Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Question: When you dm in session do you take notes?

 Sometimes. Depends on how much is going on in session.

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from SirTawmis >>

... and now, the follow up Question to my "who tracks what happened" question - how often do you gather with these same group of folks to adventure together?

 
Weekly

 Same. At least we try to. Doesn’t always work out perfectly.

Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Question: When you dm in session do you take notes?

 I jot down some notes during the session, but the bulk of them are done right after.

When I play I take rough notes in my notebook, and then I translate them clearly into my cleaner leather-bound campaign notebook.

Quote from WoodsGirl0402 >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from SirTawmis >>

... and now, the follow up Question to my "who tracks what happened" question - how often do you gather with these same group of folks to adventure together?

 
Weekly

 Same. At least we try to. Doesn’t always work out perfectly.

 Same. Sometimes we need to cancel because we’re down too many players when life gets in the way. We are on pause until mid-November I believe, and we have been since the end of August. Our new gaming group with a few of the same people and some new people will be starting up a little before that though, and we’ll be playing a PF2 campaign (1-6) before diving into some other games and D&D One-Shots.

Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Question: When you dm in session do you take notes?

 
So prior to COVID, I had a notebook where I wrote everything down - especially big moments (where folks landed Critical hits or did something really cool or asked an important question). I usually took those notes while combat was happening or banter was going on at the table (in or out of character). Because there's always brief enough lulls between players deciding what they're going to do or discussing what they want to do next, to scribble notes.

When COVID hit and my games became remote and we played through Discord, I got everyone's permission to record the audio for the sessions. And that has been a literal game changer. Because now there's no pressure to take notes - and also a lot of fun banter or jokes get captured - and I trim those out and post them as individual mp3s into the Discord channel for everyone to relive.

Quote from SirTawmis >>

... and now, the follow up Question to my "who tracks what happened" question - how often do you gather with these same group of folks to adventure together?

I have a group over zoom with my aunt and uncle, and other uncle and cousin. Because of scheduling and the fact that I have to miss watching NFL games with my grandmother to play with them, we usually only meet every 2 to 3 weeks, which is fine since I have the PBP game with some of you guys outside of this.

Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Question: When you dm in session do you take notes?

No. Not at all lol. I tried doing it once and had trouble concentrating on it and running the game at the same time.

Quote from SirTawmis >>

... and now, the follow up Question to my "who tracks what happened" question - how often do you gather with these same group of folks to adventure together?

 
IN general, weekly, though most of my time isn't involved in gaming directly. Once we start up the next campaign, twice a month for the next few years, lol. Two groups of nine, roughly 6 hours each time.

Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Question: When you dm in session do you take notes?

Copiously.

My desk area after a session is littered by at least a dozen little pieces of paper from my notepad (and I buy the little 5 by 7 notepads in bulk, lol).

Next question: is it actually worthwhile to take notes. I haven’t and I’ve had no real problems with it so I was wondering if they help. i don’t use them mostly because we (me and my group) play every day at school but over the weekends it could help.

Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Next question: is it actually worthwhile to take notes. I haven’t and I’ve had no real problems with it so I was wondering if they help. i don’t use them mostly because we (me and my group) play every day at school but over the weekends it could help.

 I found it was helpful cause we only play once a week (sometimes less), so it helped me remember stuff during the downtime.

Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Next question: is it actually worthwhile to take notes. I haven’t and I’ve had no real problems with it so I was wondering if they help. i don’t use them mostly because we (me and my group) play every day at school but over the weekends it could help.

 
if you are playing daily, odds are good you don’t need to take notes, because you carry them in your head. That is, you are already taking notes, but we call it remembering.

if you play only once a month, though, you have a lot of other stuff that happened, that might push it out of your head without a reminder, and that’s what the notes are for.

I run obscenely complicated stories that are also made worse because I have to both adjust to what the players decide to do (including not even get involved with the story) as well as making sure that the stuff we all talked about for the stories of their PCs are worked into it.

When we played everyday, the only note I took was where we stopped. But that was 40 plus years ago. Shit changes, lol

Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Next question: is it actually worthwhile to take notes. I haven’t and I’ve had no real problems with it so I was wondering if they help. i don’t use them mostly because we (me and my group) play every day at school but over the weekends it could help.

 I think so, though certainly less so when you play that often. I personally like it no matter how often you play because I don’t trust my own memory. (:

Quote from AEDorsay >>

Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Next question: is it actually worthwhile to take notes. I haven’t and I’ve had no real problems with it so I was wondering if they help. i don’t use them mostly because we (me and my group) play every day at school but over the weekends it could help.

 
if you are playing daily, odds are good you don’t need to take notes, because you carry them in your head. That is, you are already taking notes, but we call it remembering.

