Campaign Journals

[Otherworld Odd]

Hey guys, I'm a lover of writing and a lover of roleplaying games and I've recently become interested in the various campaign journals running around. I'm starting a new game and I just wanted to ask a question. How do people usually write campaign journals? From the characters point of view, from the players point of view or what? Is there a certain way that you guys like reading them?

[TheCountAlucard]

How do people usually write campaign journals?

I suggest you look up some of SilverClawShift's campaign journals. Not 'cuz they're examples of good campaign journals so much as that they're examples of awesome campaigns, but people do enjoy reading them.

From the characters point of view, from the players point of view or what?

Part of that depends on who's writing said campaign journal; a player's campaign journal is naturally going to be a lot more likely to be centered on the insights of his particular character, while if the DM/GM/ST is the one doing the writeup, it'll probably be better handled from a third-person omniscient perspective, save for the moments when you can "zoom in" on a PC who's by himself.

Is there a certain way that you guys like reading them?

If it's going to be from a PC's perspective, I'd like to be able to get into that PC's head; if I am utterly unable to see through the character's eyes, then I will not be interested, period.

If it's going to be from the DM/GM/ST's perspective, I want it to be both evocative and descriptive. I want to experience the world the PCs are interacting with, and see how their actions unfold. Providing information from "behind the screen" isn't necessary, but you do want to explain enough for us to be able to keep up.

In both of these things, what really matters is immersion.

Eh, there's more things to say, but I've got a campaign journal of my own to post before long.

[Anonomuss]

I'd suggest you take a look at Saph's two journals;
-Campaign Journal - The Red Hand of Doom!, and
-Campaign Journal - Seven Kingdoms

They're really great examples of campaign journals from the perspective of both Player and DM. They're a little more mechanially heavy than SilverClawShift's campaign journals, but I really enjoyed reading them.

[Otherworld Odd]

Awesome, thanks guys. I'll definitely go check those out. The one I'm thinking about doing would be from a player's point of view in a new Deadlands game I'm playing in. (The Devil's Tower probably). I was planning on writing it in first person and letting the readers get into my character's head too, which is why I wanted to post here asking if that was the way people generally do it or if they just write the events that happened blah blah boring stuff. But thanks! =D

[Jude_H]

I prefer to read journals from a player's perspective. Mostly because what I'm really interested in is how the game was managed, what I could steal, what I could avoid as a player. No offense meant to anybody's journals, but the collaborative fiction of a game is usually somewhat lacking.

My group keeps a log of campaign events in a shared notebook. We switch writers every session, and write the events of a session in-character. It keeps everybody on top of what's happened in the game and gives us a fun place to build up character drama, even in hack&slash games like D&D. I haven't seen anything online like that, but they're a lot of fun to read and write.

[hayabusa]

There was one short online game that I played in that I kept an in-character journal. I initially did it just for fun and to get into my character a bit more, but the GM found out about it and gave me extra XP for it.

Right now, I'm currently doing one that's about 50% backstory for a fanfiction board's yearly diary challenge.

[Otherworld Odd]

I'm thinking about writing mine like this:


Journal #1:

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This will be from my character's point of view. I haven't decided first person or third person yet. This iwll really let readers get into my character's head.

My thoughts:

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These will be from my point of view as the player and will include rulings, thoughts, and things that happen outside of the game.

What do you guys think?

[3SecondCultist]

That sounds really cool! I am actually DMing a campaign where the party just found the ancient journal of the BBEG. I actually am in the process of writing it now, but it is a first person character journal that describes his rise to power from his point of view, as well as certain plot information.

I have the wizard/genius guy deciphering it chapter by chapter. This involves a Decipher Script check, which will take a certain amount of time, but will pay off in information and experience points.

These journals are useful tools in game, as well as out.

[Lord Loss]

I'm eventually going to get around to writing a quality one myself, so far, the tips are quite useful to me as well. I'm playing in one campaign and GMing another. They are:

1) A Detective RPG... with a twist. Unbeknownst to the players (initially, that is) I've been running something akin to Call of Cthulhu wit hthe Crimes People Play ruleset. This is the most succesful campaign I've ever run so far, it's left the players quite scared and we kept gaming as we dropped each player off at their house, they were so immersed. I left each player witha cliffhanger... it was awesome. Next session might be today.

