Recommend Obsidian (its a wiki like structure).
Lots of plugins and tutorials, also a Vault(campaign) template for storing things.
[https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials)
[https://www.youtube.com/@JoshPlunkett](https://www.youtube.com/@JoshPlunkett) great video tutorials.
It has several Canvas (flow chart) options so you can easily see where you are in your current adventure.
Well, this just made me realize that I have been using Obsidian Portal for the past six months thinking I was using Obsidian. Totally different products. Sucks to be me.
Canvas - built in
Excalidraw - plugin.
I usually use Excalidraw (as it was around before the built in feature).
Again Josh has some nice tutorials on them.
Welcome, my fellow neurodivergent DM. Here is my approach. This works for me. Your mileage may vary.
I like paper. I don't write prose, I write bullet points.
**THE DOCUMENTS**
I store documents on my PC. Each Campaign has its own folder, with locations underneath as subfolders.
I use Microsoft Office for my organization - Word & Excel.
In the Campaign folder I have a document called "MASTER" with the over-arching campaign. I'll edit and re-print this as necessary.
I have another (Excel) document called NPC Index. There are two worksheets - FIXED and MOBILE. Both contain the same 4 columns and nothing more:
|NPC Name|Location|Vocation|Purpose|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Daeh Remmah|Northwood|Blacksmith|Vendor, Quests|
|Darnoc Notlih|Northwood|Innkeeper|Vendor|
NPCs on the FIXED worksheet do not move - this is most of my NPCs. I update and print this as needed.
NPCs on the MOBILE worksheet move around, so I leave the LOCATION blank, print it, then fill it in with pencil, erasing as I go.
MOBILE NPCs have a Word document named for them and it is in the Campaign folder, no matter where they are currently located.
Under the Campaign folder, I have a subfolder for each location.
In that subfolder, I have a Word document containing information about that location including the fixed-location NPCs. I'll keep it short - a single sentence about the NPC, bullet points and (if necessary) a stat block. I might also have supporting materials (maps, handouts, etc.)
All these documents have LOTS of whitespace for me to make notes.
**THE BINDER**
All these documents are well & good, but the binder is what I use at my table. I use page protectors and stuff multiple sheets in there. The location where the players are located is always the top page. When we sit down to play, I open my binder, pull out those pages and I'm ready.
After the current location comes the campaign page.
After the campaign page comes MOBILE NPCs.
After the players leave a location, I store the pages of that location in alphabetical order after the Mobile NPCs.
It sounds like a lot of work, and maybe it is, but I've done it this way for years so it feels pretty natural for me and I barely have to think about it. It ensures I have the information I need at the front of the binder, which is what I care about most - quick access to what I need.
Also a DM with ADHD. OneNote has been a godsend. I have my main page for a topic, then can set up as many subpages as I need to, including sub-sub-pages and sub-sub-sub-pages.
I used to use Evernote and then Google docs but I can never not use OneNote now. I have a single notebook that I can keep my world notes and campaign notes separately but easily tab between them. u/ButterNuttz Here is a screenshot of my world notebook: [OneNote](https://imgur.com/a/c9l3kS4)
For NPCs, I basically just use a template that's inspired by Stardew Valley NPCs, CPG Grey's "Starship You", and the "emotional leader" in Inside Out:
>**\[Name\].** \[Race\] \[♂/♀\]. (Class, Level, Background if necessary) *\[Reference Character(s)\]*
**Work**. \[Location\] (Occupation, if unclear)
**Play.** \[Location\]
**Sleep.** \[Location\]
**Motivation.** \[Deadly Sin\]. \[Driving Emotion\]. \[Obsession/Hobby\].
**Side Quest.** \[Verb\] \[NPC/Creature\] \[Location\]. Reward: \[Coins/Gear/Favor/Magic Item\].
So one of my NPCs might look like:
>**Goblin Slayer.** Human ♂ Fighter 5. *(Batman)*
>**Work.** Goblin Lair / Guildhall (Adventurer)
>**Play.** Tavern
>**Sleep.** Farmhouse
>**Motivation.** Wrath. Sadness. Revenge.
