by Zoe Eddy and Anthony Reed
I'm pleased to have the input of my friend, Anthony Reed, the fellow who originally introduced me to LARPing. Anthony is also a diligent note taker and note sharer; his tactics for note-taking have improved my experience and approach to LARPing.
Note-taking may seem like a strange topic. Note-taking is something, in my opinion, that players do religiously or almost not at all. As an anthropologist and a writer, note-taking has always appealed to me. Zealously taking notes, I quickly found, improved my game experience, and allowed me to, on a meta-level, interact with the game world more reflectively. Anthony and I thought about the note-taking phenomenon at LARPs, and expanded on it a bit further.
Why I take notes
Zoe: I take notes for three reasons-- one IG and two OoG. My IG reason is nebulous, but essentially involves the control of information. It was frustrating for me, as a new player, to not know anything other than the standard rulebook and scraps of information told to me by friends. Moreover, when I requested information, I was overwhelmed with gobs of answers, and I found myself retaining only the most interesting tidbits and, perhaps, a name here or there. By taking notes during an event, while things are happening, even if they are spotty and hard-to-read, I retain much more than if I simply attempted to recall things. Scribbled notes, for me, are a way to process and retain more information-- my character doesn't feel nearly as overwhelmed as she had earlier in the game. Because of this, I try to take notes (varying in seriousness depending on the game) as frequently as possible.
On an OoG level, I take them for two reasons. Firstly, I'm trained as a social anthropologist-- note taking is what I do professionally. Shorthand, symbols, tiny charts, and cryptic initials, all crammed into an itsy-bitsy notebook, are natural parts of my day-to-day life. (Deciphering these notes is, regrettably, also part of the deal.) I understand things by taking notes and rewriting them: it's just a way for me to process things. In LARP, since I stated taking thorough notes, I've also started understanding things, on a lot of levels, much better. Secondly, LARP is, in many ways, an ephemeral performance. You have to be there to fully appreciate the experience-- even though musicals, plays, and concerts are better experienced in-person, they can more readily be translated to film. LARP, as we all are no doubt aware, doesn't translate particularly well to other media. Note taking, however, preserves, on some level, the story and narrative of LARP. I have friends who turn their LARP notes into full-fledged art pieces and writing-- a real testament to the medium.
How I take notes
Zoe: For each game I play, I have a set of notebooks (customized to fit, more or less, in the setting), specifically colored pens, and a bag I use for carrying notes. The notebooks I use are easy to access, and easy to stow away. During game play, I try to scribble in little details, shorthand codes, names, and places as I hear them (more on subtlety later). After game or, ideally, during down time, I try to flesh out any notes I have, detailing things that are vague, connecting names and places, and marking anything that seems off. After game, I often use my notes as basis for thinking about LARP theory as a whole-- having a reference easily jogs my memory as to what I experienced at a given event. In game, if I've been talking to a person, I try to identify defining characteristics (including appearance, tics, descriptions, predilections etc.). In a game with a strong structural component, like Madrigal, I try to fill in a rubric of sorts that includes, in Madrigal's case: name, religion, residence, family/alliance, fighting style, and reason for travel. It serves as a nice way to log who people are, and what their significance is. As most players know, having an organized reference to "important visitors" is useful if you have larger projects or questions. From an OoG perspective, it gives me a satisfying understanding of the larger world in which my character lives.
Anthony: Most of the time when I enter the modspace, I have my notebook out, one pen in hand and a glowstick stuck in the center of the book, holding my page, and giving me just enough light to write. I never know what is going to happen on any mod so I always have my notebook ready. I write down just about everything I hear any character say, even if I don’t know who they are. The notes might not make sense to me, but afterward someone can give me a pretty good idea of what I was writing down, and I can make sense of it. If its all fighting I will put the book and join the fray but if talking starts that becomes my priority. I’m a healer, so I have an advantage here, but stepping back to take notes is my key role in a group.
What I do with my notes
Zoe: I share most of my notes with the larger playerbase (through IG "archives" and public notes). Some notes, I keep within a team, and some, such as personal musings, I keep to myself. I use my notes as a way to facilitate interactions with other players; as any student knows, sharing notes is an excellent way to build larger social connections with people. It's also a good way to find those with similar IG interests and similar OoG play styles. Finally, I try to get all of my notes onto a computer in a "polished" form-- I use them for fun-reading, writing exercises, theoretical work, and pre-event refreshers. Also, since LARP notes are fieldnotes writ fantastical, it's good practice for me professionally.
