Tracking the game etc

Using Fantasy Grounds for the first time. We are playing Pathfinder 2e. What do people do to keep track of things like when you are going to meet to play, people's backgrounds, play synopsis from past sessions and any other stuff that everyone should be able to view at once. I guess I could create a document for that stuff on Google Drive and have people update it, but I was hoping there might be a better way I haven't thought of.

Also, it seems people can only update their characters if they are connected to me with the game up. How do people handle making changes to characters outside the game or do you just not do it?

Thanks in advance!

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Originally Posted by Jankomatic

Also, it seems people can only update their characters if they are connected to me with the game up. How do people handle making changes to characters outside the game or do you just not do it?

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Use Manage Characters to review your PC outside of the game. You can't directly update the local copy in the campaign cache, but you can export the PC XML and re-import and make changes to that copy. And when you connect to the GM you can upload your new edited PC - and stop using the old one, as this doesn't overwrite the original PC in the GMs campaign. It can be a bit of a faff, especially if the player doesn't own the Core Rules and other DLC needed. So most GMs make time in their sessions or load up the campaign outside of the session, for players to update their characters directly in the campaign.

Meet to play... I use a calendar invite as a reminder, and since we always play at the same day/time it's not something that needs more than a reminder. You can use the Game Calendar link at the top of the website if your group doesn't have a regular time/day. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/gamec.../dashboard.php

People backgrounds? No need to keep track of them, imo. Other than how the players player, or how the GM runs the game, I don't care about a players background. As for the character background, that goes on the character sheet.

Play synopsis. I don't keep track of it as the GM. I should take better notes, but I don't. If I did I would probably track it in OneNote since it would be for me only. As for a campaign log, imo, that should be up to the players to do. The GM already has a huge amount of work and shouldn't take on something anyone can do. Here's what I do for a campaign I play in; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...l=1#post342879 You could of course make story or notes in the campaign itself.

Its pretty rare I've ever wanted to update a character, or a player has wanted to update a character outside of play time. When we do, either we just join 15-30 minutes early, or ask the GM to start up FG some evening so I/they can do what's wanted. It's just not something that happens enough, imo, to worry about.

I use story entries for GM session notes. I make a new story entry for each session. Upon a new session, I copy the last one, change the title with today's date, and wipe the old notes from that copy to make my new notes (you could also have a story item tht you always use as sort of a template; copy it, update its title, and you're ready). I typically make note of who attended that session, highlights of what happened, and notes about what I should prep for next time. I keep all of these story entries in their own story group (the drop-down list at the top of the Story window).

My players use the Notes function to take notes, both as a group and individually. I sometimes skim those, but not often.

I play 5e but I think this all applies regardless... I also start each session with having the players recap what happened previously. It seems to have encouraged them to take better notes over time.

For play synopsis, I use the Message of the Day Extension. I'll write up and summarize what happened the previous night and I date it and add session number. It's worked really well for the players as they can use that as a historical log also (with some DM added color of course)!

In the past I've used Obsidian Portal for tracking a lot of information out of game: https://www.obsidianportal.com/

This has worked OK for one group, and not OK for another - your players all have to buy into its use, pay attention to update emails that are sent, etc.. Like with a lot of things like this, you get out of it what you put into it.

It has a lot of nice features - a calendar for game scheduling (I haven't used it for a while, but I'm not sure if it adjusts for different time zones), a forum for discussions, maps/images, PCs and NPCs and lots of other features. The sidebar in this example screenshot gives you an idea:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...chmentid=29547

For world building and managing a homebrew campaign, I've used World Anvil. I like it a lot, but I find it most useful for homebrew settings. I'm currently running games in an existing setting from modules, so it's not worth entering everything in there all over again.
https://www.worldanvil.com/

This kind of tool goes way beyond simple note-taking, but you might find it useful.

One thing about having players use the FG PC notes... If another player connects as them (say they are absent and the GM allows someone else to run their character) the ownership goes away, and you need to manually give them permissions again. Kind of pain in the butt if you get a lot of player notes and also change ownership of PCs (or even reset/flush the DB). So, I tell players to keep their notes outside the game. As GM, I keep my notes outside the game too.

In my Cthulhu and Deadlands games, I use the inbuild calendar to note down keywords about what happened that day.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jankomatic

What do people do to keep track of things like when you are going to meet to play, people's backgrounds, play synopsis from past sessions and any other stuff that everyone should be able to view at once. I guess I could create a document for that stuff on Google Drive and have people update it, but I was hoping there might be a better way I haven't thought of.

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For meeting times, we rely on email and a shared Google Calendar. For the other stuff, we use a free forum. I edit the FG chat logs and post the edited versions there.