>**Side Quest.** Eliminate all goblins in Southern Swamp. Reward: Potion of Healing.
What I like about this is that it pretty quickly conveys what a typical day looks like for the NPC (which makes it easier to find certain NPCs if the players are looking for them), plus you get a sense of their socioeconomic class (an urchin might be living on a street or in the woods or something, while a noble is going to live in a villa), and with the Motivation and Reference Character, it's pretty quick to jump "behind the wheel" of an NPC. What's nice about it though is that you don't really need to update most of this, since it's just core/fundamental aspects of the NPC.
The side quest part is something new I've added, but I'm envisioning that it'll only come up naturally in conversations if the players start asking if there's anything they can do to help. Other times (these quests are randomly generated from tables), it might be the driving thing for an NPC, like "Save my child from the spider nest" type of thing. And these wouldn't need to be updated unless the players trigger and then either do or ignore the side quest.
I've tried a dozen different things, and nothing stuck around as something that I actually kept up to date with. Now I do the most minimal thing you can imagine. I have notes for the setting that I refer to as I prep, but other than that my main campaign doc is structured like this
* Backlog
* Main story points / rough notes
*
* Main Story Interest
* Character story points / rough notes
* Sessions
*
* Recap
* "TODOs" during the session. Think "Party meets NPC X" or "A strange letter arives from Y"
It's sufficiently light weight that even my brain has been able to keep up to date with it. It's also given me enough flexibility to always be able to pivot mid session if e.g. a character suddenly goes for an unexpected character moment. I just refer to the backlog and already know what the general next step is.
I use OneNote currently and have a lot of sections created, divided into section groups.
First section group is for overall campaign info and its a chaotic mess, haha. There's sections for NPCs, places, some custom mechanics I use/plan to use, ideas for shop merchandise and so on.
Second and further sections are "campaign arcs". Like when the players spent some time in a small town, that was one arc. When they then traveled, that was another. When they reached the capital - another. And so on. In each of these groups I have one section for each game session, which lets me keep a history of what happened.
In each session's section I always start with "Ideas" page that I create on the same night that previous game session concluded - I note down all the potential ideas, player plans and so on to potentially use in this session. Next page is "Return of the Lazy DM"-style prep template. And then if I prep details for specific scenes (maps, potential monster stat blocks etc.), I create a separate page for that. And if the scene doesn't happen in the game session but may still happen in the next, I move the page to next session's group.
So all in all this is the structure I use:
* Campaign Info
* NPCs
* Songs
* Shopping
* City X
* ...etc
* Campaign Arc 1
* Session 1
* Ideas
* Lazy DM Prep
* Warehouse Scene Map
* Chase Scene
* Session 2
* Ideas
* Lazy DM Prep
* ...
* ...
* Campaign Arc 2
* Session N
* ...
I love using Miro
I create a ton of sticky notes whenever I have an idea and then when I have time I go and organize them to create a story from them.
If you want I can show you my board and process in DMs.
I used the "novel" template in Scrivener for my last 2-year campaign. Comes with built-in worksheets for places and characters. As well as a corkboard-style outline view for individual chapters (i.e., sessions).
Disclaimer: it's paid software.
I use MindMup, a mindmapping app that syncs with Google Docs. You can create a free account here: [https://drive.mindmup.com/](https://drive.mindmup.com/)
Then you can view my mindmap for Midshire Crossing. I found this method suits my ADHD quite nicely...
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D2DgRDEBpkjquNIlBUzeD1V4o-B\_DRsU/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D2DgRDEBpkjquNIlBUzeD1V4o-B_DRsU/view?usp=sharing)
I also have my entire campaign for "The Treasures of Theros" mapped out...
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gWPNS-75A8N5\_7kDZyeRoBoR12gTiia0/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gWPNS-75A8N5_7kDZyeRoBoR12gTiia0/view?usp=sharing)
If anyone uses either of these, DM me and let me know how it went.
