As per the thread title, how do you all as Gamemasters organize all your notes and other miscellanious stuff for your Dark Heresy campaigns, NPCs, rules, etc. I'm asking because first and foremost, I'm having trouble with my own stuff, I have too much that I have to sift through (because I like to plan missions ahead, have events happen here, all very strictly timed) so I'm hoping to pick up on someone elses bright ideas, and secondly, I'm just plain curious.

Well it usually goes kind of like this:

I get all these outrageous and crazy ideas for a scenario, filled to the breaking point with unique and interesting NPC's, lethal and dangerous situations, and loads upon loads of roleplaying opportunities. Then I usually try to describe everything in written text (sort of like a published adventure), but later start to suffer from writers cramp half-way through. This writers cramp then takes a foothold for the better part of a week, and suddenly the day of the dreaded gaming session is upon me and I suffer from the so called "GM-not-being-properly-prepared"-syndrome during the entire bus/car-ride to my groups usual meeting place.

Then I start running the "show", and soon reach the point in the scenario where I stopped writing and from there on I wing it completely, under more pressure than a piece of coal being turned into a diamond, and somehow manage to pull through because so far EVERY SINGLE SCENARIO I've come up with myself has been greatly appriciated by the players. (and we're not the kind of people who sugar-coat the critique, and if I do sniff any form of sugar-coating I point it out and demand complete honesty).

That's how it usually goes when im supposed to be the GM for our sessions.

So you've got to ask yourself: does it sound like im good at organising my scenarios?

I usually starts by getting an idea of sort, it can be anything from: how about sending the acolytes to a shrine world that ends up filled with plague zombies in best horror movie style, or what if they meet a Daemon that tried the use them to kill another daemon and they were cout in between etc. then I go about the setting, NPCs, storyline and anything else I think I need.

to make sure I have anything I need within easy reach I have made three documents on my PC (my portable computer not player character) One: story (where I discribe averything that happens in short cues so I don't need a lot of space or time), Two: the NPCs (the NPCs and the various Xenos and Daemons I use), Three: Disciptions (where I keep things I have written I need to show the players, for example if one gets a vision or experiences something the others do not or what I read aloud the the players).

Then when the playing begins I use the stuff have written and prepared but as I usually only make references to what shall happen I wing most of if as I go along, hell some of the adventures I have played have been purely developped as we go along with only a faint idea behind it.

I also delight in making short (or long) handouts to the players they can use, it often takes the better part of a week to make and is only used in like ten minuttes but it is fun to do especially when the playes appriciate the work.

I usually organise things in "Scene" with a "Scene" being a single event such as:
- A fight
- Meeting an NPC at a Starport


A good example would the Auction from House of Dust and Ash...the auction itself would be a single scene.

I usually rewrite premades on my laptop into scenes for easy referance with page number for reading boxes.

I write an outline for the adventure, write up a bunch of notes and stat up the big bad guys. I also have about 20 google docs with random ideas. Of course half the time I never use any of it. It's the sitting down and typing things up that gels things in my mind.

For campaigns, I have a general idea of where I want things to end up, but I leave the steps from point A to destination Z open. For each mission, I work on them one at a time, and usually don't start on the next one until the players are done (or almost done) with the current one. I do this because I like to vary what sort of things they do, so if a mission is really combat-heavy, I'll come up with something with more intrigue and detective work for next time to make sure everyone gets a chance in the spotlight.

Again, concerning each mission, I work out the beginning and the climax (and the end, if it's different from the climax) in great detail, but everything else I only plot out in broad strokes. If I write everything out in exact detail, than it's all the more likely I will get befuddled and not know what to do when the players start going off the rails. Having notes down on various NPCs, locations, clues, etc. allows me to improvise on the spot, but still keep feeding the players all the information they need to keep the pace of the game going. Don't be afraid to introduce situations that you have no idea how to get them out of - more likely than not they can come up with something you never would have thought of in a million years. Trust your players, and encourage their creativity. More importantly, REWARD their creativity.

