Keeping track of things
Keep a record of everything. As your game grows, so does the amount of information that is contained within it. It may seem like the current events are relevant, but players have long memories
The best way to do this is to maintain an “encyclopaedia” of everything that happens, have a section for each major NPC, location, player character and issue and keep track after each game of any changes or progression in plotlines
Keep records of the plotlines you have written, keep copies of any character sheets that you might have used for your NPCs, and make a note of their costume / accent and so on
You may wish to create a detailed background to your campaign world before you start the game, or you may want the players to learn these as they come across them (aka you might want to make it up as you go along). They will need some degree of information in order to roleplay their characters properly. How much you decide to create is up to you and will vary depending up the style of game you are running; One offs generally require less background than the Campaign games
Another aid to this is to require your players to complete “debriefs”. This is basically a way of getting your players to tell you what they have been up to in the game and what plans they have made. Organisers and referees are sadly not omnipresent and sometimes do not see everything that is going on. Find a suitable reward for players who return a debrief of some description
TOOLS
Irrespective of the size of the game, you're going to need some basic tools to help you keep track of whats going on. This could be as simple as a spreadsheet with basic details on, to large complex databases. There are a number of tools which you might find useful for keeping track of your game world.
Some tools that I've used in the past are
PBWorks
http://www.pbworks.com/index.html
PB Works offers a range of free but quite sophisticated Project management tools or a Wiki which can be used to help keep track of whats going on. Its free but has a cap on the number of users and space. Its probably adequate for the majority of the events organisers
Google Docs / Sheets / Forms or Libre Office
https://www.google.co.uk/docs/about/
http://www.libreoffice.org/
Sometimes you don't need anything massively complex and a simple spreadsheet, word processor is enough. Google has a suite of basic "office" packages that anyone can download and can be saved onto Google drive and shared with unlimited numbers of other users. So you can create great collaborative documents. LibreOffice has a free suite of programs which are very similar to MSOffice and is compatible with it...except its free to use
The best way to do this is to maintain an “encyclopaedia” of everything that happens, have a section for each major NPC, location, player character and issue and keep track after each game of any changes or progression in plotlines
Keep records of the plotlines you have written, keep copies of any character sheets that you might have used for your NPCs, and make a note of their costume / accent and so on
You may wish to create a detailed background to your campaign world before you start the game, or you may want the players to learn these as they come across them (aka you might want to make it up as you go along). They will need some degree of information in order to roleplay their characters properly. How much you decide to create is up to you and will vary depending up the style of game you are running; One offs generally require less background than the Campaign games
Another aid to this is to require your players to complete “debriefs”. This is basically a way of getting your players to tell you what they have been up to in the game and what plans they have made. Organisers and referees are sadly not omnipresent and sometimes do not see everything that is going on. Find a suitable reward for players who return a debrief of some description
TOOLS
Irrespective of the size of the game, you're going to need some basic tools to help you keep track of whats going on. This could be as simple as a spreadsheet with basic details on, to large complex databases. There are a number of tools which you might find useful for keeping track of your game world.
Some tools that I've used in the past are
PBWorks
http://www.pbworks.com/index.html
PB Works offers a range of free but quite sophisticated Project management tools or a Wiki which can be used to help keep track of whats going on. Its free but has a cap on the number of users and space. Its probably adequate for the majority of the events organisers
Google Docs / Sheets / Forms or Libre Office
https://www.google.co.uk/docs/about/
http://www.libreoffice.org/
Sometimes you don't need anything massively complex and a simple spreadsheet, word processor is enough. Google has a suite of basic "office" packages that anyone can download and can be saved onto Google drive and shared with unlimited numbers of other users. So you can create great collaborative documents. LibreOffice has a free suite of programs which are very similar to MSOffice and is compatible with it...except its free to use