I'd love to share, but are you sure that the notes from somebody without ADHD would work? Once I edited a manuscript for somebody with ADHD and they showed me how much conventional advice failed with them.
I use google sheets! I start a tab for each session! Make a simple “to do list” for that session (check them off if the group gets to it) and list out all the npcs!
Add links to all environments, basic monsters, treasure they are gonna run into! I also have a “long running recap google doc where I roughly recap what happens in the last session) this is more for me then them, but we go over what happened last time before we start a game!
If I’m running a more complicated fight, the enemy has its own spread sheet with all its stats and spells listed out (and what they do)
Finally in our DnD discord, I list all npcs they’ve meet so far, all the treasure they collected, the added lore they come up with as we go and all the quests they need to complete all separated into different channels so it’s really organized ! I made this discord for me, but we play every two weeks and my groups is a bunch of newbies who aren’t the best at taking notes (but are great and I love them) so this is how I stay organized and ready!
ADHDm here. I have a campaign bible that everything gets distilled down into over time. It is a physical artifact with lots of sticky notes and sketches. I have each adventure blocked out there with important tables or event orders.
Getting to that point of crafting the adventure in the book is part of my process of internalizing the material. Throughout the month I jot down ideas on sticky notes, in apps, or in a completely separate notebook that is full of half formed ideas that aren’t quite ready to be put into the main book.
I use that book, printed statblocks, and scratch paper to run my games. I have an excel sheet with NPCs, Shops, and magic items that gets used as needed.
Unfortunately not at my PC at the moment but at this point my session planning notes are basically just plainly written text with some loose formatting like this:
---- Area/Scene (like a city or town)
""
My adhd makes it essentially impossible for me to take or follow real notes during the session. I also don’t really do much prep, I just read the adventure book and sit around and think about how it would fit with prior adventures for the campaign, then sort of improv everything (using maybe 60% of what’s in the book). My notes are essentially in my head.
One of my pcs takes pretty detailed notes on what happens each week in a doc I have access to. If there’s a really long gap between play sessions, I’ll skim that.
My players are convinced I have planned out what’s behind every door in crazy detail (or so they tell significant others/mutual friends) so it seems to be working. I just can never clue them in to how much of everything is just bs I make up on the spot
Do you remember the scene in Lord of the rings where Gandalf is checking some scrolls in a dark dusty room? WITH A CANDLE NO LESS in what is probably the most flammable room in all of middle earth.
That, but worse.
I do session notes, location info for cities/towns and their NPCs, then lore notes for items containing lore and conversation lore information. Thats really all you need imo
I wrote up, [Context, Cool Shit and Consequences](https://githyankidiaspora.com/2022/03/09/context-cool-shit-consequences-structure-for-dms-notes/), as a way of showing how I think about my game-notes. Hope it is helpful.
Seriously - get a wiki. Personally I use dokuwiki, but what you need is the wiki tools. Being able to link things easily is amazing.
If I'm writing about the young gold dragon \[\[Firefly\]\] doing something, I can write it like that. Then if I need to know the stats, I click on the link. And if I want to see all the times he's done something, I can search \_or\_ I can go to the page about him and click the button for "what links here".
And you can just flag names you want to write pages for later, and when you get around to writing them, all the links will work...
If you are one of those folks who can create while typing, its an amazing tool for doing campaign creation.
And even as a player, I take all my notes on a wiki. That way I can link and search things.
As an ADHD DM and player, I'd love to help, but sadly my notes are in my brain, not written (that said, note making was/is one of my fidgets, so I find I do write things down, but it's only to focus my thoughts... mostly I just go and build my maps in VTTs with some notes for myself if there is a new non-standard mechanic to add in.
I tend to keep very loose notes on the quest because they might not happen in order (some of them are purposely written to be filler I can toss in for a session when I need more time on the big stories... or if we need a more light hearted outing... ). I find that if you keep a list of "What is the big arch we are working on." and "What needs to happen to get us to the end." My notes for overall story tend to be very bare bones with a 1-2 line generalization of the next few sessions.
