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View Full Version : Modules, Campaign Journals - how do?



Quertus
2020-06-15, 07:42 PM
Reading back through some of my old modules, I've started considering not just running them (that's kinda what they're there for), but posting campaign journals. Except… I have no clue how to go about that. :smallconfused:

So, if anyone can point me to some good guides, or baby-step me through it, it would be appreciated.

What, if anything, do I need to change about the way that the game is played? Does it matter how long I wait between play and posting? What should (and shouldn't) I post? What questions should I be asking, that I clearly don't know enough to ask?

Also, for tenor, assume I'm utterly terrified of this concept. Pretend I'm doing it because I lost a bet. :smalleek:

Kelb_Panthera
2020-06-16, 01:15 AM
What's to tell? You run the session, you make notes of what happens during, and then you write it more completely and phrase it as entertainingly as you can afterwards.

It's more documentary than creative writing.

Style can range from something like a military after-action report to spinning a yarn by a campfire. Whatever suits you.

Basically, just do it.

Yora
2020-06-16, 03:56 AM
I write my session records so that players who missed the game or joined the group later can read up on what happened. Since I already have them, I make them public. Though I don't think anyone cares.

As a GM, I am really interested in stuff that sounds like fun ideas to make use of myself. Interesting NPCs, how the NPCs react to the players words and actions, interesting locations and original magic items. Things that show me what options there are when preparing and running an adventure.

Fizban
2020-06-20, 07:03 AM
Unless you're particularly good are remembering multi-person dialogue exchanges, you'll probably want to record the session, which could in turn require you to learn how to get a good recording. And I find it's the added dialogue exchanges that tends to separate the popular ones- much of them may in fact be fabricated, but if you're working from a logging angle rather than creative writing/dramatization, you'll need the audio to log. And working from a tape means you know you won't just forget something. In addition to any notes on your thoughts or behind the scenes stuff, write down timestamps for when cool stuff happened to make it easier to go back and find stuff.

I tried doing one when I ran Red Hand of Doom, but I ended up dropping it 'cause it was so dry. I just wrote everything I could remember that happened in as much detail as I could. Which doesn't actually make for a story. So I guess I'd say try to think of it like telling someone about what happened at DnD, except you tell all of the stories from that session instead of just the one, and you have audio/notes on the good lines people said so you don't trip over yourself doing the dialogue.

Another thing some people have done is they'll send it around to the players, so everyone can add the cool parts they remember and/or make corrections. This will obviously take a lot longer, but I would think would add a lot more confidence in the final product, if everyone actually participates.

For how long to wait between play and posting- either as soon as possible, or with an audio recording+ good combat notes/battlemap video, whenever you've got the time to sit down and do the work.