Campaign Logs

[hazardchris]

I was wondering if anyone else keeps a log of sorts that Players can refer to for past events, NPCs, and so on. I'm using a wordpress blog for my next game (we're reviving our old game from 4 years ago, although one of the main three players is now in China).

Here's my Campaign log if anyone wants to take a look at it.

http://dawnofthejedi.wordpress.com/

The campaign is set in a universe where Han died on Endor and Luke didn't make it off the second Death Star. The Sith returned to the galaxy (in a way that's not dissimilar to a mix of the current Star Wars novel line and the basic plot of The Old Republic MMO) and the PCs ended up on the front lines of the war against them. We're picking up two years after the war ended and running something that I've pitched to them as "kinda like the Jedi Academy Novels."

[masque]

[Yak Face]

My group keeps a basic log. Mine actually needs it for working out some long-term game mechanics. They have a crew to manage, so at the end of each month we tally up the successes and failures they've experienced and evaluate the kinds of deeds they've done, and then roll on a chart I devised to determine the affect on the faceless NPC crew. Their morale and morality are affected by the outcome.

So, for us the development of the story requires at least a basic log. I also keep an electronic record of the adventure notes/flow info that I prepare in advance, which is helpful if we have to look back on past events.

I like your approach of using a blog for that purpose. Do your players use it?
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[mdlake]

We do; it's part of a wiki including house rules, character profiles, a quote log, and whatever else the GM or players might find useful. wikidot.com offers a free, perfectly functional if not overly sophisticated platform for such a wiki.

[Ankhanu]

I used to maintain a website for my campaigns in which I would maintain a character record, keep useful resources for reference, and maintain a game log, providing a synopsis of each gaming session in a narrative style. This basically served as a chronicle of the characters' adventures, maintaining important events for each of them along with the broad arc of the story. For one of the campaigns I'd also add a little "What we have learned this game:" quip based on some major success or failure the characters encountered; usually something humorous (or simply presented humorously) One of the, for example was something like "Transparisteel has the word 'steel' in it for a reason" following one character's brilliant idea to crash through a transparisteel window for an escape resulting in smashing into the pane and crumpling into a heap beneath the fully intact window.

Sadly, my backups have gone missing and the server that housed the site died... the game synopses are lost to the ages

[ifurin]

in one of the games i play in our GM recaps all of our games in story form and e-mails them to us. we have about 2 years of games collected now. one of the other players is compiling them into a book. several of us even started character diaries, their pretty much the same thing, recapping the games from our characters personal point of view.

[hazardchris]

[Redmenace]

We used to make a printed 1-4 page session log of each adventure. At the time it started as a 1 page recap of the last adventure to remind players of clues and leads left hanging.

Slowly we added additional detail about concurent events in the galaxy, a rebel base being wiped out, new Moff stationed after the last displeased someone higher in the Empire than themselves, etc.

The odd thing about it was that gm and players got two different things out of it. I, the gm, could keep my players on track with the game, the players really got more out of reading about their own exploits. They loved that,

[Antilles]

Hello everyone.

I'm sorry to reanimate this topic, but I find that It is the right one to ask you:
I have made a wiki/session log for my players. There they can find their character sheets, inventory, force powers the jedi knows, etc...

My question is: I have planned a section for typical and major NPCs, ships, beast... my players meet. Should I let them know the stats of NPCs, beasts, species... (for example: stormtroopers, typical bounty hunters or TIE fighters...)?

I'm thinking of letting them know these stats once they have confronted those NPCs , beasts or starships, but I'm not completely sure.

What is your opinion on this?

Thank you!!!

[FVBonura]

My players and I write a post game transcript endeavoring to put down all important details of the last game. My group reread the 407 page document to prepare for the January 2025 restart.
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[jtanzer]

As with most things in this forum, there's a simple solution. The Alexandrian talks about campaign status documents, bluebooking, and similar methods to encourage and reward player engagement with the campaign.

Sauce:
Smart Prep – Part 4: Campaign Status Documents
Ptolus: Running the Campaign – Bluebooking
https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/47451/roleplaying-games/random-gm-tip-what-were-we-doing-again
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The best villians are the ones the PCs create.

[pakman]

my group keeps a log (one of my players maintains it, and I adjust it upon occasion for clarity or accuracy).

I also provide summaries for each session, with key things the party did or learned, which I post up prior to each upcoming session (along with an image of upcoming location, or key npc etc.).


As far as a website - I have had them for three previous campaigns - with a bunch of stuff on them - 90% of the time - the players never looked at it.
So now - in my current campaign - it is not a priority with all the other things I have to do...

(the logs are in a big long word document shared with players).

As far as stats - it was rare - but I like the idea of sharing stats once the party can learn things.
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SW Fan, Gamer, Comic, Corporate nerd.
Working on massive House Rules document - pretty much a new book. Will post soon....

[garhkal]

[ThrorII]

I run a MeWe page for each of my campaigns (my co-DM also runs a page for each of his campaigns). On those pages, we schedule the next session ("Events"), we post game synopsis, upload relevant maps, files, photos, etc., and upload character sheets for storage.

So yes. Each session is memorialized in a multi paragraph synopsis that tells what the players did, who they met, what they learned or saw, how many days that session covered, and what dates that session covered (in campaigns where we track calendars).
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"The internet is a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be unnatural." - Sheev Zuckerberg

[Antilles]

Thank you everyone for your feedback!!

I take note on what you say. I think I will hide the stats of adversaries, and only show those of major defeated NPCs. For the rest, I will provide only a description, so my players could take a look in case of doubt.

Thank you, guys