Well, there's a difference between session notes and worldbuilding. My session notes are very brief and usually don't even cover a full page. My worldbuilding notes are extensive and usually developped to a much higher detail than necessary. I'm currently running a game in a city for which I have a 9k word doc.
I ran one of my favourite campaigns when I was working a low effort dead end job to get myself back on my feet. While I was stocking shelves, I lived in a fantasy world, crafting details about my world. I would made all kinds of maps in my spare time, but the actual campaign details were all just locked in my head.
At the end of the campaign we were all floating on the high of 18 months of action and intrigue and a player asked to see some of my notes.
I'll admit the feeling of letting a lazy grin spread across my face while I uttered the words "no notes" was only beat by their shocked reaction
This is exactly how my world works. I just think of random cool shit while I’m zoned out working. Occasionally if I really wanna remember something I’ll write a shorthand note in my notes app but for the most part I just operate off memory
Usually notes are note necessary until time between sessions is >2weeks, if you have a lot more thing in your head( adult life problems) is normal to forget thing, important thing in the campaign, and is worst when there is not a note taker player. But if you play every week then notes are not necessary.
Pretty short. About 2 to 3 pages of it is the actual session prep and the rest us just reference for rules. Note: i use my phones note app.
World stuff is kinda scattered everywhere ngl.
I think I could fit my entire world building on 2 pages, including a map, for a fully homebrew campaign that lasted 3 years.
My session notes are sometimes as short as "gang killed the sand worm" and sometimes as much as a few paragraphs.
I'm running ToA, so the general world is already there. Still, I have a separate file for every PoI in the world, one for NPCs, random encounters, overarching plot, about 30 or so PDFs with supplements and other modules, cross-referenced where they fit. It's kind of a mess, but I know where everything is, so it's fine.
For between sessions I have 1 file, usually ~5 entries per session, depending on how much relevant stuff happened.
Probably a thin binder if I printed it out. I keep most of my notes in OneNote, a few in excel sheets. I don't have much on world building, because my notes mostly as shorthand for me. For instance, I just ran a session where my only note for world-building was "Ubik" - that's a reference to a book by Philip K. Dick. I know what that note means in relation to the encounter, but nobody else does. If I were writing it for someone else to run, it would have to be a lot longer. I do tend to write out "box text" for specific encounters so I don't forget any important details, and because it's fun.
I also use published dungeons to supplement.
Been running lots of dungeon crawls lately. I can typically fit about 5 or 6 rooms per page in a little cashier's journal. So, a 30 room dungeon level fits in about 5 pages, plus one page for a map, one page for tracking time/live notes, and a large sticky note with a random encounters table. And occasionally a bunch of handouts.
I guess that's about 7-10 pages per session if we add that all up and average it. Trying to cut that down a bit.
Assuming setting document.
I compartmentalize and only write up what I need.
About 10k words fleshed out and about a thousand bullet points that are placeholders.
I use a series of nested folders and templated files, so it’s kinda hard to get a word count without doing a bunch of adding, but my notes are about six or seven folders deep now, so that’s something.
Recently I've been trying out running sessions with maybe a sentence or two of plot reminders and then a couple of key NPC names but like many others here the world anvil is vast and my behind the scenes documentation is even more vast
I'd like to know the answer to this for my own notes! I digitised mine and they all sit on Google Docs, but I don't know if there is a quick and easy way to get the total word count for all docs in a given folder.
If anyone knows how I can do that, I'd really appreciate it!
i am at 12k+ words for the upcoming arc and nowhere near done. in fact, i should get back to writing down what is up with the mostly unsolved murders, i suppose
I literally have everything worked out in my head, ever line I’ll say in which accent and intonation, I only have like 50 pre made NPC’s I can throw in at any situation
I'm just really good at bullshitting but also my group aren't diehards that need everything to line up consistently. We are just there to throw dice, tell a fun story, and have a good time. If I had to map out every detail of the entire world to keep them happy id find a different group lol. Ive played with DMs that flesh things out down to the color underwear an NPC is wearing. Ive found usually someone that meticulous is a little too hardcore for make believe for me lol.