Anthony: I’m a sharing type of guy. After an event I head home, unpack, eat dinner and collapse for several hours of sleep more than I would on a normal night. The next day, however, I transcribe my notes. I like to transcribe them as soon as I can so I can fill any blanks in the notes with things that are fresh in my mind, and organize them all together well. I start two google docs. One with public notes that I share with other players, and one private one. The public notes are fully editable by the other players and I encourage this. I make mistakes; I miss things; I spell things poorly; Hell, sometimes I wasn't there when something noteworthy happened. Making my notes editable gives us a pooled information source that is way more reliable than what I wrote down. My private notes, however, are a pristine version of my notes so I know how I interpreted the Gather. I also put my more secretive notes only on this version (things that might be important to my team, but I wouldn’t want the entire town to know.) I’ll go back over these notes 3 or 4 times. Once for my PEL, and once each before the next few gathers so I can refresh myself on what is going on.
What I use for notetaking
Zoe: I use three things-- a nice and aesthetically pleasing notebook, a good water-resistant pen, and Google docs (after game of course). A good notebook not only looks nice, but means it's more likely that I will use it. I use my fieldwork pens to take notes, as I like their physical feel when writing, and they're practical. Google docs is pretty essential in my process: I transcribe my notes onto a computer system, and then share my notes with other players. They can edit, add, and comment on the notes available. Hurray for technology, I say.
Anthony: I use a bunch of blank, lined pages inside a leather binding that wraps around them and ties with a strap. Sort of like this but black. It’s important to remember that your notebook is a prop. While any old notebook or piece of paper might do, you want to make sure you are using something that feels in game both for your enjoyment and the enjoyment of the players around you watching you note. Pens are a little harder, but not impossible. I use a pen that has a fountain tip. It still has a plastic body and it’s not a true fountain pen, but it looks a little better and makes me feel that much better while I am taking notes, even if I am the only one who notices. That makes it worth it to me. It doesn’t hurt that it writes nicely too. You want to make sure your pen isn’t prone to running out of ink, smudging, or carving the paper. Most of the time you basically won’t be able to see the page you are writing on so you want to make sure you can trust your implement to give you something readable when you do get it under light.
Final Thoughts
On subtlety...
Zoe: Subtle note taking is a disparate matter within the LARP community. Many people, while engaged in conversation, will be writing in their notebook as they converse with another person. For me, this can be somewhat awkward, and a rupture to the flow of roleplay. Accordingly, when I take notes, I try to do one of three things: 1) During the conversation, I simply try to remember as much as possible, and then jot it down afterwards. The information dump tactic can be surprisingly effective, but, often, isn't enough. 2) If I really want to take notes while conversing, I try to incorporate note-taking into my RP-- I consult my notes, involve my conversation partner in the writing, and ask for clarification. The note taking becomes an interaction between me and another player-- not just me awkwardly scribbling secret things into my notebook. (I can embellish with my own thoughts/observations later.) 3) If all else fails (for instance, I don't really want to show my notebook to the person delivering the information), I fade to the the back of larger group in order to take notes discreetly. Borrowing from fieldwork etiquette, I often ask if it's alright if I take notes. Indeed, most people probably don't see any problem with taking notes-- it's a LARP mechanic--, but this feels more natural for me-- also, attempting to take notes with some subtlety adds to the fun for me.
Handwriting
Anthony: When I am writing notes, because it is dark and difficult to see what I am doing, I always try to use block letters and clear strokes so I know I will be able to read my writing later. When the info starts flying fast and quiet, this isn’t always an option, sometimes you have to scrawl, and quickly as possible to get the info in. Whenever I can though, I try to write neat and clear to save me the headache later.
On Scribing
Do you take notes? Why or why not? What are your methods?
I'm pleased to have the input of my friend, Anthony Reed, the fellow who originally introduced me to LARPing. Anthony is also a diligent note taker and note sharer; his tactics for note-taking have improved my experience and approach to LARPing.
