With all due respect to my good friend Charlie's current condition, I don't like mechanics. I'm not saying I ignore the rules, or won't learn them, or don't enjoy rolling as many dice as possible when trying to damage a foe. But I also don't obsessively buy, read and/or memorize every rulebook published for a system so I can gain every mechanical benefit available to my character. In fact, I'm just as likely to forget about a helpful power or rolling those extra dice as I am to remember them. In a nod to full disclosure, this may have to do with a previous confession that my dice-rolling categorically sucks in any system. Instead, my obsession is always with the characters, the background, and the story. And what better way to chronicle a campaign than by writing it down?

For this reason, I started writing in a green steno notebook during an early campaign, where I knew I'd want to record names, places, plot points, and the like. Later on, those game notes were translated into several short stories and reports on what transpired for our party during each game session. These notes added great texture to our campaign and our gaming experience, but also reminded us of important in-game events, dates, tactics, rewards, etc. The idea of a campaign journal or gaming notebook is by no means original to me, but here are ideas about how recording your group's exploits in written form can aid any game or gamer. If you don't have one, you need one.

MEDIUM: NOT JUST A SHIRT SIZE ANYMORE!

First things first: what medium will you use to create this record of heroic history? I mentioned before that my first try was in a green steno notebook, pocket sized and easily obtainable. It's also quite prone to ripping, smudging, and getting lost, in addition to severely limiting the number of pages I could fill with all the things we'll talk about later in this post. I still have it however- and it remains one of my closely guarded possessions.

Three-ring binders are durable, hard to lose, and customizable in look and size. Of course, then you need a hole punch or plastic pages to store your writings. I've even purchased lined AND unlined bound journals from book shops and office supply stores to use for my campaign notes. They cost a bit more, but they are very easy to keep track of, keep your writing pretty well ordered, and can stand up to most punishment your average gamer can dish out.

Lastly, a laptop or tablet computer may be your medium of choice. With the ability to copy, send, find, or edit information with a few quick key strokes, lots of gamers (all of my group EXCEPT me in fact) swears by the e-reader of their choice. These devices also allow for the storage of rule books, articles, and other texts, and usually mean access to the unending information swarm that is the internet. Whatever you choose, pick something you like to look at and can easily travel with; odds are you'll be writing down a lot more now that you have a journal in which you can record it.

TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE...

Or more to the point, what to write down is the question. The list is virtually infinite: back story, mission details, spell components, equipment inventories, notes to or from other players, information from the DM, maps, clues, shopping lists, historical events, personal benchmarks, puzzling occurrences that require further scrutiny, in-character research, local lore, proper names, character relationships, social hierarchies... I could do this all day.

My original journals have character sketches, equipment details, NPC stats, rewards from our adventures, detailed maps, in-game quotes that I found amusing, future character ideas (when I was sure we were on the brink of death), questions to ask the DM when we took a break, my next feat choice when I leveled, rules queries that I was unclear on... And that's just in the pocket-sized steno notebook.

Pretty soon, I started writing stories about my characters: their origins as a hero, their take on the current adventure, what happened in between role-playing sessions. Much of that is in bound journals, as the telling of those tales required a few more pages than were available in my notebook I kept at the table. Anything I wanted to remember, or wanted my character to remember, is committed to writing.

TURN THE PAGE

At the time of this post, I've got multiple journals in operation. I have my hardcover bound journal where I record rules, names, places, and other physical information to inform my campaigns, whether I'm running them or playing in them. I've got yellow legal pads full of brainstorming and scribbles that I need to flesh out before they are game-ready.

Then there's my Campaign Bible. Everything about our game world: the original rules that govern it, the printed record of games that have transpired, the history and geography of this unique setting- are all stored in plastic pages in a 3-inch binder. The inclusion of any document into this binder makes it "canon." Any question that needs a definitive answer about the history, geography, heroes, or laws of this setting finds its answer in the pages of the Campaign Bible. The plastic pages protect everything for posterity, and make it easy to remove and copy these pages for other players/DMs should they too need to access the information.

This volume also has every character sheet I've ever filled out (as well as my players' sheets, if I'm running the game), hand-drawn maps of our campaign setting, copied pages of rule books for easy access, computer-generated character portraits, and page upon page of "canon" typed from my hand-written notes in other journals and transcribed into our game's history. Eventually, I'll compile this lore into a real bound volume to share with our group. It's almost 8 years of games, characters, and stories that we created. The games were exciting, and the characters and stories almost always memorable. It all found a voice, though, because somebody wrote it down- in one form or another. And though some of them may have been torn from pages in my journal (or journals), it is always the tale- not he who tells it.

Do you want to tell our literate users how you keep track of all the action in your games? Do you think journals- gaming or otherwise- are just for teenage girls and fans of the Cure? Do you want to share something you've written, aided by the record from your campaign diary? Let us know- these comments don't write themselves!

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