[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":397},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-how-to-take-notes-while-dming":3,"header-how-to":332},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"slug":10,"date":11,"author":12,"tags":13,"target_keyword":19,"body":20,"_type":326,"_id":327,"_source":328,"_file":329,"_stem":330,"_extension":331},"/blog/2026-08-23-how-to-take-notes-while-dming","blog",false,"","How to Take Notes While You're DMing (Without Missing the Game)","Five approaches to DM note-taking, honestly compared, including the ones that cost you the game. Plus the three things worth writing down mid-session and everything you can safely leave until later.","how-to-take-notes-while-dming","2026-08-23","MythWeaver Team",[14,15,16,17,18],"dungeon master","note taking","session prep","D&D","TTRPG","how to take notes while dming",{"type":21,"children":22,"toc":311},"root",[23,31,36,43,48,53,58,64,75,85,95,100,106,113,123,128,134,150,155,160,166,181,186,191,197,212,217,222,228,233,238,253,258,264,276,290,295,301,306],{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":26,"children":27},"element","p",{},[28],{"type":29,"value":30},"text","The advice you usually get is \"take better notes.\" That isn't advice, it's a restatement of the problem.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":32,"children":33},{},[34],{"type":29,"value":35},"The actual problem is that running a game and recording a game compete for the same attention, and you only have one of those. Every approach below is a different answer to that conflict, and every one of them costs something. Here's what each costs.",{"type":24,"tag":37,"props":38,"children":40},"h2",{"id":39},"why-this-is-hard-specifically",[41],{"type":29,"value":42},"Why this is hard, specifically",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":44,"children":45},{},[46],{"type":29,"value":47},"While you are DMing you're holding: what the NPC in front of you wants, what the room looks like, whose turn it is, how much HP the ogre has, which player hasn't spoken in twenty minutes, and where you were hoping the evening would end up.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":49,"children":50},{},[51],{"type":29,"value":52},"Writing a sentence pushes all of that out for about eight seconds. That's why mid-session notes come out as fragments nobody can read later. It isn't carelessness. You were doing something else.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":54,"children":55},{},[56],{"type":29,"value":57},"So the goal isn't \"take more notes.\" It's to write down the minimum that can't be reconstructed afterwards, and let everything else go.",{"type":24,"tag":37,"props":59,"children":61},{"id":60},"the-three-things-worth-writing-mid-session",[62],{"type":29,"value":63},"The three things worth writing mid-session",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":65,"children":66},{},[67,73],{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":69,"children":70},"strong",{},[71],{"type":29,"value":72},"Names you invented.",{"type":29,"value":74}," The tavern keeper you named on the spot is gone forever the moment the session ends. Two words, right now. This is the highest-value note in the game and it takes a second.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":76,"children":77},{},[78,83],{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":79,"children":80},{},[81],{"type":29,"value":82},"Numbers your players will hold you to.",{"type":29,"value":84}," The price the merchant quoted, how many days the journey takes, what the reward was. Get these wrong later and you lose credibility you won't fully get back.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":86,"children":87},{},[88,93],{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":89,"children":90},{},[91],{"type":29,"value":92},"Promises.",{"type":29,"value":94}," Anything an NPC agreed to, and anything a player declared they would do. These are the threads that make a campaign feel continuous, and they are exactly what you forget.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":96,"children":97},{},[98],{"type":29,"value":99},"That's the list. Everything else can be reconstructed from those three, from the rules, or from asking your table.",{"type":24,"tag":37,"props":101,"children":103},{"id":102},"five-approaches-honestly",[104],{"type":29,"value":105},"Five approaches, honestly",{"type":24,"tag":107,"props":108,"children":110},"h3",{"id":109},"_1-writing-prose-as-you-go",[111],{"type":29,"value":112},"1. Writing prose as you go",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":114,"children":115},{},[116,121],{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":117,"children":118},{},[119],{"type":29,"value":120},"Costs:",{"type":29,"value":122}," the game. You'll miss things, players will notice, and the notes will still be incomplete.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":124,"children":125},{},[126],{"type":29,"value":127},"Worth it only if you're running something very slow and talky. In combat it isn't viable.",{"type":24,"tag":107,"props":129,"children":131},{"id":130},"_2-a-single-index-card-of-keywords",[132],{"type":29,"value":133},"2. A single index card of keywords",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":135,"children":136},{},[137,141,143,148],{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":138,"children":139},{},[140],{"type":29,"value":120},{"type":29,"value":142}," almost nothing. ",{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":144,"children":145},{},[146],{"type":29,"value":147},"Gets you:",{"type":29,"value":149}," almost enough.