One thing I enjoy implementing into the complete D&D experience is session notes. These session notes provide a summary of a particular session and are provided to all involved. They may or may not contain the following information:
I do not focus too much on grammatical errors or continuity. The end goal is to provide all involved in the campaign material to review, and in the far future, relive the past.
depending upon how long between my session, i typically dont supply this to the players. I encourage them to discuss things amongst themselves about what happened and have them free to ask me questions about specific things as to what happened for 5 minutes before the session starts. If they miss important material I remind them of it. Something minor I do not. I encourage them to take notes, like a player diary of what their character knows.
Personally, I record things that happen so i know but i prefer not to remind the players of them and encourage them to interact with each other more rather than rely upon me.
that is one hell of a lot of work to do man. I applaud your effort but there is no way I have time to prepare a weekly game sufficently and to do all of that. I think I would be open to providing an incentive to a player to do that each week...maybe inspiration or some other in game reward though.
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"I was led to believe there would be punch and pie?"
I've found that sometimes the players experience a MUCH different game than I do. So me jotting down what I think happened is often NOT what the PCs think happened.
Like, maybe they focus on something that is so mundane that I didn't even realize I mentioned it, but they thought was important. There's also sometimes when I think I've made my point about something important crystal clear when I realize that they had no clue that what I said was relevant at all. Sometimes that's ok, but other times it's absolutely story-breaking (like missing an episode of a show you've been watching and trying to resume with the next episode instead of watching that one - sure you can keep up a bit, but then some critical detail happens and you are confused as all Nine Hells).
So, that's why I have started recruiting a random PC to keep track of this stuff and post a "Last time on..." thread on the Roll20 forums for our game; though neither they nor I have EVER been anywhere near as in depth as your example. Do you record your sessions and then type out the recordings or did you write that all down? It seems like a lot of excess work for non-crucial details (unless you are planning on turning it into an actual story somewhere down the line).
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
sloporion's advice is pretty great. You might also see if a player enjoys doing that for the campaign. Some of us are frustrated writers and are happy for any opportunity to hone skills, and it's sometimes hard for the DM to juggle everything else going on and still remember to record it all.
I rarely go into such details with session notes, and don't hand them out unless there is a player who missed the session for whatever reason.
My own notes are are a mismatch of bullet-points, quotes, and the specific names of people and places I generate on the spot. That said, my sessions are usually between five and eight hours long, so my notes are rather hectic.
I never thought of rewarding a player for doing the session notes, that could be an option.
I've found that sometimes the players experience a MUCH different game than I do. So me jotting down what I think happened is often NOT what the PCs think happened.
You make an excellent point. We are a young group with a lot of growing to do...there is a lot left to be seen.
This is my first time as a D&D DM, I only have 3 session under my belt at this point. 6 of my 7 PCs are new to D&D. We are a very green group. We are the same group that has been playing structured games over the years. Structured in the sense that the story/lore/world/characters are already written, we are simply pawns moving through the pre-generated content. From the 3 sessions we have played, I have gathered that some of my player's absolutely love the session notes, they love reading about their character. Some of the players seem indifferent, they are more in the camp of only thinking about D&D when they are sitting at the table.
D&D provides us the chance to write our own story, develop our own world, as a collective group. That gets me excited! The particular campaign I have in mind has an overall arc, a skeleton template if you will. The rest...well, that is what my PCs are for! There is potential for the overall arc to even be thrown to the wind. As the DM, I am providing the blank canvas and paints, we paint the story as a group.
The session notes are a lot of work...but I do enjoy the process of writing them up. The notes are an outline to what I hope becomes an amazing story, perhaps a novel, or comic, or animation... :). I took notes on paper for the first 2 sessions, by the 3rd session, I setup an audio recording. I have an active glossary that I am always adding to (a DM version, and a PC version), another method for providing reference material for my group. I am also looking forward to creating a chronological timeline of events...with major milestones, as well as fun memories the group partook in.
I am a sucker for the full experience! At the gaming table...I like setting the lighting, providing distinct smells, the woodwick candle providing real wood crackling sounds, immersive music and ambient sounds that follow in-game content, etc. I love this stuff! I do not personally know any other DMs, so this would be considered the first time I have communicated this to fellow DMs.
I will say, my overall goal of the DM is to give the players an experience that they will enjoy, remember, and be talking about years from now...and to have a ton of fun while they are doing it.
