The Eight Notes all DMs Must Take in D&D

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Just reviewed my notes from last session... "Keybone". Just that one word. From a 4 hour session. Thanks, me.

Never met a DM that couldn't give a better recap than players.

On our first session the DM just said "I'm not keeping a diary for you, choose someone to do it". And that's how I became the official "lore guardian" of our group.

3:30 #1 calendar notes 4:45 #2 session journal 6:35 #3 session planning notes 8:35 #4 Future Plot Points 11:10 #5 level tracking 12:05 #6 a to do list 12:40 #7 downtime activities 13:40 #8 game world notes

Not gonna lie I didn't realize how much I was lacking at my note taking for my games

To Do List : prepare a To-Do List. A real useful video !

Note taking: -track dates, times, major events, future and past events, effects and spells, long rests -sessions journal -bullet points/goals for the new session -future possible plot points -level tracking and when they gained it -to do list -downtime activities that have already happened -game world notes like nps, places etc. and changes the players made to the gam world.

I'm am really bad at taking notes. Up until now it hasn't been a problem, because I still remember everything important from this year's sessions, but if they ever get back in a town they were in before and want to meet a specific character, then I am fucked.

I've asked my players if they mind if I record our online sessions... this is the only way I'll remember what happened :P Bonus for them though: short story videos with the highlight of the session. Smol the Kobold was an NPC who lost himself to the darkness, so I created a commemorative short video. They loved it!

Hi Luke, I am writing to thank you for this and the many other D&D videos you have hosted. I am an autistic DM. The autism brings its own challenges before I even start to look at the challenges of rejigging a pre written campaign or the challenges from players. Your videos often crystallise my thoughts on how to move forward on issues or how to resolve them. No small number of them have brought up issues before they have occurred at the table. Only to have them occur the very next week / session. Thank you! Your videos make it easier for me to process the inoformation quicker, than it would for me to sit down and read the books from scratch. In short although I have not taken all of your advice, you have made me a significantly better DM. Due to my autism I am unemployed/unemployable. I would love to contribute financially to you as you have be been the most most helpful channel out there of all the videos I watch. Thank you so very much.

Bonus 9 from my own experience. Write down the pcs assumptions about things whether it's right or wrong. Could be used as fuel for something else later down the line.

They're excited for old man commoner as a DM now. But wait until they find out he only runs original brown book D&D.

Specific calendar notes is a good idea. I'm finding that it's tricky to even keep track of how much my party owes the innkeeper. Tracking something as mundane as expenses day to day would help.

The check boxes and your overall notes are so nice and clean.

Because I'm an improvisation DM, and my players tend to perceive things differently, I task my players with different aspects of note taking. One player is the Treasurer, and one is the Lore Keeper. When we begin the next session, I always open with my statement. "Behold my heroes and the tales they tell! Who would like to recount the events of the last session?" Between the Lore Keeper and other players (because some take everything as a competition, including note taking), I not only get a grasp of what hooks they took up, and how they perceived what I said or what happened. It's not only a great way to measure engagement, but a way to help remind me. Otherwise my notes are a series of post-its and scraps of paper with names, monsters, concepts and such that I eventually scribble into a log. Besides, I have a pile of resources that I have written for Nerdarchy that I can draw upon (Out of the Box Encounters) as well as a full unpublished tome, a stack of homebrew monsters, magic items and spells. This gives me the freedom to improv and let my players handle the bulk of the note taking. I might change my plots and concepts to reflect better ideas created (unknowingly) by the players. I also track time loosely. For example, unless it's a spell duration, events happen "around this time", "sometime later that evening", or are triggered by a choice the players make or location that the characters arrive at. Sure, it's a little gamist, but my players seem to like it.

DM: Let's play D&D Also DM: Pulls out HeroQuest gm screen.

this was actually very thorough, I always had problem categorizing my notes, thanks

I am very glad I watched this video, your note taking is very methodic. I normally have no problem recalling what happened in each session and remember events from even the very first sessions of a now 2 years long campaign but I sometimes forget descriptive details - so I used to simply keep a document with descriptions and status grouped by location or subject (what things, places and people are rather than what happened). This way is so much more organized, thank you, I'm sure some of my friends will love this.

As a beginner DM, this video is very helpful, thank you!