For NPCs I only ever generate stats for the really important ones - otherwise I'll just use statistics of stock characters in the DH core book. It's a good idea to have a list of names you can refer to, in case players want to know. Again, for important characters, I come up with their names ahead of time, otherwise it's on the fly.

As for organizing everything, I've got folders inside of folders inside of folders with various word documents, PDFs, etc. for the various missions I've run. As long as you keep it all in one place you won't lose anything.

Basically I spend a good time writing up the basic premise, npc list, ideas for the flow of the story, and a few stats. Then I just get a lot of pieces of paper and write little nodes for each scene and connect them all with arrows. There's a clear chronological progression as you go down the page so I don't accidentally send the Acolytes back in time. Naturally there are many possible ways to go through the adventure map I end up making so the Cell gets the ability to forge their own path. And no one has to be the wiser if you have to scribble a few more notes in when things go off the rails. If the background you made is robust enough you can make new scenes without batting an eyelash.

Soudns like pretty normal GMing to me

homegrown stuff is usually pretty well recieved, oftem, IMO, becuase you know the players and what they want out of the game and can taylor it to their needs.

I tends to do a lot of organisation before the game even starts, I spend probably a few months getting the adventure in order, fleshing out the world the players will interact with. I try to ensure that the framework, major npc's and relationships betweenthem is together before I start the first session. That way even if I'm caught off guard I won't inadvertantlylead the players astray. also: we only play once a fortnight, so it give me plenty of time to fill in stuff between sessions.

I use Google docs and Live Mesh to organise all my GM stuff, that way whereever I happen to be, I can work on if I want (work,home,etc).

I throw all my **** behind the game master board, and I keep track of everything in my head because my acolytes dont give a **** if they are fighting a bunny for four hours straight

I just find it hard to organize everything with varying amounts of NPCs, their different reactions to different situations, what has happened that would alter it, how's it going to effect the next mission, wait where did I put all my notes for the next mission, etc.

I think I'm going slightly mad, if anything.

Fideru said:

Well, if you try to work out every NPC's agenda and what they want from the PC's or want the PC's to do you could just wing most of it regardless of how the PC's act.

This of course means that you can't be too strickt on how you want the story to play out but has to make it more of a sandbox/freeform game, howver if you go with this approach you can be a bit more arbitrary about where you decide to insert certain major and minor events that you want to have in it.

But that would be my best tip. Try to figure out what agenda every NPC have, and then wing it from there without much thought of in what order certain events must play out, but rather let the events come naturally.

3x5 cards. I keep a deck of them behind the screen and every time I introduce a significant personality or event I jot it down on the card for easy reference and storage. In my last game I had one card for every somewhat significant npc in the game, with any relevant stats (Fellowship for actors/waitresses, WS and BS for combatants, WP for most others) and a few notes which would tell me how to rp them and provide for possible story hooks. After two months I had something like 50 cards and was dividing them by the character to which they pertained ... kept everything at my fingertips.

Otherwise, I keep one notebook for each campaign and label each page in large letters so I know what kind of information and notes I've listed there. I prefer to do most of my campaign design in free hand, rather than typing it up on a computer, simply because I am more inspired when doing so.

Any charts or monster stats I know I'll need that day I copy on my printer and paperclip them to the inside of the screens, so I'll have them handy.

Sometimes I go through the book and highlight important notes, color based upon how important they are. (yellow for general "note this" concerns, pink for names and organizations, orange for plot hooks) The DH book wasn't so large I felt this necessary, though I did it with my copy of Ptolus and was glad I did.

I have all the NPC stats in special cards i designed including a section for notes where i can write how they react. for the "bosses" i keep more detailed notes as its these npcs that have the largest effect on the gun. apart from that i improvise, if you know the reactions of the key NPCs then its alot easier