Note-taking may seem like a strange topic. Note-taking is something, in my opinion, that players do religiously or almost not at all. As an anthropologist and a writer, note-taking has always appealed to me. Zealously taking notes, I quickly found, improved my game experience, and allowed me to, on a meta-level, interact with the game world more reflectively. Anthony and I thought about the note-taking phenomenon at LARPs, and expanded on it a bit further.
Why I take notes
Zoe: I take notes for three reasons-- one IG and two OoG. My IG reason is nebulous, but essentially involves the control of information. It was frustrating for me, as a new player, to not know anything other than the standard rulebook and scraps of information told to me by friends. Moreover, when I requested information, I was overwhelmed with gobs of answers, and I found myself retaining only the most interesting tidbits and, perhaps, a name here or there. By taking notes during an event, while things are happening, even if they are spotty and hard-to-read, I retain much more than if I simply attempted to recall things. Scribbled notes, for me, are a way to process and retain more information-- my character doesn't feel nearly as overwhelmed as she had earlier in the game. Because of this, I try to take notes (varying in seriousness depending on the game) as frequently as possible.
On an OoG level, I take them for two reasons. Firstly, I'm trained as a social anthropologist-- note taking is what I do professionally. Shorthand, symbols, tiny charts, and cryptic initials, all crammed into an itsy-bitsy notebook, are natural parts of my day-to-day life. (Deciphering these notes is, regrettably, also part of the deal.) I understand things by taking notes and rewriting them: it's just a way for me to process things. In LARP, since I stated taking thorough notes, I've also started understanding things, on a lot of levels, much better. Secondly, LARP is, in many ways, an ephemeral performance. You have to be there to fully appreciate the experience-- even though musicals, plays, and concerts are better experienced in-person, they can more readily be translated to film. LARP, as we all are no doubt aware, doesn't translate particularly well to other media. Note taking, however, preserves, on some level, the story and narrative of LARP. I have friends who turn their LARP notes into full-fledged art pieces and writing-- a real testament to the medium.
Anthony: I take notes for two fundamental reasons. 1) I have a terrible memory, and taking notes means I don’t forget important plot things later on. It lets me double check references, characters, places, and who said what months after I heard it the first time (and with so much high fantasy going around, I am likely to get Bleezor, the Angel King, and Benelith, the Shadow Prince, confused at some point-- and it will be embarrassing for everyone. (Especially when they are played by the same dude.)) 2) It means that I get invited along to do the cool stuff. When the people in town who don’t take notes identify you as a good note taker they want to make sure you are present for things they want chronicled. I have been on some pretty sweet mods I would have otherwise missed since I started taking notes, because no matter how good a fighter/healer/caster you are, taking notes adds to your value and that makes you a worthwhile 1/10 of an adventuring group
How I take notes
Zoe: For each game I play, I have a set of notebooks (customized to fit, more or less, in the setting), specifically colored pens, and a bag I use for carrying notes. The notebooks I use are easy to access, and easy to stow away. During game play, I try to scribble in little details, shorthand codes, names, and places as I hear them (more on subtlety later). After game or, ideally, during down time, I try to flesh out any notes I have, detailing things that are vague, connecting names and places, and marking anything that seems off. After game, I often use my notes as basis for thinking about LARP theory as a whole-- having a reference easily jogs my memory as to what I experienced at a given event. In game, if I've been talking to a person, I try to identify defining characteristics (including appearance, tics, descriptions, predilections etc.). In a game with a strong structural component, like Madrigal, I try to fill in a rubric of sorts that includes, in Madrigal's case: name, religion, residence, family/alliance, fighting style, and reason for travel. It serves as a nice way to log who people are, and what their significance is. As most players know, having an organized reference to "important visitors" is useful if you have larger projects or questions. From an OoG perspective, it gives me a satisfying understanding of the larger world in which my character lives.
Anthony: Most of the time when I enter the modspace, I have my notebook out, one pen in hand and a glowstick stuck in the center of the book, holding my page, and giving me just enough light to write. I never know what is going to happen on any mod so I always have my notebook ready. I write down just about everything I hear any character say, even if I don’t know who they are. The notes might not make sense to me, but afterward someone can give me a pretty good idea of what I was writing down, and I can make sense of it. If its all fighting I will put the book and join the fray but if talking starts that becomes my priority. I’m a healer, so I have an advantage here, but stepping back to take notes is my key role in a group.
