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How to write Session Summaries

How do you write your session summaries?

  • I don't write session summaries.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I forget all the important stuff, so I can't write summaries.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    13

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
I am one of those GMs that regularly writes session summaries for me and my players.

I think it is easier to write session summaries as a GM than as a player, because as a GM I planned a lot of the events that happened in the session and went through the most important things already vividly several times in my mind even before the session.
A player on the other hand just experiences it one time.

I appreciate it if a player writes a summary. Their point of view is important and tells me as a GM a lot of things. Also, if it is written in-character (which I definitely prefer) it adds to the world, it is usually a great read and a fantastic contribution to the story.
I usually give away additional CP / XP / Karma / or whatever your system has to offer for those players that do this little extra work.
But it doesn't mitigate my need for a GM summary.

So let's now concentrate on a session summary created by a GM.
The purpose is for me to...
  1. Keep track of what happened during the session.
  2. Keep track of names of NPCs, places, items, factions, etc.
  3. Keep track of acquired items, used items, remaining food, hit points, fatigue points, mana points, wounds, afflictions, DCs, spell durations, etc.
  4. Keep track of the timeline, dates, festivities, moon cycles, weekday, months, seasons, saintsdays, etc.
  5. Keep track of world events, rumors, clues, etc.
  6. Keep track of descriptions of NPCs, places, items, etc.
  7. Have a summary that is easy to access at a later time
  8. Have a summary that is nice to read for the GM, the players, and even for publishing or showing other GMs and interested parties
  9. Have a summary that can be used for analyzing session structures, adventure structure, campaign structure for future learning
  10. Have a summary that I can go through afterwards to take out descriptions to copy and paste to the NPC or place profiles, note that I introduced (spontaneously) new elements of the world, to which I can then add world information in other sections. E.g. I mentioned recently "dynosauric raptors in the Bitter Plains " in one of my summaries, so I created a new sheet for those and added four different kinds of those raptors, I wrote a short story about them, and made up a faction that is working with these, and then I got raptor riding nomadic elves in my world. That is a great procedure, me thinks!
  11. Motivate players to go back to the summaries to read up on the past or previous sessions, to look for clues that they may have overheard or overseen or that only become evident to them after several sessions later
  12. Also, I use it to memo for myself (in a hidden section) future loops or ideas
  13. And I make it editable by my players to add information (in their own section) for correction, missed or confused parts, but also for their ideas on what is going on, their realizations or opinions
  14. (EDIT) I write them as a reminder for my players between sessions, to excite them for the upcoming game.
  15. (EDIT) And also very important to me: They need to be exciting to read. I want the reader to somewhat relive the emotional rollercoaster that we played through. To catch the mood, so to speak. For me, for my players, and for potential other readers.
Thus, my session summaries are quite long.
What are your approaches to session summaries?
 
Last edited:

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
This is a typical and for outsiders easy to understand session summary of mine:


April 7, 2021


The party investigates the matter with the stolen foal, fights with a Kikimore hatchling and is about to be attacked by a bison.

Date: 23th day of Winterwane (Moonday, Waning Moon), 1021 NL

PCs: Edwyn Rhea

NPCs: Blue Leaf Ankhara Tribes Meredith Everbread Twilix and Lillix Ever Areas Ralwin Ever Eren Even Tess Old Buck Merwild Dusk of Amber

Places: Bitter Plains Saphire Empire Lucky Cauldron Auheim Old Auheim Silver Peaks

Other: Everbeat Kikimore Sky Grazers / Cloud Devourers


charging-bison-daniel-eskridge.jpg



Scene 1:

Rhea, the elven druid of the nomadic Blue Leaf Ankhara Tribe of the Bitter Plains, and Edwyn, the somewhat portly bard from the Sapphire Empire, awaken in the morning after a good rest in their rooms on the top floor of the Lucky Cauldron. They are awakened by a persistent barking somewhere in the village of Auheim. First they freshen up with running water from pipes on the first floor and then go to the dining room for breakfast.

Meredith Everbread, the older, stern-seeming but friendly woman with the gray topknot on her head and innkeeper of the Lucky Cauldron greets them curtly and points to breakfast she has prepared for them. Along with bread, cheese, a bit of fruit, milk and a couple of leftover meats from the night before, they notice in particular this root vegetable, which the two are unfamiliar with. Meredith calls it Everbeat, a white radish that is a bit bitter to the taste, but sliced thickly and steamed, enjoyed with parsley and honey, makes for a nourishing and delicious breakfast. Everbeat, she says, was grown by the "Little People" in this area at some point and now grows wild in some places. It would give strength and health. The Auheimers, she says, found out after they arrived that they could use the sprawling green leaves for further planting and propagation. Now it is practically the symbol dish of Auheim and would stand for the Auheimers' character: Hardy and strong and resistant. That is what one would have to be in a place like this.

