How to get the rest of the party to take notes?

[Boscogn]

I'm the table scribe too. This comes back to bite PCs in the ass when I'm not available in game or irl. My table instead of just taking notes will play mtg untill I'm available lol. So I'm pretty much boned. So I compensate by forcing everyone to give me 10% of their earnings.

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[Boscogn]

I'm the table scribe too. This comes back to bite PCs in the ass when I'm not available in game or irl. My table instead of just taking notes will play mtg untill I'm available lol. So I'm pretty much boned. So I compensate by forcing everyone to give me 10% of their earnings.

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To expand on this if a player chooses not to use my services and forgets something and asks me I'll keep mum unless they pay me.

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[Lanefan]

I'm the table scribe too. This comes back to bite PCs in the ass when I'm not available in game or irl. My table instead of just taking notes will play mtg untill I'm available lol. So I'm pretty much boned. So I compensate by forcing everyone to give me 10% of their earnings.

That's one way of doing it!

'Course, the risk is that one night they'll flip you over and shake you till all the gold comes out...

That said, if your table are that reliant on your note-taking that they won't even play if you're not there either the game is too detailed for them or they're pretty darn lazy.

Lanefan

 

[thefrickinpope]

Has anyone tried rotating the note taking? A different player every week?

 

[Boscogn]

That's one way of doing it!

'Course, the risk is that one night they'll flip you over and shake you till all the gold comes out...

That said, if your table are that reliant on your note-taking that they won't even play if you're not there either the game is too detailed for them or they're pretty darn lazy.

Lanefan

Both really our DM loves his home brew stories and they are really lazy. They mostly care about being able to deal the most damage and are learning that there is far more than stats on paper which is exciting. I'm generally the skill bot which I like so it works out in a really strange way. Nobody thinks about the group as a whole so I usually pick up the class that can fill any gaps. I enjoy playing a devils advocate, social rogue, and selfish while keeping the game in focus and on track from a player perspective.


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[Isida Kep'Tukari]

We tend to take turns taking notes. People in our group will often note down particular things of significance (vital NPCs, enemies, locations, etc.), but we also like to make sure everyone is playing with the same deck, as it were.

Myself and another player trade off taking notes on our computers/tablets as the game is progressing, capturing a Cliff Notes version of the game as it happens, then immediately mail it out to the group afterwards. Then later, the DM will take those raw notes and turn it into a more narrative format, which makes for a more exciting read-through for a later date.

But the vital part, the in-game note-taking and immediate post-game e-mails, those have been the most useful.

If your players don't have their electronic devices at the table (I know some DMs ban them), another group I was in had a low-tech solution. The DM had a notebook, and every week someone would volunteer to be the note-taker. There was an XP reward attached to doing this duty, and because of this we were each eager to have our turns so no one person would have a huge amount of extra XP. Part of that duty of note-taking was reading out the notes from last session, to give everyone a recap.

 

[redrick]

We tend to take turns taking notes. People in our group will often note down particular things of significance (vital NPCs, enemies, locations, etc.), but we also like to make sure everyone is playing with the same deck, as it were.

Myself and another player trade off taking notes on our computers/tablets as the game is progressing, capturing a Cliff Notes version of the game as it happens, then immediately mail it out to the group afterwards. Then later, the DM will take those raw notes and turn it into a more narrative format, which makes for a more exciting read-through for a later date.

But the vital part, the in-game note-taking and immediate post-game e-mails, those have been the most useful.

If your players don't have their electronic devices at the table (I know some DMs ban them), another group I was in had a low-tech solution. The DM had a notebook, and every week someone would volunteer to be the note-taker. There was an XP reward attached to doing this duty, and because of this we were each eager to have our turns so no one person would have a huge amount of extra XP. Part of that duty of note-taking was reading out the notes from last session, to give everyone a recap.

I think having a shared notebook is a great idea. As a player, I often struggle to take notes, because the table is crowded and the scraps of paper I'm writing on end up getting separated from my book or my character sheet. Recently, I taped my character sheet to the inside of a composition book, and now have a "character book", and I've found it makes it much easier to take and keep notes during the session. Even if it's just simple things, like, which items of treasure did we find and who did it go to. (A backstop in case somebody else forgot to write it on their character sheet.)

Any record keeping that players can do at the table is a huge help to the DM, because it takes a little more off their plate. Unless your game is a series of walk into a new room, kill everyone in it, take everything out of it, repeat, it's helpful if more than one person can share the burden of keeping the names, places and facts consistent. Players don't need to be transcribing every conversation word for word, but I do think all players should at least make some effort to take some sort of story notes.

 

[Boscogn]

I think having a shared notebook is a great idea. As a player, I often struggle to take notes, because the table is crowded and the scraps of paper I'm writing on end up getting separated from my book or my character sheet. Recently, I taped my character sheet to the inside of a composition book, and now have a "character book", and I've found it makes it much easier to take and keep notes during the session. Even if it's just simple things, like, which items of treasure did we find and who did it go to. (A backstop in case somebody else forgot to write it on their character sheet.)

Any record keeping that players can do at the table is a huge help to the DM, because it takes a little more off their plate. Unless your game is a series of walk into a new room, kill everyone in it, take everything out of it, repeat, it's helpful if more than one person can share the burden of keeping the names, places and facts consistent. Players don't need to be transcribing every conversation word for word, but I do think all players should at least make some effort to take some sort of story notes.

I keep a thin binder (zipper kind so I can throw dice in it) and a few plastic sheets to hold my character sheet so I can take it out to hand DM or switch it out with a freshly typed one (my hand writing is atrocious) then I keep a notebook in there for note taking which I hand write. I also write it in character like a diary so if I pass it around people will read it from my characters perspective which I find helps set the role play mood. Some people at my tables even after coming to a game where role playing is the game need an extra nudge. Ive been predominantly pen and paper with electronics banned as my players love their video games when it's not their turn and that infuriates me. I have recently been a part of an table that sits together physically while using roll20.net as a means to conduct the game and that was excellent. I was able to type notes in character and share and have everything saved electronically and shared privately with DM and we put the battlefield grid on a TV. We of course rolled with real dice on the table but it was a perfect combination. I used my lenovo helix which I have begun to dislike combo laptop/tablets but for this application was perfect.

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[Boscogn]

I do like the idea of taking turns writing notes for DM xp bonus as motivation. I just wish people would immerse themselves a little more and take the initiative to get creative. For instance I like it when people add their drinking/smoking habits to their character. If you're having a beer or a smoke in game have one at the table as well! I love it when my table starts to look like a 1950s back of the bar poker game. Health risks aside.

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[Grogg of the North]

I think that really the onus is on the DM to get the other players to pay attention. And its hard since you're a player; not the DM.

One way, as a player, is to either feed the rest of the group false or no information. "Oh gee, I think this says 'Turn the blue stone four times when the duck quacks six'. That rain storm last night soaked into my pack and everything has started to run." This is a jerk move. But if the rest of the players at the table are cool about it, you may be able to get some laughs.

Otherwise, you should talk to your DM. Maybe you can get the DM to give you something for being so attentive? A few extra GP or maybe some sort of intangible. Like your note taking gives you a +1 on certain checks. Or you gain access to some sort of library or guild?