Session History and Planning?

[taxboy]

What is the best way to record session histories / planning for next sessions please?

I have set up a view for the NPcs and I would use this for session notes and planning upcoming sessions, but which types of categories is recommended please?

[MNBlockHead]

There are a number of ways to do this. I'll just share some approaches I've tried and which I've found helpful and others that I don't bother with any more.

First, Realmworks has a session manager functionality built in. But I've never found it useful. If you remember to click Begin Game Session at the start of your session and click again to end it, it will record the IRL start and end date and times for the game session and you can enter the in-game dates. If you forget to do this, or want to edit previously created session records, you can do so by going to the Manage tab and clicking on the Realm button in the Realm Settings group. Then click on the Game Sessions button under Realm Aspects.

I've basically stopped using this feature. The session notes are plain text, displayed poorly, are located inconveniently within the program's interface, and do not have any linking features, which is the killer feature of RealmWorks.

What I do is create custom event topics. I have two types: Downtime Activity and Session Notes.

My downtime activity custom topic template is pretty complicated as it is a form to record my mix of official and homebrew downtime activity rules.

My Session Notes are very simple. Just one big snippit that I type notes into after a game it contains information on what happened during the game and ideas/reminders for the next session. I review it before the next game.

I've thought of structuring it but find that keeping it free form makes it more likely that I'll use it and I rely on RealmWorks's autolinking to autostructure it.

Another thing I do is add an "In-Game Dates" snippit to location and scene topics. I'll also record important events as Incident topics. That way a history of the party's explorations and activities is created in the Timeline.

The reveal history is another way of showing the party's activities on the timeline.

[Valyar]

I am using OneNote and SimpleMind Pro for mind mapping.

My way to doing preparation does not involve extensive writing and RW is just in the way. RW is used as reference only for rules and game content (as I am running a lot of published adventures)

[Farling]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

First, Realmworks has a session manager functionality built in. But I've never found it useful. If you remember to click Begin Game Session at the start of your session and click again to end it, it will record the IRL start and end date and times for the game session and you can enter the in-game dates.

I use this method.
You can add to the notes for the session as the session continues.

[kbs666]

Originally Posted by Farling

I use this method.
You can add to the notes for the session as the session continues.

I found this to be really clunky.

What I do is keep a plain text document open, I use notepad, and just add notes as things come up. After the session I add snippets to topics or add new topics as needed.

[taxboy]

Originally Posted by kbs666

I found this to be really clunky.

What I do is keep a plain text document open, I use notepad, and just add notes as things come up. After the session I add snippets to topics or add new topics as needed.

Cheers - this is what i do at the moment - use a Word doc to capture "live" but then I am thinking about putting in the summary and prep with Realm works.

In the past, I have found the real magic of RW only really comes into play when you build a heap of content, planning and history and the linking / referencing really kicks in, reminds you of past stuff.

[taxboy]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

There are a number of ways to do this. I'll just share some approaches I've tried and which I've found helpful and others that I don't bother with any more.

First, Realmworks has a session manager functionality built in. But I've never found it useful. If you remember to click Begin Game Session at the start of your session and click again to end it, it will record the IRL start and end date and times for the game session and you can enter the in-game dates. If you forget to do this, or want to edit previously created session records, you can do so by going to the Manage tab and clicking on the Realm button in the Realm Settings group. Then click on the Game Sessions button under Realm Aspects.

I've basically stopped using this feature. The session notes are plain text, displayed poorly, are located inconveniently within the program's interface, and do not have any linking features, which is the killer feature of RealmWorks.

What I do is create custom event topics. I have two types: Downtime Activity and Session Notes.

My downtime activity custom topic template is pretty complicated as it is a form to record my mix of official and homebrew downtime activity rules.

My Session Notes are very simple. Just one big snippit that I type notes into after a game it contains information on what happened during the game and ideas/reminders for the next session. I review it before the next game.

I've thought of structuring it but find that keeping it free form makes it more likely that I'll use it and I rely on RealmWorks's autolinking to autostructure it.

Another thing I do is add an "In-Game Dates" snippit to location and scene topics. I'll also record important events as Incident topics. That way a history of the party's explorations and activities is created in the Timeline.

The reveal history is another way of showing the party's activities on the timeline.

Cheers for all this.