Ideas and Notes Database in Notion
Welcome back to building our D&D campaign management system in Notion. Today, we are looking at another of our procedural databases: Ideas and Notes. When it comes to running a game, by brain is always thinking about it. Not actively. But on a subconscious level, its making connections. When I consume media, information, and news my brain begins to ferment that content. My brain draws on that content to come up with new ideas for my games. Remember, ideas are an important part of your adventure preparation.
When inspiration strikes, its important to have a place to jot that down. I have used a couple different methods: paper and pencil, or Notes apps on a smart phone. But, I realized those ideas should sit in my Notion system. That way I can connect them to other places where they are easy to visit in the future.
Notion has a smart phone app that you can use to add your notes in straight away. I’ll admit, its not the easiest app to use on a smart phone. So, I don’t blame you if you want to use a different media first and then copy them over later when your at a computer. Remember to follow through. Otherwise they languish like a seed never been planted.
Besides being a place to jot down bolts of inspiration, I use it as a notepad during game sessions. I add entries of important information that pops up during the game. And then I can review them at a later date when I’m prepping for the next parts of the adventure.
Descriptive Properties
The Ideas & Notes database is simple. I keep it too the point. Here are the descriptive properties I include in my Ideas & Notes database.
| Column | Property Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Note | Title | Capture your idea or note here. Keep it short and too the point, but use description that will jot your memory when you review it later. |
| Category | Select | You can create categories for your notes/ideas. These keeps them organized easy to look up when you are trying to find ideas about a specific topic. |
| Status | Select | Status of the note: active or archived. Can be used to create views for the database. |
| Last Edited | Last Edited Time | Timestamp for when you last edited the note. |
| Created | Created Time | Timestamp for when you first created the idea or note. |
Relational Properties
Ideas & Notes tie to different databases in my Notion system. They include:
- Adventure. What Ideas and Notes support your current adventure? I have these auto-link by using an linked database inside my adventure notes template.
- Knowledge Tome. Does the idea relate to a specific topic? Link it into the Knowledge Tome.
- Media. Does the idea come from a specific media source? Link it for ease of reference/remembrance.
When I put everything together, this is an example of what my Ideas & Notes database looks like:
No Notion Templates for Encounters
I don’t use templates for Ideas & Notes. The database captures the all the Ideas & Notes information in the columns. Keep it Simple. Next time, we’ll cover the Adventure Notes database in Notion.
Further Reading on Notion:
Feature Art Credit: Ede László
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