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Paul
post Oct 11 2011, 03:32 PM
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Do you keep a Campaign or Adventure Log? I've started in recent years. Mine is a pretty simple format: Synopsis, Results, Karma Awarded. Maybe three paragraphs total. What about you?
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Warlordtheft
post Oct 11 2011, 03:42 PM
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I do the same. Since I play once a month it helps refresh my memory of what happened. It is also a good way to review who the group helped, hurt and possible unintended side effects (aka adventure hooks).
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Bigity
post Oct 11 2011, 06:39 PM
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We used to take turns keeping track of events (for any game, not just SR). NPC names, dates of important happenings, the fact that someone lost X piece of gear doing Y, and so on.

In some podcasts of actual play warhammer FRP they did that and awarded XP based on the job the person did, which is a neat idea I think. A solid log for a session should be worth at least a karma point.
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ravensmuse
post Oct 11 2011, 09:11 PM
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Ha! And here I was thinking it would be egotistical to start a thread just to plug this...

I just started a campaign wiki for our Tuesday night game - Ghost Stories. It's sparse only because we're only a few sessions in, and I wanted a resource for my players to go to in-between sessions.

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I picked up a good trick a little while ago. Have a player keep a log of events during each session. At the beginning of the following session, take that log from your player and begin asking your players questions about what happened. Half of the fun is everyone hearing what everyone else thought of last time's session.

In order to encourage them to speak up, I've been asking "karma, or a point of Temp Edge?". It's been working pretty good so far.
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Askani'son
post Oct 12 2011, 12:14 PM
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Funny, just having this conversation on another thread!

My campaign log is nothing special format-wise, and you may not find my way of doing things suits your own game - I just use a basic word document. I've begun by noting major canon timeline and specific character history events in the years leading up to the campaign start date - that way when a major historical event is mentioned, it's easy for me to check if it's something a character may have a childhood recollection of or whatever - adds a bit of flavour and connection.

Sections after the campaign start date are headed with a rough date - 'start of June, 2051', 'last week of Sept, 2051', etc. If the focus of that 'time frame' is on a published adventure, I'll note that too, for the purposes of reference.

Within each time frame, text is divided into titled sections or scenes, if the scene is from a published adventure I'll note that in the section title along with the scene name. Within the text I'll describe what occured, bolding important character, location or item names for ease of finding later, and italicise 'mechanical' references such as the name of spells, skills, etc. The text itself may be as detailed or sparse as I need it to be - if it IS a scene from a published adventure the section will generally just cover the published scene (unless, as it often does, things go off the rails). If it's NOT a published adventure scene (I guess what we've been referring to as 'downtime') I'll give the scene a descriptive name and the section may cover minutes, hours or days in as much or little detail as required depending on the current or potential significance of the activity being undertaken. I'll end the text when it seems like a natural break or scene change. A scene may start with, for example, 'the following day', 'that evening', which allows me to keep a check on the passage of time. Often whilst running a published adventure I'll find that published scenes end up interspersed with 'downtime' sections if the players end up going off in an unforseen direction or feel the need to fulfill other responsibilties when time allows, or whatever. I'll also include a note of any news or events that the runners have heard, which really helps add flavour.

After each section or scene I use bullet point to make GM notes for myself on the scene - things like ammo spent, gear acquired, money spent, behind-the-scenes stuff, NPC notes, rules notes, potential loose ends and ideas that occur to me during the scene.

A given time frame would usually incorporate an entire published adventure (could be a single night, a few days, a week), or a similar duration (or longer) of non-published 'downtime' activities - whether roleplayed or dialogued. The time frame usually ends with the karma award for whatever's been accomplished, and a note to that effect, after which I'll begin afresh, noting the dateline of the new time frame which may begin immediately but usually days or weeks later depending on player and game needs. This way I can also keep track of when the rent's due (lifestyle costs payable at the end of the month), and things like that.

I update the log between sessions from memory and (maybe more reliably) notes that I make during the session, and it effectively works to keep all my notes for the game in one place as well as chroncling our ingame activities as a kind of story. Next session the log acts as a great recap on events from one or more previous sessions, since I often ask for player input regarding the details (from their own notes, which I also ask them to keep), it cuts down on game-slowing arguments about money, ammo spent, gear and misremembered events. if it's in the log, then it's pretty much gospel. Also makes a big difference to the smoothness of the game and the cohesiveness of the campaign as a whole - if I'm cut short on pre-game prep time, I find it MUCH easier to run something off-the-cuff if my campaign log is up to date.

I've been running games for nearly twenty years and I can safely say that this SR game is the most satisfying I've ever run (likewise for the players, I think), thanks largely to a really simple but incredibly useful tool.
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Bigity
post Oct 12 2011, 12:59 PM
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I need more Shadowrun actual play podcasts (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) The few I've found have been...not for me.
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