Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #45:

7 Tips For Fast & Effective Note-Taking

While Game Mastering, Part I

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SENT BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY With Compliments
From: Johnn Four, http://www.roleplayingtips.com
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CONTENTS:
--> A Brief Word From Johnn

--> This Week's Tips Summarized

1. Don't Record Everything -- Just The Important Stuff
2. Use Abbreviations
3. Use Character Initials
4. Record All Combat Details
5. Write Down Your Thoughts as Soon as You Get Them
6. Use the Style That Suits You
7. Use Lots of White Space & Neatness Doesn't Count

--> Readers' Tips Of The Week: Winging-it & Body Language

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A BRIEF WORD FROM JOHNN

This week we address another piece of the winging-

it/freestyle puzzle: taking good notes during games. Notes
are an excellent tool for keeping track of your campaign --
probably the best tool because memory can be fickle over
time.

Taking notes while GMing at the same time has been a huge
challenge for me. During my last campaign, using Rolemaster,
I actually did a fairly decent job of keeping up with note
taking in-game. This week and next I'm passing on a few of
the tricks I learned.

Cheers,

Johnn
mailto:johnn@roleplayingtips.com

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7 TIPS FOR FAST & EFFECTIVE NOTE-TAKING
WHILE GAME MASTERING, PART I

1. Don't Record Everything -- Just The Important Stuff

------------------------------------------------------
The goal of note-taking is to record whatever important
information that occurs in the game session that isn't
already documented.

Don't try to write down everything, just the important

stuff:
* Names, dates, distances, other similar facts
* Good ideas you or the players come up with, for
future use
* Great character/player quotes
* The course of events that take place during the
session
* Heroic or important PC deeds and actions
* Results of scenes, encounters, parleys & battles

2. Use Abbreviations
--------------------
Use abbreviations while writing because they will let you
take notes faster--especially for the game system stuff,
statistics and common words that you use.

Here's are few of my shorthand abbreviations:

w/ = with
att = attack, attacker
def = defend, defender
tw/ = talk with, speak to, parley
dif = difficult, difficulty level
s/a = smart ass :)
KO = knockout, to win a contest of some kind

I also use different pen scribbles to represent "the", "at"

and words that end in "ing" and "tion".

When GMing Rolemaster recently, for game system info, I used

"DB" for defensive bonus and "OB" for offensive bonus. For
my upcoming D&D campaign I'll be using "HP" for hit points,
"TH" for to hit rolls and results, and "DAM" for damage,
among others. Look at your own game rules and make
abbreviations for the common terms you use.

3. Use Character Initials

-------------------------
A great time saver is using initials for character names.
That trick came in really handy when I was recording combat.
Every round I'd write each character's initials on a
separate line. I'd put their initiative scores in the left
margin, their intended actions to the right of their
initials and the actual results after that:

"9... D.H. ...sneak attack thief #2; hit for 23DAM & thief
TKO'd 2 rnds"

4. Record All Combat Details

----------------------------
I found recording all the combat details round by round to
be more than worth the effort. I was able to handle combat a
lot faster, believe it or not, because I had all the
important information right in front of me to reference.

It made a huge difference, for example, writing down all the

characters' names (just their initials actually, see Tip #3
above), their initiative scores and their intended actions
for the round.

When each player's turn came along (which I determined by

quickly glancing at my notes), I got their attention and
either explained how their action turned out in detail
(because I already had their intended actions written down
and had time to think about it) or I had them make some dice
rolls, then did some calculations and then gave a detailed
explanation of results.

That sure beats the way I used to do it, which was to ask
the whole group "who's turn is it?", then wait until that
got sorted out, and then ask each player "ok, what are you
doing now?" when their turn came up and then wait for them
to decide. Whew!

Also, the day after each session, I was able to go back and
write a very detailed campaign log with specific references
and details of all the combat highlights.

