I keep all of what happened in one journal, and everything else on the computer. All the maps, the schedules, and the character sheets using a gurps character sheet program (forgot what its called), because I run it through discord using a text format. I hardly plan anything besides what’s in my head.
Ive been trying to use different ways to plan besides just pure vibes. like using joplin, or some wiki format or even trying to do use a mindmap? But alas most of what I do is simulating what I believe would happen and keeping character sheets of possible enemies on hand.
So, I’m curious, what do you do?
Three pieces of paper: Apocalypse World’s the threat map and two threat sheets.
The game is so flexible that I don’t need to plan much.
If I forget something, players will surely remind me, and that’s okay. We’re there to play a fun and interesting interesting game in which we can improvise and course-correct. We can all pitch ways in which to integrate the forgotten-and-later-remembered fact to our current game. In that way, it’s a much more collaborative and free game.
We are not playing a game in which I am playing against my friends and so we all have to keep track of everything, just in case we need to rule-lawyer each other.
Neither are we there to play a game in which the lore is completely separated from the actions that the players take.
In Apocalypse World (at least the way my friends and I play it), the lore is created as we play, based on the actions that players take. This means that nobody is sitting for hours coming up ideas. Rather, we are playing a game and seeing the world ‘render’ before our eyes with every decision the players take. Sure, I also take decisions, but the vast majority of them are taken in real time, before my players’ eyes. We’re all there to see what happens, because nobody (not even I, the GM) knows what will happen!
Oh, and if we all forget something, it doesn’t matter; we’re all still gonna have a blast!
Of course that is a valid way to play, but as a player i would miss the sense of exploration that a pre-created world offers. I also find it more immersive if the GM comes up with the world and i just interact with that. I usually dislike when GMs hand creative control to me to come up with some aspect of the world on spot, it takes me right out of my character’s headspace. I also like sitting for hours coming up with ideas as a GM, although i agree that would be way too much prep. But there is no wrong way to play as long as everyone is having fun, it’s all just preferences. I’m just writing this to show that there are people who like GM-authoritative games better.