[RPG] How to Format a DM’s Notebook for an Open World Game

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I've been DM'ing a homebrew sandbox-style D&D 4e game for the past few months, and it's been going well so far. However, the players have finally left the "starting area" of bouncing between three different towns, and are now exploring the vast world. Which is great for them.

But I'm now running into a problem. My group and I like to focus on RP, and they like to form connections with the NPC's they meet. I'm having a nightmare of a time trying to keep in order which NPC's are from which towns, what they look like apart from other NPC's, which store is in which town, where quest givers are, and all manner of things related to running an open world game.

This probably wouldn't be a problem, however, if I kept a good notebook. But I have no idea how to manage a notebook for an open world style game. I've looked at online blogs, the D&D website, and Youtube videos, but none of them seem to touch on keeping a notebook.

Does anyone have any tips on keeping a good DM's notebook? And if not, do you know anyplace I might find some help?

Best Answer

If you are fine with an online solution, Obsidian Portal is one I could recommend. Some people have had bad experiences with the interface being clunky, but I think the site looks quite fresh and responsive (I think they have had a design overhaul in late 2013).

Some key selling points:

  • Wiki pages, which you can interlink quite easily, allowing you to keep track of things that are related. Wiki pages also support public and GM-only information to be saved.
  • Adventure Log, which is where you can post the notes of your sessions and write down the overall progression. It allows you to Wiki-link, so you can interweave your Adventure Log with your Wiki pages.
  • Create characters, but not just PCs, NPCs as well. Again, you can have GM-only information here, allowing you to create major plot NPCs in advance and 'unlock' them when the time comes.

For organizing an open world, I would personally create some Wiki pages to comprise a town. Using links, you can connect the page about the town in general to the big landmarks in that town, like a church, the blacksmith and stables. They would in turn have their own Wiki page, which could state in which town it resides, and which NPCs live or work there. Following the NPC link, you'd end up on a biography and stat block page of the NPCs, where the biography could link back to the town page, and the NPCs building page.

Using this approach, and combining it with Vereos' answer, you can create an incredibly potent spider web of pages, while still being able to easily navigate from one point to another.

  • Each category from Vereos' answer could be its own Wiki page, which grows gradually as your players progress.
  • Each item on such category page would simply be that, an item in a list. You'd use Wiki-links to jump to that item's own page, which would give you the details. This keeps the category pages clean and simple.
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