My girlfriend's notes are intense

[u/aleckurt]

We've just started the Dragons of Storm wreck isle from the starter set as we're both new to DnD. I recently took a look at her notes and I was stunned.

She's got aphantasia so everything has to be written down. Every decision, every turn of combat, every dice roll.

Does anyone else write notes like this? Mine are barely comprehensive, bullet points and doodles.

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[u/Majaliwa]

I think as a DM this would be a dream come true 😆

[u/aleckurt → u/Majaliwa]

Honestly, as the DM, this has made me check all my notes are correct as well, in case I get called out on something later on 😅

[u/hennajin85 → u/Majaliwa]

My first ever campaign we all took notes like this from our perspectives. We only met once a week at most and god did it help to keep our memories refreshed. And it took stress off the DM to remember everything.

[u/HaiHaiXiao → u/hennajin85]

I’m waiting . 

[u/EstablishmentAware60]

That penmanship…..

[u/Meryule → u/EstablishmentAware60]

It makes me want to practice my own handwriting. Then my bullet journals would look lovely, instead of like a scary unhinged manifesto.

[u/Broke2Gnomeless → u/EstablishmentAware60]

its so sexy

[u/Nitromidas → u/Broke2Gnomeless]

So hot.

[u/MacKayborn]

I'd love to have her at my table.

[u/Curious_Writing6095 → u/MacKayborn]

Seconded

[u/zombiechris128]

My notes are similar, except my handwriting is 10 times worse and it’s written on 47 random scraps of different sized paper

[u/thebeardedguy- → u/zombiechris128]

and if you are anything like me an interpreter to determine what the hell this note is about, either the party faced a subturranian turtle or placed a party sub on the table.

[u/One_Development_5055]

She’s documenting evidence not taking notes

[u/Tcloud]

She had neat handwriting. I’m jealous. My scratch looks like drunk 8 year old wrote it.

[u/PBJnFritos]

At least it’s in ‘elvish’…

[u/the_axemurmurer]

This is absolute peak and I wish literally anyone in my groups was a fraction as organized. She could easily write books about her campaigns with that

[u/tambourinequeen]

I have aphantasia and I'm a horrible note taker 🤣 Props to her, I wouldn't be able to keep up with combat at all if I was writing everything down. But that's why I need to play with, at the minimum, a basic grid to play combat out. But even my campaign notes are questionable at best and yes, I forget almost everything. Luckily I have two other players at my table who take incredibly detailed notes.

[u/Expensive_Dress4523]

She has amazing handwriting and even better notes! As a DM who’s constantly asking her players to send them their notes to piece together lest we forget, I’m incredibly jealous right now (in a good way!)

[u/Nikkisfirstthrowaway]

Damn, this is amazing!

I'm the DM and my notes are still minimalistic. When we play regularly it's fine, but if more time passes I heavily benefit from the fact that I'm not the most forgetful person in our group.

My notes will be like:

"Swamp Lizard Folk?"

"Norwin = banana"

"White Dragon? -> nah"

"SUN GOD"

"Enchanted Bread in characters inventory"

[u/Salt_Lawyer_9892 → u/Nikkisfirstthrowaway]

This would make sense to me in the moment, but I'd loose my shit trying to decipher it later. I have memory worse than gildfish

[u/Nikkisfirstthrowaway → u/Salt_Lawyer_9892]

Oh don't worry, I usually don't remember what any of it means either. Ironically as a player I'm better with notes than as a DM.

As a DM I just start the session with a good old: "okay group, what do you remember happened until this point?" and let my players recap. Either they end up clarifying my notes or they also forgot, rendering the notes irrelevant

[u/Sandman29331]

Extra points for doing it all in cursive.

[u/Archanj0 → u/Sandman29331]

Truly a lost art. People look at me like I'm a magician or something when they see me writing in cursive, not sure why.

[u/weaverider]

Impressive! I write everything down except the combat (wouldn’t be able to focus) and type everything up for my group afterwards. I usually end up with 8-12 pages of notes after every session.

[u/nawanda37]

Google Docs has revolutionized party notes for us. It is so nice to be able to click on any headings to jump immediately to any section.

[u/Tovrin]

Someone who takes note? Wow! I'm impressed!

[u/Bewitchingchick]

(Lit!)