Session notes have come in handy for my group a few times. At the end of every session, our DM would post a small, usually bullet pointed summary of key campaign points, decisions, encounters, and combats (and sometimes even point out some players' amazing nat20s and nat1s) in our WhatsApp group chat. That way, we and even the absent players can check what happened in our session anytime between sessions. Us players also sometimes input what we took from the sessions and shared some points we thought were important.
But as sloporion correctly stated, everyone experiences the game differently from each other and the DM, and I think my Dm is aware of that, any therefore keeps recaps and notes as vague as can be, and I think I'll be doing the same!
Holly crap Skyrunner! That's quite a task to do after every session. The DM in our 5e campaign does recap our last session before we start. We all take our own notes during the session. We do have a group "loot crate" page posted of all the coins/loot that the group has in the bag of holding and a posting of all the major/important NPC character names we've meet. But that's about it.
I'm preparing to run Princes of the Apocalypse and will have a rough outline prepared. I always bullet point notes when I'm running of what has happened. I encourage my players to take notes of what they feel is important to their character. But there would be no way I would had time to do a full written last session recap like you did. :)
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Crit Happens!
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.
I'm preparing to run Princes of the Apocalypse and will have a rough outline prepared. I always bullet point notes when I'm running of what has happened. I encourage my players to take notes of what they feel is important to their character. But there would be no way I would had time to do a full written last session recap like you did. :)
I'd recommend NOT running the "who dunnit" inn theft sidequest in PotA. I did it when I ran PotA because my players all like murder mystery parties and escape rooms, but it was TERRIBLE. There was a whole lot of standing around and rolling dice without any actual RP and they totally didn't care about this quest.
Now, that might have been my fault for not doing something correctly, or their fault for just not being into it at the time, or some combination of the two, but it didn't really provide anything for anyone in my group.
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
I'm usually the note taker in games. (Example: In a Call of Cthulhu game another player asked "Did you make a German logistics officer so you could role-play your love of spreadsheets?!")
One thing a DM did was use Inspiration points to incentivize players doing the notes. It will help lower your cognitive load as a GM, and if they miss something important you can add to it.
Generally we do it via email and the first player to post, gets the point.
One thing I enjoy implementing into the complete D&D experience is session notes. These session notes provide a summary of a particular session and are provided to all involved. They may or may not contain the following information:
Here is an example: Session 01 - The Dancing Aspen - 02-02-17.pdf
I do not focus too much on grammatical errors or continuity. The end goal is to provide all involved in the campaign material to review, and in the far future, relive the past.
Is this a common practice among other DM's?
depending upon how long between my session, i typically dont supply this to the players. I encourage them to discuss things amongst themselves about what happened and have them free to ask me questions about specific things as to what happened for 5 minutes before the session starts. If they miss important material I remind them of it. Something minor I do not. I encourage them to take notes, like a player diary of what their character knows.
Personally, I record things that happen so i know but i prefer not to remind the players of them and encourage them to interact with each other more rather than rely upon me.
that is one hell of a lot of work to do man. I applaud your effort but there is no way I have time to prepare a weekly game sufficently and to do all of that. I think I would be open to providing an incentive to a player to do that each week...maybe inspiration or some other in game reward though.
"I was led to believe there would be punch and pie?"
I've found that sometimes the players experience a MUCH different game than I do. So me jotting down what I think happened is often NOT what the PCs think happened.
Like, maybe they focus on something that is so mundane that I didn't even realize I mentioned it, but they thought was important. There's also sometimes when I think I've made my point about something important crystal clear when I realize that they had no clue that what I said was relevant at all. Sometimes that's ok, but other times it's absolutely story-breaking (like missing an episode of a show you've been watching and trying to resume with the next episode instead of watching that one - sure you can keep up a bit, but then some critical detail happens and you are confused as all Nine Hells).
So, that's why I have started recruiting a random PC to keep track of this stuff and post a "Last time on..." thread on the Roll20 forums for our game; though neither they nor I have EVER been anywhere near as in depth as your example. Do you record your sessions and then type out the recordings or did you write that all down? It seems like a lot of excess work for non-crucial details (unless you are planning on turning it into an actual story somewhere down the line).
Click Here to Download my Lancer Class w/ Dragoon and Legionnaire Archetypes via DM's Guild - Pay What You Want
Click Here to Download the Mind Flayer: Thoon Hulk converted from 4e via DM's Guild
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
sloporion's advice is pretty great. You might also see if a player enjoys doing that for the campaign. Some of us are frustrated writers and are happy for any opportunity to hone skills, and it's sometimes hard for the DM to juggle everything else going on and still remember to record it all.
