TAKE NOTES | Best Method For D&D Players

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Taking notes is ESSENTIAL for keeping track of your Dungeons & Dragons campaign! Here's the best method I've found for D&D session notes and prep! ⏬ More below! ⏬
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roljui - Seasons
Bad Snacks - Puppy Love
00:00 D&D note-taking overview
01:04 Scatter plot (mind map) method
02:37 Return of the Lazy DM tips for focusing your prep
04:37 Session notes, before and after
06:27 Scatter plot note-taking demo
10:01 Summary
#dnd #dungeonsanddragons

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Опубликовано:

5 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 138

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

📜 Patreon Sample Encounter Pack: www.patreon.com/posts/36929606 🧡 Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bobworldbuilder ❤️ Subscribe on RU-vid: ru-vid.com

@towelpartypanic 3 года назад

I appreciate your content. No fluff, just thoughtful, substantive and useful information. Thanks for your hard work 👌

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Thank you! Yes I initially had a lot more of my prep time in this video, then I was like wait, “people don’t want to see ALL of this!” Haha, glad you liked this cut!

@fufu1405 3 года назад

The Lazy DM is the most important Book next to the Player Handbook. It cuts out the DMs process of starting to get into D&D and going through the process of overpreparing and then being left with their dicks out when the PCs go somewhere the DM didn't prepare. In the beginning it can be tough to go from overpreparing to preparing as minimal as possible. The notes are only there to remember the DM what the hell is going on and still have a grasp on the story while the players continue to be as chaotic as they can be. Really great book, can't recommend enough.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

That’s some high praise! And I totally agree. I used to be an extreme over prepper (and occasionally I still do) but that’s more for worldbuilding than session prep. It’s making me even more excited to do this review!

@jaysherman5933 3 года назад

For notes, I recommend Notion. In fact is what Sly Flourish uses.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Well I like the name! Haha, I’ll have to check that out

@ThomB0ne 3 года назад

@@BobWorldBuilder Notion is a great tool if virtual notebooks are your thing. It has enough formatting and design options that help me organize my notes. Sly Flourish also has a template available for a DM planning notebook if you need a starting point.

@Piqipeg 3 года назад

@@ThomB0ne only downside is the 5mb storage for the free user. Got capped really fast and don't really have the economy to be a sub. That coupled with no choice of having everything stored on your own hard-drive made. So now I use OneNote instead, as I was already subbing for the Office package, and it can do pretty much all the same things as notion, just not as pretty or easy.

@Darth_Zuko 3 года назад

Great video. Very helpful. I often find that having an actual example is so helpful to get an idea to work off.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Sweet! I’m glad my struggle to write with the new drawing pad was worth it :)

@FilmshooterOH 3 года назад

I'm a big fan of The Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. He boils prep down to the essentials.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Yeah, that book is everything I wanted it to be! Looks like we’ll probably get that full review considering we’re at ~150 likes already!

@thrasherftw 4 месяца назад

Bob! I’m a player in an icewind dale game right now, you straight jumped into that with no mention of spoilers. Haha I do like the scatter plot/flowchart style of note taking, and will be trying to incorporate it.

@freddaniel5099 3 года назад

Mystery and Wonder! These are underappreciated RPG elements in my experience as a player. So I try to focus extra creative effort on mystery and wonder when planning a session I will be running. I often lean into "horror" too, because I like that sort of thing, but not everyone responds well to this tone and as you say, it's all about the players and their characters. It would be nice to see a vid covering "the books on your gaming shelves" sometime.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Yes! That’s what those secrets are all about! And that would be a fun video, adding it to the list!

@ReignOfHazards 3 года назад

Fantastic tips, Bob! I haven’t seen this topic covered by other channels, and you really nailed it. Beneficial for both Dungeon Masters and players. I’ll be directing my players to this video and encouraging them to consider using this style of notetaking in the future. Keep up the great work!

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

It's worked wonders for my prep time and sessions! Glad you like it :)

@nickmuzekari6124 3 года назад

Dude this is awesome. Thank you so much. I look forward to using this technique for my upcoming Rime campaign. I think the scatter plot, together with a house rule where the players tell the DM what their plans are for next session will help me nail session prepping and make for a great campaign!

