If you're using World Anvil to run an RPG campaign, you can use the Session Report template to write about what happened during a game. While you use the Plot template to prep what will happen in a session, in the Session Report you can write what actually happened!
How to write a Session Report
Writing a Session Report can be useful both for yourself as the GM (to remember what happened) and for your players (so that everyone is on the same page about what happened). Remember to avoid spoilers if you make your session report public! With this in mind, here are some tips to write a great Session Report:
- Take good notes!
It's very possible you won't have the energy to write a session report right after the game, so make sure to take good notes! They don't have to be pretty, just good enough for you to remember what they mean a couple of days later. It's especially important to write down anything you have improvised during the session: new NPC names, fleshed-out backstories, and player choices you didn't anticipate. It's also a good idea to write down anything your players are excited about so you can keep recreating those situations and feelings! - Write the report itself.
The way you do that is up to you! The agile way is to simply use a bullet-point list of everything that happened: just take your in-game notes and flesh them out. The goal here is to be able to remember all the important parts months later. If you want to go the extra mile (and have enough time), you could write it in prose, to make it more interesting to read. - Spice it up with some extras!
Especially if your players will see the report, you can add some additional material. Depending on your GMing style and your group, this could be NPC statblocks or profiles, context lore (with links to the full articles), reference images, and any maps you've used.
Regardless of how in-depth your Session Report is, make sure it achieves its goal: making sure you and your players can remember what happened in the future!
For an example of a great session report, take a look at Chris L's Episode 28: Revelations in Three Acts (and the Blackjack Heritage campaign reports in general).
Feature recommendations for session reports
Here are some ideas on how to use other features with session reports:
- Linking to keep track of appearances: Knowing which NPCs (and items, factions, etc.) appeared in which session is very useful for you. If you link all of these appearances into the session report, you'll be able to use the "Referenced in..." panel to see all session in which that character appeared! Check this how-to to learn more
- Timelines: You can use a list-style timeline a link it from the report to show the main events in order and in relation to past and future sessions. Check the guide to timelines for details
- Maps: If your players explored new areas or moved around a lot, you can use an interactive map to show their movements. Check the guide to maps for details.
- Tagged lists: While you can put all Session Reports in a category, with the tagging system you can also generate a dynamic list of all reports from a campaign. Learn how to use tagged lists.
You can also use the campaign manager for a tighter integration between your game and your world.