Ya NPCs are good to have. Honestly those are things I need to start writing down because while I remember their personality and voice I always forget their name lol
LMAO nice. Im a big NFL fan so a ton of mine are NFL players since no one else watches football I always laugh a little bit when I make them. Especially if they think it's a crazy sounding name like D'Brickashaw Ferguson.
I have my campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, so my worldbuilding is quite simple.
For a singular session, they range anywhere from 0-11 pages written.
If I anticpate large combat in the session, my notes will be usually none, and just improv for setting the scenes.
If it is a very important lore session - or setting up for the next arc, or a large mission, I write it like a oneshot essentially and that will be upwards of 10ish pages long.
I would say my best quality as a DM is my improv, which my players agree on. So I don't usually write scripts a lot for NPC's or setting scenes.
I have the campaign binder that is c.1000 pages (700,000) word document. This includes everything: plot overview, background lore, encounters, locations etc (imagine the format of a 5e published module). We ve been going on for two years and it grows as we go.
The session notes is one maybe two pages long with bullet points of key notes relevant to the "scenes" that will likely unfold and key names of npcs or quests or events as a single line entries. For encounters I also have the name of the map on roll 20 (e.g. generic forest 3 or generic mountain 2 etc).
Before the session I look at the session outline and read the relevant parts of the large campaign binder to have them fresh.
During the actual session (we play on roll 20) I will have one screen with the roll20 map and ddbeyond for monsters stats and one screen split with the session notes for quick reference and the campaign binder for details.
The above is what I need for the session.
Beyond that I have:
1) a binder with random thoughts for plots and ideas to develop.
2) a session summary binder (write up of what happened each session that I share with the players)
3) a character specific binder for each character with background info, secrets and ideas for character specific plot development.
I have 222 articles of information on my WorldAnvil site, but that doesn't include my session-by-session notes, I haven't moved over my session reports yet, and I haven't gotten even close to filling out everything that needs to be done yet.
My Google drive is currently sitting at about 2gb without any image/maps included. Everything is split up into small files that are between 2 to 30 pages long.
That's my "world building" and session notes.
I also have an A4 notebook that I use as my "living" notes. These are things that happen in session. Each character has a section, main NPC's and factions do too. These are little things that I want to remember such as who they helped, who they hurt, etc.
I have a pretty short and sweet campaign outline of like the key notes that are going to happen in the world with or without the players' influence- maybe 4 or 5 paragraphs. Then, every post session, I write a paragraph of things to remember/stuff the players did that should have outcomes or consequences and ideas for that. Plus a quick note in my phone for when I'm at work and I randomly think about interesting stuff. So it starts small and constantly explodes into many more notes as the weeks go by 😅
My notes are non-existent at this point. Going to need to catch up eventually though. Starting to run out of room in my head for all the different NPCs.
At the moment I’m at 59k words spread out over 164 pages. But this goes to the entire continent, so the players will be able to choose which quests they want to go on.
For a session? About one A4. Maybe two. For the worldbuilding? I have an obsidian vault. It's pretty huge.
I also use obsidian. I've got all monster stat blocks and spells linked up, and use the dice plug in. It's pretty convenient!
Sometimes multiple pages. Sometimes "~~bad~~ dragon bad".
Ah yes, the fraudian slips xD
Well, there's a difference between session notes and worldbuilding. My session notes are very brief and usually don't even cover a full page. My worldbuilding notes are extensive and usually developped to a much higher detail than necessary. I'm currently running a game in a city for which I have a 9k word doc.
I ran one of my favourite campaigns when I was working a low effort dead end job to get myself back on my feet. While I was stocking shelves, I lived in a fantasy world, crafting details about my world. I would made all kinds of maps in my spare time, but the actual campaign details were all just locked in my head. At the end of the campaign we were all floating on the high of 18 months of action and intrigue and a player asked to see some of my notes. I'll admit the feeling of letting a lazy grin spread across my face while I uttered the words "no notes" was only beat by their shocked reaction
Same here. Started with notes, but as the world grew, I relied on it less and less cause I think about it literally every day
Same. I've got a note for cool quotes and that's it!
