barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Erik, can I play in your game?
My players have learned to become obsessive note-takers. My NPCs are always long-term characters -- pretty much ANYONE can turn out to be important a year or two down the line. And they've been burned any number of times because they didn't know who someone was or what they might be after.
I allow an Int check to remember stuff -- I reckon it's like Knowledge (own experiences) and set the DC according to how long ago/minor the memory might be -- on the basis that since there's often a one-week gap in playing time when in-game there's no delay at all, their characters will naturally have better recollections of the past than they. I also keep a more-or-less running update on the website Journal that serves as a storehouse of factual information. They're allowed to refer to the website during gameplay so I make sure that whatever's on there is stuff they should generally know.
All my players have binders in which they keep their notes, and most of them use plastic sleeves to keep the papers tidy. They've done up Visio diagrams to try and work out relationships between various groups, made their own illustrations, all sorts of stuff. They have a lot of fun with it. Every time some new notion gets revealed, there's a mad scramble as everyone rummages through their notes looking for connections and potential revelations.
Barsoom is five real-life years running now (about one and a half game years), and they're still dealing with bad guys from the very first game session. They've learned the hard way that not knowing what's what is fatal.
I think the first step to getting your players to remember stuff is to make it matter. Reward them for remembering, and make it clear that forgetting will cost them.
My players have learned to become obsessive note-takers. My NPCs are always long-term characters -- pretty much ANYONE can turn out to be important a year or two down the line. And they've been burned any number of times because they didn't know who someone was or what they might be after.
I allow an Int check to remember stuff -- I reckon it's like Knowledge (own experiences) and set the DC according to how long ago/minor the memory might be -- on the basis that since there's often a one-week gap in playing time when in-game there's no delay at all, their characters will naturally have better recollections of the past than they. I also keep a more-or-less running update on the website Journal that serves as a storehouse of factual information. They're allowed to refer to the website during gameplay so I make sure that whatever's on there is stuff they should generally know.
All my players have binders in which they keep their notes, and most of them use plastic sleeves to keep the papers tidy. They've done up Visio diagrams to try and work out relationships between various groups, made their own illustrations, all sorts of stuff. They have a lot of fun with it. Every time some new notion gets revealed, there's a mad scramble as everyone rummages through their notes looking for connections and potential revelations.
Barsoom is five real-life years running now (about one and a half game years), and they're still dealing with bad guys from the very first game session. They've learned the hard way that not knowing what's what is fatal.
I think the first step to getting your players to remember stuff is to make it matter. Reward them for remembering, and make it clear that forgetting will cost them.
