DM Tips: Keeping The Game Organized

For any campaign, keeping organized and staying organized are pivotal to creating a good campaign. Regardless of what happens during your campaign it is important to document what has happened, important people, places, and things, and even details that have been brought up from character backgrounds (provided you don't have their full backstory already). All of these things could become relevant in the future and could potentially cause plot holes if they aren't addressed properly. With any campaign, there is always a chance for a DM to have to retcon or go back on what they said based on a plot hole, but with proper organization and documentation this sort of thing can be minimized as much as possible.

There are a few different ways that I keep myself organized when I run my campaigns especially since I'm involved in a variety of campaigns. For each campaign I do my best to document anything I deem to be relevant and I try to write down plot points that I want to hit during the upcoming sessions. Between the 2 campaigns I currently DM for, I find that my methods of staying organized are quite different for one campaign, I keep a journal of what the party has done, what week they did it, and their plans for the next action so I can plan accordingly. On the other hand, my other campaign is documented and planned entirely online so I can access it from anywhere in case I have a spur of the moment idea. Both ways work equally well and really it comes down to what works best for you and your party, but here are a few things that I utilize for my campaigns that I find successful.

Google Drive

I currently utilize Google Drive for much of my planning for my large D&D group as well as for notes and encounter tracking. Google Drive offers both a word processor and a spreadsheet option that become quite valuable since they can be saved and accessed from any computer or device. I find that the word processor is great for documenting what has happened during the adventure and also works great as a place for my GM notes since I generally have my computer nearby since I use Roll20 for mapping purposes in both my campaigns. The spreadsheet is great if you want to put all the basic stat information onto one sheet and be able to track initiative, HP, AC, and more of the encounter. This could easily be done with pen and paper, but I prefer to do it this way because it also allows you to document what the party has encountered along the way.

Roll20

Early on I invested in a physical re-usable map, but I found it broke the players immersion when I had to erase the board to draw the next area. As a result, I found that using Roll20 for in-person meetings works just as well as online meetings because I can easily connect it to a TV and have the map presented to the party. Also, Roll20 offers a great set of audio tracks that help immerse the party as well. As well as these tools, there are also initiative trackers, HP trackers, and more that can be utilized to keep all the info in one place, rather than on separate pages.

Folders

It may seem like common sense to keep all the character sheets and note sheets in one place so no one comes to a session unprepared, but it does happen. In order to avoid that (and partially because my party didn't trust themselves to hold onto them) I brought along a bright red manilla folder along for the players to pick-up and drop-off their character sheets, spell lists, notes, etc. so that I hold onto them. It is easier for the person organizing the session to remember to bring all the sheets than to have every player be responsible for their own sheet (especially if you have a larger party). If you don't care for the one person holds all method, you could also get some cheap folders during back-to-school time and give them to your players so they can keep everything together and hopefully when they see it they know to grab it before a session.

Journal/Notebook

While Google Drive is an option, it does have a flaw that it does require internet access which could potentially create an issue. If you live/play in an area where the internet is unreliable, it may be best to grab a notebook and document everything by hand. While it may seem archaic in the age of technology, it is pretty nice to be able to pick it and have access to your notes instantly rather than having to wait for the swirling ring of doom to load the page. Think about this too, a journal allows you to make sketches as well so if you're really ambitious your notes could start to end up looking like the Grail Diary from Indiana Jones.


No matter what you choose to do, you want to customize it to work for you. There's a really good chance that I overlooked some really useful tools, but this is just a taste of what you can start utilizing if some organization is needed. Best thing for all of these, is that they don't have a really big cost impact. I would bet that most people have paper lying around their house and even an old folder or more that could be re-purposed, but even if you don't the cost to get them isn't much more than a dollar a piece. If you do want to keep it free though, the top 2 options are probably going to provide the best bang for your buck since they're both free.