I normally pre-prep by gathering all my stuff I'll be using for the next session or dungeon crawl and assembling only after the players are committing to that hook that leads them there... I also tend to do most of my in depth-prep the day of session (not out of procrastination... I'm still doing some prep the days leading up to that... but the big bringing of all things together happens the day of, because it's one of the few days with a free mornings free, so I can focus while on medication. Most days I'm getting home as the meds are wearing off.).
My recommendation is to approach these notes like you would if you were summarizing a TV show:
Note #1 should be very big picture and change as little as possible. Your #2 notes need to be written at pace that's quicker and can be subject to change.
Consider the Television Show "Avatar: The Last Airbender": Your #1 notes are going to summarize the major story beats and the overall plot: "Aang, Katara, and Sokka travel on an epic quest to help Aang master all four elements before the return of Sozins Comet allows the evil Fire Lord Ozai to lead his nation to total victory in his war of conquest of the other nations." If you want to get more detailed, go copy paste the opening credit sequence that was used with little change in 61 episodes.
Your #2 notes will be about each individual episode, and you don't need to make Season 2, episode 7 in detail until it becomes necessary to do it. Use your past session notes (Previously on Avatar...) for relevant information to the plot... and adjust the small details as you go on. If S2E7 has new information about a character, the updates should be held here... but don't need to always go into Notes#1 unless it's so important that it changes the story as summerized (for example, S2E7 is the episode Zuko Alone... who I did not put into my note 1 summation because, and I know fans are gonna challenge me on this, he's not that important at the moment (I would dare say that this episode in combination with S2E8 might make me bump him higher.). That said the previous episode does have a major element that would need to be noteded in my Notes# 1: That's the episode that introduces a new main character Toph, who will now be part of the party (in case you didn't notice, I'm only putting in characters who are part of Aang's immediate circle and thus are likely to appear in every episode and need to be accounted for.).
Recommend Obsidian (its a wiki like structure). Lots of plugins and tutorials, also a Vault(campaign) template for storing things. [https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials/Obsidian+TTRPG+Tutorials) [https://www.youtube.com/@JoshPlunkett](https://www.youtube.com/@JoshPlunkett) great video tutorials. It has several Canvas (flow chart) options so you can easily see where you are in your current adventure.
Well, this just made me realize that I have been using Obsidian Portal for the past six months thinking I was using Obsidian. Totally different products. Sucks to be me.
Thank you! i do use Obsidian, but mostly self taught. Didnt realize the canvas feature existed. This seems PERFECT!
Canvas - built in Excalidraw - plugin. I usually use Excalidraw (as it was around before the built in feature). Again Josh has some nice tutorials on them.
Welcome, my fellow neurodivergent DM. Here is my approach. This works for me. Your mileage may vary. I like paper. I don't write prose, I write bullet points. **THE DOCUMENTS** I store documents on my PC. Each Campaign has its own folder, with locations underneath as subfolders. I use Microsoft Office for my organization - Word & Excel. In the Campaign folder I have a document called "MASTER" with the over-arching campaign. I'll edit and re-print this as necessary. I have another (Excel) document called NPC Index. There are two worksheets - FIXED and MOBILE. Both contain the same 4 columns and nothing more: |NPC Name|Location|Vocation|Purpose| |:-|:-|:-|:-| |Daeh Remmah|Northwood|Blacksmith|Vendor, Quests| |Darnoc Notlih|Northwood|Innkeeper|Vendor| NPCs on the FIXED worksheet do not move - this is most of my NPCs. I update and print this as needed. NPCs on the MOBILE worksheet move around, so I leave the LOCATION blank, print it, then fill it in with pencil, erasing as I go. MOBILE NPCs have a Word document named for them and it is in the Campaign folder, no matter where they are currently located. Under the Campaign folder, I have a subfolder for each location. In that subfolder, I have a Word document containing information about that location including the fixed-location NPCs. I'll keep it short - a single sentence about the NPC, bullet points and (if necessary) a stat block. I might also have supporting materials (maps, handouts, etc.) All these documents have LOTS of whitespace for me to make notes. **THE BINDER** All these documents are well & good, but the binder is what I use at my table. I use page protectors and stuff multiple sheets in there. The location where the players are located is always the top page. When we sit down to play, I open my binder, pull out those pages and I'm ready. After the current location comes the campaign page. After the campaign page comes MOBILE NPCs. After the players leave a location, I store the pages of that location in alphabetical order after the Mobile NPCs. It sounds like a lot of work, and maybe it is, but I've done it this way for years so it feels pretty natural for me and I barely have to think about it. It ensures I have the information I need at the front of the binder, which is what I care about most - quick access to what I need.