Further, the two heroes see Twilix and Lillix, the two twin girls, getting ready to leave with the as-yet unnamed boy, they will later know as Areas and an adult who they see for the first time and who is later known to be their father, the farmer Ralwin. Both girls have large backpacks shouldered (just like the other two) and they are pulling a cart with all sorts of provisions. Questioned, the shy Lillix tells Rhea that they would bring lunch to the miners. The miners had already left before dawn. And since it is already late in the morning, the two would now have to leave as well in order to be at the mines in time for lunch.

After checking with Meredith to see what kind of dog it is that barks all the time, Rhea takes some meat from the table and goes to find that big mastiff that Meredith tells them to be Tess, the bison farmer's dog. Edwyn follows to keep a close eye on her adventures.



Scene 2:

On their way west through the settlement, the two are truly surprised to find it to be almost a ghost town. There are many simple wooden houses near the gate, right next to the gate the crude wooden construct of a watchtower, visible from the gate the inn with its stone foundation, in the outskirts countless tents and campsites, and further back in the fenced settlement the deeper, flatter buildings, which in contrast seem to be orderly arranged in rows and columns. Some are together in clusters, others singly. But paths are clearly discernible, some even paved. Orientation is not difficult. The large chimneys of the many low buildings are clearly visible from afar.

When Meredith had told them that she was glad that most of the citizens were mostly out of town at this time, the two had not been able to imagine what she was actually referring to. So she had explained: After Meredith and her son Eren had left today's Old Auheim in the north and moved with most of the other villagers to New Auheim, which is here, adventurers and silver prospectors had come from all corners of the world to make their fortune also. The prospect of riches lured many greedy people here. In a very short time, overpopulation and physical conflicts had arisen, factions been formed, grudges plunged deep. Most of these people were just greedy for silver, some to care for their families, others for their own ambitions, but all of them were not like the peaceful people of Auheim, she complained.

Now Rhea and Edwyn walked through the streets towards the west and they see hanging clotheslines, buckets of water or places where people have freshened up with the water, they can even smell the people living here and food, but otherwise the town is silent and empty. Except for the barking bitch in the distance.



Scene 3:

At the far west of the settlement, by a large barn on the way to Old Buck, the horse owner they have an appointment with, they find the dog. She is aggressive and barks at the barn door, scratches at the gate trying to get in, scratches her nose and sneezes because she can't seem to get rid of a smell.

Later the adventurers will realize that it's the scent of the Kikimore that makes animals aggressive and irritated.

Rhea tries to calm the big mastiff with the meat, but she succeeds only a little. Tess bites Edwyn's hand, and then Rhea finally manages to bring her under control. About 100 yards away they see Old Buck already standing in the fenced pasture by a draft horse, lashing it tightly with straps for field work. Rhea asks Edwyn to ask Old Buck briefly about Tess and the barn and then come back.

Edwyn, on the other hand, is of a more chaotic nature. He is eager to find out what it is that is upsetting Tess. So he strolls past the door and before Rhea can say anything else, he opens the large gate a crack and peers inside. It is very dark in the barn compared to outside, with only rays of light falling from above from the hayloft and the window on the load beam. Contrary to expectations, he sees no corpse of the farmer inside, but large shadows on the opposite wall, larger than cows, stirred into motion by the sudden light and barking of Tess. He sees pointed horns and hears deep mooing. He sees shiny heavy chains connected to the wall behind....

Almost in the second he perceived all this, Rhea slams the doors shut again and jams his hand in the door, the door bounces off as Edwyn squeals with pain, and Tess tries to get past the two to get inside. But Rhea is quicker: She catches Tess at her collar. Together they are finally able to quickly close the door again. Edwyn rubs his hand as he goes over to Old Buck while Rhea scowls after him.
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer

Scene 4:

Let's make it short: Edwyn doesn't come back, but engages in a longer conversation with Old Buck and beckons her over instead. Edwyn briefly tries to help the horse breeder and farmer, but fails miserably. "Never mind that," Old Buck says, "I have already been waiting for both of you." He had asked them last night to come over and help him find a solution, so he was eager to hear their thoughts. On the one hand, he wants to know where the missing foal might be, on the other hand, if it had really been caught by the Cloud Devourers, how to prevent this. He himself had not seen it, only found the frightened, injured mother, the overturned fence and the splashes of blood. From Rhea, as a "horse whisperer of the steppes", he hopes for answers.

Edwyn examines the crime scene. A four fence poles wide section of rough fence is knocked down. The ground is completely ransacked and clumps of grass are everywhere. Old Buck had driven his wagon in front of it to prevent the other horses from running away. Edwyn discovers a fifth hole that does not match the post holes though. It is somewhat triangular in shape, but also deep. He smells it and detects a somewhat rancid, sour smell, and a hint of blood. He also detects a splash of blood on the fence, an indented area that could be from a horse-sized body, and later a couple of short, pointed holes in the ground in various places.

