Do you make a record of your games?

[Spinal Tap]

And, if so, how?

Was pondering this subject after chatting with a fella today who plays a lot of solo miniature games but has no online presence at all; he does use the internet to view stuff but never signs up or logs in.

He plays lengthy campaigns and records the stories of his miniatures adventures by hand in notebooks and adds some drawings and printed photographs.

I used to just do it on Facebook when I started in 2018/19 but moved lots over to here when lockdown started - my first ever thread was to record a project which took me through the hard parts of isolating.

So do you make records of your campaigns, how do you do it, where and why?

On the other side of the coin are there any narrative players, either solo or otherwise, who forget the game once past and get on with the next?

[Harry Faversham]

Every single game, for nigh on the last ten years, written up with piccys on wordpad. All the AARs I've ever posted here are saved on a stick thingy. Which is good, because my wargame partner of over forty years, passed away two years ago.

 

[Easy E]

I recall in days long past, we recorded all of our Necromunda games in a large notebook called..... The Archive Record Viewer (A nod to Space Hulk the video game).  Then there was a long dry spell with very few games. 

However, I switched over to a blog back in the end of 2016.  Granted I only play about 10-20 games per year, so that makes it pretty easy.

The blog is here if you are so inclined:
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/ 

[Patrice]

With my gaming group we often (not always) write AARs as we like to keep memory of what happened to our player characters in our miniature skirmish campaigns.

And when someone wrote an AAR, I translate / adapt it in English and I post it on LAF and TWW ...but that's because I wrote the rules. 

[CapnJim]

I generally keep photographic evidence of the wargames I run or in which I play, whether it's with my weekly gaming group or at a convention.  Then, I upload them to my PC, in appropriately named files.  Then, I write (type?) AARs in any forum(s) in which I'm active (like here in the LAF).

For the RPGs I GM, I do keep a daily log of my PCs' escapades, so we can refer to them as needed...

[tikitang]

I would make a photographic record of any games played (few and far between in my case), followed by an AAR write-up, but then I would more often than not erase it with extreme prejudice after inevitably falling out of love with whatever models/rules the game had been a product of.

[Elbows]

When I remember to take pictures, I post them on my blog and keep them in various folders - but not written, normally.

[Warren Abox]

Three fat binders with mapa, OOBs, and brief AARs.  Not full write ups or journal entries, but enough information to job the memory.

Been blogging individual AARs, but no campaigns to speak of for years.  And lately...the YT channel has proven very motivational.  It is hard to quit mid-campaign when audience is pestering you to know what happens next.

[Spinal Tap]

Interesting replies.

I think I've seen all of you through LAF or your blogs, or both, during my time on here but maybe don't comment I like stuff as much as I should.

Not seen your YouTube channel Warren but will be having a good watch at the weekend.

It seems motivation is twofold in the main, both personal and to be seen by others.

What amazed me with Stephen's logs was that it was only for him, which was quite unusual and, to be honest, a little compelling.

I might just spend much longer on campaign fluff, maps, notes and AAR's for a project but all offline and paper based.

[FierceKitty]

My wife keeps a record of our games; just dates, armies, and the victor. Especially if that means her.

[ChrisBBB]

Most of my games get recorded on my BBBBlog:
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/
They get more or less detail depending on how exciting they were and how much time I have for the AAR. I do always try to offer some post-game reflections that extract distinctive and interesting points from them, whether about the scenario, the rules, the game experience, or some other wider thought. I was inspired to do this by Steve J's fine blog (formerly "Wargaming Addict"):
https://wargameswithtoysoldier1685-1985.blogspot.com/
The motivation for these AARs is partly just to save the memories for my own benefit, but more to share the love for nineteenth-century wargaming in particular and inspire others.

A couple of times we've done full wargame campaigns that got their own campaign write-up, one for the Crimean War and one for the Franco-Prussian War. (The latter being an epic nine battles fought over an intense three-day weekend.) These campaign reports can be found in the BBB group files:
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
These major efforts obviously deserved to be recorded.

And then I have also run several play-by-(e)mail empire-building mega-campaigns with a dozen-plus players lasting several real-world years. These were chronicled by the campaign newspaper I wrote each time. The style of these was somewhere between Private Eye and Viz (fine UK journals of record). Their game purpose was to (mis)inform the players, as of course there was a lot of hidden movement and unseen scheming and politicking, etc. But they were also good for sheer entertainment value for their author and readers. A real labour of love, though, and not one I plan to embark on again for a while.

[Spinal Tap]

My wife keeps a record of our games; just dates, armies, and the victor. Especially if that means her.

 

[DS615]

I keep a record of my solo games.  Sometimes of games played with others, but for those I don't normally do much detail.
I record either by typing up notes on the laptop, or writing notes on a paper pad, depending on where I left the laptop last.
I put them up on my blog.
http://fandangoalphaone.blogspot.com/

[Vis Bellica]

I have records of almost every game I've ever played, going right back some 38 years!

The earlier reports are little more than a paragraph or two, moving to longer reports with OBs and maps and then, as digital photography happened, pictures as well.

These days, everything gets fully written up and posted on the blog (www.vislardica.com along with a collection of other people's AAR from the TooFatLardies' company-sized games (IABSM, CDS, Q13 and variants). There's well over 500 AAR on there now!

I'm not quite sure why I do it (it's time consuming and the blog costs me a few hundred pounds a year) but all I know is that I like having a library of gaming memories to look back on...

[Silent Invader]

My projects generally have a thread on LAF, where I also record both progress and games. Sometimes I copy/edit/collate my thread posts into a ‘book’, all for my own amusement.