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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8241887" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Haven't read the thread (because 72 pages is far too many posts) but for my part, my session notes are for the following:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Not needing to take extra time to create a monster, scenario, or situation when the party heads in generally-expectable directions. E.g., when I know the party is heading to the Chapel of Fundamental Tacky, I can make Tacky Priests and Tacky Phlogiston Fundamentals and not waste time, and can have maps already made for the floors of the chapel, that sort of thing. Obviously this doesn't help for 100% of sessions, but it really does make a difference and my players definitely notice.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Keeping track of the relationships established between NPCs. We have a lot of named NPCs in our game, so records of past NPCs and notes of how future NPCs feel about them and vice-versa is useful for maintaining a living, breathing world. It also helps for things like cosmology; I've put a lot of work into making a cosmology that is thought-out, unique, and responsive to the players' actions. With my memory less than ideal, shall we say, keeping notes helps me remember the structure during the variable gaps between times where it comes up.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Producing consistent theme across different encounters. I have various factions that ploy, surge, recede, etc. as the world turns. Player choices can radically affect their plans, but that includes ignoring them for too long when the opportunity has arisen to do stuff about it. Being able to give a consistent feel/flavor to each faction helps make them distinct, despite all of them fighting "from the shadows" as it were and striving to control/conquer, and helps the players make informed choices (e.g. preparing for known strategies/powers associated with specific factions.)</li> </ol>I don't make hyper-detailed notes about absolutely everything. I've actually forced myself to not be hyper-ultra prepared all the time, because I know I've got a risk of locking things down too far. But having some notes, having some prep work, really is very valuable to me and my group.</blockquote>

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