Bullet journal for Gamemasters

Bullet journal for Gamemasters

I have been running role playing games for over 15 years but never a long lasting campaign. So when i started planing for my Dune campaign, i mostly used my computer to write down things and notes. It took a lot of my time looking things up during play sessions so i started a simple notebook to aid me on the table. Some time after this i stumbled over Shanna Germain's amazing article about bullet journaling.  I adapted my notebook to a bullet journal format and have been it using ever since, and can't imagine using anything other to plan my future games and campaigns.So how can you get started with using a bullet journal for planning your games?

Pick the journal you like!

Notebooks come in all different sizes, styles and prizes. If you are just starting you may wanna get a inexpensive notebook with a soft cover. Hardcovers are very useful if you plan on writing everywhere and often come with a pen holder and a pouch for loose papers. Just visit your local paper/office supply store or browse on amazon.
Choose the page style you want, most are available in lined, squared, dotted or blanks. I started out with lined pages, but for my next journal i would use one with dotted pages. I'm terrible at writing straight if i don't have something that guides my letters, but also like to draw and here the dotted pages shine. You can also get numbered pages, if you don't want to number them all by yourself.
Pick a size that suits your needs. I use one Size A5 and it uses up very little space on the gaming table. If you have lots of maps or if your notes take up very much space, go for a bigger one.
Leuchtturm and Moleskine are mayor producers and you can order your journal with imprints in the cover iv you have money to spare. Most important is that your journal is useful to you, otherwise you will not use it.

Start writing!

When i started out with my journal, i was kind of aimless how to sort my notes, use signifier, lists and a lot of other things a normal bullet journal has.
I tend to be quit chaotic during planing, switching between NPC's and noting ideas to different spreads. In a normal notebook you would want to keep all NPC's in a Section another one for your adventures and so on. But you never know how much pages you will need and have a lot of blank pages in between. A bullet journal doesn't need to be in order. If you come up with a new NPC, start a new spread and note the page number in your index, NPC Main Spread and Adventures where he appears. Ran out of space for a spread? Note on which page it continuous. Use bookmarks, cypher cards or xp-cards to find pages you need.

What spreads do i need?

Start out with the Index, a 2 page spread, where you will note all your future spreads to find them later. As a page that you will look up quit often i wanted it to fit my setting. Your journal is a great place for sketches and drawings if you are artistic!

I keep a world map on the first pages after the index, because you will need it often during planing and sessions. Draw one yourself or print out one and glue it in.

I also keep a few random name spreads with names for different cultures. Make a note if you used a name, or names will start repeating. Need names? open up your nearest book and check the names of the guys who made it! Waiting for the after credit scene in a marvel movie? There are so many names you will need to pause to have a chance to write them all down. I glued in a envelope to hold my cards.

Next are spreads about your setting, in my case the dialect of the fremen, something i use during play to make the players ask me what the phrase i just used means. Depending on your setting there me be several spreads of such things you want to have, or none at all.

Rule Cheat Sheet/House rules spread where i note rules i can't remember but want to look up fast (lasting damage for player characters in my case) as well as rules for things my players came up with, or setting specific rules. Maybe add some loot tables, cypher lists, riddles or generic maps here.

Next come the player spreads, every player gets his own page. I noted there appearance and character keywords as well as their history, secrets or plans i have in mind for them.

The NPC Main Spread is a mini index for all your NPC's. I tend to create a lot of different NPC's on the fly because my players never go the direction i thought they would go so this list can get quit full after a long campaign. Cypher NPC's don't need lots of stats so 1 page is enough space for me. If i design them in advance i tend to use the following structure:

• Appearance: How the NPC looks like, the first thing i tell the players before the interact with him
• Personality: A short run down on how this NPC acts. I also note how i want to portray this character (speaks in weird dialect, talks slowly, waves with his hands all the time etc.)
• Motivation: Sometimes quit simples but the nemesis and other main NPC's may have different and changing motivations depending on the players action.
• Background/history with the players: What he did before he met the players, and notes about the interactions with the players. If you think something should happen the next time they encounter this NPC, make a note with a little check box. The next time you look up this NPC you will remember what you intended to happen.
• Loot: Most of my NPC’s don’t have loot, but if it's an enemy, i prepare the loot in advance more often than not.

