GM Notes: Handwritten or Typed?

[Mark]

Do you handwrite your GM notes in a notebook or just on loose sheets of paper? Or do you type them and print them out, or just use them directly from the computer on a laptop? I personally prefer to handwrite mine in a notebook.

Whatever I set up as weekly prep gets a quick Word treatment, complete with stat blocks, and only rarely gets printed out. I prefer most, except maps and handouts (obviously) to be on my laptop.

 

[Moon_Goddess]

Google Docs

 

[fba827]

I think in scattered thoughts, so I have to type it or else it would be a series of cross-outs on paper (I am the same way with any type of report/paper/presentation I have to do)

I *would* prefer to print them out and take them with me, but it would waste a lot of paper (i don't have set adventures, we play a very open-ended sandbox style, so I just have loose notes that are constantly in flux) so I just take my laptop with me.

 

[Shadowsong666]

all the notes go through my netbook at a gaming session. if i get a good idea and no computer is near i usually make a note about it in my mobile phone.
Paper gets used for drawings or printing out some gaming stuff (letters, items etc. ...)

 

[Jack99]

I type everything on a laptop, and print out. I used to just bring the laptop to the sessions, but changed that when we converted to 4e. I am currently considering getting one of those mini-laptops to use for my gaming.

All available information is copy/pasted into a blog, so that my players have access to the relevant campaign info.

 

[TwinBahamut]

All of my adventure notes are handwritten, and all of my long-term setting and campaign information is typed up on my computer.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I generally type things up and print them out, though sometimes I lack for preparation time and have to go into a game with just my "brainstorming pad."

The final three levels or so of my Eberron campaign are sketched out in a flowchart first created by brainstorming and then tranferred to Word. It's really nice to have at the table, even though it has almost no details. It serves as a reminder for how events all link up and (especially) what different things the PCs can do to get the information they need to have. I can't imagine trying to use my brainstorming pad for this, as my scrawls take up three or four pages, whereas printed in Word everything fits on a single page.

I can't even use a DM screen without feeling isolated from my players, so I imagine I'll never be able to use a laptop during the game. I do occasionally use my Palm, though.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

Campaigns are mostly handwritten.

World History and Mythology is typed out.

 

[Fenes]

I type my prep notes. Also, I log a session by hand, then type up the session log as part of the preparation for the next session.

 

[Noumenon]

I use handwriting -- you can fit a lot more on a 3x5 card if you handwrite than type.

I use 3x5 cards for most notes. I'll have one brainstorming all the ideas about the plot -- "Ideas for the Black Pearl." I'll have one with things to follow up on from the adventure -- "player wouldn't throw cat from Bag of Tricks into the viper pit because he likes cats," "animated figurines like players now." Etc. I keep a 3x5 card in my pocket in case I think of an idea at work.

For play, I put monsters' stats on a 3x5 card instead of a printout. Their AC, their attacks, the rules for what the ropers' tentacle does when it hits. The reason these are best is

• Very, very quick reference. Stat blocks put the special ability description at the bottom and the spell resistance under special qualities. I put the improved grab rules right in the attack line and the SR right next to each saving throw.
• I use the monster cards as initiative cards, just putting them in order with the players' cards so I know who needs to go next
• The next time I have an encounter that's two ghouls and a ghast, I can just grab those two cards instead of having to reprint because the last encounter was two ghouls and a bugbear.

The longer I play, the happier I am to have a library of 3x5 monsters made up. I can just pick up an encounter with shadows and run it now. I don't have to remember what the incorporeal traits do, don't forget they have Dodge because it's on a different line from their AC, it's all right there. I tape the counters from Counter Collection Digital onto the card too so I don't have to sort through them looking for a ghoul token.