What's in your GM Binder?

[TheEvilDM]

I am starting a planning phase to run BTS 2e for my group in the future, which will be season 3 of my Palladium actual play podcast.. I am a very analog style GM, with a little bit of one note used. Anyhow, I always like to prepare a binder with important things for during the game, outside of the game when Im brain storming, or whatever.

Those that keep Binders or notebooks analog style, tell me what's the most important things you have in your binders?

thanks

[Mr. Jays]

Depends on the timeline. If you are not running present day, I would have notes about the period pay, price of items, etc. I also keep a list of all the pertinent NPCs of that adventure/campaign.

[TheEvilDM]

Depends on the timeline. If you are not running present day, I would have notes about the period pay, price of items, etc. I also keep a list of all the pertinent NPCs of that adventure/campaign.

That is pretty much what I've placed in mine now. thanks

[Warshield73]

One of the things I put in mine is a simple sheet with the date of the first day and location. With that I give average temperature, rainfall, humidity, and time of sunrise and sunset as well as phases of the moon or any day of high magic.

This allows me to really set the scene by describing how the place feels when they step off a plane, avoid stupid ad libs like its June in LA and sundown is a 5:00pm, and I'm ready for any magic modifiers I might need.

[TheEvilDM]

One of the things I put in mine is a simple sheet with the date of the first day and location. With that I give average temperature, rainfall, humidity, and time of sunrise and sunset as well as phases of the moon or any day of high magic.

This allows me to really set the scene by describing how the place feels when they step off a plane, avoid stupid ad libs like its June in LA and sundown is a 5:00pm, and I'm ready for any magic modifiers I might need.

This is a super cool idea. I normally do what you say with ad libs.. but planning this ahead of time could add more flavor into the game, because my group likes to be jerks and ask things, "like where is the sun? how hot is it? do I need sunblock? what's the UV levels?" its funny when they all gang up and start asking these questions, but it would be nice to be able to snap back with all that info planned out, instead of, "okay enough, its hot, sun's out, those that don't have on sunglasses are being blinded. now shut up lol"

[mrloucifer]

One of the things I put in mine is a simple sheet with the date of the first day and location. With that I give average temperature, rainfall, humidity, and time of sunrise and sunset as well as phases of the moon or any day of high magic.

This allows me to really set the scene by describing how the place feels when they step off a plane, avoid stupid ad libs like its June in LA and sundown is a 5:00pm, and I'm ready for any magic modifiers I might need.

This is a super cool idea. I normally do what you say with ad libs.. but planning this ahead of time could add more flavor into the game, because my group likes to be jerks and ask things, "like where is the sun? how hot is it? do I need sunblock? what's the UV levels?" its funny when they all gang up and start asking these questions, but it would be nice to be able to snap back with all that info planned out, instead of, "okay enough, its hot, sun's out, those that don't have on sunglasses are being blinded. now shut up lol"

I agree, this IS a super cool idea. I'd love to see a sample of this sheet; perhaps design a template to add to the House of BTS.

[Warshield73]

One of the things I put in mine is a simple sheet with the date of the first day and location. With that I give average temperature, rainfall, humidity, and time of sunrise and sunset as well as phases of the moon or any day of high magic.

This allows me to really set the scene by describing how the place feels when they step off a plane, avoid stupid ad libs like its June in LA and sundown is a 5:00pm, and I'm ready for any magic modifiers I might need.

This is a super cool idea. I normally do what you say with ad libs.. but planning this ahead of time could add more flavor into the game, because my group likes to be jerks and ask things, "like where is the sun? how hot is it? do I need sunblock? what's the UV levels?" its funny when they all gang up and start asking these questions, but it would be nice to be able to snap back with all that info planned out, instead of, "okay enough, its hot, sun's out, those that don't have on sunglasses are being blinded. now shut up lol"

I agree, this IS a super cool idea. I'd love to see a sample of this sheet; perhaps design a template to add to the House of BTS.

I wish I had an actual template for this but I'm afraid I'm not that organized. I usually just put a note about it in my campaign file on a spreadsheet. Here are the basics though.

First is location and then how many days. For a convention game this is easy as I have full control but if I am running a regular game I usually do 10 days at time.

For the location I record
- Average temperature range
- Average precipitation
- Average humidity
I only need to record this once as it is good for at least the 10 days I am working on

For each day I record
- Date and, if it is a modern game like BTS or HU I also do day of the week
- Any special event like holiday or celestial event like solstice
- Time of Sunrise and Sunset
- Phase of moon and time of moonrise and moonset (is that the right word?)
- If I am feeling really ambitious I create in advance the weather for that day making notes of when it will rain or how bright and sunny it is just so it is done early

That's really all. Basic averages from a simple google search work as you are just trying to add some setting info and give a touch of realism not do an accurate weather projection.

My biggest problem is sometimes I forget to use the information when I am setting my scene.

That's it if you turn it into a template let me know.

[mrloucifer]

That's it. if you turn it into a template let me know.

I probably will, and will keep you posted on it.

In fact, I've got a template held over from my days of running a ghost hunting group that provided details like this (amongst others). I may pull that out, compare notes and see what I come up with.

[Warshield73]

That's it. if you turn it into a template let me know.

I probably will, and will keep you posted on it.

In fact, I've got a template held over from my days of running a ghost hunting group that provided details like this (amongst others). I may pull that out, compare notes and see what I come up with.

When I was in HS and even early in college I just didn't do much to set the scene. As I started gaming with a laptop and using spreadsheets it just became easier to record this stuff before hand so it was easier to do it later. You have got me thinking about trying to create a template for each location focusing on the 5 senses as well as any technological or mystical senses so that I don't have to think about it while trying to GM. It is a little extra prep but it pays off during the game.