2) D&D 4e Campaign in which we fight a bunch of evil Genassi and Kobolds in cahoots with dragons. I won't spoil any more of the plot, but suffice it to say The Plot Thickens. It's really fun, but it's been on Hiatus for a while and I missed quite a few sessions.

[oxybe]

here's the one my wednesday GM is keeping for our Council of Thieves game.

the 38th entry, last wednesday, isn't up yet but it should be in the next few days.

[Morph Bark]

Most campaign journals are written from a player perspective, with also a sizeable amount of "character diaries". In fact, other than my own (Born to be Pirate Kings, found here as well as in my signature), I don't think I've ever seen one from the DM's point of view.

here's the one my wednesday GM is keeping for our Council of Thieves game.

the 38th entry, last wednesday, isn't up yet but it should be in the next few days.

38th?! Man, how long have you guys been playing on that one?

[TheCountAlucard]

In fact, other than my own, I don't think I've ever seen one from the DM's point of view...

You haven't read enough of my campaign journals.

[Morph Bark]

You haven't read enough of my campaign journals.

Guilty as charged. (To be fair, that'd be ST's point of view, no?)

[TheCountAlucard]

Guilty as charged. (To be fair, that'd be ST's point of view, no?)

Not for all of 'em. I've got a Shadowrun one, a couple of Exalted ones... admittedly, most of the rest have been from PC perspective, but still...

[oxybe]

looking at the dates of the posts, the first session was over a year ago.

note that while we try to play once a week, our sessions are rather short, about 3-4 hours, and you'll notice that there were several months where we only played on session.

it's the combat-heavy dungeon-crawly parts that drag on and cause the most waste of time for my group.

[Morghen]

I'm posting one here for a once-a-week game I'm in. It's an entirely out-of-character kind of thing and HEAVY on the descriptiveness.

I tend to ignore the in-character stuff that people post. Tell me what happened. If I want "We're lost and we cannot find the path. We will all surely die in this blighted swamp. Uh... forsooth." I'll go read a book.

Clarification: In-character descriptions of your campaign are fine and if you like them then god forbid you feel judged. They're just not my cup of tea.

[Jay R]

First ask yourself what the journal is for. If it's to keep track of all the details (as mine is) then it can't be from the point of view of a character who doesn't know them all.

Then ask yourself who it's written for. Mine will only be read by the party, so I can include in-jokes.

For instance, we were summoned back to the Old World, and tried to find a way to ignore the summons, but short of becoming outlaws, we couldn't do it. So I wrote:

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In camp, we learned that there had been a noble (royal? I’m not sure) request for Lorelei’s aid back in the Old World. We of course, immediately agreed to return, and were excited to see that a royal courier appeared one day later. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Trying to look into a small recess ten feet up (an absurdly easy climb), I rolled a Climb roll of 00. Twice. So I wrote:

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After an amazing and unbelievable display of acrobatic climbing ability, Treewalker looked into the hole where the water was coming from.

In the same episode, the paladin accused my thief Treewalker of holding out on the treasure. (No, it's not true.) She also started watching him more carefully. So I peppered the journal with comments like this:

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We heard a woman scream, and followed the sound, where we saw her lying on the ground, and saw signs of dragging. She yelled, “Save my husband!” and collapsed. She had no jewelry or gems. That is also my story, and I’m sticking to it.
...
Treewalker found 30 silver pieces with the skeleton. He said so, and it must be the truth.
...
Lorelei wouldn’t let Treewalker check out the hole for treasure. She believes that he did not do so.
...
Treewalker looked in the top again, and the rest of the party knows that he found nothing. Do we know where a pawn shop is?
...
Afterwards we searched the entire ziggurat. We found three rings, four bracelets, and a ceremonial headdress. Allegedly.
...
Treewalker searched the mage, and found his spell components. He tells the party that they included nothing but tallow, sulphur, powdered iron, coal, and phosphorescent moss.

