For those of you with ADHD, how do you organize your campaigns?

[demoss]

I currently just use a Google doc. I have used Notion before for various things; but I just keep coming back to a simple word processor. In what way is Obsidian an improvement?

• Longevity & interoperability: your docs are on your computer, in a non-proprietary format you can use with other tools as well. Even if Obsidian the compaby goes belly up, your notes will still be accessible. Maybe more of an ideological point than a practical one, and not super critical for RPG stuff, but ability to eg. use version control is sometimes nice for sure.
• Same advantage as Notion over Google Docs: easy peasy linking, tagging, etc. If you don't need that, then it doesn't matter of course.
• Transclusions. I don't think Notion does these, but maybe it does? Ie. I can write ![[Doc Savage]] on a page, and instead of linking to the Doc Savage page it embeds it right there. Super handy for embedding monster stats or whatnot in your notes right there where you need them.
• Since it doesn't use the network, there's never any issues with "oh Notion is slow today". Less of a thing with Google Docs, but I've had plenty of issues like that with Notion.
• The built-in Canvas is great for making point-crawls, relationship maps, and such.
• Very healthy open source plugin ecosystem: instead of being beholden to the Business Software focus of Notion's development goals, there's plenty of people writing RPG focused plugins for Obsidian. Easy to go overboard with plugins, but they're still huge deal, and well supported by passionate people.

Some of the plugins I use all the time:

• Excalidraw. (Basically https://excalidraw.com/ running locally inside Obsidian) I use it for sketching and, for drawing maps live over OBS / Discord, etc.
• Leaflet. Embedding an image in a document so that it becomes a zoomable map you can put markers and notes on.
• Dice Roller. I can write dice: 2d6 in the document, and that bit of text turns into a 2D6 roll I can make when I need it. So instead of writing "Goblin, D6 cleaver" I write "Goblin dice: d6 cleaver" and get the dice roller right where I need it with practically no extra effort.

Oh, and it's free without limitations. Sync (between computers and mobile) and Publish (publishing your notes on the web) cost, but if you want you can also do both of those with plugins and some elbow grease. In the end I decided the trouble-free sync was worth it for me.

(I do get the appeal advantage of a simple word processor with no frills, though!)

 

[Faolyn]

https://web.archive.org/web/2003080...gefactor.org/2003/04/01/little_is_enough.html

This line from it, "but the more detail I write down, the harder it is for me to improvise." definitely hit home. I've always try to write so much detail so I know what's going on, but you're right--it makes it hard to improvise and remember what I've already written, even if it's just in bullet points.
https://web.archive.org/web/2003080...gefactor.org/2003/04/01/little_is_enough.html

- Session notes and post-session thinking over pre-session prep. During-session notes and post-session thinking is super valuable. IMO far more important than any specific pre-session prep. What happened in last session? What consequences does it have in-world? What consequences does it have at-table? (Did players really like / hate something? Did they come to any conclusions - right or wrong? Do they need a win, or a hard challenge?)

Taking notes has always been difficult for me, but I'll definitely try to take more of them.

- All session notes in one big file. For me it is much, much better to keep entire campaign's worth of session notes (prep, during, and post-notes) all in a single file, latest session at the top. That way if I've missed the prep, I can just open the file and everything that has happened is in there. Copy-paste NPC descriptions from below when you need them, etc. With Obsidian it might be tempting to make on file per session, or dozens of small ones. For me this is way better. I use Obsidian's linking features to link campaign notes to the session note file for easy reference. If I need to update a campaign note, I do it outside the game.

Yeah, spreading my notes out is not being useful. Although I do have a communal google doc for world info and my own word doc for plot stuff.

- Item ids. When you hand your players an item (especially if you just came up with and have no clue what it is): (1) Give it an id, write the item and location down with the id: "Q27: Broken longsword found in Zelligar's quarters." I use one letter for the adventure / location, and a running number. Keeps the numbers shorter. (2) Tell the players the id: "Ok, you stow the ancient looking broken longword: write down it's Q27." (3) Post-game you can add more details to the items if you need to. I sometimes do, but mostly not. (4) Later when the item comes up, you will know where it came from, and you can use that to decide if it's interesting or not, and how. Example: "The buyer is looking very excited and identifies it as one of a pair of longswords made for Zelligar by a legendary smith. I never believed the story, but seeing this sword is real, let me tell you what I know about the other one..." This works especially well coupled with Secrets and Clues method by Sly Flourish, creating callbacks and connections throughout the campaign without needing to build them up-front. The stuff they picked up is the important stuff, the stuff they didn't pick up won't generally speaking matter. (Exceptions yeah yeah.)

Ooh, I really like that idea. Thanks!

 

[Thomas Shey]

Just a side note here too: I'm of an age that I've never been diagnosed with any of ADHD, OCD or being on the autism spectrum. I barely got properly diagnosed as dyslexic (really, dyscalclic) after initially being diagnosed as retarded in my childhood. However, its abundantly clear from looking at the symptoms normally connected with the three conditions I has some combination of them here, its just never felt particularly useful to go to the work of getting which or which combination formalized.

 

[overgeeked]

Ginny Di dropped a relevant video today. Might help someone.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I've often thought my (probable) neurodivergence has a lot to do with why I'm a pretty decent GM but a so-so player.

Edit: Huh, her comment about use of miniatures and the like is interesting. I always just thought I had poor spatial memory...

 

[aramis erak]

Ginny Di dropped a relevant video today. Might help someone.

It's a pretty good video.
It's not entirely comprehensive, but it's a great starting point, and she's dead on about the variety of expressions of ADHD...