D&D General What goes in your DM binder?

[el-remmen]

I put together a photo album of my DM binder for a nearly 2 year run of Tomb of Annihilation: ToA DM's Binder 2018-2019

Ooh. Now I want to do this! (make a photo album of my binder, that is)

 

[el-remmen]

I have a couple of different binders and notebooks.

1. I have a binder for each campaign that includes typed up session notes, stat blocks, some maps, calendars, PC background information, etc. . . so this gets updated regularly and then serves as an archive when the campaign is completed.
2. I have a "scheming" spiral notebook that has preliminary notes for stuff that will end up in the campaign binder and writing out big picture plans and schemes for villains, nemeses, other NPCs.

I recently made a real flipping through the most reason version of this notebook


3. Finally, I have a graph paper moleskin type notebook where I fiddle around with early versions of maps and other visual-based things that need a scale.

Separate from all of these are my setting binders, which detail different parts of the homebrew world which are not campaign dependent.

Here is another recent-ish pic of some of the binders on Instagram, though I have actually gone through and curated/consolidated the material and updated to newer binders right after the pix were taken.

 

[Meech17]

So I bought a TrapperKeeper(They're available on Amazon) to use as my binder.

1. The first section is for characters. I have a section dedicated to each of my players, and I store notes specific to them there. Usually things like "Willy the Ranger displayed interest in crafting poison." or "Beanz the Barbarian really didn't like the religious pilgrims, and thought they were kind of culty". Things that I can keep track of to know how to integrate things tailored for the players.
2. Second section is NPCs. If there is a major NPC I'll give them their own page to keep specific notes on them. Right now it's just the wizard patron of the party, and the leader of a mercenary group the party is in contention with. Then there's usually just a list of minor NPCs. Their names, a brief description of who they are, why they are important to the party, and how they feel about the party. At the end I have a list of names to use if needed.
3. Location, Location, Location. I have a section where I like to store my maps. I use the clear insert sheets that you can slide paper into, and I like to try and arrange it so the map will be on one side, and the key will be on next page.
4. Fun stuff. I have a pocket divider here where I store items. I like to write down magic or other notable items onto note cards and give them to my players. For instance they got an amulet that gives them the ability to polymorph into a halfling or a chipmunk once per day. I write it out on a note card and then they have like an actual item to go with their pretend item. I messed up in the beginning, I forgot to make myself a copy of the item! So I added a few pages in this section that just list the items, what they day, and who I gave it to.
5. Lastly is session notes. I start a new tab for each session, and I do my planning in the style of Mike Shea's Lazy DM 8 steps. I try to write out my secrets and clues by hand, along with anything else I feel like I'll need. After each session I tear out my notes I wrote at the table, which usually consists of hit points, but also any important names I use during the session and things like that, that may be important in the future, and I'll slide it into one of the insert sheets at the end of the corresponding session.

Honorable mentions include the front pocket of the Trapper Keeper where I store my calendar because I am tracking the in-game days, and then there are a couple of character sheets I made up. Last session we had a guest who wanted to hang out but wasn't interested in playing. I wanted to have a character available to give her if she changed her mind.

The first thing in the binder is one of those little 3 ring pencil cases with some pencils and pens to share with the table.

Outside of the binder I keep a regular notepad for my table notes. The Trapper Keeper has a clipboard in the back but I like being able to close it and move it off the table if needed, while keeping my notepad handy. I also have a dice tray with two sets of dice, and my tablet. I like to make a slide show with my encounter notes. I clip and copy/paste the stat blocks and put them onto their own slides plus any special spells or abilities I was to give them. I also have a copy of the PHB on my tablet so my players can use the book.

 

[O-Castitatis-Lilium]

In my binder, I have:

• Notes
• City and town layouts and info
• History leaflets
• NPC descriptions with names
• Store and locations names
• Master stock lists with base prices of things
• Handouts that I need to give to players
• Item cards
• General module layout to easily be able to branch out from if need be
• Random encounter tables that I have made or are from the book
• Monster statblocks if they are monsters that I have come up with or altered from older editions
• I have trackers for what my players have done in the module or for quests and check them off as they go, and then add a check beside the quest if they have completed it.
• Random and generic information I might need

I hand draw all my maps, or as much as I can anyways depending on their state, and I have a poster transport thing like for office workers. I store all my maps in it and keep them safe.