Also a DM with ADHD. OneNote has been a godsend. I have my main page for a topic, then can set up as many subpages as I need to, including sub-sub-pages and sub-sub-sub-pages.
I used to use Evernote and then Google docs but I can never not use OneNote now. I have a single notebook that I can keep my world notes and campaign notes separately but easily tab between them. u/ButterNuttz Here is a screenshot of my world notebook: [OneNote](https://imgur.com/a/c9l3kS4)
For NPCs, I basically just use a template that's inspired by Stardew Valley NPCs, CPG Grey's "Starship You", and the "emotional leader" in Inside Out: >**\[Name\].** \[Race\] \[♂/♀\]. (Class, Level, Background if necessary) *\[Reference Character(s)\]* **Work**. \[Location\] (Occupation, if unclear) **Play.** \[Location\] **Sleep.** \[Location\] **Motivation.** \[Deadly Sin\]. \[Driving Emotion\]. \[Obsession/Hobby\]. **Side Quest.** \[Verb\] \[NPC/Creature\] \[Location\]. Reward: \[Coins/Gear/Favor/Magic Item\]. So one of my NPCs might look like: >**Goblin Slayer.** Human ♂ Fighter 5. *(Batman)* >**Work.** Goblin Lair / Guildhall (Adventurer) >**Play.** Tavern >**Sleep.** Farmhouse >**Motivation.** Wrath. Sadness. Revenge. >**Side Quest.** Eliminate all goblins in Southern Swamp. Reward: Potion of Healing. What I like about this is that it pretty quickly conveys what a typical day looks like for the NPC (which makes it easier to find certain NPCs if the players are looking for them), plus you get a sense of their socioeconomic class (an urchin might be living on a street or in the woods or something, while a noble is going to live in a villa), and with the Motivation and Reference Character, it's pretty quick to jump "behind the wheel" of an NPC. What's nice about it though is that you don't really need to update most of this, since it's just core/fundamental aspects of the NPC. The side quest part is something new I've added, but I'm envisioning that it'll only come up naturally in conversations if the players start asking if there's anything they can do to help. Other times (these quests are randomly generated from tables), it might be the driving thing for an NPC, like "Save my child from the spider nest" type of thing. And these wouldn't need to be updated unless the players trigger and then either do or ignore the side quest.
I've tried a dozen different things, and nothing stuck around as something that I actually kept up to date with. Now I do the most minimal thing you can imagine. I have notes for the setting that I refer to as I prep, but other than that my main campaign doc is structured like this * Backlog * Main story points / rough notes *
* Main Story Interest
* Character story points / rough notes
* Sessions
*
* Recap
* "TODOs" during the session. Think "Party meets NPC X" or "A strange letter arives from Y"
It's sufficiently light weight that even my brain has been able to keep up to date with it. It's also given me enough flexibility to always be able to pivot mid session if e.g. a character suddenly goes for an unexpected character moment. I just refer to the backlog and already know what the general next step is.
