Mansa's question about OOC Character Entries (http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,29580.0.html) for the biography in Ask The Staff prompted this.
I have a lot of information I manage for my characters. Stuff about characters they know...details about their own VNPC family...projects and goals my characters have and what is their progress on that...biography entries...creative stuff for my characters like books they've written, or songs they sing...and yes, it can be a lot to maintain. Here are a couple of tools I am currently using, that go beyond just noting things in WordPad or whatever:
Google Documents (https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=true&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F%3Fhl%3Den%26tab%3Dwo&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F%3Fhl%3Den%26tab%3Dwo<mpl=homepage&nui=1&rm=false) is where I am keeping longer documents such as biography entries. I can work on documents on any computer connected to the internet. I also keep my some of my infamous data analysis stuff for the game here, in spreadsheet docs.
KeyNote (http://www.tranglos.com/free/) information manager is what I use on my home computer for keeping track of all the stuff my character knows or is working on; I don't ARM from anywhere but home, so I only need it there. Essentially this is like a tree-view set of documents and it's very customizable. The maker isn't updating it anymore but it's still really useful and works great. Another ARMer told me about this software, because he used it for a similar purpose.
Hey, sweet tools Gimf!
I just use plain old Word documents but I like these.
Also... if you are stubborn and don't want to use all these new fangled gadgets... what I do is just email myself the documents that I keep at home, that way I just have to open my email and there it is.
Quote from: Winterless on February 01, 2008, 12:22:01 PM
Also... if you are stubborn and don't want to use all these new fangled gadgets... what I do is just email myself the documents that I keep at home, that way I just have to open my email and there it is.
I used to do that too. But I don't like using my work email for that. So I decided I'd start using Google Docs instead. I even have some documents that are just notes to myself, or simple lists.
I really like the KeyNote thing and plan on using it as I have like a 100 unorganized notepad files that are a pain. I already use the Google Documents as a spreadsheet for people I know and their sdesc and ranks/affiliations.
Brandon
I personally use an Excel sheet. However, I use excel for everything.
Just dl'd KeyNote... we'll see how it goes.
Google docs FTW, especially if you play from more than one place.
When I first started playing Arm, I scribbled peoples' Sdescs and names down on whatever was handy to remember them. Now I don't do any note taking at all. At the most, I'll edit the title of one of my logs to say something like "Met so-and-so, killed what's-her-name" and stuff like that.
I have a very good memory, so even that bit of note taking isn't necessary most of the time. I don't get too bent out of shape if I forget a little thing, though.
I used to make copious notes and what not about things my roles were involved in. I don't now, if I cannot remember myself I either just have someone else remember it or I ask for clarification or a reminder in game.
I log everything, so if I really need some information I can always dig it up, but for the most part I try to keep my character notes in-line with my character... So, if I am playing some spiced-up half-wit, I probably wont be putting many people's names or anything in his information file... If I am playing a conniving political aide, on the other hand, I will likely note everyone and everything I can...
I tried Keynote for a few characters before my windows PC died... I have a couple of linux note tools (Tomboy is cool, and there is another that creates webs that is neat), but I usually end up just using notepad or another plain text editor.
I use mediawiki (the wiki that Wikipedia uses). Its extremely useful :)