No time to take notes while DMing? Try this! // D&D Tips

Use code "GINNY" for your discount!

▼ INDEX ▼
0:00 Intro
1:30 Make it easy
2:57 Your worldbuilding secret weapon
4:09 Trim the fat
6:12 Give yourself time

Are you one of the many Dungeon Masters who struggle to take session notes while playing Dungeons & Dragons? I don't blame you — it's a lot for one DM to handle! Here are three simple tips for note-taking during your tabletop gaming sessions to capture important information quickly and easily, so you can stay organized and make session prep easier.

Logo animation by Rosie at Arcane Focus!

Music from Epidemic Sound

► FIND ME ONLINE:

[GinnyDi]

Use code "GINNY" for your discount!

[anmimc]

I love stealing my players notes. I let my player give the recap of “what happened last time?” before we start our sessions. What they remember is more important to me than the notes I took because it helps me direct them down the paths they are excited about!

[josephhartline]

"The human mind is fallible and D&D sessions are long" This needs to go on a T shirt.

[andrewweir]

"If a player comes up with a theory that you like better than your actual plan, write it down"
This. A thousand times this. In my experience, if you do this once and a while not only do your players feel smart for being able to put threads together and connect dots, but you can use their characters fears against them!

DM, just setting the mood: "The moon is full and the air is still. The silence of the forest is broken only by the occasional distant howl"
Player, nervously: "Hey uh... what would I roll to know if werewolves are a thing?"
DM, already flipping to the page: "History please" (evil grin)

[TheClericCorner]

Player: "What was the name of that one NPC?"
DM: ***Looks down, realizing he didn't write it down***
DM: "Oh, did you not take notes on them?"
Player: "...No"
DM: "Oof, darn, guess your character forgot" 👀

[jordanw]

In addition to your last point, I like to make my players recap the session before we start next week. Combined with reviewing session notes beforehand, it's saved me a few times when the players mentioned something that I glanced over as being unimportant at the time (evidently not the case for them if they mentioned it).

[CrispysTavern]

Oh I don't I was supposed to see this. Welp! I'm not arguing with some early advice, especially since my notetaking is subpar at best.

Alright, post video. Hear me out: give your session a cool title. Seriously. It works, at least for me. For some reason, just reading “Black-Eyed Bastard” instead of “Session 18” helps me recall a lot of what happened.

[bradypermenter]

One of my favorite unorthodox note taking tactics is to make memes right after the session. Making stuff funny makes it easier for me to remember it and it gives a quick visual reference for later planning. Plus of you sent the memes to your party not only will it make them laugh there’s also the chance that they make their own memes which you can then use as stolen notes (it also gives you insight into what parts of the game your players enjoy).

[crannink]

As a DM with memory problems, I've found that taking voice recordings during sessions ( fairly easy, considering I mostly DM online) and take time to listen to the recordings later at double speed (triple, if it's a long session) and take notes then. I try to do this just before/during my typical prep times. I tend to delete them after a few more sessions to save drive space. Before doing this, though, just make sure to discuss it with your players, since some people aren't comfortable with having their voices recorded!

[guybuckridge]

Tip of the Day: Something I've done for quite a while is have a quiz at the beginning of the session instead of a review. I would literally go around the table and ask people questions about the previous session/s. It was very effective at opening up the memories of the players and helped get them get their game face on. And the group would get a little bonus XP for good answer and insights. And secretly it helped solidify my own recollection and told me what players may have missed and what they cared about.

Bidet

[MarkFromTheYoutubeComments]

I think it's very telling that I NEVER hear anyone making fun of the "Note taker player". NO ONE touches them. For the same reason you do not hurt your healer, you DO NOT hurt your note taker, regardless of how good they are at it.

[lelaga]

What really helped me is sitting down after each session and writing a small summary over what happened each session as well. Only keywords, but it works for me when I couldn’t get everything down during the session.
Also being honest with your players and agreeing with them that they text me what items they received after the session really helped me as well. I now have a full list who got which item and wether they know the potential special effect it might have. 🤗

[phistoroboto]

These are some handy tips. What has saved my bacon over the last few years is using my phone to record the audio of the session (with everyone's permission). Obviously, it isn't podcast/livecast quality but it still allows me to re-listen to the session and take notes that I may have missed (like improvised npcs). This also really helps me keep my npc voices straight as well.

[ryla]

I just thought of a neat idea.

A dm character kenku that joins the party and takes notes of everything going on, maybe make him a level 1-3 bard who tells storys of things that have happened.

The dm can use this as a way to help newer players who dont pay as much attention as they should or have a hard time with puzzles because you can just use the Kenku to try to help the party if they need it with previous knowledge.

Kinda like a hint button.

I'd use this idea myself, but I dont actually have anyone to play with

[jakeholland]

On of the best habits I started doing was saying “one second I need to make a note” . It slows things down a bit giving you time to scratch out a line or two and when used dramatically it can add to the moment. If after your players have done something awesome or awful you pause for just a minute to write a note it really cements that moment as something that will affect the future of the game.

[JimCullen]

Regarding the "Give Yourself Time" section, I have noticed that a fantastic way to do this is really simple and effective. Just thoughtfully say "let me just make a quick note" and scribble it down. It can, if delivered correctly, have the same mysterious effect as rolling behind the screen without obvious cause, or spontaneously asking the players for one of their stats/passive scores.

[MegaEricPham]

Before the video starts: As a blooming new DM with ADHD I easily get distracted or is forgetful after a certain milestone of the game like after a battle or encounter. I allow a short/long break in game and real life (if and when eligible) so I can write in notes talk to the other players in group or personal, bathroom/lunch breaks, etc. Then get back into the game which usually is about 15-30 min. To in rare cases (1-2hrs) if things are big or complex.

Downside, things can happen and you may loose the atmosphere of the game, completely leave the game and get distracted for you or everyone or loose some players for good, bad or important reasons.

[Splinton]

I record all my games. Phone goes on record, sits on the table. The players even assist by putting *their* phones on record as well, and sending me the audio files afterwards. Spending 2 minutes to merge them all together in an audio editing program means everybodys voice sounds like the microphone is in front of them. It doesn't have to be podcast level, it just needs to be something you can put on your phone and listen to while you're doing other stuff. I listen back through most of my games so often I actually don't take any notes at all now. I have the entire campaign committed to memory and can tell players things they did better than they remember it, or things they've said to NPCs word for word. And because I can say it with such confidence, nobody questions it. It's liberating.

Even better is when the players want to listen as well so they can remember what they needed or wanted to do, or pick up hints that I drop that they might have missed before. So now I keep them on a google drive for the players to go through as well. They love this.

[WritingFighter]

After watching a couple videos of people talking about being a GM for over a decade or even GM'ing for decades... I'm finding that Ginny Di's videos are just 100x better.

They're paced better, focused better, cleaner, clearer, better explained, and better thought out, not to mention WAY more practical.

[julianaayu]

I applaud those who took meticulous notes of the session