He concludes that a Cloud Devourer had come down, swirled grass and soil with its wings, and then even landed to grab the foal. With a pointed tail it would then have pushed off again and flown away. Perhaps it would have also hurt the mother with its tail.

In the meantime Rhea communicates with the horses. She is indeed a horse whisperer, both humans realize with awe. She speaks to the wounded and weakened mother of the stolen foal. She is in deep emotional pain. That is easy to understand. But when Rhea tries to get more details from her about what happened, she is harder to understand. Nevertheless she roughly understands the circumstances as described and shown to her (from a horse's perspective). It is a bit complicated, but she understands that the mother had tried to protect the foal, but that they had been attacked. The wound on her flank, now treated, was from the attacker. Although the horse pointed to the ground several times, the adventurers were unable to interpret that accurately. In any case, the danger had come from the west, although, according to their inquiry, the Black Cloud, the Silver Peaks, and the Cloud Devourers were in the South. The imprint on the ground was then identified to be from the mother horse that was flung to the ground when the attacker stabbed.

This was an attack by a Kikimore soldier. They were fetching food, attracted by the smell of the foal's blood. They don't usually leave a burrow entrance when they dig.

The adventurers don't yet know what exactly to do about the attack, but agree to point out the cost issue to Old Buck in their later conversation with Mr. Dusk. Now, however, they ask Old Buck to accompany them to the barn, to take care of Tess so they can take a look inside. He says it is unusual that Ralwin has not let the big bisons out today and that Tess has been barking incessantly. But he has not had time for that yet. Nevertheless, he agrees to help them.



Scene 5:

Cautiously the two adventurers sneak into the barn, the bisons become aggressive as did Tess, as Rhea can hear exactly through her understanding of animals, and they try to break free. Awakened and stimulated by the light, Rhea and Edwyn now also hear a soft clacking of many feet over wood above them. Edwyn quickly and again chaotically closes the barn door so as not to let anything escape, but overlooks the fact that this completely envelops them in pitch black darkness.

At the same moment, Rhea perceives something jumping from a beam above them towards Edwyn / the entrance. In an instinctual reaction, she leaps in that direction to prevent an attack on the bard, while at the same time transforming into an eagle and using eagle eyes in the darkness to try to grab and destroy the creature - whatever it is. Her eagle eyes can indeed see better in the dark than Edwyn's eyes, which are not yet accustomed to the dark. Although she can now see the creature better - it looks to her at first like a many-footed, translucent crab the size of a small cat - she misses it with her claws. It lands on Edwyn's leg and quickly crawls up his thigh in centipede fashion, while he blindly tries to get it off, shrieking like a hysteric woman. He succeeds, but not without feeling at the last moment that at first one long tongue, then several, run over his arm, leaving a burning sensation. He warns Rhea of this crawling thing with many acid tongues and of the feathered something that still flies here (not realizing that it is Rhea), while he ducks away. At the same time he realizes that now he doesn't know at all where this centipede is and if there aren't more of them. And already he jumps to the side when he hears the flapping of wings again and starts a short encouraging song (but he also attracts something else!). The Kikimore hatchling, for that is what it is, tries to escape burrowing under the barn door, from where dog barking can still be heard. But Rhea in eagle form is faster. She grabs the little creature, crushes and pecks it in mid-air, and it falls lifeless to the ground.

Barely able to have managed this, it is only a moment later her transformation ends and Rhea falls out of the air and to the ground of the dark barn, naked and only with blue feathers in her hair. She hits the ground softly and professionally, arriving in a crouch, prepared and checking her surroundings before her equipment begins to sprout from her to renewed existence. And then the chain behind her does break from all the straining and the wild bison is free seemingly invigorated by new found courage and rage and begins to charge at her from behind. Even as her eyes widen in shock, she registers that the dog barking outside ends in a squeal and Old Buck begins to hysterically scream for help.
 

ExileInParadise

RPG Therapist
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
I like to have summaries so that I can include them in an email to everyone just before the next session as a reminder and way to hopefully make folks more excited for the upcoming gathering.
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
Yesterday night I noticed one aspect I missed above that is also very important to me:
It needs to be exciting to read. I want the reader to somewhat relive the emotional rollercoaster that we played through. To catch the mood, so to speak. For me, for my players, and for potential other readers.
 