What I do with my notes
Zoe: I share most of my notes with the larger playerbase (through IG "archives" and public notes). Some notes, I keep within a team, and some, such as personal musings, I keep to myself. I use my notes as a way to facilitate interactions with other players; as any student knows, sharing notes is an excellent way to build larger social connections with people. It's also a good way to find those with similar IG interests and similar OoG play styles. Finally, I try to get all of my notes onto a computer in a "polished" form-- I use them for fun-reading, writing exercises, theoretical work, and pre-event refreshers. Also, since LARP notes are fieldnotes writ fantastical, it's good practice for me professionally.
Anthony: I’m a sharing type of guy. After an event I head home, unpack, eat dinner and collapse for several hours of sleep more than I would on a normal night. The next day, however, I transcribe my notes. I like to transcribe them as soon as I can so I can fill any blanks in the notes with things that are fresh in my mind, and organize them all together well. I start two google docs. One with public notes that I share with other players, and one private one. The public notes are fully editable by the other players and I encourage this. I make mistakes; I miss things; I spell things poorly; Hell, sometimes I wasn't there when something noteworthy happened. Making my notes editable gives us a pooled information source that is way more reliable than what I wrote down. My private notes, however, are a pristine version of my notes so I know how I interpreted the Gather. I also put my more secretive notes only on this version (things that might be important to my team, but I wouldn’t want the entire town to know.) I’ll go back over these notes 3 or 4 times. Once for my PEL, and once each before the next few gathers so I can refresh myself on what is going on.
What I use for notetaking
Zoe: I use three things-- a nice and aesthetically pleasing notebook, a good water-resistant pen, and Google docs (after game of course). A good notebook not only looks nice, but means it's more likely that I will use it. I use my fieldwork pens to take notes, as I like their physical feel when writing, and they're practical. Google docs is pretty essential in my process: I transcribe my notes onto a computer system, and then share my notes with other players. They can edit, add, and comment on the notes available. Hurray for technology, I say.
Anthony: I use a bunch of blank, lined pages inside a leather binding that wraps around them and ties with a strap. Sort of like this but black. It’s important to remember that your notebook is a prop. While any old notebook or piece of paper might do, you want to make sure you are using something that feels in game both for your enjoyment and the enjoyment of the players around you watching you note. Pens are a little harder, but not impossible. I use a pen that has a fountain tip. It still has a plastic body and it’s not a true fountain pen, but it looks a little better and makes me feel that much better while I am taking notes, even if I am the only one who notices. That makes it worth it to me. It doesn’t hurt that it writes nicely too. You want to make sure your pen isn’t prone to running out of ink, smudging, or carving the paper. Most of the time you basically won’t be able to see the page you are writing on so you want to make sure you can trust your implement to give you something readable when you do get it under light.
Final Thoughts
On subtlety...
Zoe: Subtle note taking is a disparate matter within the LARP community. Many people, while engaged in conversation, will be writing in their notebook as they converse with another person. For me, this can be somewhat awkward, and a rupture to the flow of roleplay. Accordingly, when I take notes, I try to do one of three things: 1) During the conversation, I simply try to remember as much as possible, and then jot it down afterwards. The information dump tactic can be surprisingly effective, but, often, isn't enough. 2) If I really want to take notes while conversing, I try to incorporate note-taking into my RP-- I consult my notes, involve my conversation partner in the writing, and ask for clarification. The note taking becomes an interaction between me and another player-- not just me awkwardly scribbling secret things into my notebook. (I can embellish with my own thoughts/observations later.) 3) If all else fails (for instance, I don't really want to show my notebook to the person delivering the information), I fade to the the back of larger group in order to take notes discreetly. Borrowing from fieldwork etiquette, I often ask if it's alright if I take notes. Indeed, most people probably don't see any problem with taking notes-- it's a LARP mechanic--, but this feels more natural for me-- also, attempting to take notes with some subtlety adds to the fun for me.
Handwriting
Anthony: When I am writing notes, because it is dark and difficult to see what I am doing, I always try to use block letters and clear strokes so I know I will be able to read my writing later. When the info starts flying fast and quiet, this isn’t always an option, sometimes you have to scrawl, and quickly as possible to get the info in. Whenever I can though, I try to write neat and clear to save me the headache later.
