Writing - When do you use\not use computers?

If I'm writing my own stuff, I use almost exclusively a PC. For 3.xE D&D, there is a huge library of monsters, spells and so on available free and legal which I can drop into the text, plus output from (for example) HeroForge or another NPC building tool. Then I print the lot out and use paper copy at the table. I dislike using a laptop, I can flick through a paper copy faster and easier.

I prefer over-writing for a game session if I have time, though I can run from rough notes and cribs if needed. I'm currently running an SRII campaign and once the Johnson has given the runners a lead, they can be very much on their own and able to wing it. Their mission to do an insurance job on a listed building, for example, didn't go as I'd planned: instead of breaking in and committing arson, they dropped an unmanned drone out of the sky onto it (and managed to get exclusive footage to sell to the News-media, to boot).

The advantage of a computer over written notes is that it is easy to drop in a new section or re-organise material if things change in the edit. If, for example, I get a new idea or want to change the planned order of adventures (or if the PC's change the planned order - that's happened as well!).
 

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I responded earlier, but as I think on this, it might help if I explain my methods a bit.

I do all my composing on the computer. If I got an adventure idea today, I'd start by making a text doc for it, giving it a name and a rough description of my idea.

Later, I'd add an outline for the encounter areas (ie rooms if it is a dungeon), and list any NPCs that will appear. I can then go back day after day, pick a spot in the adventure, and flesh it out. I may make an NPC or three now, and then write up the description for their room, go back and add to the adventure hooks, drop in a trap or other barrier, get an idea for atmosphere and add notes to several rooms/areas emphasizing that mood.

If I was handwriting the same document, I'd have to write each room or area completely, with no ability to go back and make major changes that fit with the other areas. Or rewrite the whole thing on fresh paper.

AND, at any point, if my game "gets to" that adventure sooner than I expect, I've got at least a partial draft of the whole thing ready to wing from...
 



Cigarettes and Whiskey and wild, wild women? The Auld Grump, who had Kermit the Frog as a role model....

What a wonderful find! If I recall, that was the episode where Peter Sellers (one of my favorite actors to this day) explained that he had himself surgically removed.

As for me, I used to carry around a journal to write game notes in - until I got my iPad. These days I do a bit of writing in Pages, make rough drawings with Penultimate, make notes with voice annotation in Notebook, and do a bit of brain mapping with iThoughtsHD... in between reading PDFs in iBooks, chatting on IRC with LimeChat, etc
 


Brainstorming can take place just about anywhere, but riding my bike gives me one-and-a-half to two hours of mostly uninterrupted time to think about the campaign's twists and turns between the road's twists and turns.

I keep a small notebook in which I jot down ideas, then I transfer the stuff that makes the final cut to my campaign wiki, which is what I use via my laptop when I'm actually running the game.

My handouts consist of a poster-sized map of Paris and some smaller maps of the city's environs. I also have LEGO miniatures for use in tracking relative position of characters for complex encounters. The laptop and wiki combo allows me to show pictures of places and people.
 

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