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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nightcloak" data-source="post: 2110517" data-attributes="member: 23862">The Essential Guide to a GM’s Notebook *Updated 11/10 - Chapter 12*This thread is a spin-off of BardStephenFox’s excellent “The Fine Art of Winging It” thread. It will be a list of items essential to a GM’s notebook. Before I start the process of listing essentials there is a few things in general to address:1. Why a notebook? Well, because you need it that’s why! Well, seriously, the notebook is nothing more than a GM Survival Guide[sup]TM[/sup] to provide you a place to store all of the game materials essential to the current game plus provide you with prep material to add when the characters do something outside of your plans. Organization will save you every time.And lets face it; they will do something you didn’t plan on. Whether it’s going to a merchant you didn’t consider they needed, or requiring you to roll a skill check or interact with an otherwise nameless NPC, or if they up and decide to leave the road their on and investigate something not in your story. Trust me, they’ll do it.2. What should I use for a notebook? I have seen many things used, from index cards to 5 subject notebooks, to graph paper, to 3 ring binders, to laptop computers now days. I recommend a 3 ring binder. It gives you space to add and remove things, the ability to organize it in an order convenient to you, it’s economic, and finally, it allows you to print whatever from your computer and add it directly. You want to print some cool things from a website or copy, paste, and print some monsters from SRD, then have at it and add it directly to your notebook. 3. How much should I put into the notebook?Well, that is up to you. How much time can you donate to preparation? What will help your game? I have a list of at least 12 things I’m going to list and I hope to add a few more, plus others will hopefully add as we go. But only you can decide what you like and don’t like.And now...</blockquote>

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