On Scribing
Anthony and I are both staff members for Invictus, a game that will provide incentive for note-taking. The Scribe, a playable header in Invictus, will be a player class that features skills specifically related to note-taking. The GM of the game, designed the Scribe header to encourage two things within the player-base: note taking, and, perhaps more importantly, sharing notes. Accordingly taking notes and sharing the information will be a structured part of the game with tangible benefits. So, if you like taking notes, and want to use it dynamically in-game, go check out the Scribe!
Do you take notes? Why or why not? What are your methods?
Nice post. Few comments.
ReplyDeleteIt's been my experience that note-taking is among the least-appreciated skills in larps. Thank your note takers, and thank them often.
On pairing up:
One of the biggest difficulties/frustrations I've run into when it comes to taking notes, is that if I'm taking *good* notes on an encounter, I'm usually not actually talking to the NPC, and also, probably not actually looking at the scene very much. I can't count the number of times that I've faithfully recorded many details about a scene/conversation, only to have someone comment on the NPC's glowing eyes, which I totally didn't see at all. A great solution to this is finding a note-taking buddy (or two. or three). There's a game where I and several other people who all take notes group up and take turns, so if a big scene happens, two of us are taking notes, and the other two are watching. Then we switch off. It's a nice way to not feel like you're missing 90% of the cool scenes in game. Pairing up also means that you can compare notes with other people taking notes, or just listening in, and generally improves accuracy.
Random skill I picked up that I've found really useful:
Taking notes in the dark. No, really. I occasionally take notes in the dark with no light sorce at all. Sometimes you run into a scene that for whatever reason, you can't bring a light source along. (two situations I can think of off-hand involved hiding under a bush to spy on two NPCs, and going somewhere to witness a scene cloaked in shadow - any light would disrupt it) If you want to try this, the key is not taking your hand off the page at all. Write from left to right until you get to the end of the page, then slide your hand down an inch (or whatever you're comfortable with), slide it back to the left, then start writing again, without moving your hand off the page. Takes a bit of practice, but you can get pretty good at it. I tend to close my eyes if it's that dark out so I am not distracted trying to see things in the dark.
Pairing up is a great idea-- Anthony and I have started doing that informally, and it has really helped me. Also, we have a public pool of notes that helps matters even more.
DeleteOoo-- good tip. I will try the notes-in-the-dark: I always forget to bring a light/find myself on things demanding "no light whatsoever or you all die."
Oh, extra hint on taking notes in the dark - make sure you mark your place well. On the aforementioned 'hiding under a bush' mod, I somehow lost my place in my book. I found what I thought was the next blank page in the book. I started writing. It was so dark I literally could not tell if I was putting down ink on the page. I randomly panicked that my pen ran out of ink and switched to a different pen that I *knew* was working right. I kept writing. Finished the mod, got back to a place where there was light... and discovered that I'd been putting down a set of notes on top of another set of notes that was already in my book. Luckily, they were in different color and both sets were reasonably neat, but it was still a silly mistake to make.
DeleteOh yes. Multiple pens. You should probably carry at least two, maybe more, because once people know that you're a note-taking person, they will assume that you have a pen on you. Which you will. Then they will ask you to borrow your pen, and inevitably wander off with it, at which point you will be without a pen and sad. Also, there is nothing more aggravating than having your pen run out in the middle of a full-of-information scene. Which it will. Or having a pen that will randomly refuse to write because it's cold out. Which they also will, because pens are hateful creatures that like to make your life more difficult. Multiple pens.
As a nuanced comment on the notion that when you take notes you often miss certain parts of a scene, a lot of the difficulty I have now is that I find that note taking severely impedes the ability to take part in a scene. The typical note taking scenario involves a social scene where there is an NPC (sometimes more) talking with several PC's. I find that in those situations if I am concentrating on taking notes and there are other PC's there concentrating on interacting with the NPC then I have a hard time participating in the conversation. This is much more true when there is more involved or emotional interaction as opposed to a static standing back and forth conversation.
ReplyDeleteThis was not an issue when I was the new player. In those situations my ability to take notes was very helpful in that it got me exposure to plot and scenes where I normally would either not get in an invite or which I would otherwise have little to no role. It was mutually beneficial in that the “big kids” could invite me on to the scene and then they would be completely free to concentrate on the roleplay and interaction. They could be more present in the conversation. They could move around and gesture. They could roleplay dramatically. And all the while I am in the back keeping track of all the little details so that they could review them after the scene. They got their cake (ability to concentrate on RP with the NPC's) and afterwards they could eat it too (they had access to notes).
