Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[The One]

Hey all, I'm getting my Runepunk campaign started in anger this week, trouble is I'm not the most organised of people and for a large city based investigative game, I expect fo have a large horde of NPC's to manage.

How do people normally keep track of the details? I'm wondering if getting an address book is worthwhile for short notes (name, rp quirks), or an index card holder
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[Timon]

I used to make index cards, but I found them hard to keep organized and you then have to fish out the ones you need for a particular situation. These days I just have all my stat blocks on one sheet of paper. Make a nice bold title for each block and you have all the info you need at a glance.
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[Lord Karick]

I GM from my laptop using MS OneNote. Organising is simple and I can link and click at will. Much better than my previous paper piles.
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[VonDan]

3x5 cards worked in the old days, stats onthe front random notes on the back.

You do have to sort and lift them by hand, an odd thing in this day and age but they also will still work after the end of the worl
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[Snate56]

Actually, your address book idea sounds great!




SteveN
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[fanchergw]

Consider your address book idea snagged! Time to head to the store and buy one before I forget... What was I talking about?

Gordon

[VonDan]

A little three ring binder style address book would let you swap out and re arrange entries. I used a recipe box with my 3x5 cars
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[pulaski]

I use Org mode for emacs . I keep an entire campaign as a plain text file with sections for NPCs, scheduled events, PCs, plots, etc. I print what I need for a session (actually quick keystrokes export to html, then print) and or leave the laptop on the corner of the table for reference.

[Kevin]

Notecards and/or an address book. Never computers. Here's why:


Computers and the human brain both collate information the same way—by using "random access." Little tidbits of data are all stored in an easily accessible platform. In computers we call it a "RAM module," but in people we call it the "subconscious." Either way, the function is the same: to keep all the data you need right at your fingertips so you can work quickly and never need to reboot. And our RAM modules are always on, even when we sleep.

Now, when you write your game notes out on index cards, paperclipped to your GM screen or spread out across the table, you can recall that information with just a glance—and if it's not important at the moment, you can ignore it just as easily. That's how RAM works. You're helping your brain to work in a way that comes naturally to it.

When you use a computer, you have two problems. First, the screen is too small. This limits how much information it can present at one time, and instead of recalling your notes collectively and "at a glance" in a random-access fashion, you recall them sequentially, one or two at a time, in a linear fashion. And our brains are just not hardwired to process linearly, particularly not when it comes to creative processes like gaming/storytelling.

Now obviously you need to "task switch" to get the next tidbit off your computer—open a file or tab to a new window or something. The second problem here is that you're not just task switching your computer, you're actually task switching your brain. The creative neurons used in gaming are right-brain (as well as left-, where the rules come in), but the logical neurons that let you use a computer and search for information are all left-brain. The whole point of random access is to keep the information available so you don't have to "reboot," but that's exactly what you're doing—you're shutting down the storytelling mind so you can start up the "how to run a computer" and "Investigation roll" minds. Once you've found the game note you need, you boot back over to the other side and ask that famous question, "Where were we?"

Relying on a computer forces you to use your brain against itself. Games "assisted" by computers, in my experience, turn out really slow and crunchy and linear, without any of the heart or intrigue that make them dramatic and memorable.


(Now, if you happened to have a 42" screen and a video card with 4096 x 3144 resolution, you could easily lay out ALL your game notes in different windows at once, and still benefit from a random-access presentation. That might convert me. But right now, the technology's just not there.)
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[pulaski]

I must respectfully disagree with Kevin. I think I get where you are coming from and I agree with the need to see the big picture at a glance. That is why I use an folding outline mode such as org-mode so that I can see the big picture and with a few keystrokes from my left hand "zoom in". I really don't get what you mean by screen size. You don't read everything at once, but you do need a way to see the hierarchy. tab-tab, easy-peasy. But yes, if you do not use a folding editor then a text file would be unwieldy and too linear. But I agree with what I think Kevin is suggesting: that one should keep the most important information easily accessible and in view.

Actually, I try to print out everything I think I'll need. Not because paper is better for random access really, but because I like to keep the computer tucked way to the side of the huge table out of the way. It is there so I can have access to the notes I did not think I would need. My players always surprise me.

[Kevin]

Hey, if you've found a program that works, power to ya. All I'm saying really is that notecards etc. is like running on "native software." Adding a computer is more like running Linux on your Mac -- you can, and it might be cool, but there's a cheaper and faster and easier way that usually yields better results with less glitches.

And in context of the OP's question, I'd say the best solution is to use what you've already got. The more time you invest in setting up a filing system for your notes, the less time you have to actually play the game.
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[VonDan]

when i ran games a life time ago i made the 3x5 cards and also kept old PC sheets from past games and the NPC pages from other adventures so any time between a repice box of 3x5 cards and a peechee I had like 50 NPC and as many creatures ready to reference
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[Lord Karick]

[Kevin]

Actually, I hadn't. People keep saying that, but after 32 years of close observation, they continue proving to me they're all fundamentally the same.

What DOES change is the TRAPPINGS. But neuroscience is neuroscience. Nobody is a snowflake.
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[Lord Karick]

[Kevin]

Anyway, I know how to settle this …



To the OP, a challenge: Run your game for a month using your own hand-scrawled form of notetaking and memory cues. Then run it for another month with all your notes on your laptop.

At the end of the two months, ask your PLAYERS which series was more fun, and why. Tell them not to pull punches, they get bennies for honesty.
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[The One]

[Zadmar]

[Dr_Automaton]

I've thought about giving OneNote a shot, but now with Realm Works on the horizon (hopefully being released sooner rather than later), I'm just going to hold out and wait for Lone Wolf Development (the Hero Lab guys).

[The Angle]

OneNote is excellent in this regard. You can accomplish a similar sort of functionality with Word through proper use of headings and keeping the document map displayed in the sidebar. But OneNote does it more intuitively and flexibly. (Intuitive and flexible are not words that one casually applies to Microsoft software, but in the case of OneNote, they apply.)

Evernote is free, cloud-based software that's sort of a stripped-down version of OneNote. I've used it to create adventures on my computer, then run them anywhere from my phone or tablet.

Desktop wikis such as Wikidpad or Zim are another alternative.

Any of these can be used to organize your entire campaign, not just NPCs.

I admit, though, that I like the idea of using a cheap address book for tracking NPCs, too. But I've largely abandoned pen-and-paper notes for electronic recordkeeping because sooner or later (usually sooner in my case), the written stuff becomes completely disorganized, with everything out of alphabetical order and so cluttered with deletions and insertions that it's barely legible. Whatever downsides there might be to keeping notes electronically -- and I agree there are some -- I can keep my notes organized and searchable that way, and I can't any other.

Steve
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