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":151,"children":152},{},[153],{"type":29,"value":154},"This is the best cheap answer and the one most experienced DMs land on. One card, names and numbers only, no sentences. Then you expand it within a day, while you can still remember what \"Orin, 40gp, Thursday\" meant.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":156,"children":157},{},[158],{"type":29,"value":159},"The failure mode is real though: leave it a week and the card is hieroglyphics.",{"type":24,"tag":107,"props":161,"children":163},{"id":162},"_3-give-the-job-to-a-player",[164],{"type":29,"value":165},"3. Give the job to a player",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":167,"children":168},{},[169,173,175,179],{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":170,"children":171},{},[172],{"type":29,"value":120},{"type":29,"value":174}," a bit of that player's immersion. ",{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":176,"children":177},{},[178],{"type":29,"value":147},{"type":29,"value":180}," a genuinely useful record, and often a funnier one than you'd write.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":182,"children":183},{},[184],{"type":29,"value":185},"Rotate it or fix it on whoever likes doing it. Pay them in inspiration. The recaps will be biased toward whatever that player found interesting, which is a feature: it tells you what landed.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":187,"children":188},{},[189],{"type":29,"value":190},"The failure mode is absence. If your note-taker misses a week, that week is gone.",{"type":24,"tag":107,"props":192,"children":194},{"id":193},"_4-record-the-session-write-it-up-after",[195],{"type":29,"value":196},"4. Record the session, write it up after",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":198,"children":199},{},[200,204,206,210],{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":201,"children":202},{},[203],{"type":29,"value":120},{"type":29,"value":205}," you have to ask your table, and you have to actually do the writing later. ",{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":207,"children":208},{},[209],{"type":29,"value":147},{"type":29,"value":211}," everything, in principle.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":213,"children":214},{},[215],{"type":29,"value":216},"A phone in the middle of the table gets you a recording. What it doesn't get you is a recap. Four hours of audio you never listen to isn't a record of your campaign, it's a file. Plenty of DMs have a folder of these.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":218,"children":219},{},[220],{"type":29,"value":221},"So this only works if there's a step that turns audio into something readable, and for most people that step is the one that never happens.",{"type":24,"tag":107,"props":223,"children":225},{"id":224},"_5-record-it-and-have-it-written-up-for-you",[226],{"type":29,"value":227},"5. Record it and have it written up for you",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":229,"children":230},{},[231],{"type":29,"value":232},"This is the one we build, so read this section knowing that.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":234,"children":235},{},[236],{"type":29,"value":237},"You upload the recording, and what comes back is a recap in the shape you'd have written it, a separate one for each player about what their character did, and the names of everyone your party met, logged so you can promote the ones worth keeping into real entries.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":239,"children":240},{},[241,245,247,251],{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":242,"children":243},{},[244],{"type":29,"value":120},{"type":29,"value":246}," you still have to ask your table, and you have to read and approve what comes back before your players see it. ",{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":248,"children":249},{},[250],{"type":29,"value":147},{"type":29,"value":252}," the index-card outcome without the index card, and the names you'd have forgotten.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":254,"children":255},{},[256],{"type":29,"value":257},"It isn't magic and it's worth being clear about the limits. It works on a finished session, not live. Transcription is English only right now. And a very quiet recording will get who-said-what wrong, which you then fix by hand.",{"type":24,"tag":37,"props":259,"children":261},{"id":260},"what-wed-actually-recommend",[262],{"type":29,"value":263},"What we'd actually recommend",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":265,"children":266},{},[267,269,274],{"type":29,"value":268},"If you aren't recording today, start with ",{"type":24,"tag":68,"props":270,"children":271},{},[272],{"type":29,"value":273},"the index card",{"type":29,"value":275},". It's free, it takes no setup, and it solves most of the problem. Names and numbers only, expanded within a day.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":277,"children":278},{},[279,281,288],{"type":29,"value":280},"If you already have recordings sitting in a folder, you're in the best position of anyone reading this, because the hard part is done and nobody is using it. ",{"type":24,"tag":282,"props":283,"children":285},"a",{"href":284},"/sessions",[286],{"type":29,"value":287},"Upload the last one and see what comes back",{"type":29,"value":289}," before you decide whether to change anything about how you run.