Second thoughts, I'll make time. This thread is worth it.
I am one of those DMs who has typically created too many notes, and thus not been able to find or recall details during game sessions. It wasn't uncommon for me to spend more time in prep than in play. I got sick of that.
My prep time is fluctuating wildly at the moment, because like Grimstead, I am learning to work with less and improvise more.
It is important to understand that my notes are broken into two main sections. Session and Adventure. A session may involve parts of more than one adventure. An adventure may take many sessions to complete.
I take some in-game notes in the session notes page while playing, but a lot of my in-game notes tend to be hand-written. I can type faster than I can write, but I can write less meaningful sentences when hand-writing, using fewer words, and various pictorial scribbles as required.
Session 13 - Goblin Cave Part 3
• Open spreadsheet, pathfinder rules, plus SRD, print or write out a short section of calendar/weather
• Recap:
○ Last game you continued your trek into the goblin cave - searching for Argryn's family Maulaxe
○ When we finished, you had just decided to push on through the cave
• Other things you heard about but haven't dealt with:
○ None relevant for this session
Camping
1st watch
1 Goblin sneaks up spots party, sneaks away.
+5 stealth
+11 stealth check if party uses same campsite
2nd
1st goblin reports back. Or not - goblins have coordinated, and will know the area if one doesn't return.
3rd
Goblins mass up
4th
Goblins attack
5th
Nothing
8x poorly armed goblins with slings and crude crossbows
3x elite goblins
1x goblin sergeant?
Poorly's run the moment the elites get engaged (unless sole combatant?)
Goal is to injure the party and make them scared, not to kill
12 attacked, 1 got away.
Adventure Notes (70) Grotsnik's Cave
Hooks
News arrives in Thistle that the goblins who killed Argryn's granny are causing trouble again.
The village has been attacked again. Argryn's father was wounded during the defence , and the goblins ran off with his maulaxe.
Goals
Kill Grotsnik and his band
Retrieve Argryn's family maul-axe
Rewards
2 XP for Killing 25 goblins (number to be assumed by feel) (3 XP per for Argyn)
2 XP for killing Grotsnik
2 XP for wiping out the whole cave (or close to)
+1 Char XP for Argryn for retrieving the MW Dwarvern Maulaxe
+X for taking many sessions
+1 for freeing the kobolds instead of killing.
+3? For helping the kobolds to kill the goblins
Standard CR1s = 212/6 = 35.3333 + 10 cr3 + 2cr4 +1cr6 +wolves
So in a normal campaign that would be something like 36*1st level treasure plus the others. Given 'poorness' and subtracting their equipment and other belongings from the total…
4563 cp
1821 sp
120 gp
3 gems (50 GP Jasper, 10 GP obsidian, 1000 GP fire opal)
2 art (55GP Ivory Statuette of <god>, 1750 gp sapphire pendant on a gold chain)
7 mundane. MW small heavy mace, MW Studded Leather, MW small short sword, MW Dwarvern Maul Axe, 3 Tanglefoot bags, 3 thunderstones, MW Greatsword
1 minor. Sovereign Glue
Can be increased if I feel like it. That pile is way below the recommended total, particularly for cash.
Detail
Getting there/Finding it
?? Too late
The Cave itself
3 entrances. 1 can be seen from a distance. It is clearly defended.
Defended Entrance
1 Elite goblin
P Standard goblins
P Poorly armed goblins
1 Elite goblin
1P Standard goblins
1P poorly armed goblins
They prefer to fight within the cave itself. That way they can fight in the dark, and use the choke point.
Left Entrance
The spear traps have been reset!
Very thin passage (squeeze). Not defended. Hard to find (perception DC 22). Tight for 50 feet. Then opens up to 5' passage. 1st square contains a trap. Spear trap. +12 vs AC 1d8 x3. Triggers each time someone steps on that square. Search & Disable DCs 20.
Entered here,
Disabled trap
Headed right
Steep slope, acrobatics DC15
Argryn slipped and took 4 damage. Clay slipped and took2.
Cleared 1 room of 8 goblins
Disabled another spear trap.
The spear traps have been reset!
Right Entrance
Very thin passage (squeeze). Wolf Den. 2 adult wolves, 5 cubs
Corridor Groups - become active after the first Blue gets the alert out
4 poorly armed goblins
Or
1 goblin with sling/crossbow. Shoot once, run.
Rooms
0: done
2 Standard goblins
2P poorly armed goblins
80 cp + 160 cp = 240 cp
10 sp + 40 sp = 50 sp
1: done
P Standard goblins
P Elite goblins
2P poorly armed goblins
1 goblin blue
1 goblin sergeant
160 cp + 320 cp + 160 cp +160 cp = 700 cp
40 sp + 80 sp + 40 sp + 50 sp = 210 sp
1 tanglefoot bag, 1 thunderstone
(10 gp) obsidian
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I'll cut off there because the rest is just more room listings with monsters and treasure.
Of course, there is nice formatting and colours etc in the real doc. I'm not going to try re-creating that in forum-code.
I also have a monsters page where I collect 4e style stat blocks (I run pathfinder, but using the 3.5 MM, but I find the original stat blocks horrible to work with). I've recently found that printing out the monster stat blocks makes things run much more smoothly than trying to keep that on screen.