I often time encourage my players to write journal entries/recaps of our gaming session in my games. I even go so far as to award experience for the write ups. I started thinking why am I such an advocate for journal entries?

I started gaming when I was around sixteen years old and have been gaming since for thirty plus years. When I come across old stories and read them, I am taken back to that point in my life and more often that not I have pleasant feelings about the game and my friends.

It is more than just having pleasant or unpleasant feelings about games but it is also watching the progression of my character development and play style. I notice when I was much younger my characters tended to be more hot-headed and impulsive. As I mature both as a gamer and a human being my characters tend to be more reserved and a thinker.

There are other benefits to keeping a journal. I find it gives me a wealth of ideas for my own adventures. I get ideas from them and things that I would like to have done differently. I view it as a way to improve upon what was a memorable session/campaign.

There is one more reason I am such an advocate for journal entries, and that is enhancing my writing abilities. To be fair writing does not come easy for me and I struggle with it all through school. I am always looking to improve and find that writing stories help me. I also have drafted a book and had my good friend Buck give me pointers for writing it in a standard format. I used journal entries to practice that craft as well.

As some of you already know I am in a game with ROMULUS8541 aka “Rey” in the last session I decided to kick my journal entry into high gear by taking notes. Rey has developed a world of intrigue with a lot of moving parts (think Game of Thrones) I was finding myself getting overwhelm keeping up with all the details.

So, the last session I took meticulous notes and found my self interrupting Rey asking for clarifying questions to notable NPC names and/or places. When the session was over, I found myself referring to the campaign journal he provides and looking up the various houses and maps. It all started to click which made it easier to write my journal entry (Arthion’s Travel Entry # 200801).

I truly felt engage in the campaign and I had a stake in the world! The added bonus is that it has been written and saved for viewing at a later date. I look forward to future me reread this entry and smiling at how that story started to proceed.

Do you chronicle your games? Do you take notes? Do you think you will start? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below