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Thank you! I’m glad you found this helpful- and yes, I always recommend having the players tell you their plans ahead of time!!

@beatacrochets 3 года назад

I have been struggling with note taking in-game. This is great! Thank you ❤️

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

You’re welcome! I hope it helps :D

@concerito 3 года назад

I'm still new but this super helps the visual aspect of keeping notes which perfectly fits how I remember things! Thanks for the great video ^^

@richardmbunn 3 года назад

Great video. Thanks, Bob!

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

You’re welcome! Thanks for commenting!

@brycebolick6518 3 года назад

The most organized thing I do in terms of note keeping is actually about how each session went. I create rows for each session and a simple column with each players, and write down what they did each session (and any positive or negative vibes/feedback I got from the players themselves during that session). I do this so I can keep better track of whether or not I'm giving each character and player what they want during the campaign. Good idea about the "and how does your character feel about that?" I'm gonna use that.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

That sounds like a great system!

@samchafin4623 3 года назад

Congratulations on the engagement, young man! Hopefully, you'll get to have all your friends a family at the event when it occurs.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Thank you! Haha, yeah, we've had to set back the planning, to a hopefully safer time in the future

@zozeph1212 3 года назад

I'm a player and I use Scrivener for my long-form notes. It's nice because I can add folders to sort and search easily through the documents to find a particular NPC or place. The one drawback is that it costs $50, but there is a 30-day free trial.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Thanks! Always nice to lean about a new resource!

@dndlover28 3 года назад

Love your content Bob!

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Thank you!

@cassandralittle Месяц назад

I love you and I love your channel!! Thanks for this.

@aspen_fen Год назад

I highly recommend using microsoft one note for long notes and prep, you can use it across different devices, so if you have a random idea you can jot it on your phone, and it has drawing feature so you can even do these scatter plots

@joselazo9799 2 года назад

I use One Note, introduced by my significant other. It acts like a virtual notebook and holds multiple notebooks, tabs, and pages. I use notebooks to separate my campaigns, tabs to separate cities, maps, npcs, organizations, flora fauna, story beats, and a recap tab which is similar to your notetaking, but the tab's pages are each a session with bullets highlighting important events. I use another notebook and its tabs for each individual campaign's calendar, to keep track of seasons, holidays, and days. I've even introduced custom stat blocks for homebrewed monsters and an encyclopedia to keep track of continent-wide organizations, literature, etc. I highly recommend One Note, especially if you're a DM that uses a tablet instead of piles of papers and book to keep all this information. I still do use pen and paper, but mostly for quick notetaking.

@GreyLovelady 3 года назад

Great video Bob. Will need to try that scatterplot method. I typically use the bullet point method. Having objectives first then the objectives/plot in each of those. I also set a time to associate with them to guess how long they will take.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

That’s great and definitely how I used to prep, but I like how scatter plotting/mind mapping helps keep the events of the session more open ended. Usually leads to more creative improv by the players and myself!

@HHSDaily 3 года назад

266 likes and not even 12 hours :D I would like a review video on more of Mike's works. Always looking forward to expanding the DnD library, and may buy some for my sister's collection too. Great video as always. Going to have to implement some of these tips and tricks into my home campaign with the husband.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Yeah I am floored by the response with likes because I thought that would really be a challenge! Glad you liked this one, Jaime! :)

@dukejaywalker5858 3 года назад

Thank you for adding proper subtitles. Much appreciated!

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Glad it helped! I try to do it for all my videos! (except the gameplays so far anyway)

@dukejaywalker5858 3 года назад

@@BobWorldBuilder I'm losing my hearing, so this helps a lot. I don't have to blast the volume!

@ellisonflood8531 3 года назад

How about 200 likes in 4 hours 👍

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Haha yeah I thought it was going to be a challenge! Definitely have to aim higher next time, but I’m glad I get to make a full video about that book!

