Session recording methods?

[Macbeth]

In a game I play in that BardStephenFox runs, we use an XP system that has each player record things that they did in various areas (spellcasting, combat, skills, 'taking one for the team,' etc.), and then the DM awards some of the more important acomplishemnts with check marks. You get total XP by using a formula that takes into account the number of check marks and your level. THe cool thing is, these XP record sheets make a great reminder of what went on in each session. Using these sheets I actually manage to remember almost everything from each session.

 

[LiVeWiRe]

In a game I play in that BardStephenFox runs, we use an XP system that has each player record things that they did in various areas (spellcasting, combat, skills, 'taking one for the team,' etc.), and then the DM awards some of the more important acomplishemnts with check marks. You get total XP by using a formula that takes into account the number of check marks and your level. THe cool thing is, these XP record sheets make a great reminder of what went on in each session. Using these sheets I actually manage to remember almost everything from each session.

That sounds really cool! Do you think he would post the details on this?

Thanks,

LW

 

[Nightfall]

I mostly rely on my memory. That and the ability to exaggerate.

 

[bubbalin]

I find that sitting and writing down what happened in a list form straight after the session is the best way to remember what happened, then I can write it up a few days later...
The points remind me what happened. Usually writing it up triggers more memories.

 

[RatPunk]

Pencil and notepad during the session for me, though I am toying with the idea of using a tape recorder.

Also, I find that writing the story hour of the session relatively soon after it happens is a lot easier than trying to do it from the notes a few months later...

 

[Quickbeam]

My favorite method related to a specific PC I played once upon a time. He was a gnome sorcerer/cleric, with a grimoire familiar. This fellow spent a part of each evening recording his version of the day's events before bedding down. This lent a one-sided, occasionally skewed (but always amusing) chronicle of the party's adventures.

For my part, I would just type a few pages in a running journal on Microsoft Word for the campaign that summarized this character's thoughts. Obviously it lacked events which transpired outside his presence (since it was supposed to represent his PoV), but it did the job pretty well.

Like Macbeth and Arcady indicate, our group has also used XP as an incentive to encourage several accounts of ongoing events. And our party's quote journal sounds very much like the one nemmerle refers to in his post, except that ours is heavily weighted with famous last words.

 

[Zad]

I take notes on a laptop during a game. They are very very very brief and really only meaningful to me, to help stimulate my memory. When someone is speaking (like an NPC) I might type out exactly what they're saying. (Fortunately I can type relatively well.)

Then I go back and type up the story hour. (We play on the weekends, I type it on Monday morning usually.) The notes help me remember what we did or what order things happened in. Of course during this, I'm also applying my memory of events and using ample dramatic license to make a good story while still trying to maintain an accurate historical record.