I benefited as well. I got access to view plot. I also learned a whole lot of background and context later when the notes were shared and discussed. This helped me a great deal at the times when I was still trying to figure out what was going on and trying to make connections with plotlines and with other PC's.
But eventually as I would become more ambitious in terms of dealing with plot and NPC's the notetaking role would become a bit of a hindrance. While the notetaker is appreciated and invaluable to the PC's on the scene it isn't a role that makes much of an impact on the NPC's. It has a somewhat perverse effect in that it makes you less visible to the plot, and also makes the other participants better informed and thus more present in the minds of plot and the NPC's. This isn't bad if you are content in the role of the support player in a plot while the other PC's are more directly participating and directing the action. But it can be frustrating if you wish to be that person at the front of the scene.
There are strategies for dealing with this of course. As previously mentioned it helps to have similar minded friends with whom you can switch off in taking the note taker role. You can also find newer players to bring along to give them some access and exposure who may be willing to take notes for you. But I do occasionally find myself in a position where I am with several other PC's who are all excited and competing with each other for the attention of an NPC, and I must make a choice to compete along with them or step back and keep track of what is being said so that we can actually use the information being learned later.
"As a nuanced comment on the notion that when you take notes you often miss certain parts of a scene, a lot of the difficulty I have now is that I find that note taking severely impedes the ability to take part in a scene."
DeleteI generally agree with all of this. Interestingly, it's the same problem I found when I started doing fieldwork: note taking alienated me from other people, and inhibited conversation. In LARPing, I've also found this to be the case. Collaborating with a team member can be really useful, but I often try to rely on simply remembering things, and colluding with others for detail later.
Ah ha. You managed to hit one of my biggest pet-peeves about note-taking. There's nothing better than faithfully taking down several pages of notes the first time a cool NPC appears on the field, distributing said notes, and then *not* being grabbed when the follow-up mod to talk to him comes along, because you didn't actually talk to the NPC the first time (on account of taking notes), so he doesn't know you. Because clearly you don't have any reason to be involved/interested in the plot at that point.
DeleteNote-taking in general makes the town/community/game do better at solving plots... it drives me nuts when people actively punish note-takers by then uninvolving them from plots, or assuming that sitting there taking notes is the only kind of plot involvement they ever want/need.
I remember taking notes back in NERO, where it was more for remembering names, the rare bit of useful information, or writing letters.
ReplyDeleteThen I got to Madrigal, where information is treasure, PELs are CP, and I met Alymar. He introduced me to Wikis. All previous note-taking and information storage or sharing method has been erased from my memory. ;) Wiki's are great because they can be organized in several different ways, and link to apparently disparate topics when you learn that X influences Y. Also, it allows for data on one topic to be updated with relative ease, and copy/pasted when you need to share.
There's an old adage I learned as a kid, "if you're talking, you're not listening." I find it very difficult to hold a conversation and take notes at the same time (other than a standard Q&A session). If I really need to engage or direct a conversation, someone else has to take the notes. Also, if I'm writing, I often miss info or fall behind in the conversation, and I have to resort to writing the truly important facts as opposed to exact quotes.
Collaboration is awesome. Two (or more) people are less likely to miss the exact same tidbit of information. And they can go back and forth with questions, or as primary speaker. Comparing notes right after the encounter is key though, and even better if you follow it up a few days after the event (while writing into a wiki). Ask me about the first Diardha event. ;)
I don't bother with pretty books or pens. It's a necessary evil. I find a cheap spiral notebook from CVS that fits in my pouch. Different color notebooks for different LARPs. JJ is right about the pen issues, 2 is minimum. I don't let people out of my sight with my pens anymore.
Sneaky note taking is not something I've done much of. Instead of writing sub-standard (or worse, confusing) notes, I'll just listen in exclusion of all else, and memorize it until the debrief afterwards (with lights on and pens out).
Yeah, I have a hard time writing and holding a conversation-- sometimes, it's necessary, but I try to avoid it. Collaboration, as everybody has been mentioning, is really useful.