JochenL

CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
For me, the summary needs to be concise. Everything more than two or three paragraphs is on auto-skip. One or two sentences per scene to refresh my memory.
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
I write detailed descriptions to remember how I portrayed NPCs or described places in the past. From there I pick up changes to their behavior or changes to the place to present a living world and to peek the players‘ interest. No two places feel the same in my campaigns.
 

knoppi

Well-known member
Platinum WoA
Gold WoA
Wizard of Story
Borderland Explorer
Great topic. I think my current method works quite well for me. It's by far not as detailled as @Stephan Hornick 's work but that's just style.

I'm the one writing up everything. I'd like to see players' contributions, but so far only my girlfriend helped me.

Doing the chronicles takes a lot of time and gets harder if not done immediately after the session. For the last months I used the prep also to ease this part. My preparatory notes consist of:

0. a backdrop
1. the introduction scene resulting in some sort of conflict
2. a flashback to the actual mission preparation and a list of information the characters could have retrieved in advance
3. a list of possible encounters
4. a treasure list (clues, secrets, hooks, loot, ...)
5. important places and NPCs

During the session I already modify this document by adding details or spontaneous encounters. Afterwards I can turn the backdrop in some sort of PC perspective summary, bring the encounters in the right order and make it sound more like a story. And then of course I delete everything they haven't found / encountered.

Players can read the journals on a web page I provide. It is created automatically from structured data I feed in. There is one document for each NPC and a text document for the actual session description. In a structure file I define which information belongs to which session log. This means adding information to an NPC description will also affect logs of older sessions.
Recently I set up a wiki for the players and plan to add content from there dynamically to the webpage. Maybe that increases participation in the logs.

You can have a look here: Explosion auf der Overtime (in german)
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
The characters at the bottom are new / old NPCs in that session?
 

knoppi

Well-known member
Platinum WoA
Gold WoA
Wizard of Story
Borderland Explorer
The characters at the bottom are new / old NPCs in that session?
All NPCs the players interacted with are listed there, wether they are new or old. In this particular journal entry the PCs met new NPCs. That's why they all have only one session listed in the "Dabei in" (Participating in) section.
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
This weekend I noticed that my session summaries are often structured like a 5 Room Dungeon (5RD).
In my mind, we usually play 3 to 7 scenes, each with a different focus. Some are roleplaying focus, some combat, some investigation, some chases or skill based scenes. The pacing, tension and mood usually vary strongly between these and even if the location doesn't shift, the shift to another scene is palpable.

Example from one of my last games (this time D&D):


Session 28. Garsh's Betrayal
March 20, 2022

The party negotiated with the remaining orcs and they agreed to leave them alone, alas, the berserk Freg didn't listen and attacked the party. Chomgar charged but was quickly disposed of. Roszondas immobilized Freg magically and the rest of the orcs left. As the ritual was prepared, Freg charged again and was killed by Droop. During the ritual, a demon appeared and Roszondas offered his soul instead of Morone's. As the deal was concluded, a magical darkness appeared, Garsh betrayed the party and simultaneously, the Theullai broke into the cave. And it was again Droop who drew first blood.

PCs: Awn, human monk (7) | Chomgar, minotaur barbarian (7) | Roszondas, half-elf wizard (7) | Droop, goblin rogue/ranger (6/1)
NPCs: Fah Zho, mastiff sidekick | Vaydark, orc wizard | Morone, half-orc warrior and warlock | Garsh, orc priest of Gruumsh | Mobrac, orc general of all orcs in the Eastern Fortress | Thrull, orcish warleader of the Raven Spear tribe | Shaz, orc priestess of Luthic and cave mother of the Raven Spear tribe | Luvakk, Raven Spear orc leader | Freg, Raven Spear orc berserk | Zormesk, a barb devil and collector of debts | Mephastopheles, a new godlike creature | Golag, orc wizard that controls Mobrac | Pea-Peas, a goblin girl whom Droop is in love with
Places: The caves of the Raven Spear tribe
Things: The Eye of Gruumsh, a One Eye symbol on Vaydark's skin

Theullai.jpg

Prelude: While frantically fleeing from a Theullai in the shape of a giant frost wolf, the party reached the caves of the Raven Spear orc tribe, whom they had failed to ally with before. The party planned to have their comrade Morone conduct a ritual at the tribe's shrine to transfer the One Eye symbol of the orc god Gruumsh from her friend Vaydark to the priest of Gruumsh and Vaydark's brother, Garsh.
The party knew that while they were gone there had been an emissionary to the Raven Spear clan by the orc general Mobrac whom their nemesis Golag controlled magically, and their intended ally Thrull had been seriously injured, Shaz had succeeded his leadership and was now leading the remaining orcs through the tunnels of the underdark to the orc fortress in the east to add to Mobrac's troops. Most Raven Spear orcs had already fled into the eastern tunnels, only a dozen orcs were still around collecting the last things.
As Droop had already stealthily went into the caverns to quickly procure equipment for the journey into the underdark to enter stealthily the orc fortress and kill Golag, the rest of the party decided that there was no time to discuss long with the remaining orcs. If the ritual was to be conducted, it had to be now, before the Theullai would find its way in. Thus, Roszondas and Vaydark magjcally collapsed the tunnel wall behind the party. And by this, the orc's attention was secured and Awn called out to the orcs to flee or fight with us, as a "Winter Horror" was almost upon them. Alas, he had not been very convincing.