5. Write Down Your thoughts as Soon as You Get Them

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You're doing so many things at once when game mastering
that, when you get a good idea, if you don't write it down
it will probably get forgotten.

However, writing ideas down in-game as I thought of them used

to be a hassle because I wanted to keep them separate from
my session notes and combat logs, but didn't want to use
page margins or separate pages.

The solution, I found quite by accident, is to use brackets:

"[ ]". As soon as I get an idea now, I write it down right
in the middle of my notes and put brackets around it to make
it different than the surrounding notes. After the session,
I can do an fast scan of the session & combat logs and I can
easily spot the ideas.

I've also started using "[ ]" to write DM-only information

in my notes. The brackets let me know not to tell the
players that info by accident (i.e. [goblin flees
successfully to tribe] ), and to not include that info in
the campaign journal which I send to my players.

6. Use the Style That Suits You

-------------------------------
I write my game notes in a very linear fashion with lots of
indents:

1. Main idea 1
- detail 1
- detail 2
- further detail 2.1

2. Main idea 2
- etc.
You might prefer spider style or mind-map style in which you
write down a point in the middle of the page and write
related notes nearby with circles and lines joining threads
together. Here's a couple of links for more information
about these styles:
http://world.std.com/~emagic/mindmap.html
http://www.mindmapper.com/whats-mindmapping.htm
http://www.inkspot.com/feature/bartlett.html

Or, you might prefer the speedwriting style:

http://www.speedwriting.co.uk/sample.htm

Pick a style which doesn't cause you to hesitate while

taking game notes and which you can read and understand
afterwards.

7. Use Lots of White Space & Neatness Doesn't Count

---------------------------------------------------
Paper is cheap. I'd rather have 3 pages of spread-out notes
than 2 pages of tightly-packed notes. Leave lots of space in
the left and right margins. And, if you like to write out
your notes versus mind-mapping them, double space each note.

Not only does the extra white space on your page help you
scan your notes faster, but it also allows you a lot of room
to add comments, note additions, and forgotten items later
on.

Yet another tip on note-taking is that you don't have to be

neat. Just be legible enough so you can read your notes
later.

Stay tuned for part II, with more note-taking tips, next
week...
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READERS' TIPS OF THE WEEK: Winging-it & Body Language

From: Sylvain Robert

Hi Johnn

I usually throw a lot of unrelated information/hints/tips to

the players during play. And every once in a while, when my
players examine the various data, they end up creating new
imaginary links between that information. I cannot say how
much this proves helpful for me to expand the story in
directions where the players think they (cleverly)
understood, while at the same time they don't even know that
they are creating some important part of the campaign
themselves.

The simple fact that they have "discovered" important

secrets in the past has pushed them forward to try to
understand the hidden secrets of my campaign by
investigating seemingly "new, unrelated" information. And
since players have a fertile imagination, my jobs becomes
easier as time goes on.

From: Richard

This is just a brief word on Body Language. I know it sounds

like a seventies advertising phrase but I find that a DM can
create effects through the subtle use of basic body
language, especially when he starts to get excited.

For example, if an NPC is supposed to be shifting control

from the PCs to himself in a relaxed environment (eg. pub
negotiations) leaning back slightly or putting one foot onto
his knee conveys this easily.

Avoiding eye contact or hiding his hands or part of his

mouth is a great way to simulate lying or nerves. A finger
at the side of the face can be scepticism. There are many
really simple tricks such as these.

The best part is playing other races. Who says that they
have the same body language as us. This is a great way to
bring out the almost natural enmity and such between strange
creatures. For example, a creature tells the truth but uses
the body language for lying. The PCs outwardly or inwardly
assume he is lying and it costs them when they discover they
have been tricked by the race. If they go back for revenge
the damage to their reputation could be enormous... After
all, the creature didn't lie.

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That's it for this week's issue.

Have more fun at every game!

Johnn Four
mailto:johnn@roleplayingtips.com

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