@wacoglee 3 года назад

Can’t wait to try this

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Sweet! Glad you like the idea :)

@jean1107 3 года назад

There's also a Lazy Dungeon Master inspired template on Notion you can search up & use! Or make your own page out of each Lazy Dungeon Master Prep-Step, along with a Scatter Plot which can directly link to a Notes section that uses a Table of Contents organized using key words from your Scatter Plot

@LuizOMenudo 2 года назад

You remind me of a beautiful, thoughtful, kind and wholesome friend of mine. He has a Prog Rock band.

@maddym.5466 3 года назад

I use one note, since I've seem many people on the dnd reddit recommend it I think it's really good for organizing.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Nice! Friend of the channel, Anto from Icarus Games, has some solid videos about that! I’ll have to check them out again!

@darcyw156 3 года назад

OneNote is an amazing app for notes. Like many others it links over multiple platforms. The way links work in one note is very convenient.

@maddym.5466 3 года назад

@@darcyw156 there's also the feature where you can invite people to your onenote and can even communicate with them.

@darcyw156 3 года назад

@@maddym.5466 I haven't even tried that feature. That's awesome thanks.

@AnArmAndAGreg 3 года назад

Fantastic advice. I'm more of an outline guy. I outline plot points, NPCs, items, monster stats, and key notes in a journal. I also utilize sticky notes in the module as reminders and as quick secrets I can just hand to the PCs. During the adventure, I use a red pen to take notes on my outline. The whole thing is a mess, but it's worked really well. I'll try the scatterplot method for our next session to see if I like it better--Im running a DM Guild one-shot called night of fright (A Scooby Doo parody). The Pcs have to spend the night at Dinev's Rest in Caer Dineval. I replaced the antagonist with a duergar .

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Nice! And hey it sounds like you already have a system that works well for you 👍🏻 Sticky notes are definitely an underused tool!

@gojirajenkins8528 2 месяца назад

Hey Bob-O I am fresh out the slammer and back ! Love the videos and the new haircut Now I left off here and will continue from this point moving forward OGL news what the frak !? P.S.- Do not get hammered drunk and start running red lights and blow through the front of an abandoned Chi-Chi's restaurant location at 3am on a Wednesday morning You will get sent to pound you in the a** prison for a few years Just trust me man DON'T DO IT

@dam-a-dab5922 3 года назад

Thank you very much

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

You are welcome! Thanks for subscribing!

@TheGray524 3 года назад

OK, I like the scatterplot idea. It sure beats various scraps of scribbled-upon pages. I am big on improv, but I have "points" of discreet data written down to remind me of ideas/details for each location. I think I can adapt my mess to the scatterplot concept readily.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Yep, just ONE page of messy scribbles per session or two haha

@matto2971 3 года назад

Great video.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Thank you!

@RIVERSRPGChannel 3 года назад

We have a dedicated note taker for the group. Then we use those to recap before the next session. I use post it notes and my character sheet to write down things my character should know.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

That’s great! I definitely recommend having a “scribe” player or two if people want the job!

@StampinDivaUK Год назад

Great video, thanks. Can I recommend Scapple for doing digital mindmaps? It might be easier than what you were doing here, and it certainly would be more legible! Any tips on how to take notes as a player, rather than as a DM please?

@tylerking4158 3 года назад

Nice video Bob. I would also add to talk to the players about things that happened. I forgot an important npc name for one of my PC's, so I asked the player and he remind me.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Totally agree!! I made a small mention about chatting with the players between sessions. But that might deserve it’s own short video!

@notcompletelynormal 2 года назад

We have a wood elf ranger named Sariel, who is played by our DMs GF. She has a fancy magical bow that has been a whole ordeal. The mention of the players goddamn blew my mind.

@AMaio 3 года назад

I know that it's not the best method but I really love using a DokuWiki for all the preparation and post session. I can self-host it, so I don't depend on external services and I have the possibility to share specific pages with my players. I have a set of pages that I use to prepare and check during the sessions, another set of pages with all the information of what happen and even a set of pages only for me and each player where they have all their "secret" information about their characters. OneNote is also a great option that I used on the past. Great to quickly search info also. Never tried Notion but I lot of people praise it.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

That's new to me! Thanks!

