Our Game Journal and Advice for Creating One for Your Game

"The Philosopher King" by maxprodanov (resized) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

How Our Journal Came To Be

For the entirety of my first campaign, one of the players (my boyfriend for long years) maintained a journal of in-game events so we could keep track of what happened to the characters and when. We all knew I hadn't started running on a whim and was developing a tailor-made campaign, so unique details were bound to stack up quickly. We were also pretty sure I wasn't going to stop anytime soon and we were definitely right about that. Nathan took brief notes during each session and wrote them up not long after we were done. Between sessions, we worked together to try to fill in any gaps, points of confusion, and inconsistencies (on both sides of the screen).

It was his decision to write the whole journal from his character's perspective and in his character's voice, and it ended up making all the difference. Lance was an orderly and efficient paladin and given to keeping careful track of things. There wasn't time to go in-depth with every entry but that personal touch made it even more interesting to read. The dates and events made it an invaluable tool as the months ran on, and even more so when we decided to take a break to play something else for a while. We were always able to pick up where we left off with minimal trouble because there was such an easy way to catch up.

For his efforts, Nathan got a small but steady allotment of experience points and our gratitude. The points were never enough to push him far ahead of the rest of the group but they were only fitting given his extra effort. He eventually broke it into two pieces, file-wise, and continued to print it out so we had a hard copy as we went. The journal, along with our in-game calendar, gave us the most important tactile tools we ever had. We all expressed our fondness for it at different times and I imagine that also repaid his vigilance.

It wasn't until our group broke apart that the journal took on an even deeper degree of significance. It is a record of years that we spent with friends and loved ones having fun and building experiences together that were deeply bonding and memorable. It is the result of ongoing efforts on everyone's part to make time to play no matter what else was going on, to focus on our fun and each other, and to be at our most creative. It is an artifact of our lives as much as a chronicle of imaginary adventures, and it is fair to say that it reflects much of what mattered most to us during those times.

I fully admit that for a good while I could hardly bear to look at it, just as I couldn't bring myself to think about picking up the old campaign again, not even for my beloved Niki, who kept wanting to go back. I kept the journal's files as a personal hallmark and a symbol of some of the very best gaming I've seen or done, and it never occurred to me to do otherwise. Since it always seemed like such a private, group-bound thing, however, it didn't occur to me to add it here until recently. Now I want to share it as an example of what can be done and hopefully why more groups should try it. Along with that, I would like to offer some advice based on what I've seen and heard over the years.

Game Journal Tips

To Start

Develop a Quick Note-Taking Method

Even if you have a good memory, it's easy for details from a session to get distorted or forgotten. But you don't want record-keeping to interrupt the experience of the game, either. So don't worry about grammar, spelling, or anything else while jotting things down; as long as you can follow your notes later, it's fine. Keep entries brief and focus on words you'll associate with major developments. If it's too distracting to take notes on a mobile device, write on paper and type up the entries later.

Do It Sooner Rather than Later

Trying to remember everything will get harder the further away from the session you get, so double-check everything a day or two after a session ends. It won't get easier for your DM to recall everything a long time after the fact, either, so send any questions their way as soon as you can.

Make It a Habit

If you want a truly usable journal, it will need entries regularly, even if you're only engaging in conversations and downtime. If you stop working on it, you might never pick it up again. Set up your notes alongside your character sheet when you sit down to play and you'll probably remember to include some details.

Clean Up and Expand Later

If you took notes by hand, type them up so they'll be easier to read and share. If you're busy, you can stick to bullet points and phrases instead of complete sentences, but include enough details so the rest of the group can follow it. And don't forget to double-check details with the DM, such as locations or character names.

Later On

Ask Someone to Take Over If You Need a Break

It can be tough for one player to maintain a journal through a longer campaign. If you find yourself avoiding the duty, and especially if you start to resent it, feel ask another player to take over for a week or more. A supportive DM will offer a reward for whoever is doing the work, which should make it more attractive. Nobody should be forced to maintain the group journal, but if other players in the group are willing, the duty can be rotated on a fairly regular basis.

Make It Accessible

If your group is comfortable with digital devices at the game table, you can easily copy the journal. If you'd like a nice prop to work with, however, you can print the newest entries and bind them together into a physical document. Be as fancy or as plain with font, graphics, layout, and paper as you'd like. While you can't search a print version by keyword, it will have an authenticity and presence a digital copy might not. Regardless, keep the journal where the group can get at it, like they would any other reference materials.

Maintain Multiple Copies

One of the reasons you want to type up your journal is so you can keep backup copies of it, just in case. Not only do physical papers get ruined or lost, but web sites go down and groups also gain and lose players (including ones who work on the journal). No matter how many people work on it, back it up on a regular basis and ask others to do the same. That way, you'll never lose a page of your adventure.