DeleteAnd, YES WIKIS. They are the best. I started using them a little while ago, for something unrelated to LARP, and it changed how I think about info sharing.
I agree with most of what has been said about the disadvantages and advantages of being the note-taker. I've gone through heavy note-taking phases, where I'd post pages and pages to email lists after every event, and then I've gone several events without ever writing anything down, partially to manage the burnout. I know there are some players who love the Q&A game and furiously jotting down the details. I'm there for the visceral experience and story. I used to love notes for their own sake, but right now notes are a tool for me to have a sense of context and involvement. So I take as much as I think I have to and share them furiously, so I can feel less guilty the times when I get too impatient/ADD/involved to take them.
ReplyDeleteI do try write down names, numbers, specific phrasings that seem important at the time. But I also tend to go back to my cabin after an important encounter and write out a list of everything meaningful that was discussed. Sitting down with other people and comparing notes after a big scene is great if you can do it, if only because the repetition makes it stick in your memory better. And I'm a big proponent of having a written list of stuff that happened every event, even if there weren't details that you felt were worthy of noting at the time.
Wikis, google docs, etc are a vast improvement over the email lists we used for so long. If only because they make it okay to post half-finished notes (which can be corrected and added to) in a timely fashion, rather than polishing the 10 page IG missive that comes out just in time for the plotline to be over. They also make it much easier to break up the workload, so no one feels like they're doing all the drudgery for someone else's glory.
I think finding ways to share notes online is also hugely important when it comes to interfacing with plot. The game is better when the staff know where your head is at, not just in terms of what mods you liked, but what you know. Do PCs in general know that the Vizir who killed the Princess of Frufru Town is also the guy they saw in the vision about the Queen of Sketchyville's backstory? Yeah, you know that at least one person knows, but did she remember, and did that actually get out to the rest of the player base, or should you give out more clues? As a staffer, the gap between what you think you told PCs and what PCs think is true about the world can be HUGE (Pineapple, Taj Mahal). Not to mention forgetfulness or staff turnover creating awkward situations where the PCs know much more than the staff.
I think there's also a lot of largely-uncharted territory staff-wise with mixing note-taking and text props. As a teacher, I know my students usually learn better when I provide them some written material, then give them additional information verbally, which they can add in. At Nero I used to pull out the timeline of the history of Northmarch" and scribble things in the margins-- way easier than trying to take down a bunch of history with no starting point. But a lot of staff members lean towards MASSIVE text props or 3 hour verbal infodumps, which makes retaining the information much more challenging.
I'm amused at your comparison of LARP note-taking to field work. I always am half tempted to do some kind of "Everything I really need to know about writing for LARP I learned in grad school" essay. But then I realize that it would mostly be "Ask yourself 'what is at stake?' over and over again." :P
Also... grad school = academic larp. They're the same. :P
DeleteYet again, I fear you and I share a brain.
ReplyDelete"Sitting down with other people and comparing notes after a big scene is great if you can do it, if only because the repetition makes it stick in your memory better."
Team info-cram sessions, after a mission, are ten of my favorite things in LARPs. Not only is it a great way to fact check, but it's a great team-bonding exercise that's completely in game. It's one of the things I really miss when I'm NPCing (though of course, with NPCing, you relay the battle stories).
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of sharing information once it's been noted. Taking notes, by itself, is an act of zero value *to the rest of the community*. Literally. It has no value to other people. It becomes valuable to them, and thus exponentially more valuable in general, once they have access to the information. Now, notetaking has a personal value for the taker, they have the benefit of better recall and putting things together, etc etc, but with LARPs being such a social game, it's only in the sharing that the maximum value can be realized.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, several games/plotlines, including generally ones I run/staff and Madrigal, are predicated on the idea that maximum success is only achievable through the communication of information between players. In that kind of environment, the notetaker who does not share notes not only fails to really unlock the potential of their efforts, but are likely to eventually suffer a social drawback from other players tired of hearing about the notetaker's vast store of knowledge they never divulge.
Obviously, not all info is really sharable, but most of it not only is, but is designed by most staff to be shared.
I'm really happy to see that some LARPs encourage note taking and note sharing with in-game mechanics. It's particularly valuable to people who join the LARP late and are facing an overwhelming amount of information to catch up. There are usually players who are happy to fill them in, but I find I might not even know where to start asking questions, and the information comes piecemeal. Having comprehensive sources to turn to is great, especially when they're in game.