Scene 1: As Awn called out, he had the attention of two orcs specifically: Luvakk, the troup's leader, and Freg, a berserk, from whom Droop had stolen his new Winter Boots. As soon as the party had left before, undead had attacked the camp. And among the party's companions there had been a necromancer at that time. And again, as the party had come back, they had been followed by an army of undead including giant version of those. The entrance to the caves was now blocked by a snow lavine, but the party had found a way in after all. The orcs didn't trust the party. They had no reason to. So, it was a stalemate between Awn and Roszondas on the one hand, and Luvakk on the other hand. It took valuable minutes to explain to them, what was coming and whose side the party was on. As explanations and deception failed, Awn tried to intimidate them. But even as Roszondas tried to assist in intimidating the orcs, the presense of one of those hated elves didn't make it better. This only made them all the more mad at the party. Before blood could be drawn, Garsh pitched in - for the first time since he travelled with the party. His word was enough for Luvakk to agree to not fight. He called out to his people to quickly grab the last things and flee before that "Winter Horror" would be upon them.
Roleplaying scene | Tense | Awn, Roszondas (Room 1 - Entry)
The past actions of the party were shown/remembered (great beginning!) and bore fruit or rather the opposite (due to failed skill rolls).

Scene 2: As the rest of the orcs retreated, Freg the Flesh-Ripper didn't think so. Freg rushed forward to attack the party's elven wizard Roszondas. Before Roszondas could even react, Chomgar stormed forward to meet the berserk head on, protecting the party with his own strength and bulk. Freg's axe hissed through the air, but missed, Chomgar grappled Freg and wanted to push him to the ground and end this conflict without blood, but the orc was too nimble and strong. With the better footing, he lodged himself free and shouldered Chomgar further. Chomgar tried to spear the orc with his mighty horns, but Freg deflected the horns with his axe. As Chomgar stumbled, Freg brought down his axe and felled the party's mightiest warrior with one stroke.
Combat scene | Shocking | Chomgar (Room 2 - Challenge)
Chomgar was already wounded by the previous fights, but protected the party with his life. Everyone thought he would succeed, and it was his limelight, but due to bad rolls, he failed. A shock for the rest of the party!

Scene 3: Still surrounded by over a dozen orcs, Droop had held back as his arch enemy (the original owner of his new boots) Freg had stormed past his hiding place. From the shadows of an orcish stall, he was aiming with his crossbow at Freg as soon as Freg had appeared. But he did not dare to shoot. Even as Freg felled his companion, he still hesitated, fearing to be detected and killed by the other orcs. As Freg lifted his axe again to finish his bloody business, it was Roszondas who intervened with unintelligable magic words rolling from his tongue summoning magic powers that none of the others could even comprehend. With a strong grip into the air, and a slight crunshing sound, he suddenly had Freg's body under his control, holding him in place, not even able to move his head. In a booming voice he repeated his threat: "Do not stand in our way. Or else you will feel our might and we will crush you!" The other orcs saw their lack of power and under Luvakk's order left for the tunnels, leaving Freg behind.
Roleplaying scene | Inner monologue vs. breath-taking magic | Droop, Roszondas (Room 2.5 - A turn of events)
It was nice to give a short limelight on the thoughts and actions of the other party members in that moment, even though it was in the middle of combat. The typical goblin fear was in stark contrast to the almighty power that their elf wielded. Also, a roleplayed threat cut the combat short in a matter of seconds and made for a powerful and quick shift to another scene, which put the total limelight on our wizard.
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
Scene 4: Believing the fight to be over the other party members took care of Chomgar, brought him away from the paralyzed Freg, healing him and moving towards the ritual circle. This is when Roszondas dropped the spell. Freg was still crazy with rage though, and Droop noticed that from his hiding place nearby. So as Freg charged again to attack the party and the rest of the orcs were finally gone, Droop let his crossbow bolt fly and hit Freg into the back of his neck. A shot that would have killed any good prey. But Freg's tight berserk muscles protected him from the worst. Looking madly around for his new enemy, he bellowed with rage for not seeing anybody. Before he could charge at one of the others again though, who were already beginning the ritual preparations (and who noticed aghast the many bloody leftovers of elven sacrifices there), Awn and Fah Zho rushed forward, hurling themselves into a deadly melee with the orc berserk.
Droop waited for the right time. And then it came. As Freg was fighting his companions with his back to the stall wall, Droop quietly pulled out his new magic sword and with a quick jab pushed it right between the cracks of the wall and into the orcs kidneys. With a surprised look Freg dropped to the ground. Dying. The last thing he saw was the smirking grin on Droop's face as he said: "Now they are my boots!"
Investigation scene & combat scene | Horror & cruelty | Chomgar, Roszondas & Awn, Droop (Room 3 - Setback)
It was a back and forth between horrid descriptions of the orc's cruelties at the ritual circle for Chomgar and Roszondas, and quick combat moves of Awn and Fah Zho backing the berserk to a wall to not get flanked. Again, it was cut short by one action alone: Tactically devised (and not discussed beforehand) a killing stroke and a cruel roleplaying comment by the goblin rogue ended this conflict and this scene. Also, it depicted nicely that this killing was only about the boots for the goblin. The human monk looked aghast for a moment, still breathing heavily and he didn't know what to say or if he even should.

