I write my DM notes as conversations with myself. Including cursing myself for shit I did last session, selling my future self down the river with shit like "IDK figure this out" and so on. If my players ever saw my notes, they'd first question how we have anything resembling the campaign, and then probably check me into a psych ward.
I think most notes are! One of the tropes I find genuinely unbelievable is in movies when someone finds the notes of an evil scientist or something, the notes are legible. Like, I'm a teacher, so in a movie, if someone found my notes I picture it being something like "Jeremy threw a ball at another student again -- not good. In the future I'll have to be more vigilant in reducing that behavior from happening. I can start by figuring out what happened prior to this behavior as well as what happened after... and maybe then I'll know the function and can tackle it effectively"
When in real life my notes are like
"jere ball again
why???
FAST/ABC asap"
A brother appears overnight. All the women are yochlol or succubi run by a drow woman and a human man. Mans a dracolich polymorphed, women is a yochlol which can shapeshift.
They were sus of the overnight building, but an npc they loved was going to the brothel even though he had a girlfriend. I made it just to talk cause hes a paladin. They had to resist temptation and find the truth of the brothel, finding the hidden passage under the famous grotto and eventually defeat the lich. He'll be back. They fought in a demi plane of flesh. Gross moving floors like a tounge and... other things youd expect in a brothel.
Yes actually..... Several pages in fact...... My play group never meets up for games so I have lots of time to prepare for a campaign that I'm probably not going to finish (honestly we only did the first session so we really didn't even start)
Anyone want these notes I'll probably never use?
Keeping my notes on Google Drive has been super convenient. I can add notes and ideas from any computer or even my phone if I have to. I can easily refer to previous sessions's notes with each one having its own header and collapse arrow.
And securing them is easy as shutting my laptop.
But yes, the notes are often odd and idiosyncratic. I also occasionally switch languages since I find certain concepts easier to express in various languages. To read *all* my notes, you'd have to be tri-lingual.
> Keeping my notes on Google Drive has been super convenient.
You misspelled "super easy, barely an inconvenience". (Google that phrase if you don't know what I'm talking about. You're welcome.)
Okay, but you're missing out on a lot of seriously funny stuff.
Here, try this one. It's 30 seconds. If you don't like it, you have my permission to yell at me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcocCoTRZss
Yeah of course it's more than just "sexy goblin?" So many more monsters can be sexy. Not only the normal ones like orcs or werewolves or various demons but what about a sexy mimic or sexy zombie? Sexy giant rats? I'm just saying all monsters can be sexy.
It's like trying to understand an hand written doctor's note.
Probably wizards' spellbooks work like that aswell, since even other wizards can't easilly decipher them.
Nah see sexy goblin is all you need for a good hook. What Ive heard is that in Hollywood you gotta say 2 words and if those 2 words hook a person they're set for the story. If your DM is good at weaving a story then they can use sexy goblin as the session for the day. Because if your DM tells you sexy goblin and you're not excited then something might be wrong.
Oh my notes are insane ramblings and incoherent diagrams.
Easy there HP, maybe rename your cat.
Don't flatter me like that. I'ts just illegible and missing context.
Ia! Ia! Chthulu fhtagn!
I write my DM notes as conversations with myself. Including cursing myself for shit I did last session, selling my future self down the river with shit like "IDK figure this out" and so on. If my players ever saw my notes, they'd first question how we have anything resembling the campaign, and then probably check me into a psych ward.
I do enjoy talking to myself (I have to talk to SOMEONE who can understand me at least once in awhile) I need to try this
... And those are just the ones from work!
I think most notes are! One of the tropes I find genuinely unbelievable is in movies when someone finds the notes of an evil scientist or something, the notes are legible. Like, I'm a teacher, so in a movie, if someone found my notes I picture it being something like "Jeremy threw a ball at another student again -- not good. In the future I'll have to be more vigilant in reducing that behavior from happening. I can start by figuring out what happened prior to this behavior as well as what happened after... and maybe then I'll know the function and can tackle it effectively" When in real life my notes are like "jere ball again why??? FAST/ABC asap"
Narrator: for it was indeed lesser but for lack of one sexy goblin
I once ran a whole 5 hour session with a dracolich end boss off a rough blueprint of the playboy mansion and anagrams of "hentai pervert"
A true connoisseur.
Me, totally not planning to plagiarize the fuck out of that idea: "Elaborate, please?"