@yohsephcassidy7324 3 года назад

this is a really great. i do some of these things but should keep better notes ^.^ thxz for the reminder

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Thank you! Better to keep any notes than no notes, and just try to improve where you can!

@yohsephcassidy7324 3 года назад

@@BobWorldBuilder keep putting out them videos and i won't have a choice. awesome work my dood.

@yohsephcassidy7324 3 года назад

gave this a try last night as a player, what a difference! i was running an only a few hours sleep and i think with out taking note i would have been completely lost. amazing thankz again for putting this together ^.^

@beansmalone1305 3 года назад

another great video. what editing software do you use to make your videos?

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

I use a free software called Shot Cut :)

@kyanchambers260 3 года назад

I use google docs and play on my school chromebook lol.i used to be very thorough but I've switched to mostly improv with a few notes for things I can't just remember. As for summaries, I have one of my players do it in a dedicated discord channel on our server dedicated to my campaign if he can so I know what my players took from the session. If I have to write the summary, I keep it pretty simple.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Yes! Always good to outsource note taking to players if you can! :)

@zreyon 3 года назад

As a player, I write a little diary in Google Docs that my DM has access to. That way not only can I remember what happened in the previous sessions, but my DM knows what seemed important enough to write and what didn't. Lots of note-taking program recommendations in the comments, definitely going to check some of them out.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Wow! You are great player!! I love it when players help the DM like that! :)

@zreyon 3 года назад

@@BobWorldBuilder It's something I'd love my players to do, so when I'm the player I try to help the DM as much as possible. That way the chances they keep DMing are grater

@nickmuzekari6124 3 года назад

Had to come back to watch this great video again. Love the idea of Berry Boy. Based on what you said about the wine, I'm assuming the shrub is producing poisonous berries? Did any of the PCs eat the berries or wanted to eat them? How did you handle? Also, how often do you use the scatter plot method for your sessions? I'm def more of a visual learner I think so if I can use this method for every session moving forward that would be great.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Thanks Nick! Yes, the berries are mildly toxic. Some NPCs and I think one character has tried them, and I've jsut described them as incredibly bitter. My thought is that after being fermented, they will be deadly to commoners, succumbing to the poison after a few hours. I've been using it for every session lately, and honestly I think the mood of the game as picked up with more improvised shenanigans :)

@nickmuzekari6124 3 года назад

@@BobWorldBuilder Got you, lol. Thanks for explaining!

@will64471 3 года назад

I would say world anvil is a great resource for notes and manging world stuff

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

I tried that briefly but it seemed a little complex for me

@FlautistaGhost 3 года назад

Bob, love your videos but I didn't quite got the point of the scatter plot here. Prep is something that really eat up my time but I don't understand how a scatter plot would easy things?

@nickmuzekari6124 3 года назад

Perhaps Bob will explain better but having just watched the vid I would say it is simply an overview snapshot of how you'd like the session to go down. So you put your players in there, the NPCs you want them to run into or you know they'll run into based on the plans they communicated to you last session, monsters they'll encounter or you want them to encounter, secrets and or lore you want to communicate or hint at, treasures they might find, and connecting them with lines to show relationship/story connections, etc., and this gives you basic direction for your session so you have story-grounding for your session and aren't scattered (ironically) and caught off guard. Afterwards, you edit your scatterplot based on what actually happened and then use this to write up your more detailed, long form notes for each session.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

It might not work for everyone, but like I shared at the end of the video, it took me about 15 minutes to write a recap of my previous session, 15 minutes to draw up my plot for the next one (so only 30 minutes prep), and you use that plot to take quick notes during the next session. I realized this video ended up being a little more about the prep side, but basically you jot down any NPCs, items, etc around the PC names as you play

@TheShadowwalker007 3 года назад

+1 comment of support

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Woo! Thanks for commenting

@sharktos3218 10 месяцев назад

What to do if characters leave (because it makes sense in the story) and some die and the group isn't the one you planned your great plot for

@Dreadjanof 3 года назад

If your players watch this video, doesn't it spoil your next session for them ? Or did you wait to upload this video until they played the full Moon attack to avoid this problem ?