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":291,"children":292},{},[293],{"type":29,"value":294},"And if your table would rather not be recorded, that's a complete answer and worth respecting. Give the job to a player instead.",{"type":24,"tag":37,"props":296,"children":298},{"id":297},"the-thing-nobody-says",[299],{"type":29,"value":300},"The thing nobody says",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":302,"children":303},{},[304],{"type":29,"value":305},"Perfect notes aren't the goal. A campaign you can still navigate in month eight is the goal, and those are different targets.",{"type":24,"tag":25,"props":307,"children":308},{},[309],{"type":29,"value":310},"The DM with scrappy half-notes every single week is in much better shape than the DM with beautiful notes that stopped in March. Whatever approach you pick, pick the one you'll still be doing in twelve weeks.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":312,"depth":312,"links":313},2,[314,315,316,324,325],{"id":39,"depth":312,"text":42},{"id":60,"depth":312,"text":63},{"id":102,"depth":312,"text":105,"children":317},[318,320,321,322,323],{"id":109,"depth":319,"text":112},3,{"id":130,"depth":319,"text":133},{"id":162,"depth":319,"text":165},{"id":193,"depth":319,"text":196},{"id":224,"depth":319,"text":227},{"id":260,"depth":312,"text":263},{"id":297,"depth":312,"text":300},"markdown","content:blog:2026-08-23-how-to-take-notes-while-dming.md","content","blog/2026-08-23-how-to-take-notes-while-dming.md","blog/2026-08-23-how-to-take-notes-while-dming","md",[333,343,351,360,367,374,382,389],{"slug":334,"title":335,"description":336,"job":337,"category":338,"order":339,"featured":340,"image":341,"readTime":7,"updated":342},"set-up-a-campaign-and-invite-players","Set up a campaign and get your players into it","How to start a campaign in MythWeaver and get the rest of your table into it, step by step.","I run a game and I want my table in here with me.","campaign",5,true,"/Images/how-to/campaign-invite.webp","2026-10-22",{"slug":344,"title":345,"description":346,"job":347,"category":338,"order":348,"featured":340,"image":349,"readTime":7,"updated":350},"build-a-character","Build a character step by step","How to build a new character in MythWeaver's character builder, from picking a game to a finished sheet.","I'm making a new character from scratch and I want the sheet to come out right without getting lost halfway.",8,"/Images/how-to/build-steps.webp","2026-10-21",{"slug":352,"title":353,"description":354,"job":355,"category":356,"order":357,"featured":340,"image":358,"readTime":7,"updated":359},"generate-an-image","Generate an image of your character","How to generate an image of your character in MythWeaver, what each go costs you, and the one control that actually changes the result.","I want an image of my character, and I want it to look like the one in my head.","art",10,"/Images/art/valdris-jorin.webp","2026-10-15",{"slug":361,"title":362,"description":363,"job":364,"category":338,"order":357,"featured":340,"image":365,"readTime":7,"updated":366},"import-a-character-sheet","Import a character sheet you already have","How to import a character sheet PDF into MythWeaver, step by step.","I already have this character on a PDF. I want it in MythWeaver without typing it all in again.","/Images/how-to/import-review.webp","2026-10-06",{"slug":368,"title":369,"description":370,"job":371,"category":372,"order":357,"featured":340,"image":373,"readTime":7,"updated":359},"recap-from-a-recording","Turn a recording you already have into a recap","Hand MythWeaver an audio file of your game and get the write-up back. What it asks you along the way, and why the roster question is the one worth answering.","I have the audio from last night's game. I want the write-up.","sessions","/Images/how-to/recap-ready.webp",{"slug":375,"title":376,"description":377,"job":378,"category":338,"order":379,"featured":340,"image":380,"readTime":7,"updated":381},"find-your-way-around-world","Find your way around World","Where the people, places and things from your sessions end up in MythWeaver, and how to keep your own notes on them.","My sessions keep turning up people and places, and I want to know where they went and how to keep my own notes beside them.",15,"/Images/how-to/world-overview.webp","2026-10-26",{"slug":383,"title":384,"description":385,"job":386,"category":372,"order":379,"featured":340,"image":387,"readTime":7,"updated":388},"recap-without-a-recording","Get a recap for a game you didn't record","Forgot to hit record? Type or paste what happened and MythWeaver writes the recap, picks out the people and places, and adds them to your campaign.","We played last night and nobody hit record. I still want the recap.","/Images/how-to/writeup-ready.webp","2026-10-25",{"slug":390,"title":391,"description":392,"job":393,"category":338,"order":394,"featured":340,"image":395,"readTime":7,"updated":396},"share-in-community","Share something you made in Community","How to put a lore entry, an NPC, a map or a whole world from your campaign in front of other DMs, and what happens once they add it.","I made something good for my table and I want other DMs to be able to use it.",20,"/brand/features/community.webp","2026-10-19",1793056731959]