How to Take Notes During a DnD Session as a Player (with data!)

TL;DR

• During the session, just capture names and a few trigger words, then do the real writing after.

• Use a text editor like OneNote, note app like Obsidian, or just a simple notebook.

• If you hate taking notes, don't force it. There are other ways to keep up.

How players actually take notes during a DnD session in 2026

It's always been a chore to take notes while playing D&D because you just want to play the dang game! So I looked at 229 comments from 14 reddit posts on r/DnD and r/DungeonsAndDragons in the last year where redditors ask for advice on taking player notes. I categorized each type of comment and ranked them based on how much the commenter emphasized each approach. It came out to 13 categories that players use! If you're a DM and want to know how DM's suggest taking notes, I did another analysis just for you!

Now the question is, which ones are the best?

Note: If you want to see the 13 approaches and their explanations, you can read them at the bottom of this page!

How often each notetaking approach was suggested

The top of the chart isn't a tip or trick: what goes in your player notes narrowly beats where you write them. Players also care a lot about making notes easy to search later, which makes sense when the note you need is from like 9 sessions ago.

The classic digital vs. paper debate shows up right away too: simple text editors edge out pen and paper these days, but not by much. This could differ if you're playing in person or playing online such as through Discord.

This data is a good start, but it's missing something: Commenters usually provide multiple strategies, but lean more towards one or a couple. So, next I ranked how much each commenter emphasized each suggestion they made.

Main approaches vs. supporting ones

The data starts to look different when we give it a closer look here:

• The tools are the main approaches for dnd players. Simple text editors, pen and paper, and note apps rack up the most #1 rankings.

• Note apps and recording are all-or-nothing. Players who use a note app like Obsidian almost never mention it as a side thing (14 of 15 ranked it #1). Same with recording the session (8 of 9).

• Doing the real note taking after the session seems to be a more supporting technique. It was ranked #2 more than any other approach (15 times). It's what players do on top of whatever their main method is.

• Making notes easy to search is the finishing touch. It got more #3+ rankings than anything else (13). Your notes are kind of useless if you can't search them later, so I think it makes sense that this is the last piece.

What each top approach means

1. Use a simple text editor, app, or pen & paper

The biggest split in the data. Simple text editor players want their notes searchable and always with them. Pen and paper players choose it on purpose: no screen at the table, nothing to alt-tab into. Note app players (Obsidian, Notion, and friends) are building a little campaign wiki that links NPCs to places to quests.

The data doesn't crown a winner here, and I think that's the real finding: the best tool is the one you'll actually open next session. Give each one a try and see how it feels next session!

2. Write down recurring facts

The most mentioned advice in the whole dataset (38 mentions), but what counts as a recurring fact?

"Useful things to note down: names of NPCs w/ a brief note of who they are, locations and what they are or why they're mentioned, anything you are asked to do, any reward you are offered for doing something, any promises or agreements you or the party makes, any event or concept that is mentioned multiple times."

That's basically it!

3. Make your notes easy to search

The #3 approach by mentions (31), and almost always an add-on rather than the main method. Sections for NPCs and places, tags, links. But this commenter suggests the first thing you should do with your notes:

"Just write the date at the top of your session notes each time you play."

Putting it all together: The player notetaking system

If I mash the data into one realistic system, it looks like this:

• Before the session: Pick where your notes live. A doc, a note app, or a paper notebook.

• During the session: Date at the top like you're in grade school. Then focus on names, POI's, and quests. A few trigger words per moment, not sentences.

• Right after the session: Take ten minutes to turn your scribbles into something future-you can read.

• Get everyone to pitch in: A tactic as old as time. Use a shared Google Doc, your VTT's built-in journal entries, or Discord channels.

• Record and write later: If you are the kind of person to want to catch everything, just use Discord or OBS to record your session and you can listen to it back.

That being said, you may still be feeling like note taking kind of sucks.

If that's still too much, there are lighter options

Not every player wants a note taking system, and the data has answers for that too.

Make it fun instead of homework. Keep a journal your character writes (20 mentions). Record only what your character would know and how they'd feel about it. The players who do this were the only ones in the data who actually seemed to enjoy taking notes. A few even draw their notes: doodles, maps, and little sketches of NPCs.

Or lower the bar on purpose. Plenty of players said exactly this: keep it low pressure, and accept that some people at the table just won't take notes. Ask your DM to open each session with a recap, or lean on the party's designated note-taker (unless that's yourself). Nobody's fun should die on the hill of a quest log.

Or... just don't take notes at all

That's why I built Crit Scribbler: if your group plays on Discord, it records the session and writes all the notes for you, so you can focus on having fun. Free to try, and honestly the laziest possible way if you're like me!

Methodology

Comments were gathered from 14 threads on r/DnD and r/DungeonsAndDragons where people asked for dnd note taking advice for players. I gathered all 229 top-level comments, categorized each one into the approaches it suggested, and marked which approach was that player's main method versus the extras they mentioned on the side. My categorization is completely subjective. I did my best to summarize the approaches, but the real comments have more nuance than any category system can hold, so treat exact numbers as approximate. Obvious self-promotion, jokes, and off-topic comments were left out. You can run this yourself and I'd love to see what data you get!

The 13 approaches

Use a simple text editor: Google Docs, Word, a notes app, a text file, or a VTT journal.

Write down recurring facts: Names of NPCs and places, quests taken on, rewards and promises, and enemy stats. The concrete things you'll need to look up later.

Make your notes easy to search: Fixed sections for people and places, session numbers or dates as headers, and tags, links, or search to get back to things.

Use pen and paper: A notebook, binder, or loose leaf, often chosen over digital on purpose.

Make it the table's job: One shared document everyone adds to, rotating who takes notes, or leaning on the DM to recap and hold continuity.

Do the real note taking after the session: Scribble roughly during play, then rewrite, tidy, or summarize afterwards, often as a recap for the table.

Write in character: Keep the notes as your character's own journal or diary, recording only what that character would know.

Don't sweat the notes: Shorten sessions, accept that some players never take notes, keep it low pressure, and find whatever system fits your own brain.

Use a note app: Obsidian, Notion, World Anvil, LegendKeeper, and similar wiki-style tools where notes link to each other.

Draw your notes: Sketches, maps, and doodles, or colors, highlighters, and symbols used as a consistent legend.

Write as little as possible: A few trigger words or abbreviations that jog memory, deliberately not full sentences, so you stay in the game.

Record the session: Capture audio or video to re-listen to, transcribe, or summarize with AI later.

Write it all down by hand: Write the session near-verbatim as it happens, dialogue included, and sort it out later.