Sometimes in the course of a roleplaying game (RPG) the characters come across documents. These are often very important to the overall plot of the game. But documents are boring. Players don’t want to sit around and sift through pages of text to find important clues. They want to roll some dice and move on to the next scene.

You probably don’t want to write pages of text either. What’s a poor GM to do?

The Paper Chase

People write stuff down. They may or may not write poetry, but when it comes to money they keep records. Some of the earliest examples of writing we’ve found are contracts, business records and tax records. So the inhabitants of your campaign should probably be keeping records too.

The extent of them will vary, of course. If you set your game in the modern era most everyone will have records that the player characters might find. In a typical D&D setting the peasants might not keep written records – indeed they may not be literate. But the churches, rulers, merchants and armies will definitely keep detailed records of a lot of information.

Some monsters are literate as well. An army of goblins has to keep track of payroll, rations, and the arrow supply just as surely as a human army does.

And of course, some people keep diaries.

So even if you don’t give it much thought, the inhabitants of your world are writing a lot of stuff down. What happens when the player characters find it?

If the DM mentions it, it must be important!

The party is raiding the goblin’s fort. They bust into the office of the commander. The goblins are elsewhere, so there’s no fight. The PC’s look around, so you have to instantly make up some typical office trappings. “There’s a desk, and a chair. The desk is messy, there’s papers strewn all over.”

Suddenly the players think they have something important. You put it there, so there must be a reason! “We gather up all the papers! Let’s look through the desk while we’re at it!” Of course, you just made up the existence of those papers.

Later, back at the inn, the players want to read through the papers. The papers that were supposed to just be window dressing. And you have no idea what they would say.

Save VS Boredom!

Your players don’t want to know how many barrels of salt pork the goblins eat every week. Nor do they want to read every day’s entry in the villain’s diary. Which is a good thing. There aren’t enough hours in my life to waste even one of them making up ledger sheets for an imaginary army of imaginary monsters. I have much better ways to waste my time, and so do you.

But the players might want to know some of the information in those papers. If the payroll records would tell them that there’s twice as many goblins as they thought, they’d like to know that. And they might not want to read about the villain’s arguments with his wife, but knowing that he’s having an illicit affair with the Assistant Evil High Priestess might be just what the party needs to take the villain down.

A parody of a Cliff Notes cover, titled "Cliff Notes on Afestan's Diary", price "Priceless".
This was the cover page to a summary I created in a D&D campaign. The party saved the kingdom with the information they learned. Sometimes a book is more valuable than a chest full of rubies!

In Summary, Summarize!

So you don’t want to write it, and the players don’t want to read it. Then don’t write it! Or at least, don’t write all of it. Cut it to just the good bits. Just the parts that actually matter.

Here’s an example:

Narg’s Ledger Book

The ledger is written in Goblin. I takes someone fluent in Goblin three hours to go over the ledger book. The first section contains a running account of the supplies of the fort. Anyone who takes a moment to think about it will see that there are far more supplies than are warranted by the number of hobgoblins present.

The second section is a journal of the decisions of the captain, similar to a ship captain’s log. It includes orders issued, punishments served for infractions, and important events in the life of the fort. It covers the period of the construction of the fort, which apparently began in two years ago in the month of Riverruns, up to the present.

Synopsis of journal:

Construction of the fort began in 4/1226, with completion around the end of Warmeven (September). There was apparently a larger force present for the construction than is currently manning the fort. Supplies are delivered about once a month, around the 10th, and at least once a month there’s mention of a ‘carrier of the pass’ visiting for a day or two. Mention is made in particular to two raiding parties that passed through about a year ago, apparently to capture human children for Grogfest (the reason was not stated).

Another passage from 2 months ago states “Received messenger from Gideon, provided 2 sergeants and 6 privates to escort her”.

22nd of Greening 1228: Captured 2 shortear scouts spying on the fort. One other was killed. Lost all four of our gnolls in the fight, unfortunately.

29th of Greening, 1228: Finally got some reinforcements. Hope it will be enough. I have ordered increased patrols of the area, particularly night patrols, and assigned additional sentries. I pray to Maglubiyet it will prove to be enough. I’ve ordered my men to keep an eye on those f*cking gnolls, too. I don’t trust them, no matter how much Grokkar swears they’re on our side.

Easter Eggs!

Sometimes you can have a little fun, and leave a few “Easter eggs” for the party to find – things that don’t actually have any in-game importance, but are just there to make people smile.

A year-old requisition for toilet paper. It bears a red stamp: “Cancelled – cannot identify”

A letter, apparently from Narg to his superiors:

Expeditionary Stronghold 7

23rd day of Greening, 1228

From: Commanding Officer

To: Supply Officer, Clan of the Black Spear

Subject: Toilet Paper

Reference:

(a) SO COTBS Canceled invoice No. 272836

Enclosures:

(1) Copy of cancelled Invoice

(2) Sample of material requested.

  1. This fortress submitted a requisition for 150 rolls of toilet paper on 5th day of Brightsun, 1227, to Supply Offficer, Clan of the Black Spear.
  2. The Supply Officer, Clan of the Black Spear, on 26th day of Darkening, 1227, cancelled Invoice No. 272836 with the stamped notation “Cancelled—cannot identify.” This cancelled invoice was received by Expeditionary Stronghold 7 on 10th day of Greening, 1228.
  3. During the 11 ¾ months elapsing from the time of ordering the toilet paper and the present date, the Expeditionary Stronghold 7 personnel, despite their best efforts to await delivery of subject material, have been unable to wait on numerous occasions, and the situation is now quite acute.
  4. Enclosure (2) is a sample of the desired material provided for the information of the Supply Officer, Clan of the Black Spear. The Commanding Officer, Expeditionary Stronghold 7 cannot help but wonder what is being used in Darkfast in place of this unidentifiable material, once well known to this command.
  5. It is believed by this command that the stamped notation “cannot identify” was possible error, and that this is simply a case of shortage of strategic war material, Expeditionary Stronghold 7 probably being low on the priority list.
  6. In order to cooperate in our war effort at a small local sacrifice, Expeditionary Stronghold 7 desires no further action be taken until the end of the current war, which has created a situation aptly described as “war is hell.”

Narg

Documents can have a lot of value

The King’s Army might be very keen to know the state of the goblin army, and happily pay the party for any documents that shed light on that question. Likewise, the diary of an important person has value to their enemies, and even more value to the people the person was planning to betray.

How the party goes about selling those papers is another matter. We may have to discuss that some time in the future. But for now, thanks for reading!