes in-session, but I have an excellent memory to make up for it. I usually write up a 'previously on' the day after the session, and update some of my other note-piles at the same time (eg. Important NPC pages with relevant notes, calendar, etc.) 

This is what a recap would look like. It covers more than 1 session, pulling in the most "relevant" info for the upcoming session.

• Balasar the Dragonborn Monk of the Open Hand (6)
• Linwood the Water Genasi Circle of the Seedling Druid (6)
• Naia the Halfling Arcane Trickster Rogue (6)
• Pyrrhae the Kina Wild Magic Sorcerer (5) and Tempest Cleric (1)

Previously...

After escaping from the depths of the crumbling organization’s facility through the happenstances of Pyrrhae's wild magic, you appeared on the side of a steep mountain with a sealed cave entrance. Solving the path into the cave with the magic of Naia's Mage Hand, you learn that this cave is a tomb for a man known as Vlaad, who founded a famous arcane group known as the Circle of Eight.

After meeting Linwood, a shy and nervous genasi, they joined your party and set you on your new path: Stopping Harm before it can return in seven years. It seems that appearing on this mountain top was serendipity, as Vlaad is just the kind of person you need right now.

Working together you manage to solve each of puzzles presented in the cave, each seemingly tied to Conjuration and one other school of magic, finally teleporting yourselves into a new part of the system, within which a golem came whirring to life, attacking you.

Using your combat superiority and the use of scrolls of mage hand to pull free the crystal giving the golem life, you managed to survive and awaken an old drow with no hair, and leathery skin hanging off his thin bones. The man is old, almost sickly looking… Could this be Vlaad? As you wonder, he looks to you now and asks “What year is it?” 

My session notes look like this.

Kron level 5 Dragonborn Cleric

Loki level 6 Dwarven Fighter

Ari level 4 Halfling Ranger

Hyville Level 4 Half elf Warlock

Gorath Level 4 Goliath Barbarian (Dead)

Legion Level 4 Warlock (Dead)

After tangling with the "Order of the Sleeping Fang" a brotherhood dedicated to keeping the Dragons from rising again, the Well Wishers found themselves down 2, one was Kron's long time friend and comrade in arms Legion, soon after the battle a furious Fang Dragon arrived to extort a magical item, the group ran leaving Gorath's unconscious body behind only to see his neck snapped and devoured upon refusal of the Dragon's request. 

It was only with the well timed appearance of Tierok, a friendly, young Iron Dragon that the party was able to drive Razor Fang away and make for the safety of town.