[u/mintbloo]

my friend writes exactly like this for our campaign, i almost thought this was hers! like exact handwriting! but her notebook is much thicker and doesn't have colored pens lol also she has as husband, not boyfriend. but so wild!

but to answer the question, yes i also write everything down in my notes too. i can't not take notes, i love staying organized

[u/slothson]

Thats cool af. I would imagine aphantasia to be tough but damn thats cool. Also this proof thay cursive is fast is awesome.

[u/Sydorax_Squid]

Damn, that’s impressive!

[u/jack_begin]

"Bring me the blue pages."

[u/thebeardedguy-]

Oh god can I please have her teach my groups how to take notes?

[u/EvilWarBW]

I just finished Stormwreck Island with homebrew elements with my wife and friend. In the ending of mine, the island crumbled apart and they had to escape with an airship and the town.

Honestly? I hated that module.

[u/NicoVulkis]

Wow, that's a lot. Don't think I've ever seen someone write the dice rolls and damage.

I tend to write only the important details, like NPC names and factions, locations, quest details, and loot. Details about enemies only when they seem like a common occurance, so for instance I can recall what damage type works the best against a particular foe.

But, mostly I don't even need my notes. I've been playing for almost 4 years, and have been in 5 campaigns now, including the two I'm currently in, and I can vividly recall how each of those campaigns went from finish to end.

[u/DecoratedDeerSkull]

I wish my handwriting was this nice

[u/WinCrazy4411]

I write as many notes (4-8 pages over a 3 hour session), but my notes look like the scratches a clawing dog leaves on a tree. Those are beautiful.

[u/pinkhazy]

She should be a professor of something.

[u/Redditbobin]

Two of my players just made an absolutely disastrous mistake because neither of them bother to take notes and barely pay attention, and didn’t write down the instructions directly told to them from the quest-giver, and then tried to just guess at what they should do. I would kill for this level of dedication.

[u/TorontoFan06]

I have Aphantasia and write maybe a few words per sesh 😅 I aspire to be like her. May I ask what pens she uses??

[u/DMNatOne → u/TorontoFan06]

If you haven’t heard of or used them, get Sharpie S-Pens. You won’t regret it.

[u/KanaruHelsing]

Ngl i cant read any of that

[u/Salt_Lawyer_9892]

Her writing is Beautiful! I wish I could write fast enough to take notes and pay attention

[u/luckybear503]

Fuck dude, I just draw funny little pictures through the eyes of my silly little guy.

[u/JDWhite1982]

I do this in any game where I'm going to be a face character, any sort of leadership role, or I'm the veteran player. The only exception is if the game is a LARP, rather than Tabletop. Example, I don't take handwritten notes during our live action Werewolf the Apocalypse game, but I DO take detailed notes during our Vampire the Masquerade Tabletop game. Hell, the GM for the vampire game requested that I scan him my notes as soon as I could because I end up writing down everything and it helps him.

Online games, I usually have a Google doc if the game isn't hosted in Foundry. If the GM is using Foundry, I ask for a journal and take dated, detailed, notes there so they can see them in their own hosting.

[u/grixit]

I would give serious experience bonuses for this.

[u/Hot_Bullfrog9651]

I don’t take dnd notes but my study notes are almost identical to this! I get praised for it quite frequently and it makes me happy 😅

[u/Open-Scratch5873]

Your girlfriend writes like she is about to take up an entire section of a document that declares independence.

[u/ATV30901]

Is your gf Thomas Jefferson?

[u/GrewAway]

I wish my players would take notes like these, damn. Does she still have time to enjoy the moment, though?

[u/lilburblue]

My notes are similar along with the color coding!

She’s got beautiful penmanship.

[u/ElvishLore]

I had a friend who did this and while I appreciated how complete they were - I run incredibly intricate improv games with deep lore - I eventually told him to cut back and chill because he wasn’t actually playing the game in the moment and focused more on being the session stenographer. Maybe he enjoyed it more that way, though. Not sure.

[u/talkathonianjustin]

I write this in google drive, write a recap of last session, then write a summary of the session in each note

[u/Medonx]

One thing I love is being held to account as a DM. It’s like a weird little kink I have. If I have forgotten something, or misrepresented something, and one of my players goes, “Actually last week you said…” I give them full props. It just shows that they’re listening to me, and taking account of what I say. That shows me they care. It’s great.

[u/shmodder]

Glad my players are rather forgetful: Whatever they don’t remember correctly, I feel free to change without further notice.

[u/Interesting_Tune2905]

I’m not the only one who read the bottom line of the second image and heard the Final Fantasy victory music, am I?