I just started a home game and was wondering what sorts of things other DM's use the Public and Private DM notes sections in the campaign page for. I was thinking of using the public section for short summaries of previous sessions, notable NPC's, and possible discovered quest lines. Not sure what to use the private DM notes for since I keep my own in a notebook.
What do y'all use them for? Any creative and intriguing ideas?
I have hopes that eventually it will become featured enough to be usable - but as you, I currently track everything in a "notebook" ( or in my case Google Docs ).
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I keep the number of days adventured, miles traveled, locales visited(any teleport circles they have access to), and allies(individual and organizations) on the public notes. Gives the players a sense of what they are accomplishing in the game world.
I use public notes for the recaps of the sessions we do. There's a LOT of stuff in there. I use private notes to keep track of my overarching story for my own benefit.
I use the private notes for my session notes and overall world building notes. Session notes I write under the spoilers feature that way I can close the long list of notes and have access to everything without scrolling forever. Public I use for table rules and recaps etc again using the spoiler feature this in turn keeps the forever scrolling down and anyone new coming into the game has access to previous sessions
I post a session summary with important events that happened, items accrued, goals achieved, and missions given in the Public Notes.
In Private I have a few action items I need to plan for the next session (what's the party starting with, maps, encounters to build, etc.). Nothing too specific (I put that in my OneNote Binder), but a little to-do list.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Don't give up hope. No, don't every quit. There is always a chance of a Critical Hit."
I obviously have planning notes, but I get my players to take it in turns to write a summary of each session that gets shared with everyone. This allows everyone to have some notes, and means that no one person feels like they're doing all the.
Beyond that I also have a standardised word doc that I use when sketching out a session that is just for me.
In terms of the notes in official published adventures...I rarely use adventure content, opting for homebrew mainly, but when I do run an official adventure I do tend to utilise the notes and such included...after all why do extra work?
To put it out there, I just use physical paper. So, I apologize for not using specific terms for online tools.
I take a lot of notes, and show almost none of them. tsirimadm113 gave a great use. But, I don't bother showing the players the days tracked unless they request it; usually just stating where and when they are is enough. Some notes don't need to be secret, but you'll want to keep them to yourself simply for the sake of brevity. In my experience, players will simply not take the time to read most things. But, yes, public notes are great for the party's accomplishments (or failures), contacts, and maybe even some flavor text. Every now and then, it's good for a Star Wars opening crawl.
Most of my secret notes mark what decisions players made, with the hopes that it will create fun gameplay later. For instance, when running the Starter Set (2014), I make sure that Glasstaff's rat familiar is cute as hell. So, when a player inevitably adopts it for tiny snuggles, it will later help Glasstaff escape capture. Imagine the cutest betrayal. Of course, if Glasstaff dies, the familiar pops back into its origin plane. If any PC figures out that it's a familiar, they'll likely not trust it. So, that's a big note for me.
When playing online, I provide the characters with handouts they can use to maintain a treasure/loot list as well as the pieces of the plot they think are important. I might also have a handout that summarizes the campaign but I usually leave that to the players since it is up to them to keep up to date.
I use the DM notes sections for campaign and character specific information. When I create new NPCs, I make a note in case they come up later. I record the over-arching plot line. I also add some of the twists/turns and side quests that could come up. I also have a section describing the state and progress of the world in general. The world isn't static, the major factions and their representatives all have goals and objectives. They make progress on these or are thwarted by opponents whether the PCs are involved or not. The notes aren't detailed but the players could find themselves crossing over several of the different plot lines and may become involved with one or more of them. Notes help keep this straight.
I also record information related to individual character arcs (if any) on the GM private part of the character sheet. Special treasure with hidden abilities and similar that the characters haven't yet discovered are also recorded.