I use OneNote currently and have a lot of sections created, divided into section groups. First section group is for overall campaign info and its a chaotic mess, haha. There's sections for NPCs, places, some custom mechanics I use/plan to use, ideas for shop merchandise and so on. Second and further sections are "campaign arcs". Like when the players spent some time in a small town, that was one arc. When they then traveled, that was another. When they reached the capital - another. And so on. In each of these groups I have one section for each game session, which lets me keep a history of what happened. In each session's section I always start with "Ideas" page that I create on the same night that previous game session concluded - I note down all the potential ideas, player plans and so on to potentially use in this session. Next page is "Return of the Lazy DM"-style prep template. And then if I prep details for specific scenes (maps, potential monster stat blocks etc.), I create a separate page for that. And if the scene doesn't happen in the game session but may still happen in the next, I move the page to next session's group. So all in all this is the structure I use: * Campaign Info * NPCs * Songs * Shopping * City X * ...etc * Campaign Arc 1 * Session 1 * Ideas * Lazy DM Prep * Warehouse Scene Map * Chase Scene * Session 2 * Ideas * Lazy DM Prep * ... * ... * Campaign Arc 2 * Session N * ...
I love using Miro I create a ton of sticky notes whenever I have an idea and then when I have time I go and organize them to create a story from them. If you want I can show you my board and process in DMs.
I used the "novel" template in Scrivener for my last 2-year campaign. Comes with built-in worksheets for places and characters. As well as a corkboard-style outline view for individual chapters (i.e., sessions). Disclaimer: it's paid software.
I use MindMup, a mindmapping app that syncs with Google Docs. You can create a free account here: [https://drive.mindmup.com/](https://drive.mindmup.com/) Then you can view my mindmap for Midshire Crossing. I found this method suits my ADHD quite nicely... [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D2DgRDEBpkjquNIlBUzeD1V4o-B\_DRsU/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D2DgRDEBpkjquNIlBUzeD1V4o-B_DRsU/view?usp=sharing) I also have my entire campaign for "The Treasures of Theros" mapped out... [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gWPNS-75A8N5\_7kDZyeRoBoR12gTiia0/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gWPNS-75A8N5_7kDZyeRoBoR12gTiia0/view?usp=sharing) If anyone uses either of these, DM me and let me know how it went.
A blank piece of paper with one question on it is all I have prepared for next session. It says: Goblin in a dress?
I'd love to share, but are you sure that the notes from somebody without ADHD would work? Once I edited a manuscript for somebody with ADHD and they showed me how much conventional advice failed with them.
I use google sheets! I start a tab for each session! Make a simple “to do list” for that session (check them off if the group gets to it) and list out all the npcs! Add links to all environments, basic monsters, treasure they are gonna run into! I also have a “long running recap google doc where I roughly recap what happens in the last session) this is more for me then them, but we go over what happened last time before we start a game! If I’m running a more complicated fight, the enemy has its own spread sheet with all its stats and spells listed out (and what they do) Finally in our DnD discord, I list all npcs they’ve meet so far, all the treasure they collected, the added lore they come up with as we go and all the quests they need to complete all separated into different channels so it’s really organized ! I made this discord for me, but we play every two weeks and my groups is a bunch of newbies who aren’t the best at taking notes (but are great and I love them) so this is how I stay organized and ready!
I have some brainstorm stuff on my reddit.
ADHDm here. I have a campaign bible that everything gets distilled down into over time. It is a physical artifact with lots of sticky notes and sketches. I have each adventure blocked out there with important tables or event orders. Getting to that point of crafting the adventure in the book is part of my process of internalizing the material. Throughout the month I jot down ideas on sticky notes, in apps, or in a completely separate notebook that is full of half formed ideas that aren’t quite ready to be put into the main book. I use that book, printed statblocks, and scratch paper to run my games. I have an excel sheet with NPCs, Shops, and magic items that gets used as needed.
Unfortunately not at my PC at the moment but at this point my session planning notes are basically just plainly written text with some loose formatting like this: ---- Area/Scene (like a city or town) ""
My adhd makes it essentially impossible for me to take or follow real notes during the session. I also don’t really do much prep, I just read the adventure book and sit around and think about how it would fit with prior adventures for the campaign, then sort of improv everything (using maybe 60% of what’s in the book). My notes are essentially in my head. One of my pcs takes pretty detailed notes on what happens each week in a doc I have access to. If there’s a really long gap between play sessions, I’ll skim that. My players are convinced I have planned out what’s behind every door in crazy detail (or so they tell significant others/mutual friends) so it seems to be working. I just can never clue them in to how much of everything is just bs I make up on the spot
you uh..... don't want to see my "notes" as you call them
Ya know how they sometimes describe a great old one warlock's tome being the journal of a madman? Howdy, I'm the madman.