I don't really set titles on my NPC spreads for the basic things like Appearance, Personality, Motivation and Background. These are always the first 3 things i write down when designing a new NPC. If the NPC is part of an important organization or has connections to other important NPC’s, I note down the page number of the responding spread to their name. I made a google docs template to illustrate the point with some notes, you can find it here!

Organization and Location spreads hold your note of the different organizations cities, planets and lands that show up in your campaign. You may want to give this section an extra index if you plan on having lots of them. You can use the template for NPC's with organizations, but use important personalities instead of personality. And probably no loot. Note the NPC's that belong to them on the spread, as well as on your NPC's spread.

Locations mostly consist of a description of the location, a map, important NPC's or people of power, adventure hooks as well as the actions of the players there.

When you got your setting, NPC's and Locations its time to start with your first adventure. Some GM's like to prepare lots of things in advance, like a description for every room, read aloud's or hand outs. Start with a brainstorming page and make a to do-list of the things you want to prepare or design. I handle my campaign open-world style, so it's mostly player driven where the group goes. For some of my adventures i just improvised everything because the players decided to do something completely different. 

Before most adventures i read through my notes of the last session and start to write a list of things that should happen at the beginning of the next session, mostly stuff that are personal quests of my players or things in their community. I use boxes here so i can check them, if it happened.

Then I think about 3-5 rumors that the players heard in between sessions. Some are little adventures the players can decide to go after, something related to their past deeds or things that happen in your meta plot. If you prepared something that you didn't use, let it come back as a rumor and let your players take the bait. I write down these rumors on a card, and hand it to a player when the session begins, to let them act it out. One of my players is a spy master, so it's his duty to keep track of them, but you may want to give the rumors to different players each session.

If i plan something ahead i start out with a hook, 2-3 sentences of the background like: "Smugglers hold a large supply of las-guns and want to sell it to someone the never did business with.->Group should help out". Just a short description of your adventure, and the basis for everything after it. 

Most of my Adventures are a combination of a timetable of things that could happen, checklists for things i don't want to forget and descriptions of scenes. If i have combat encounters and the environment is important, i add a little map for reference but the beauty of the cypher system is, that a description is almost always enough for combat. I use my own enemy cards for my encounters, but you can write down the stats for your enemies here (add check boxes for their HP to keep track). If you have enemies prepared but on a different page, make a note of the page number next to his name if you want to look up special abilities. More often than not a simple level for the foes is enough (all praise the cypher system).

For all kinds of task i write down the type of task and level in a circle, so i can see them at one glance. If i prepare perception rolls, i note down what the character sees on a card and hand it to the successful player. I note the level on the backside and number them all! 

The last line is used for the loot and the XP reward.

During the session i note down important things that happen, and check the things i wanted to do. 

Tips and Tricks

Lists of ideas are a good thing to keep, so i have a page dedicated to adventure ideas in one sentence. Get back to this page during planing or when you need something that you did not prepare. I do like to improvise and can come up with ideas quit easily during play, but if you prefer to have ideas at hand, keeping a list of short quest can help you come up with ideas.

Keep a page with memorable quotes of your players or the most ridiculous actions

Print out artwork or text and glue it in, use a scrap paper between the pages and press it with some heavy books for one night and it should stick in well.

If your notebook doesn't have a bookmark, make your own. I note down the character names for easy reference during play and planing on mine, but you can also use any Cards you use during play.

You can cut up envelopes and glue them in, if you need a pouch for cards or scrap paper.

You can color code your pages or use different pen colors to differentiate between NPC's/Locations or other Signifier.

Head over to the Bullet Journal for GM's group at MeWee for more tips, inspiration and discussions about DunJo's.

I also wrote a post about using Index Cards to build your own cypherchest for games and during planing!