Best DM Organizing Tools for Notes

[blackjack50]

Just wondering what tools others use for organization. I know index cards are popular. Does anyone use google spreadsheet/excel? Or Microsoft notebook? Binders? Just wondering. This is specifically for notation.

[Lupine]

What type of organization are your talking about?

[stoutstien]

A comp book and index cards here. I also have a custom screen that has general rule reminders.
Over the years I felt it was easier for me to run a game with less material than more.

[CapnWildefyr]

Lately I've been using a laptop. Ive written out the adventure in Libre Office Writer (basically Word) and display the headings for quick navigation. Then I have printouts for each encounter's monsters with abbreviated stats blocks and hp for each so I dont have to look up much. Lastly I preprint all the handouts. Does result in some paper shuffling but not too bad, the nav pane helps a lot.

[Sexyshoeless]

Back in my day that was what a DM screen was for! :smalltongue:

In all seriousness though, at the moment I use my iPad for everything. OneNote for all of my campaign and PC notes, the Lion's Den 5e apps for running combats and looking up stats.

I could have an app running in the back ground to do music, but haven't found one that I like yet. Typically one of my players runs music for us off of their computer.


I will sometimes have a paper notebook with me to quickly jot down notes or an index card for more complex homebrewed monsters, but generally my tablet does great for all my organization needs.

[Trustypeaches]

I use OneNote: https://imgur.com/Jkl85NO

When I play games IRL, I use Roll20 to keep track of combat.

[Demonslayer666]

For taking notes during the session I use good 'ol pencil and paper in a notebook. I also ask one of the players to take notes on major events so I can ask if I need to. Typing does not work for me for taking notes on the fly.

I prep for next session on google docs, where I write up the recap and have notes for the next session.

[Tawmis]

I use OneNote: https://imgur.com/Jkl85NO

When I play games IRL, I use Roll20 to keep track of combat.

This. Is. Incredible.

I use OneNote at work for stuff....

I ... never... thought... of using it for D&D like this... Jesus.

[Vessyra]

I"m terrible at organisation, so I just lump everything into a Microsoft word and use control f whenever I need to find something. Obviously, this isn't efficient in the middle of a game, so before every session I print out a few pages of what I need, and take those with me. I leave the laptop behind me, but keep in reach just in case I need info that isn't in my basic notes.

I also like to copy monster stats onto paper, then print them out. This is mildly useful because I can write damage, initiate and status effects right next to the monster, but is invaluable when running a multi-monster combat, as I don't have to flip between pages.

[Randomthom]

I use OneNote: https://imgur.com/Jkl85NO

When I play games IRL, I use Roll20 to keep track of combat.

Yup, OneNote here too, mine doesn't look this pretty though! Function is more my aim :)

Best DM'ing decision I ever made, started doing it as a player in online games too.

Also using encounter builder in D&D Beyond.

[Zhorn]

I use OneNote for my in depth details on plots, characters, rules and such.
For live games I'll just write down a few 3x5 index cards with listed names and 4 key words after each as general reminders, and have then clipped to my DM screen. Laptop is off to the side with the full details at the ready if I need them, but if I can I try to just use the index cards and rely on memory for the rest.

[Eriol]

I use OneNote: https://imgur.com/Jkl85NO

When I play games IRL, I use Roll20 to keep track of combat.
How do you generate their statblocks like that? I assume you have some nice templates you copy-n-paste in? Or what?

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

How do you generate their statblocks like that? I assume you have some nice templates you copy-n-paste in? Or what?

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/ is probably what you're looking for to make it look nice.

I personally record each session with a handheld recorder and then transfer important information over to one note. This is even more important since I world build on the fly a lot. If I don't record it it gets lost.

[Trustypeaches]

Yup, OneNote here too, mine doesn't look this pretty though! Function is more my aim :)
It’s pretty easy once you create a template!

But yes aesthetics and clear visual presentation are important for me, especially since I often share my OneNote notebooks with other DMs in my community as a resource.

[blackjack50]

I am glad others use one note. I use it in my office and I love it. Very easy to organize.

[bendking]

It’s pretty easy once you create a template!

But yes aesthetics and clear visual presentation are important for me, especially since I often share my OneNote notebooks with other DMs in my community as a resource.

Your notes look incredible.
Would you mind sharing them for me to use in an upcoming campaign? They would be a huge help and time saver.

[Theodoxus]

I personally record each session with a handheld recorder and then transfer important information over to one note. This is even more important since I world build on the fly a lot. If I don't record it it gets lost.