Scene 5: As Droop searched the rest of the cavern, took a tusk as a trinket and loot from the still warm body, Morone began the ritual. She was herself surprised as a barb devil appeared out of thin air to fulfill the task in her master's stead. The party spoke to it about the coming bargain, suspicious about what was going on. It called itself Zormesk, the collector of debts. It said to Morone: "I will perform your request, but your patron already paid. You don't need to." This surprised all of the attending party members. It took a while to find out that her patron had already paid the barb devil's master Mephastopheles by agreeing to relinquish Morone herself to him. Aghast, Roszondas tried time and again to bring the devil to agree to another deal. Finally, they agreed to the transfer of the One Eye symbol, knowledge about the Tomb of Infinite Planes and an imp for Roszondas against the delivery of Golag's soul. As collateral Roszondas agreed to give his own elven soul until Golag's soul is delivered. And then the gruesome ritual began, and Vaydark screamed as the devil slowly cut away Vaydark's skin around the One Eye symbol on his chest.
Roleplaying & investigation scene | Careful and a lot about relationships | Roszondas (Room 4 - Climax)
Their wizard (and its player) were playing nicely. It was their element. And the player had the chance to fulfill his PC's earnest desire to find out about the Tomb of Infinite Planes, while saving his new apprentice. The price was steep and it was a risky negotiation, but the wizard was on par with the plot and the devil's deviousness.

Scene 6: As the cave shook and it became suddenly colder, a darkness spell flared up. Morone, who had just picked up Vaydark's skin with Grumsh's eye on it, tensed and collapsed besides Vaydark. The tiny imp with a strange (italian) accent appeared besides Roszondas and a few of the party saw how Garsh took the skin from Morone and vanished. There was loud hectic calling in the darkness as the events took up speed: Roszondas: "Get together!" Chomgar feeling the Theullai's magic flare up at the other end of the room, threw a spear but even after connecting with it, it dropped down without effect: "It's the way we came in!" he called. Awn who had seen the betrayal first hand followed Fah Zho's nose to detect the invisible Garsh calling: "Garsh has the skin!"
Action scene | Rash and thrilling | Roszondas, Chomgar, Awn (Room 5 - Revelation)
The magic darkness was a great set of CombatScape. It was a major disadvantage. Simultaneously, we had never even seen the Theullai, only heard horrid stories about it and its powerful might (which were clearly shown when the warrior's spear didn't even make an effect). We had only heard it follow us. And now it had arrived and now one knew from where and the coldness flooded us with damage (all but the goblin with the stolen Winter Boots). It was there and we imagined a huge horrid thing. It was a great orchestration! The hektik was tangible and the GM also created several Combat Missions simultaneously: (a) survive, (b) protect the NPCs who can't protect themselves, (c) catch the betrayer before he can flee, and (d) retrieve the magical artifact of Gruumsh's One Eye Skin.

