Story So Far: Why You Should Keep A Campaign Record
Running a campaign has many parallels with live theater. The show runs for a period of time, sometimes months, all the while entertaining its audiences. The cast of characters grows close and makes lasting memories. But eventually, the curtain falls for the final time, the cast and crew say their final goodbyes, the set is dismantled, and with that the story is over. The only thing that remains is our memories of the show, perhaps some photos, and a souvenir playbill. Similarly, wrapping up a campaign can feel the same; aside from some character sheets, there is often not much left other than the fond memories those who played in the campaign now share. This got me thinking about how I could preserve a telling of the story for myself and my friends that we could look back on in the future. The inspiration came from one of my clients who requested keeping a log of the story so far and I think that this is a great idea.
One of the regrets that I have in my first two campaigns is not keeping an up-to-date campaign record or Story So Far as I have started calling it. But the more I think about it, the more reasons I see to keep a campaign log like this. I don’t think your campaign record has to be long. My first go was only about a half a page and it was just a bullet pointed list of what happened in the last session. I also put all of the character names in bold so it would be easier to read. I recommend writing your notes at the end of the session so what happened prior is still fresh in your mind and if you missed something, you can always add it in later. I also give my players access to view the document so that they can review what has happened and see what is going on in the campaign at their leisure.
As I mentioned earlier I think there are several benefits to keeping an ongoing Story So Far document. The first benefit is that it will make your session prep easier; you will be able to read the last session and quickly remember all of the major story beats so you can easily pick up where you left off. Another benefit and a reason why I suggest you share this document with your players is to have an easy way for the players who miss a session to catch up with what is going on. This will also give the players a frame of reference if they are selected to do the recap from the previous session. Next, your Story So Far gives players who join your campaign later a great jumping off point to catch up with all of the happenings of the campaign. Finally, at the end of the campaign you will have a nice little story that you can share with your players and to look over with joy. And if you ever run a campaign in the same module or the same world, you now have lore and inspiration to use in your next campaign!
The one thing about keeping up with a Story So Far is that it takes a great degree of discipline and it is easy to fall off the horse and hard to get back on it, but it is very rewarding having a record of your work and being able to revisit the memories of your campaign upon its conclusion.
Do you use a Story So Far?
Take Heart!
Karington Hess
Game Master and Founder of Open Heart Games