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Lol they don’t watch my videos 😅

@ThomasPiano1 3 года назад

I watched alot of your dragon of icespire peak videos, becuase i learn much better of video/audio instead of just reading the campaign text. For that reason i think you have alot of visual learners amonst your viewers ;)

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Yeah haha, RU-vid in general probably attracts a lot of people who prefer visuals I guess

@SebastianHay 3 года назад

Have a look at obsidian.md, good at building nodes of info that build and link naturally over time

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

That sounds perfect! Thanks for the tip!

@jf649 8 месяцев назад

😂 funny to see your bush is evil. In my RotF campaign the bush (she is called Mi-Li) is super cute but only trust one of the PCs that rescued her from Ravasins grasps. Also she is very jealous and angry if not looked after this little diva.

@vanessale6389 3 года назад

Hi Bob :) Nice video you D&D influencer -Vanessa

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Haha 😅 thanks Vanessa!

@ChrisSmith-fb7gg 3 года назад

One note

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

I hear that's a great tool!

@___i3ambi126 3 года назад

Hahaha, my notes are awful. I usually ask my players to keep track of who they know, what they know, and why. I typically prepare more tools than anything else. Maybe somethings happened in town and I can figure out details as their looking. (If they go look for evidence its there, but not where they first expected. If they go confront a suspect, the culprit is there but not the person they called out. Basically any way I can sneak in a "yes, but" or a "no, but") Then i might have an encounter or stat block i plan to use which will run into them when ever it makes sense. So if I prepare a bunch of bears, maybe they'll run into them on the road. Maybe they are attacking someone on the edge of town. Maybe they're the animal opponent in a staged arena fight. Lets see where the players go. At the end of the session I'll quickly write down any major plot/character developments + where theyre heading next. This video's method may help a lot once we get into the meat of the story.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Sounds like you have a great system! I love it when players keep track of stuff on their own, and it’s great that you write down other notes immediately after the session! I used to do that, but I usually don’t have the energy :P

@shaunadomescik2069 3 года назад

First!

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Woo! Thanks for commenting!

@intrepidadventuring 3 года назад

I use legendkeeper.com . It's awesome!!

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Nice! Friend of the channel, Anto from Icarus Games, has some solid videos about that! I’ll have to check them out again!

@prtwriter4660 3 года назад

I always record.

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Ahh, I have never tried that! I feel like it would be hard to find the time to listen/watch it all back!

@prtwriter4660 3 года назад

@@BobWorldBuilder Only if i 100% forget

@maxquayle2519 3 года назад

I use excel

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

That sounds very efficient! I use excel for lots of things, but probably not enough for dnd!

@arsonhycan 2 года назад

"wow, you're a really good note taker! you must study a lot, huh?" "uh, yeahhhhhh. Study. yep." when u learn how to take uber good notes for D&D instead of school XD

@zoltanwolfe1260 3 года назад

Man you set that like goal way to low lol. That's good though!

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Haha yeah I thought it was going to be a challenge! Definitely have to aim higher next time, but I’m glad I get to make a full video about that book!

@BrendanDonnelly51395 3 года назад

300 likes in 9 hours; did we do you proud Bob?

@BrendanDonnelly51395 3 года назад

Also google docs is my favorite for note taking because I can access it from any device at anytime. I've literally jumped out of the shower to write down an idea that was too good to lose

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Haha, yeah looks like I really underestimated the excitement for that review! :)

@S41ph3r-JohnD 3 года назад

scrivener

@Poppy_AndFriends 3 года назад

Am I crazy or is there only 9 hits?

@OjoRojo40 3 года назад

WTF the notes, did you make it on purpose to make it impossible to read and understand? Thanks for the video! (try to cut the self referential adds).

@BobWorldBuilder 3 года назад

Nope! Like I said at the beginning, this was my first time writing with a drawing tablet. You're welcome for the video!

@goodyKoeln 3 года назад

Fun fact: visual learners don’t exist. Science is pretty sure about that. People (with normal brain function) learn all the same. It’s the topics. Some things are better explained via text, some with a picture or a animation. Mostly a combination is good, videos are excellent to learn something. Not a huge point but good to know that this whole thing is a myth. 😊