For me, it definitely helps to take notes. So I run five different games. Two bi-weekly games, two monthly games, and a "random whenever they're free" game.

In my world - what what party does can impact what another party does. I know I've talked this to death, but we've got new people so here I go again.

So for example, Group_A arrives in Town_A and for whatever reason, burns it to the ground. Now Group_B arrives at Town_A - Town_A is either going to still be burnt down to the ground or in the process of repairs (depends on the amount of time that's passed how far those repairs are). This has made my world feel very much alive, and truly shows there's consequences for actions. (Group_A made a deal with a red dragon and helped it get free in exchange for information... now Group_B is dealing with news that a red dragon is terrorizing some Elves to the north!)

I detail all my notes on my game's website that I made - and a lot of times, I will do things like:

• Talai has heard news of an adult read dragon terrorizing the Northlands where the Kafvan Wood Elves live (See "The Campaign, Session 30") 

And I will link to that page's session notes, so if my players who were not involved in the story that the other party was - they can read (as players) what happened.

It helps everyone realize that the things you do may have rippling effects.

So notes are critical for me.

However, that said - some people play in pre-made campaigns (Storm King's Thunder, Curse of Strahd, etc.) where not taking may not be needed because everything's already pretty straight forward. Also some folks get together and just play D&D as just something to do as a social thing, or just want to roll dice, or whatever - and the overall, arcing stories may not be important. What's important is that everyone is just hanging out and the story is just a side effect of that.

There's no wrong way to play D&D, really. Are you having fun? Yes. Success!

Your rules may be different than mine... I may have house rules you disagree with (and I am using "you" as a generalized thing - you as in the person reading this post! lol).

I may take copious amounts of notes and detail everything in the notes; you may be like, "Hey wanna cruise over and roll some dice?"

All of the ways are the right ways. Just depends what you (and your players/DM) want to get out of it.

Quote from BlackBear_ >>

Next question: is it actually worthwhile to take notes. I haven’t and I’ve had no real problems with it so I was wondering if they help. i don’t use them mostly because we (me and my group) play every day at school but over the weekends it could help.

 
Yeah, as others have said, when you only play weekly and occasionally have to cancel a session it helps to have notes. Last campaign I ran lasted 2 years and once I had to stop and look up something that had happened a year earlier in the campaign so notes definitely helped me.

A list of reasons to adventure:

1. The thrill of adventure.
2. To seek out new experiences.
3. To boldly go where no one has gone before.
4. To solve a mystery.
5. To escape the law.
6. To find love.
7. To gain vengeance.
8. To sail beyond the sunset and all the eastern stars.
9. To find the second star to the right, so they can keep going until dawn.
10. To unearth ancient civilizations.
11. To free the oppressed.
12. To defeat an evil scheme.
13. To explore strange new lands.
14. To seek out new peoples.
15. To encounter new cultures.
16. To answer a question.
17. To enforce the law.
18. To save their village.
19. To save their family.
20. To save their people.
21. To have freedom and few responsibilities.
22. To see where the road leads.
23. To make even more money.
24. To come of age.
25. To build something of value.
26. To become Famous & Renowned.
27. To become Infamous and Feared.
28. To prove something.
29. To demonstrate competence.
30. To show defiance.
31. To recover something lost.
32. To get high.
33. To earn new ways of crafting.
34. To get laid.
35. To offer something of value to their patron.
36. To find new spells.
37. To find a way out of this crazy world.
38. To find magic items.
39. To find a way to stay in this wonderful world.
40. To test themselves against dangers.
41. To grow stronger.
42. To find new places to pan gold.
43. Because it is there to be done.

Make of it what you will.

QOTD: What are Your reasons to Adventure?

I don't. But if I did, it would be "to see the world".

Quote from AEDorsay >>

QOTD: What are Your reasons to Adventure?

Good, old fashioned, simple curiosity.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

QOTD: What are Your reasons to Adventure?

 

I don't. But if I did, it would be "to see the world".

 It relieves stress, it helps me bond with my friends and it’s fun! (In reverse order of importance)

I don't, but if I did, it would be to grow as a person.

Quote from WoodsGirl0402 >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

QOTD: What are Your reasons to Adventure?

 

I don't. But if I did, it would be "to see the world".

 It relieves stress, it helps me bond with my friends and it’s fun! (In reverse order of importance)

 Oh. I thought you meant D&D adventures. I don’t do much real adventuring except exploring the woods with my friends.