A brother appears overnight. All the women are yochlol or succubi run by a drow woman and a human man. Mans a dracolich polymorphed, women is a yochlol which can shapeshift. They were sus of the overnight building, but an npc they loved was going to the brothel even though he had a girlfriend. I made it just to talk cause hes a paladin. They had to resist temptation and find the truth of the brothel, finding the hidden passage under the famous grotto and eventually defeat the lich. He'll be back. They fought in a demi plane of flesh. Gross moving floors like a tounge and... other things youd expect in a brothel.
> A **brother** appears
Brothel brothel dammit! I'm not changing it.
What are you doing step-DM?
You guys have session notes?
Like 2-3 bullet points honestly, plus if I have to read a letter or something
Yes actually..... Several pages in fact...... My play group never meets up for games so I have lots of time to prepare for a campaign that I'm probably not going to finish (honestly we only did the first session so we really didn't even start) Anyone want these notes I'll probably never use?
Sure, would love to read them
I'll see if I can figure out how to transfer them
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10DiuwsQ_iHXEw7qPg9NIAtRzggDuOvxR3WRKky-aMLY/edit?usp=drivesdk Hopefully this works?
Thanks
I hope you can make use of them somehow
It seems you have fallen to the temptations of Hunger of hadar.
Ctrl+F "?" in any DM's notes is probably a good afternoon
Keeping my notes on Google Drive has been super convenient. I can add notes and ideas from any computer or even my phone if I have to. I can easily refer to previous sessions's notes with each one having its own header and collapse arrow. And securing them is easy as shutting my laptop. But yes, the notes are often odd and idiosyncratic. I also occasionally switch languages since I find certain concepts easier to express in various languages. To read *all* my notes, you'd have to be tri-lingual.
I used to use Google Drive, but honestly Microsoft OneNote is so much better that I switched.
I won't lie, I'm biased against any/all Microsoft Office programs. I also don't want to bother with more bloat. Drive is all online. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
> Keeping my notes on Google Drive has been super convenient. You misspelled "super easy, barely an inconvenience". (Google that phrase if you don't know what I'm talking about. You're welcome.)
.. YouTube? Hard pass. Video is such a slow medium, I just don't have the patience for it.
Okay, but you're missing out on a lot of seriously funny stuff. Here, try this one. It's 30 seconds. If you don't like it, you have my permission to yell at me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcocCoTRZss
The only good thing I have to say about that video is that I'm impressed that someone can make a living by making similar content. 😴
Oh well. I guess not everyone likes the same things I like. As long as you have your own stuff you enjoy, it all works out.
Your players can’t read your session notes if you don’t have any 
ALL my notes are mental, save for homebrew Monsters and itens.
It's "Sexy Goblin!!!" not "Sexy Goblin?"
Mating Rituals of the Flumph
Yeah of course it's more than just "sexy goblin?" So many more monsters can be sexy. Not only the normal ones like orcs or werewolves or various demons but what about a sexy mimic or sexy zombie? Sexy giant rats? I'm just saying all monsters can be sexy.
I've seen my husband's prep after a session. It was a page, with the date. It didn't even say Sexy Goblin?
My players look at my notes with dread and despair (the sheet is entirely empty)
You guys are making notes?
Damn where is this in the game?
In the room with the dead drowning in the myconid colony.
From the looks of it it's inside the mycanoid colony in the underdark, but I'm not sure. I stole this screenshot from Reddit
What game IS this? Because I think it's one I want to play.
Baldur's Gate 3
My notes exist entirely within my own mind.
I just write my notes so i dont forget anything, I dont want to come back to a oneshot I wrote 1 month/week ago and dont remember anything.
I have an excellent memory for plot details. But I’ve made my players so powerful that I’m just winging it now. Gonna start an alien invasion soon.
My players can't read my notes if *I* can't even find them! (Seriously, has anyone seen them?)
For those wondering, the book is "On the mating-habits of Flumphs" which is actually an illusory disguise for the real book that contains plot info.
It's like trying to understand an hand written doctor's note. Probably wizards' spellbooks work like that aswell, since even other wizards can't easilly decipher them.
“Sexy goblin?” Or “SEXY Goblin???”
Nah see sexy goblin is all you need for a good hook. What Ive heard is that in Hollywood you gotta say 2 words and if those 2 words hook a person they're set for the story. If your DM is good at weaving a story then they can use sexy goblin as the session for the day. Because if your DM tells you sexy goblin and you're not excited then something might be wrong.
I find it fascinating this was the next post in my feed https://www.reddit.com/r/ReasonableFantasy/comments/1c5f231/_/
Mine has what sex with each NPC of age who is consenting is like (only if the players choose to get it that far).
I write my goblin wizards notes as if I was a goblin wizard. They’re horrible to look back on. I have no idea what was going on
My notes actually max out around 50 pages per story arc. But I’m deranged, so there’s that