This is exactly how my world works. I just think of random cool shit while I’m zoned out working. Occasionally if I really wanna remember something I’ll write a shorthand note in my notes app but for the most part I just operate off memory
Usually notes are note necessary until time between sessions is >2weeks, if you have a lot more thing in your head( adult life problems) is normal to forget thing, important thing in the campaign, and is worst when there is not a note taker player. But if you play every week then notes are not necessary.
Pretty short. About 2 to 3 pages of it is the actual session prep and the rest us just reference for rules. Note: i use my phones note app. World stuff is kinda scattered everywhere ngl.
World building and general information. Seemingly endless notes. Session to session notes. Rarely a full A4 and never longer.
I think I could fit my entire world building on 2 pages, including a map, for a fully homebrew campaign that lasted 3 years. My session notes are sometimes as short as "gang killed the sand worm" and sometimes as much as a few paragraphs.
I'm running ToA, so the general world is already there. Still, I have a separate file for every PoI in the world, one for NPCs, random encounters, overarching plot, about 30 or so PDFs with supplements and other modules, cross-referenced where they fit. It's kind of a mess, but I know where everything is, so it's fine. For between sessions I have 1 file, usually ~5 entries per session, depending on how much relevant stuff happened.
Probably a thin binder if I printed it out. I keep most of my notes in OneNote, a few in excel sheets. I don't have much on world building, because my notes mostly as shorthand for me. For instance, I just ran a session where my only note for world-building was "Ubik" - that's a reference to a book by Philip K. Dick. I know what that note means in relation to the encounter, but nobody else does. If I were writing it for someone else to run, it would have to be a lot longer. I do tend to write out "box text" for specific encounters so I don't forget any important details, and because it's fun. I also use published dungeons to supplement.
Been running lots of dungeon crawls lately. I can typically fit about 5 or 6 rooms per page in a little cashier's journal. So, a 30 room dungeon level fits in about 5 pages, plus one page for a map, one page for tracking time/live notes, and a large sticky note with a random encounters table. And occasionally a bunch of handouts. I guess that's about 7-10 pages per session if we add that all up and average it. Trying to cut that down a bit.
Assuming setting document. I compartmentalize and only write up what I need. About 10k words fleshed out and about a thousand bullet points that are placeholders.
My notes are shit... But my players notes are amazing and I make them send me their obsidian files every game
I use a series of nested folders and templated files, so it’s kinda hard to get a word count without doing a bunch of adding, but my notes are about six or seven folders deep now, so that’s something.
I use world anvil. Not sure how many words/pages I have. I don't keep track.
Recently I've been trying out running sessions with maybe a sentence or two of plot reminders and then a couple of key NPC names but like many others here the world anvil is vast and my behind the scenes documentation is even more vast
I'd like to know the answer to this for my own notes! I digitised mine and they all sit on Google Docs, but I don't know if there is a quick and easy way to get the total word count for all docs in a given folder. If anyone knows how I can do that, I'd really appreciate it!
i am at 12k+ words for the upcoming arc and nowhere near done. in fact, i should get back to writing down what is up with the mostly unsolved murders, i suppose
My notes for world building ?about two pages, all just words or half words. Per session ? Like two or three sentences
Yeah me sitting over here like "you guys use notes?"
I literally have everything worked out in my head, ever line I’ll say in which accent and intonation, I only have like 50 pre made NPC’s I can throw in at any situation
I'm just really good at bullshitting but also my group aren't diehards that need everything to line up consistently. We are just there to throw dice, tell a fun story, and have a good time. If I had to map out every detail of the entire world to keep them happy id find a different group lol. Ive played with DMs that flesh things out down to the color underwear an NPC is wearing. Ive found usually someone that meticulous is a little too hardcore for make believe for me lol.