I should do this, as I also world build on the fly. Fortunately, I have one player who takes meticulous notes, so if I forget a name or place, he has it... recently I built a statue with each of the twelve gods in my pantheon being a piece (Left Hand, Torso, Right Leg, that sort of thing) all on the fly, and thank god the player wrote it all down, as it came up again 3 sessions later and I didn't have a clue where I'd placed each...

Upon the popularity, I'm going to look at OneNote - seems nifty (I never really looked at it, despite having had MS365 for years now).

The Go To platform my group uses is Slack. Which is great for sending notes in session; I can type in all the session handouts beforehand and send them to everyone, or just the people who encounter them, and pdfs. Since I'm using Homebrewery to create my 4E/5E mashup, being able to instantly share the pdfs and rules updates has been a godsend.

[EggKookoo]

It’s pretty easy once you create a template!

But yes aesthetics and clear visual presentation are important for me, especially since I often share my OneNote notebooks with other DMs in my community as a resource.

Aesthetics are important for context, too.

Looking at the online (web based) OneNote app, it looks like it has some limited functionality? Like, I don't see how to set a background image.

[Trustypeaches]

Your notes look incredible.
Would you mind sharing them for me to use in an upcoming campaign? They would be a huge help and time saver.
Sure, here is a notebook for Curse of Strahd that shows how I typically organize campaign and worldbuilding notes: https://1drv.ms/o/s!Amwll8H4UCkbg59fJK4hmdo8AklWeg

And here is a notebook for an old, incomplete, campaign of mine where you can find the templates for enemy statblocks and character pages: https://1drv.ms/o/s!Amwll8H4UCkbg4QJVZnkk0ODKq1Zuw

[Trustypeaches]

Aesthetics are important for context, too.

Looking at the online (web based) OneNote app, it looks like it has some limited functionality? Like, I don't see how to set a background image.
How to do the "Paper" Background
1. On the client-app, if you just right click the background of any page you can [Set Picture as Background]
2. Set the background to this image: https://imgur.com/ZFWO2nm
3. Go to [View -> Page Color] and set it to Yellow.


How do you generate their statblocks like that? I assume you have some nice templates you copy-n-paste in? Or what?
How to Make Enemy Statblocks
1. Start with , and make the table 1x1.
2. In the new table tab, set to White.
3. Within the table "cell", [Insert Image] to create 3-4 dividers using this image: https://imgur.com/zOsQeLN
4. Now before the first divider, [Insert Table] of a size 3x3. Go to the [Table] tab and [Hide Borders]. This will be used for the AC, HP, Speed and their values.
5. After the first divider, [Insert Table] of a size 7x2. Go to the [Table] tab and [Hide Borders]. This will be used for the stats and their modifiers.
6. Now here's the tricky part. Basically for the text I used the following formatting:


[B]Note: "Dark Red" can be found on the bottom row of the color table that opens when selecting font color. Mouseover if you're not sure. "Red" is the color right above it.

[I]Header

Header (Name): Centaur, Bold, 18px, Dark Red
Sub-header (size, creature type, alignment): Arial, Italics, 9.5px, Black

Armor, Class, HP, Speed Table

Text (Column 1): Calibri, Bold, 12px, Dark Red
Values (Column 2): Calibri, 11px, Red
Extra (Column 3): Calibri, 8px, Grey

STR, DEX, CON, and other Ability Scores

Text (First line): Calibri, Bold, 12px, Dark Red
Values (Second Line): Arial, 8px, Dark Red

Senses, Languages, Challenge, Saving Throws, etc.

Text: Arial, Bold, 9px, Dark Red
Values: Arial, 8px Red

Extra Features:

Name: Arial, Bold + Italic, 9px, Dark Red
Text (the paragraph): Arial, 9px, Black

Actions

Title: Calibri, Bold, 14px, Dark Red
Text (Bold the name): Arial, 9.5px, Black
Extra Text (Damage): Arial, 9.5px, Red


I think that should cover basically everything about how I made those. Good thing is that once you make it once, you can just copy paste it any time from there.

[EggKookoo]

(ridiculously excellent instructions)

This is first rate, thank you. It does appear I can't insert a background image on a page in the web app, but setting the background color to "tan" is good enough for me.

[Trustypeaches]

This is first rate, thank you. It does appear I can't insert a background image on a page in the web app, but setting the background color to "tan" is good enough for me.
Feel free to just copy pages from the notebooks I shared.

I’m sure that would copy over the background image.

[EggKookoo]

Feel free to just copy pages from the notebooks I shared.

I’m sure that would copy over the background image.

It looks like it lets me copy a page from your page pane, but I can't then paste it into my own. I can only copy specific stuff like text and placed images, and I can grab that background image as a file to my computer by going in through Chrome's dev tools.

No worries, this is already going to help me out quite a bit. :smallsmile: