How do you handle the information from play journals?

[Thoran]

Hello everybody,

please excuse if this is answered before, but I did not find any answer when I was using search.

How do you handle the journals of play sessions until the functionality is officially implemented? I am currently creating a game world that has quite a history created in play sessions and I wonder where to best insert this information.

Thanks in advance,
Thoran

[Dark Lord Galen]

Thoran,
is this from a Players Version of Realm Works or the DMs Version? The "handling" could be different, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. More detail on your aspirations for the end goal would be helpful.

Nice SN by the way

[Thoran]

Thank you very much Galen.

I am using the DM version of Realm Works and would like to capture the history of events that is contained in the player journals from the beginning of the running campaign to the current date.

Also my players capture those events from the point of view of the characters and I would not want to lose this information as it gives a deeper insight into the characters. The journals are usually a couple of pages long so I don’t really want to post them into the character of the player who wrote the journal as it will quickly explode the text you can find in a specific character entry.

Cheers,
Thoran

[Kendall-DM]

I'd been using a blog entry system on my website, but once RW came along I thought that process was over. Unfortunately, Journals are still a WIP, so I need to continue with my blog style of updating a play journal (which I haven't done for some time because I was hoping RW would save me).

Some GMs have been using a Category where each snippet is a game session, or something akin to that. You might give that a try, or use notes.

[Pollution]

I was going to say under Story, Put a new category called "Our Adventures" or something. Then list what happened at each session.

[MaxSupernova]

@Pollution, that's what I do.

In EVENTS, I have a STORYLINE topic called "Plot Recap (Group 1)" and I have contained STORYLINE topics under it called "1 - The Beginning", "2 - Repo Man" "3 - The Meeting in the Maelstrom", etc.

Each lower level topic has multiple sections with a brief title and then a text snippet with a brief paragraph describing this stage of the adventure.

When they move to a new location or a new action starts, I'll start a new section and then add a text snippet and put the summary in it.

http://i.imgur.com/wngLBIR.jpg

[Barwickian]

Originally Posted by Pollution

I was going to say under Story, Put a new category called "Our Adventures" or something. Then list what happened at each session.

This is similar to how I handle it.

I've got a page called "The Heroes" which lists basic information about the PCs - a one-line descritpion - and notes who's playing them, then drop into a session-by-session overview of what's happened. The automatic hyperlinkiing takes the players to any extra information they may have uncovered.

[Pollution]

Originally Posted by Barwickian

This is similar to how I handle it.

I've got a page called "The Heroes" which lists basic information about the PCs - a one-line description - and notes who's playing them, then drop into a session-by-session overview of what's happened. The automatic hyperlinkiing takes the players to any extra information they may have uncovered.

I do this too, but for the Heroes section, I actually put in what outsiders know about them.

For example, my group's barbarian is known for winning the wrestling contest at Sandpoint's spring festival, and favors a bastard sword. Rumor has it that she also killed a goblin hero in one swing.

The Group's bard is known to be quite the lady's man, and that his language can become so extreme that his enemies simply burst into flames at the sound of his swearing (his favorite spell).

I do a Rumor table for each character. I add to it as we play. Whenever they deal with a new NPC, I roll Local Knowledge and it affects how they treat the players.

I leave the entire entry revealed, so that my players can see what others know about them. It adds immersion, and makes them feel like they're accomplishing something in the story.

[JustinThomason]

Originally Posted by Pollution

I do this too, but for the Heroes section, I actually put in what outsiders know about them....

That's a great idea, Pollution. I'm not too far into my latest campaign - I think I'm going to steal this idea from you. I'm running Kingmaker from Paizo, so I think that this will be particularly useful and immersive once we get to the point that they are ruling a kingdom.

[Vargr]

@Pollution

I think I will blatantly steal that idea from you :-)