Ending: Droop hadn't really understood the situation. He was confused by that strange barbed "troll" that had suddenly appeared, and when the magical darkness appeared all around them, he was convinced that Roszondas was the origin thereof. So he just followed the instructions of the others, believing this "their plan". As some of the others had already realized that Garsh had betrayed them, created magical darkness and was fleeing with the Eye of Gruumsh, while the Theullai broke into the room, Droop was believing that he was to flee with the others and to follow Garsh to the tunnel they had come from. But as he quickly moved along the cave walls it got colder and colder, even in his magical Winter Boots. The hairs on his ears bristled as he felt the Theullai's presence in front of him. He instinctively ducked away below an invisible attack, screamed and blindly slashed forward himself. His (still unnamed) magic sword connected and the creature screamed in a shrill tone (11hp). And as Droop frantically slashes at the invisible (but not unhearable) frost wolf ghost monster, he screams and warns his companions: "It'z here! Tha "frost wolf" iz right here!" But what he thinks is: Why me??! Why do goblins always tend to fall first??!
Meanwhile, Fah Zho still sniffs for Garsh, Morone is petrified, Vaydark incapacitated, and Awn stands protectively before them. And as the Theullai screams in that shrill sound that echoes from the dark cavern walls, Awn, Chomgar and Fah Zho feel an insanity well up deep inside them. (Awn, Chomgar and Fah Zho need to roll for insanity at the end of each turn)
Roleplaying & combat scene | Dangerous and heroic | Droop (Room 4b - Secondary climax)
The staging of the beginning of the next session is wonderful. There he stands, the small goblin heroically protecting the entrance of the caves, although it would be the least of what he would have intended to do. A cliffhanger orchestrated spectacularly. And it will lead to a thrilling combat the next session, in which the sword will be named and the goblin will become a hero in his own mind even cutting of a trinket for his goblin love Pea-Peas, before Chomgar and Awn wrestle the frost horror out of the darkness and Roszondas shows great insight and manages to contact the Theullai's master to negotiate with. And they even catch Garsh during all that chaos!
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
@John B : I hope you did not mind that I posted a slightly amended version of my last session summaries here and commented on the session structure and what went great last time and what effect it had (at least on me).
 

Gedece

Active member
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
I write summaries but far less detailed. Mine aren't about making a chronicle, but about helping players remember what happened. I don't write them only for my own adventures. I also write them for other GMs in non episodic adventures or when a session ends mid-adventure. Luckily we have a group with several GMs of different games.

In case anybody's wondering:
* I am currently GMing Fate and PBTA (Masks), and planning a Dungeon World one.
* Other GM likes to use a little modified DR Who RPG.
* Other GM uses AD&D 2nd edition, an almost rules free game and a spanish game called Rápido y Fácil (Quick and Easy)

Of course, there's variety in the game systems and styles, but what's important for us is that it lets us create the characters and stories we want.
 

mysterycycle

Member
Gold WoA
As much as I would like to write up what is essentially a novelization-style recap of the session for my players, I simply don’t have the time (and my ADHD makes it harder to be a good steward of the time I do have). Much of the time I end up waiting until the last minute to type something up (usually in the first ten minutes of our next session start!), and it’s a bare-bones summary to jog everyone’s memory.

Now that I’ve been using Campaign-Logger to record session events (with the simple template Johnn provided), it’s been a lot easier, and the maximum word count helps me to be concise while also linking important NPCs, items, plotlines, etc. that came up to my game wiki.

So these days I can provide a summary with enough time for my players to read them at their leisure, as well as award them their session XP. I still prefer brevity when possible, though, because I tend to spend a ridiculous amount of time on game prep and worldbuilding stuff.
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
It‘s great to hear that you are able make CL work for you in that way! How exactly does it look like? How and when do you find time to note things down during the session and what do you write down (I would love a specific example, if you could).
And you are totally right, we should differentiate here. I do not just summarize, I novelize. So it is brief summary vs. briefest summary vs. novelized summary so far.
 

mysterycycle

Member
Gold WoA
Here's the template I've been using for my CL Log entries:

Title: [Module Code] [Session # for this Module] [Session Title]
Ordering: [Session #]

Session #: [Module Code + Session #]
Real World Session Date:
[mm/dd/yyyy]
Who's Coming: [Player names]
In-Game Calendar Start: %mm/dd/yyyy 0000 Starday Sunday Moonday Godsday Waterday Earthday Freeday ## Needfest Fireseek Readying Coldeven Growfest Planting Flocktime Wealsun Richfest Reaping Goodmonth Harvester Brewfest Patchwall Ready'reat Sunsebb 576CY

[I enter in the in-game date and the in-game time in military hours (24 hour clock) that the session starts at, and then delete all of the listed day and month names except for the ones I need, for the sake of efficiency]

Log: [Session events]

Threads: [Plots that are touched on or developed in this session]
News OOC: [Anything significant going on with the players in real life]
News IC: [Anything significant going on in the game world that was mentioned or touched upon]

[Suffix: The in-game calendar date and time when the session ended; this will usually be the start date/time for the next session]



Here's an example of an actual log from my campaign, from our last session:

Title: YL2 XLI: Ghosts of the Past Created on: 2022-03-31, Updated on: 2022-03-31, Ordering: 41

Session #:
YL2-41

Real World Session Date: 03/30/2022

Who's Coming: Anna, Dan, Dave, Mike, Rob

In-Game Calendar Start: %08/27/0076 0430 Earthday 27 Wealsun 76CY

Log: Descending into the catacombs of #Witchlight Peak in search of #trolls, the @PCs carry !oil and !torches to place along the way as they go, for use in troll-fighting. They are guided by @Knight-Serjeant Coylann who lights torches as they go, leading from the rear so as not to disrupt @Tanver Deepwander's ~darkvision.