Though all of these are kept as short, point form, to minimize the time required. Their main purpose is to serve as a reminder to me of what is going on that might come up.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I just started a home game and was wondering what sorts of things other DM's use the Public and Private DM notes sections in the campaign page for. I was thinking of using the public section for short summaries of previous sessions, notable NPC's, and possible discovered quest lines. Not sure what to use the private DM notes for since I keep my own in a notebook.
What do y'all use them for? Any creative and intriguing ideas?
I tend not to - even though I tried to use it.
They're just not flexible enough, sadly.
I have hopes that eventually it will become featured enough to be usable - but as you, I currently track everything in a "notebook" ( or in my case Google Docs ).
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I keep the number of days adventured, miles traveled, locales visited(any teleport circles they have access to), and allies(individual and organizations) on the public notes. Gives the players a sense of what they are accomplishing in the game world.
I use public notes for the recaps of the sessions we do. There's a LOT of stuff in there. I use private notes to keep track of my overarching story for my own benefit.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I use the private notes for my session notes and overall world building notes. Session notes I write under the spoilers feature that way I can close the long list of notes and have access to everything without scrolling forever. Public I use for table rules and recaps etc again using the spoiler feature this in turn keeps the forever scrolling down and anyone new coming into the game has access to previous sessions
I post a session summary with important events that happened, items accrued, goals achieved, and missions given in the Public Notes.
In Private I have a few action items I need to plan for the next session (what's the party starting with, maps, encounters to build, etc.). Nothing too specific (I put that in my OneNote Binder), but a little to-do list.
"Don't give up hope. No, don't every quit. There is always a chance of a Critical Hit."
I obviously have planning notes, but I get my players to take it in turns to write a summary of each session that gets shared with everyone. This allows everyone to have some notes, and means that no one person feels like they're doing all the.
Beyond that I also have a standardised word doc that I use when sketching out a session that is just for me.
In terms of the notes in official published adventures...I rarely use adventure content, opting for homebrew mainly, but when I do run an official adventure I do tend to utilise the notes and such included...after all why do extra work?
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.
To put it out there, I just use physical paper. So, I apologize for not using specific terms for online tools.
I take a lot of notes, and show almost none of them. tsirimadm113 gave a great use. But, I don't bother showing the players the days tracked unless they request it; usually just stating where and when they are is enough. Some notes don't need to be secret, but you'll want to keep them to yourself simply for the sake of brevity. In my experience, players will simply not take the time to read most things. But, yes, public notes are great for the party's accomplishments (or failures), contacts, and maybe even some flavor text. Every now and then, it's good for a Star Wars opening crawl.
Most of my secret notes mark what decisions players made, with the hopes that it will create fun gameplay later. For instance, when running the Starter Set (2014), I make sure that Glasstaff's rat familiar is cute as hell. So, when a player inevitably adopts it for tiny snuggles, it will later help Glasstaff escape capture. Imagine the cutest betrayal. Of course, if Glasstaff dies, the familiar pops back into its origin plane. If any PC figures out that it's a familiar, they'll likely not trust it. So, that's a big note for me.
NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY
When playing online, I provide the characters with handouts they can use to maintain a treasure/loot list as well as the pieces of the plot they think are important. I might also have a handout that summarizes the campaign but I usually leave that to the players since it is up to them to keep up to date.
I use the DM notes sections for campaign and character specific information. When I create new NPCs, I make a note in case they come up later. I record the over-arching plot line. I also add some of the twists/turns and side quests that could come up. I also have a section describing the state and progress of the world in general. The world isn't static, the major factions and their representatives all have goals and objectives. They make progress on these or are thwarted by opponents whether the PCs are involved or not. The notes aren't detailed but the players could find themselves crossing over several of the different plot lines and may become involved with one or more of them. Notes help keep this straight.
I also record information related to individual character arcs (if any) on the GM private part of the character sheet. Special treasure with hidden abilities and similar that the characters haven't yet discovered are also recorded.
Though all of these are kept as short, point form, to minimize the time required. Their main purpose is to serve as a reminder to me of what is going on that might come up.