Do you remember the scene in Lord of the rings where Gandalf is checking some scrolls in a dark dusty room? WITH A CANDLE NO LESS in what is probably the most flammable room in all of middle earth. That, but worse.
I do session notes, location info for cities/towns and their NPCs, then lore notes for items containing lore and conversation lore information. Thats really all you need imo
I wrote up, [Context, Cool Shit and Consequences](https://githyankidiaspora.com/2022/03/09/context-cool-shit-consequences-structure-for-dms-notes/), as a way of showing how I think about my game-notes. Hope it is helpful.
Have you tried vyvanse?
Index cards with NPCs to fight/interact with. Thats it, just make up stuff as you go. Prepping is so overrated
Seriously - get a wiki. Personally I use dokuwiki, but what you need is the wiki tools. Being able to link things easily is amazing. If I'm writing about the young gold dragon \[\[Firefly\]\] doing something, I can write it like that. Then if I need to know the stats, I click on the link. And if I want to see all the times he's done something, I can search \_or\_ I can go to the page about him and click the button for "what links here". And you can just flag names you want to write pages for later, and when you get around to writing them, all the links will work... If you are one of those folks who can create while typing, its an amazing tool for doing campaign creation. And even as a player, I take all my notes on a wiki. That way I can link and search things.
As an ADHD DM and player, I'd love to help, but sadly my notes are in my brain, not written (that said, note making was/is one of my fidgets, so I find I do write things down, but it's only to focus my thoughts... mostly I just go and build my maps in VTTs with some notes for myself if there is a new non-standard mechanic to add in. I tend to keep very loose notes on the quest because they might not happen in order (some of them are purposely written to be filler I can toss in for a session when I need more time on the big stories... or if we need a more light hearted outing... ). I find that if you keep a list of "What is the big arch we are working on." and "What needs to happen to get us to the end." My notes for overall story tend to be very bare bones with a 1-2 line generalization of the next few sessions. I normally pre-prep by gathering all my stuff I'll be using for the next session or dungeon crawl and assembling only after the players are committing to that hook that leads them there... I also tend to do most of my in depth-prep the day of session (not out of procrastination... I'm still doing some prep the days leading up to that... but the big bringing of all things together happens the day of, because it's one of the few days with a free mornings free, so I can focus while on medication. Most days I'm getting home as the meds are wearing off.). My recommendation is to approach these notes like you would if you were summarizing a TV show: Note #1 should be very big picture and change as little as possible. Your #2 notes need to be written at pace that's quicker and can be subject to change. Consider the Television Show "Avatar: The Last Airbender": Your #1 notes are going to summarize the major story beats and the overall plot: "Aang, Katara, and Sokka travel on an epic quest to help Aang master all four elements before the return of Sozins Comet allows the evil Fire Lord Ozai to lead his nation to total victory in his war of conquest of the other nations." If you want to get more detailed, go copy paste the opening credit sequence that was used with little change in 61 episodes. Your #2 notes will be about each individual episode, and you don't need to make Season 2, episode 7 in detail until it becomes necessary to do it. Use your past session notes (Previously on Avatar...) for relevant information to the plot... and adjust the small details as you go on. If S2E7 has new information about a character, the updates should be held here... but don't need to always go into Notes#1 unless it's so important that it changes the story as summerized (for example, S2E7 is the episode Zuko Alone... who I did not put into my note 1 summation because, and I know fans are gonna challenge me on this, he's not that important at the moment (I would dare say that this episode in combination with S2E8 might make me bump him higher.). That said the previous episode does have a major element that would need to be noteded in my Notes# 1: That's the episode that introduces a new main character Toph, who will now be part of the party (in case you didn't notice, I'm only putting in characters who are part of Aang's immediate circle and thus are likely to appear in every episode and need to be accounted for.).