Game Recording

[kri]

So I'm probably going to get a one sentence answer for this question, but I'm hoping that I'll receive something more than that.
I'm currently playing in two games with the same group of people. Since we only play once a week, we alternate each game so they get played once every two weeks. I have the worst memory in the world, especially when it comes to remembering things I've heard. I've been trying to find a way to record our sessions each time without hampering the game so that in two weeks when we play that game again I don't have to ask for a recap. Sometimes I need more than that recap, and a lot of times I don't remember most of it even after the recap.
I was wondering if anyone had any creative ways in which they record past sessions. I don't have a video camera, but that would be an interesting option. I thought about setting my laptop beside me and just typing important information as I go, but that won't help any more than just writing it on paper, I don't think.
Does anyone else do anything useful in that regards? Or have I basically just whiped out my only few options? I hate the feeling of pain-in-the-rear I get when I have to ask what's going on so many times the first five minutes of the game.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Well, we play once a week, so my players don't really have much of a problem with remembering things. However, as a DM, I take mental notes of things and I've found that just a short recap can usually return people to the mood...you don't have to recap EVERYTHING, just hit the high points.

If, as you said, that doesn't work, you COULD record the session on an audio tape or something similar. I know of a lot of groups that do this without problem, just leave it on and don't touch it unless you take a break.

 

[Gnarlo]

My group's games tend to be about a month apart and need the same sort of recap. We use a video camera or sometimes just a tape recorder if at someone else's house to record the session, then over the next day or two it gets typed up, embellished and "storified", and posted up to the group web page and emailed out. Then, everyone has no excuse for not being caught up when the next meeting happens.

 

[kri]

My group's games tend to be about a month apart and need the same sort of recap. We use a video camera or sometimes just a tape recorder if at someone else's house to record the session, then over the next day or two it gets typed up, embellished and "storified", and posted up to the group web page and emailed out. Then, everyone has no excuse for not being caught up when the next meeting happens.

Yeah, I figured I was going to have to do something along those lines. Thanks for the response : )

 

[Wippit Guud]

Well, my group games over a webcam (DM and 5 people in one room, 6th player 17 hours away by car). Wouldn't be too hard to hit the record button, but a 4 hour session could take maybe 500MB at a decent resolution.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

As for the webcam thing - can you control the record rates seperately from the live rate? If you can, record the audio at a higher rate, and sacrifice the video - audio takes up much less bandwidth than video.

 

[Wippit Guud]

To be honest, the webcam doesn't really add to the connection, beyond him being able to see us... the resolution (and webcam location in relation to the gaming table) doesn't let him see maps and such all that well. So I could just record audio-only, and not worry about video.

 

[Gnarlo]

To be honest, the webcam doesn't really add to the connection, beyond him being able to see us... the resolution (and webcam location in relation to the gaming table) doesn't let him see maps and such all that well. So I could just record audio-only, and not worry about video.

That's pretty much our situation with the video camera; it sits in the corner out of the way and is pretty much forgotten about. The reason we use it usually instead of a audio recorder is that it will record 2 hours a tape while the audio recorder only gets 45 minutes before it's time to flip the tape over. Makes it much easier to ignore and keep in character without worrying about "do I look/sound stupid?"

 

[Piratecat]

We use a small tape recorder that has a "slow" seed. With this, you get three hours out of a 90 minute tape. That seems to work pretty well.

I'm finding that it takes me longer to write up story hours now, though. I've been refeshing my memory by listening to the tapes while walking dogs, and then going back later for specific quotes.

 

[mmadsen]

Does anyone use a digital audio recorder?