How can I organize my DM notes in such a way that I have access to necessary information but not too much?
I have a lot of things I need to keep track of for a game: NPCs, monsters, the different cities in the world, the lore and history of the world...
Of course, I'm unlikely to need to know the name of the mayor of a town across the world from where my party is currently staying, but I don't know exactly what I will need; there are different establishments in each town, each with an established NPC that I have notes written down on (including reminders on details such as what accent I used).
How can I organize my DM notes in such a way that I'm not overloaded with information I don't need at the moment, such as excessive lore, while still having easy access to the lore and details that I need when it becomes necessary?
I've tried using a single document for all of my notes; 35,000+ characters later I'm realizing it's getting hard to manage and find information easily. What other methods can I use?
1 answer
This is a great application for a wiki!
Any wiki will do, but I especially recommend one in which you can offer logins for your players so that you can classify information for yourself, for the players en masse, and for each player individually.
The categorization features of a wiki are important, but not as important as good full-text search.
I like Dokuwiki myself. I put different versions of maps up for my own reference and for players. NPC lists, economic notes, geopolitical features... If you play the sort of game where players journal their accomplishments, it's a good place for them to store that.
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