Everyone loves the person taking notes
In early editions of DnD, taking notes was considered such an important thing at the table that they suggested nominating a note taker for the group. This site is all about personally leveling up though, so I recommend volunteering instead of nominating someone.
Having even just one person at your table taking notes helps everyone in a bunch of different ways. The flow of sessions get broken up frequently as your players ask questions and have to pause to figure stuff out. Multiply this delay more and more for every week between your sessions. Notes are a quick way to get the questions answered, and back to the play.
What was that one important NPC’s name?
Wait, why did we head out to this dungeon?
Didn’t we see those magic words written somewhere else before?
And after a break between sessions: Where were we again?
You can single-handedly be the person to help keep the session cruising. And everyone appreciates it.
Level 1: Take notes
Your first stab at taking notes can be super basic. Don’t worry about doing anything awe inspiring here. Grab your character sheet, and just write down all the NPC names you meet, with a 1 word description. I am usually at this level, personally. My sheets are covered in all the margins with notes like “Nenio - Kitsune” and “Swordlords - Hired us”. These notes are just for me, but when one of my tablemates asks who we needed to go back to to turn in our quest, I’ll remember it was the Swordlords.
Your notes can be just for you too. Scribble quick, don’t worry about being complete. Having something is better than having nothing, and usually that single word note is enough to jog everyone’s collective memory. Plus, it has the benefit of subtly communicating to your GM that the game is worth taking notes about. And that’ll make them feel good.
Level 2: Make them available
Like I mentioned, I pretty much stop at level 1 myself. But my good friend Mike introduced me to keeping a shared google doc for our campaigns. He was the one who was often taking notes on a laptop during session, but then he dropped a link to the document in our group chat. That was wild, because even though it was “his” note sheet, we could toss in little extra tidbits here and there to flesh it out, and when he would miss a session, we could update it on his behalf.
This truly felt like a level up, and it made our table a lot more eager to participate in social encounters. We knew who all the NPCs were that we were talking to, what they wanted, and why we are working with them.
Level 3: Do them in character
I’ve only seen this in one campaign, and it blew me away. A player came to session with a drawing tablet, and took hand-written notes in character, drawing “what they saw” in the session. Their character was a researcher, and they wanted to actually “have their research notes.” I had the privilege of being the GM for that campaign, and let me tell you, it felt like a gift. I knew that there was a player who was devoting real mental and emotional energy to the session in a way that felt super cool.
At any level, you’ll be appreciated.
You don’t have to buy a drawing tablet and take in character notes. That is a ton of work, and no one should ever expect it. But notes make sessions run smoother, and it is a very low effort task to at least note down the NPCs you meet.
Plus, the others at your table will notice that you’re the one who always seems to have the answers. Everyone at the table knows who has the notes we can reference. Because we need to do it a lot.