ReplyDeleteOne of my goals for my next campaign is to create an in-game journal for my character, just so I have an easier time keeping names of NPCs and places straight. I know Barnes and Noble sell cool looking, genre-appropriate blank journals, but the nicer ones can get pretty expensive. Does anyone else know other sources to get these kinds of props? Or cool pens to write with? (I was thinking of cutting up some scraps of fake leather to wrap around paper and gluing craft feathers to pens just to make it all blend into the setting a bit better.)
I've seen a lot of cool pens that are essentially wrapped in craft fabric/leather, and affixed with a feather. This technique is really cool, but intricate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttQcIOQudkE
DeleteMoleskin journals are my choice for LARPs. They're water resistant, small, and discreet-- plus, you can get them in a variety of styles: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=moleskin
I typically find cool pens and notebooks at Renn Faires. There's invariably a couple of vendors that carry them.
DeleteThis is where I got the base I used to make Cynnir's Lorekeeper Tome:
Deletehttp://jbsecure.com/product_info.php?products_id=534
I really like this guys work but it is on the expensive side:
http://www.renaissance-art.com/
He also makes Moleskin covers.
How did I miss this post!?!? *triple baffle*
ReplyDeleteNote taking and my character go hand-in-hand, since being a scribe type is the core of her back story. I only meant for it to be a story thing/prop, but then felt compelled to actually write things down during game. It's very interesting to read about some of the problems people have experienced that I haven't encountered yet... I'm not sure why I haven't.
Like the "missed the mod" thing. It might be because of how I take notes. People seem to remember the chick who is nodding and listening, then reaches up and pulls a feather out of her hat and writes with it. People (who haven't met the character before) always seem surprised the first time I do that, so I guess it makes an impression and they come looking for me later. That and I'm told I sometimes do something weird where I'll be talking, grab the hat-feather/book, and start writing without looking while listening and conversing with the person as if the writing weren't happening. Totally an accident I'm not sure how I'm doing that btw.
Writing in the dark - I guess because I do the weird "writing while I talk" thing, writing in the dark is not so different from that. I write so often I tend to know roughly where to flip to in the book from muscle memory to find a blank page (sometimes off by a page or so), and I know the dimension of the book in the same way. The only thing that changes is the size of the handwriting. I just write and turn pages as I need it, so my handwriting gets big and crooked at night.
Pens never go missing, probably because it's literally a feather with a tiny ball-ink stick shoved inside it. Not the most comfortable pen for some, and kind of hard to walk away without realizing you have it.
The feather pen has been excellent. I keep a ton of them stuffed in the brim of my hat. 5 games in and I think I'm only missing like 3 from falling out in combat. And they look nice in the hat - no one tends to realize I have pens up there until I pull one out and start using it. The last benefit is: during cold weather, the heat from my head keeps the pens warm so they don't jam up.
When I write varies. Sometimes I write while I'm interacting - she is very forward about the fact that she's there to chronicle heroes, so if you seem heroic, she's basically interviewing you. I may or may not write when an NPC is there or talking with me. The most common time I write is during down times. The tavern is my favorite writing place. Second favorite is the beach at sunrise. If I have no one to interact with, it's writing time.
What do I write? Some people like to take very literal notes. Predominantly I write memory clues.
I write what I thought about at the time, rather than general purpose notes. If I see a big weird NPC, do I write what their name was or who they were sent by? Nope. I write what my character thought, what she's worried it's going to do, or anything that seemed interesting/troubling (which may or may not align with what the NPC or other PCs thinks is important/interesting/troubling). Sometimes if I want to capture what happened I just do a drawing instead. It's sometimes faster.
Later when I'm flipping through the notes I can remember the full picture of what happened because the note/picture triggers my memories. By the time I go from IG thoughts to PEL to web journal, the information is locked in.
Names/factions are details I rarely have (or I obtain them after the fact). I tend to instead describe things by sight. Later if I relate what I saw, about 95% of PCs know who I'm talking about by the description and give me the associated name. It avoids rumor mongering if everyone agrees "yes the big fiery bird thing" rather than "Amanatahsadofashis or no wait, was it that other person called Ankatharanafish?" Mixing up names can be a horrible thing when people are trying to share information by word-of-mouth.