Unfinished Business

[SpringPlum]

Two of our four players keep notes on laptop computers. Our DM also allows a memory check of d20+INT+WIS modifiers against an arbitrary DC. Now I can't say for certain if this is something that he made up himself or if he read the rule somewhere and decided to keep it.

 

[fanboy2000]

How does your group remember people / events / rumors of interest?

My players usually just remember them on their own. I'm not the master of subtlety, (copious amounts of white fur will do that to you south of the Canadian border ) so I drop anvils as hints.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Well, I don't play in many long standing campaigns anymore as I mostly do one off games for playtesting purposes. When we do play longer games, I DON'T encourage note taking. If they want to write stuff down, that's fine by me and I can't stop them. Personally, I don't have a notebook that I walk around with in modern life and use it to write down names of people I met and places I've been to.

I just let my players try to remember on their own. If they don't, I let them make a WIS check with a varying DC based on how obscure the knowledge is. I also thought of having a feat called Concise Memory which would give a +4 bonus. I use WIS because that's your ability to retain information. Even in the 3.5 PHB on page 9 it describes an absentminded professor as having a high INT and a low WIS. Why would you use INT?

 

[Erik Mona]

I tend to keep track of my NPCs in excel spreadsheets, but for my next campaign (which I hope to start immediately after Christmas) I plan to give each player a nice address book with different sections for each letter of the alphabet. That way, it'll be easier for them to take notes on the NPCs (and find them later), and they'll have a leather-bound, handy keepsake when the campaign is over.

--Erik Mona

 

[Crothian]

I'm a nice DM in this regards if my players don't recall it or have it written down I remind them. We only game once a week and with so much else going on in their lives it is hard for me to expect them to remember little details that I put in a weekly game. I'm just happy that we have a good group and people are having fun.

 

[Fenes]

I take notes during the game session while I DM, and then compile it to a campaign history I mail out as part of preparing the next session. During that I also update the NPC file (word, hyperlinked entries in the document linking related NPCs and locations).

And "loose ends" is a standard part of my prepared adventure notes each session.

 

[shilsen]

I'm a nice DM in this regards if my players don't recall it or have it written down I remind them. We only game once a week and with so much else going on in their lives it is hard for me to expect them to remember little details that I put in a weekly game. I'm just happy that we have a good group and people are having fun.

Same here. It's a game, not an exam.

 

[the Jester]

I too use an int check for a 'remember' check- the DC is usually around 20 if you met the guy only once a long time ago casually, and it goes down from there.

 

[Nifft]

It's a game, not an exam.

Very much agree. However, I want my players to get that cool "ah-ha!" feeling when they put 2 and 3 together (and get a 5-headed chromatic dragon... but that's a wee tad down the road...)

I don't want them to feel like I'm rail-roading them because they don't see the possibility of other options, but I don't want to make multiple-choice choose-your-own-adventure style games either.

-- N

 

[Abstraction]

At the beginning of the campaign, I print out some sheets. There is Rumors, People We Know, Initiative, Battle Effects and Calendar. I give one out to each player. It is their job to keep track of that for me. It really frees me up, because I tend to play "off-the-cuff" so I will have no idea what the name of the captain of the guard they met 3 months ago is if someone wasn't writing down essentially every fact I give them.