D&D session notes
Session notes fail in two directions. Too sparse and they are useless three months later — "fought goblins, went north" answers nothing. Too thorough and nobody writes them a second time, because transcribing four hours of play is a chore that competes with actually playing.
The version that survives is short, structured the same way every week, and written into a place the whole table can see. This page covers what to record, and how Dungeon Ledger’s session log handles it.
Free to start. No card, no trial clock — one campaign as DM, unlimited as a player.
What to record
Five things worth writing down
Who the party met, and what they wanted. Names are the single most valuable thing in a session log, because they are what people search for later and the first thing everyone forgets.
What the party promised or owes. Debts, favours and threats are the threads that make a campaign feel continuous, and they are the ones that quietly disappear if nobody records them.
Where they went, and what changed there. A location that is different from last time is a plot hook you have already earned.
What is unresolved. A short list of open questions at the end of each log is the most useful thing a DM can hand their future self at the start of prep.
What the players believe. Not what is true — what they think is true. The gap between the two is where most of the interesting play happens, and it is worth tracking deliberately.
Structure
A session log template that gets reused
Dungeon Ledger ships a session log template so every entry starts with the same headings instead of a blank page. Consistent structure is what makes a run of thirty logs skimmable — you learn where to look, and writing becomes filling in a shape rather than composing from scratch.
Session notes are their own note type, and sessions themselves are scheduled objects with dates and RSVPs, so the log stays attached to the session it belongs to rather than floating loose in a folder.
The editor is proper rich text — headings, bullet and task lists, tables, highlights, colours — so a log can carry a summary at the top and detail below it without turning into a wall of prose.
Who writes them
Let the table share the work
The most reliable way to get session notes written every week is to stop making it one person’s job. Because the campaign is shared and editing is set per note, a session log can be open for the whole table to add to — one player catches names, another tracks loot, and the DM adds the parts only they know.
Everything syncs live, so notes taken during play appear on every screen as they are typed. That also makes it viable to write the log as the session happens rather than reconstructing it afterwards, which is the point at which most groups give up.
Anything you write that the players shouldn’t see goes in the same log with its visibility set to DM-only, or as a secret note. Filtering happens server-side, so hidden content is never sent to a player’s browser.
Later
Notes that stay findable
Linking a session log to the NPCs and locations it mentions — type [[ and pick — means that six months later the note about a character carries its own history of every session they appeared in. That connection is what turns a pile of logs into a usable record.
There is also an in-campaign assistant that answers questions from the notes you are permitted to read, which is a faster way to recover "what did we agree with the harbourmaster?" than scrolling nine session logs.
Common questions
- What should I write in D&D session notes?
- Focus on five things: who the party met and what those people wanted, what the party promised or owes, where they went and what changed there, what is still unresolved, and what the players currently believe to be true. That is usually enough to run the next session from, and short enough that you will actually write it again next week.
- Who should take the session notes?
- Sharing it works better than assigning it. If the log is a shared note the whole table can edit, different people naturally capture different things and no single person has to choose between playing and transcribing. The DM adds anything only they know, with its visibility set so players cannot read it.
- Is there a D&D session log template?
- Yes — Dungeon Ledger includes templates for session logs, along with player characters, NPCs, locations and quests, so each entry starts with consistent headings rather than a blank page.
- How do I keep DM-only details in the same session log?
- Set that note’s visibility to DM-only, or use the dedicated secret note type. Because filtering happens on the server, players never receive the content at all, so you can keep everything about a session in one place.
Bring your table with you
Start a campaign, invite your players, and write the first note before next session.
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