And just to be silly, I wrote:

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Past this cave, we found a room with two sarcophaguses… umm, or is it two sarcophagi? That is, two sarcophagousses.. (Darnit.)

This room had a sarcophagus. It also had another one.

[oxybe]

the plural of sarcophagoose are sarcophageeses, btw.

[Morph Bark]

And here I thought it was sarcophajesus...

Not for all of 'em. I've got a Shadowrun one, a couple of Exalted ones... admittedly, most of the rest have been from PC perspective, but still...

Anything besides Shadowrun and Exalted? Seriously though, once I got more time, I wouldn't mind reading through some (other than your current one of course). Got links?

[TheCountAlucard]

Got links?

Of course.

This one didn't start out as a campaign journal, but eventually morphed into one.

In retrospect, this Shadowrun log proved to be pretty weird...

And here's my Exalted log, in which I play Shichirou, the Fist of Heaven...

Arch Whitman was a fun character to play...

Another Exalted log, though this time, I'm ST.

My shiny new Shadowrun journal.

Last but not least, howzabout some Green Sun Princes to finish it off?

[Otherworld Odd]

Yeah, like I said I think I'm going to do two sections. One from the PC's point of view (for me mainly and other people who like reading fantasy/fiction without knowing everything) and then one from my point of view as the player for those who would rather "go read a book."

[Morghen]

A really good in-character log.

Yes. This. A post-action summary with character flavoring is fun.

"I will die and I will never see my children again. I will never feel the sun on my face again." No, thanks.

[Morghen]

I'm an *******.

Okay, let me clarify further. This is the kind of thing I'm opposed to: Linky

I've seen too many logs/fan fiction like that and they bum me out.

[Otherworld Odd]

Yes. This. A post-action summary with character flavoring is fun.

"I will die and I will never see my children again. I will never feel the sun on my face again." No, thanks.

Well that's just emo. If my character died, I'd explain it as my characters face suddenly flies through the back of his skull mixed in with skull fragments and gray matter or something similar. >.>. You don't say stuff after you're dead.

[Lord Loss]

I like the idea of having both player POV and in-character POV segments. Also, what do you guys think of "Crime, Punishment and Cthulhu" as the title for my Detective/Call of Cthulhu campaign journal.

Also, a bit of information on the setting is nice, as well as explanation of any terms that are part of that RPG only. Not everyone knows all about the Masquerade and the Fallen and Hunters and whatnot, but people still like reading about games they're unfamilliar with, like WoD. Yes, that's aimed at you Count Alucard

[Morph Bark]

I like the idea of having both player POV and in-character POV segments. Also, what do you guys think of "Crime, Punishment and Cthulhu" as the title for my Detective/Call of Cthulhu campaign journal.

I'd go for Cult Scene Investigation: R'lyeh or Law and Sanity: Special Cthulhu Unit.

[Lord Loss]

Permission to steal one of those? Those are amazing...

(I'll include a special thanks thing in the opening post)

[Morph Bark]

Please, go ahead. It's for you that I thought them up after all!

[Lord Loss]

I tend towards a wordy style, but I'm not sure if it's too much so. I'm trying a multitude of different things before choosing. Tell me what you think of this:

File 001: It’s Never a Suicide

It had to be sunny. After a week and a half of nothing-but-storms, the sun chose today to pop up from behind the rain clouds. And Detective Moriarty hadn’t even packed shades. Constantly rearranging his fedora as he drove, blocking out the sun’s rays as best he could. An exercise in futility. They were just as blinding no matter how he wore the darn hat.

Moriarty parked his car near the apartment building, not bothering to check the address, A parking lot full of police cruisers was all the direction he needed. Making his way through the building, he quickly found the right apartment - the one with all the danger tape on the door- and flipped the officer at the door his badge before stepping into the apartment.

[Jay R]

Also, what do you guys think of "Crime, Punishment and Cthulhu" as the title for my Detective/Call of Cthulhu campaign journal.

It's certainly evocative -- Crime and Punishment, with the Elder Gods thrown in because Dostoyevsky isn't depressing or fatalistic enough.