[Talk] Keeping track behind the scenes! (notes and docs)

When you join a long roleplay with so many things to do and so many players to work with, it can be very nice to have a few personal notes about where you want to go with your character. Examples include a detailed character profile, that might include information you don't feel the need to share with everyone right in the public sign-up... or even a list of plans for the future, like meeting that specific character or catching that specific Pokémon.

Some people are definitely on top of their game when it comes to this "personal documentation" aspect. I'm totally not one of them though... I've tried a lot of things over time, from additional word docs, to scribbles on paper, to larger "idea boards" or something like that. I tend to use either of these a few times and then either forget about them or switch method, which really isn't optimal. And yes, more often than not it's actually pestering other players and discussing things with them that helps me the most with crystallizing my plans and even become more confident in my own ideas. I feel like I'm that much of an open book, at least most of the times...

Of course this becomes amplified when you're the host of a roleplay. Here, behind the scenes documents are almost mandatory to get ready for future GM posts or chapters, and have a good idea of where to go with the story.

So, no matter what your situation or role may be, do you actually use strategies like these, and why / why not? What's your favorite method, if you have one? And of course, is there any related tip you may want to share here?

I don't really keep many notes honestly - even for d&d which typically needs more note keeping than written RP stuff. I'll jot down things that I think I'm likely to forget or that is too important to risk forgetting but mostly I rely on memory.

Hello I'm actually hosting my first roleplay - and it's going to be Pokemon I'm scared and nervous about it i done drawn A map done town/city names I'm trying to do the story and everything that will happen in it i want the RP to not like be other rps I've mostly been in roommates rps with my friends - i want it to have a deep story underneath what seems to be a joyish island ;-;

oh no i have SO many notes in SO many places!! random notecards, the backs of envelopes, actual notebooks, the margins of my planner, and docs upon docs of back-end planning and information!! and spreadsheets, cant forget the spreadsheets!

my process tends to be messy and haphazard and i fully write the same thing down over and over in like five different ways in five different organizational structures and then change it as soon as ive settled on a method and... i make so much work for myself lmfao. but my big consolidated chapter docs are the best things i have tbh!! the ease with which i can pop em open and find whatever i want very very quickly - SO helpful when anyone has a question! my player doc would be good if i updated it properly. my spreadsheets tho, specifically for HS1, are the ultimate tool~

Sia_lonelycultist said:

Hello I'm actually hosting my first roleplay - and it's going to be Pokemon I'm scared and nervous about it i done drawn A map done town/city names I'm trying to do the story and everything that will happen in it i want the RP to not like be other rps I've mostly been in roommates rps with my friends - i want it to have a deep story underneath what seems to be a joyish island ;-;

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in keeping with the topic at hand- i genuinely advise just writing all your ideas down and trying to get all the basic shapes of your plot in place! and information like maps and place names and background lore that may or may not end up being used- write all of it down anyway! it's so fun to have a bunch of details about your setting there to make it feel alive~

Sia_lonelycultist said:

Hello I'm actually hosting my first roleplay - and it's going to be Pokemon I'm scared and nervous about it i done drawn A map done town/city names I'm trying to do the story and everything that will happen in it i want the RP to not like be other rps I've mostly been in roommates rps with my friends - i want it to have a deep story underneath what seems to be a joyish island ;-;

Click to expand...

It's easier to achieve than you'd think! I agree with Anna, jot down all the worldbuilding/background story depth you want and then you can figure out how to slowly feed that information into the RP.