 

[LordEntrails]

• Dozens of pages on my custom setting
• A bunch of old PC sheets
• Tables of names, room descriptions, tavern generators
• Hundreds of maps, maybe a few thousand
• Thousands of character portraits
• 5E WOTC source books; PHB, MM, DMG, XGtE, TCE, SCAG, DotMM, EGtW, LMOP, MPMotM, MOoT, PotA, STK, TFtYP, ToA, VGtM, WDDH, SDW, SLW, DC
• Dozens of third party books and tools
• AD&, 2E, 3E, 3,5E, 4E hundreds of sources

Yes, this does mean my binder is my laptop. I effectively went paperless in all parts of my life a decade ago. Bills, books, RPGs and pretty much everything possible is done digitally now. My laptop is so much lighter than a binder and contains so much more. Excel for random tables is so much more functional. FG is so much more capable as a campaign running tool than a sheaf of papers.
I know you all think paper/binder works just fine, and it does work just fine. But going digital allows you to do things you don't even know if possible. Why have a list of 100 names or food items or room descriptions when you can have a digital tool that can give you millions of unique detailed results with a simple click? Do you need a list of a dozen NPC personalities when a single click can generate a new detailed personality on demand?
Up your GM binder to the next level, go digital.

 

[Stormonu]

So I bought a TrapperKeeper(They're available on Amazon) to use as my binder.

I was very happy when I was able to nab one of the retro 80's versions last year at Office Depot. If it would have been red with white outlines, it would have been perfect.

 

[Meech17]

I know you all think paper/binder works just fine, and it does work just fine. But going digital allows you to do things you don't even know if possible. Why have a list of 100 names or food items or room descriptions when you can have a digital tool that can give you millions of unique detailed results with a simple click? Do you need a list of a dozen NPC personalities when a single click can generate a new detailed personality on demand?
Up your GM binder to the next level, go digital.

I do think there is some benefit to going digital. Like I mentioned in my post, I do make use of my tablet.

I really prefer my curated name list. I spent a very long time crafting it, and I'm always adding to it. It exists as an easily printable Google Sheets doc. Cure, I can generate an infinite number of names at a click, and then read through them and hope I like one, or I can turn to my list that is broken down between names for a shady character, or names for a strong character, or names for a wise character. These are all names I've already liked enough to put on the list too, so there's no duds.

Plus I feel like it adds to the magic of the game. The players are talking to the random dopey guard you just made up on the spot and ask what his name is. I can generate a list, and get a bunch of fantasy names, half of which won't actually be pronounceable, or I can grab 'Fenton' off my list which is under Masculine Mundane names. His friends call him Gumbo. (Also on my list for some reason.) It feels like that guard is a real person in my setting and not something made up on the fly.

I like the generators, and digital tools. A lot of my list comes from those. But I use those for the prep work. Then I put the prep work in my binder and that's what I use at the table. I like limiting my options because I feel like I get more out of my prep that way. If I know I have a list of 100 names, I know I have to grab one of those. If I have a generator at my finger tips I'm going to be tempted to click "Generate again", constantly throwing away the 'Good enough' in the hunt for the 'Perfect'.

I was very happy when I was able to nab one of the retro 80's versions last year at Office Depot. If it would have been red with white outlines, it would have been perfect.

I'm a little too young to have even experienced the originals. I like that this one has a snap closure though. I feel like that would be nicer than the velcro the new ones have.

 

[LordEntrails]

I really prefer my curated name list. I spent a very long time crafting it, and I'm always adding to it. It exists as an easily printable Google Sheets doc.

So you are already digital

I can generate a list, and get a bunch of fantasy names, half of which won't actually be pronounceable,

True, if you use one of the crazy online generators. But with Google Sheets or Excel you can make your own that doesn't follow crazy rules and just gives you the types of names you like, for each set or type you want.

Then I put the prep work in my binder and that's what I use at the table. I like limiting my options because I feel like I get more out of my prep that way. If I know I have a list of 100 names, I know I have to grab one of those. If I have a generator at my finger tips I'm going to be tempted to click "Generate again", constantly throwing away the 'Good enough' in the hunt for the 'Perfect'.

Now I can see and understand this. But it's not so much a problem with the tool as it is how we elect to interact with the tool. You can of course generate 100 names you like and put those in your digital file. And now you are still digital. Why print it out and kill a tree? With digital you can use (hyper)links so that you have one "page" almost like a GM Screen that has links to hundreds of resources one click away. No need to dig through a binder.

IMO, it sounds like you are close, but just can't give up that piece of paper as the final arbiter of what you use

 

[LordEntrails]

I was very happy when I was able to nab one of the retro 80's versions last year at Office Depot. If it would have been red with white outlines, it would have been perfect.

View attachment 352601

Did we all have red?

 

[Meech17]

So you are already digital

True, if you use one of the crazy online generators. But with Google Sheets or Excel you can make your own that doesn't follow crazy rules and just gives you the types of names you like, for each set or type you want.

Now I can see and understand this. But it's not so much a problem with the tool as it is how we elect to interact with the tool. You can of course generate 100 names you like and put those in your digital file. And now you are still digital. Why print it out and kill a tree? With digital you can use (hyper)links so that you have one "page" almost like a GM Screen that has links to hundreds of resources one click away. No need to dig through a binder.

IMO, it sounds like you are close, but just can't give up that piece of paper as the final arbiter of what you use

Flipping through the pages of my binder at the table also makes me feel like a wizard consulting my magical grimoire.