I was also floored by the detail. Was like an outline for a novel or with the music a video game story board
"I was led to believe there would be punch and pie?"
I rarely go into such details with session notes, and don't hand them out unless there is a player who missed the session for whatever reason.
My own notes are are a mismatch of bullet-points, quotes, and the specific names of people and places I generate on the spot. That said, my sessions are usually between five and eight hours long, so my notes are rather hectic.
I never thought of rewarding a player for doing the session notes, that could be an option.
You make an excellent point. We are a young group with a lot of growing to do...there is a lot left to be seen.
This is my first time as a D&D DM, I only have 3 session under my belt at this point. 6 of my 7 PCs are new to D&D. We are a very green group. We are the same group that has been playing structured games over the years. Structured in the sense that the story/lore/world/characters are already written, we are simply pawns moving through the pre-generated content. From the 3 sessions we have played, I have gathered that some of my player's absolutely love the session notes, they love reading about their character. Some of the players seem indifferent, they are more in the camp of only thinking about D&D when they are sitting at the table.
D&D provides us the chance to write our own story, develop our own world, as a collective group. That gets me excited! The particular campaign I have in mind has an overall arc, a skeleton template if you will. The rest...well, that is what my PCs are for! There is potential for the overall arc to even be thrown to the wind. As the DM, I am providing the blank canvas and paints, we paint the story as a group.
The session notes are a lot of work...but I do enjoy the process of writing them up. The notes are an outline to what I hope becomes an amazing story, perhaps a novel, or comic, or animation... :). I took notes on paper for the first 2 sessions, by the 3rd session, I setup an audio recording. I have an active glossary that I am always adding to (a DM version, and a PC version), another method for providing reference material for my group. I am also looking forward to creating a chronological timeline of events...with major milestones, as well as fun memories the group partook in.
I am a sucker for the full experience! At the gaming table...I like setting the lighting, providing distinct smells, the woodwick candle providing real wood crackling sounds, immersive music and ambient sounds that follow in-game content, etc. I love this stuff! I do not personally know any other DMs, so this would be considered the first time I have communicated this to fellow DMs.
I will say, my overall goal of the DM is to give the players an experience that they will enjoy, remember, and be talking about years from now...and to have a ton of fun while they are doing it.
Session notes have come in handy for my group a few times. At the end of every session, our DM would post a small, usually bullet pointed summary of key campaign points, decisions, encounters, and combats (and sometimes even point out some players' amazing nat20s and nat1s) in our WhatsApp group chat. That way, we and even the absent players can check what happened in our session anytime between sessions. Us players also sometimes input what we took from the sessions and shared some points we thought were important.
But as sloporion correctly stated, everyone experiences the game differently from each other and the DM, and I think my Dm is aware of that, any therefore keeps recaps and notes as vague as can be, and I think I'll be doing the same!
Holly crap Skyrunner! That's quite a task to do after every session. The DM in our 5e campaign does recap our last session before we start. We all take our own notes during the session. We do have a group "loot crate" page posted of all the coins/loot that the group has in the bag of holding and a posting of all the major/important NPC character names we've meet. But that's about it.
I'm preparing to run Princes of the Apocalypse and will have a rough outline prepared. I always bullet point notes when I'm running of what has happened. I encourage my players to take notes of what they feel is important to their character. But there would be no way I would had time to do a full written last session recap like you did. :)
Crit Happens!
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.
Now, that might have been my fault for not doing something correctly, or their fault for just not being into it at the time, or some combination of the two, but it didn't really provide anything for anyone in my group.
Click Here to Download my Lancer Class w/ Dragoon and Legionnaire Archetypes via DM's Guild - Pay What You Want
Click Here to Download the Mind Flayer: Thoon Hulk converted from 4e via DM's Guild
“It is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment.” ― Oramis, Eldest by Christopher Paolini.
@Skyrunner, that's amazing.
I'm usually the note taker in games. (Example: In a Call of Cthulhu game another player asked "Did you make a German logistics officer so you could role-play your love of spreadsheets?!")
One thing a DM did was use Inspiration points to incentivize players doing the notes. It will help lower your cognitive load as a GM, and if they miss something important you can add to it.
Generally we do it via email and the first player to post, gets the point.