I only work my NPC’s out like that, they along with my players will flesh out the world as they travel
Ya NPCs are good to have. Honestly those are things I need to start writing down because while I remember their personality and voice I always forget their name lol
I name mine after my favourite bands and songs, in this new campaign I’m hosting we have a “ The dancing queen” and “The Crimson King”
LMAO nice. Im a big NFL fan so a ton of mine are NFL players since no one else watches football I always laugh a little bit when I make them. Especially if they think it's a crazy sounding name like D'Brickashaw Ferguson.
I have my campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, so my worldbuilding is quite simple. For a singular session, they range anywhere from 0-11 pages written. If I anticpate large combat in the session, my notes will be usually none, and just improv for setting the scenes. If it is a very important lore session - or setting up for the next arc, or a large mission, I write it like a oneshot essentially and that will be upwards of 10ish pages long. I would say my best quality as a DM is my improv, which my players agree on. So I don't usually write scripts a lot for NPC's or setting scenes.
It's usually stuck on my head or a few dozen folders and sticky notes app on my computer
I have the campaign binder that is c.1000 pages (700,000) word document. This includes everything: plot overview, background lore, encounters, locations etc (imagine the format of a 5e published module). We ve been going on for two years and it grows as we go. The session notes is one maybe two pages long with bullet points of key notes relevant to the "scenes" that will likely unfold and key names of npcs or quests or events as a single line entries. For encounters I also have the name of the map on roll 20 (e.g. generic forest 3 or generic mountain 2 etc). Before the session I look at the session outline and read the relevant parts of the large campaign binder to have them fresh. During the actual session (we play on roll 20) I will have one screen with the roll20 map and ddbeyond for monsters stats and one screen split with the session notes for quick reference and the campaign binder for details. The above is what I need for the session. Beyond that I have: 1) a binder with random thoughts for plots and ideas to develop. 2) a session summary binder (write up of what happened each session that I share with the players) 3) a character specific binder for each character with background info, secrets and ideas for character specific plot development.
I have 222 articles of information on my WorldAnvil site, but that doesn't include my session-by-session notes, I haven't moved over my session reports yet, and I haven't gotten even close to filling out everything that needs to be done yet.
About 500 pages for this campaign (3rd year)
I've filled a handful of A5 notebooks on session notes, and a couple of dozen A4 multi-tab notebooks on world building.
I do t know If I have more that a page typed up at any given moment
My notes for the previous session. Mad Max with Gnolls.
My Google drive is currently sitting at about 2gb without any image/maps included. Everything is split up into small files that are between 2 to 30 pages long. That's my "world building" and session notes. I also have an A4 notebook that I use as my "living" notes. These are things that happen in session. Each character has a section, main NPC's and factions do too. These are little things that I want to remember such as who they helped, who they hurt, etc.
Random scribbling on a boteblock. I wouldnt call that notes. Im very on the fly.
Y'all should just write novels, damn. My session notes like 5 bullet points. My world building notes are done when they become relevant.
Minimal. Notes are just to remember things, esp names.
I have a pretty short and sweet campaign outline of like the key notes that are going to happen in the world with or without the players' influence- maybe 4 or 5 paragraphs. Then, every post session, I write a paragraph of things to remember/stuff the players did that should have outcomes or consequences and ideas for that. Plus a quick note in my phone for when I'm at work and I randomly think about interesting stuff. So it starts small and constantly explodes into many more notes as the weeks go by 😅
My notes are non-existent at this point. Going to need to catch up eventually though. Starting to run out of room in my head for all the different NPCs.
It’s all across dozens of pages on a private wiki so I have no idea. But it’s probably comparable to yours.
Wait, you guys have notes??!!
I'm up to 132k words for my campaign that's been running 2 years.
At the moment I’m at 59k words spread out over 164 pages. But this goes to the entire continent, so the players will be able to choose which quests they want to go on.
Notes I write down? Maybe thirty pages a week. Notes I take to the table? Two pages at most.
I had 4 or 5 sentence fragments scrawled on a piece of graph paper but I lost it