The group sees a #ghost of the ^Knights Of The March standing at the end of a corridor and @Ureyu O-Te-Hau decides to approach, along with @Yhendorn Xilmaer and @Tanver Deepwander. The ghost possesses Ureyu and grabs Yhendorn; @Mars Donner casts a ~sleep spell which knocks out Ureyu, but before he falls he whispers "Treachery!" Upon awakening, he is able to inform the others of what he witnessed as the ghost possessed him, and the spirit's fears that doom awaited his fellow Knights - and anger at being betrayed from within. Coylann, filled with fear, claimed it must be the trolls, but under @Lane's intimidation, he broke and confessed: he was leading them to a secret exit where assassins working for @Phenglei Kai awaited entry; they would let him leave if he let them in. The son of a proud noble house, he felt exiled in this place and wished to leave the Order; their pay would cover his traveling expenses until he left the #Jotens.

The PCs decided to go get @Urgrim Ringhammer; Mars told him what had happened, and they expressed their concern that Phenglei Kai himself might be at the door. Urgrim promised to fetch knights to go into the catacombs but asked if they would perform reconnaissance and learn how many the assassins were and if the warlock was among them. They agreed.

Threads: *Flan Warlock, *Gold Dragon, *Chronomancy

News OOC: Dave was traveling from Ohio to Pennsylvania, but was available. Mike was also available to play. Next week Thursday looks best; waiting for Dave's input.

News IC: No sign of the Warlock's army yet this morning, but assassins lay in wait. The story of trolls was a lie concocted by Coylann.

0600 Earthday 27 Wealsun 76CY



Usually what I do is copy/paste the template into a new Log entry before we start playing our session. Since we play over Discord and Roll20, during actual gameplay I'm far too busy switching between Roll20, Discord, file folders, PDF reader, Photoshop (for making game tokens and NPC portraits on the fly), OneNote, and Fantasy-Calendar.com to do much note-taking. Any notes I do take are usually just names or briefly-jotted sentence fragments I type into a Notepad doc I saved specifically for game notes (the same doc contains all of the YouTube links I use for background music and ambient sound, which is not great organizationally but reduces the number of docs I have to switch between).

Once the session is over, ideally I'll go straight to my CL Log page and type up the basics of what I remember happening during the game, using my Notepad notes to add details. My tendency is to get verbose and narrative, so I'm trying to develop a discipline for keeping the synopses relatively brief.

Once that's done, I'll post an official synopsis of the session for the players on Tavern-Keeper.com, where I have all of our player-facing campaign information right now (house rules, important world details, PCs and NPCs, and session summaries), and award experience points.

(I'm moving my game information from OneNote to Campaign-Logger, since I've recently had persistent technical issues with OneNote despite using it for years without any difficulties. I'd really like to move away from Tavern-Keeper for our player-facing website since it's temperamental and has been orphaned by its creators for a while. I've been looking at Campaign-Logger and Kanka.io as possibilities since I don't currently have the money to get a World Anvil account. But that's a tangent for another time...)
 

Stephan Hornick

Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
Thank you very much for sharing.
All GMs are different and like different approaches. Personally, for me it is hard to grasp what is really going on with these notes, but I think you as a GM and your players will have a clear grasp of what was going on. You know all the NPCs and PCs etc. and have lived through the experience.
It seems nicely done for the purpose.

My intention with the novelizations is to capture the mood and make it understandable even for outsiders. As said, different approach.

Now, I notice that you said that you don't have time to write down much information during gameplay. I assume it is because you need to switch between programs all the time. This sounds stressful. I don't do this, but I did in the past. Maybe it is helpful to you if you tried a different approach to reduce your stress during the session. E.g. I put down a pen and some sheets of paper at the beginning of every session, writing down ingame date, outgame date, session number and session title right before the session. I don't need to write down the players are they are consistent. And then, I write down things that the PCs tell about themselves, about their fears, their hopes, their dreams, sometimes what they said that can be used for the summary (novelization). Also, of course, new names of NPCs, places, items, factions, things, etc. Quickly a number for the PCs' health if needed or with "+" items they acquired, or "-" items they used / lost. Some short notes on major events and reasons or decisions. I find this is much easier than to do it during session by switching applications.
Speaking of applications, I wouldn't begin to create tokens on the fly with photoshop. I use the simple .jar program: TokenTool. Pull a picture in and save as a token. This is so easy, I wouldn't want to swap for a big program like photoshop. I still use Onenote for quick ideas for sessions, especially on the mobile phone when in bed or in transit, but all of my setting information, session summaries, next session ideas and pdfs are already stored as journals in Foundry. Thus, I have discord open in one half of the screen and foundry in the other half. I don't need to switch applications and it is very relaxing.
 
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