I’m back with a continuation of my last article The Overachiever’s Guide to Lazy Hexcrawl Building. This follow-up demonstrates how I use a GM binder to organize everything I have created and expand upon it as the campaign plays out.
As I mentioned in the last article, my process leans very heavily on the fantastic work of Mike Shea in his book Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend picking up a copy and giving it a read. It’s a quick read, and it has drastically improved the way I do session prep, saving me tons of time. For this article, you should know that Mike’s book gives you tangible tips for doing what is often summed up as “doing as little prep as is necessary.” I’ll expand on that more in section two of the GM binder.
What’s In My GM Binder
Keeping with the “as little as is necessary” spirit, my approach to a GM binder is usability first. Sections are dictated by their frequency of use, and being able to quickly grab a tab and jump right to the info I may need to reference quickly while running a session. The number of sections you need depends on your style and the amount of ad riffing you do in a typical campaign.
That said, there are some popular things you won’t see in my binder, including spell card collections, monster cards, rules references (unless homebrew), initiative trackers, or other generic play aids. Why? Well, put simply, it’s non-essential clutter that gets in the way and slows down use. If it’s not custom to the campaign or something that you need to reference multiple times per session, then it shouldn’t be in the binder. If it’s a play aid you use all the time, maybe move it to your GM screen if you use one.
To help make my breakdown more visual, I have created a rough pagination of my typical GM binder broken down by section. I have also created a couple of PDF templates (letter and B5-sized) for hex flowers and player records if you need them
Hexflower & Player Record Templates (Letter & B5 PDFs)
A quick sidebar: Selecting a binder
I’ve talked about my love for Japanese stationery before, and while you can use any binder you have lying around, or even a notebook, I find the B5-sized Japanese binder to be perfect in terms of size and flexibility of use. Specifically, I use a Kokuyo Campus Slide Binder, filled with B5 Muji tabs and Kokuyo Graph Paper. The B5 size is nice because it’s small and portable, and I can still easily drop it into my printer to make templates or add maps from PDFs. For more info on Japanese binder options, check out this great rundown from JetPens.
Section 1 — Global Items
In this first section (behind the binder cover) is where all of the campaign prep stuff you made in my first article will go. It is intended to house all the global or world-level items that you have created specifically for this campaign.
Since I did a full rundown on this section in my first article, I’m going to be purposely light here. First, it’s worth noting that your goal is always to keep things to a single spread (2 pages viewed open side-by-side) where possible. So, as an example, I arrange the pages so the Hexmap is directly opposite the adventure key. I also add a blank page next to the world notes, where I can jot down bullets for things I will add to the world as we play that weren’t originally revealed to the players. If the campaign is long, I will add new pages here as needed, moving evergreen content from the session notes.
Things that might be added in this section later
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Major NPCs and Factions: I usually keep these in my session prep, but NPCs or factions that become fixtures of the party or critical to the campaign will sometimes be moved here, especially if the campaign goes really long and I decide to pull out older session prep to keep the binder light.
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Ignored threats: the sorts of things that the players failed to tackle or ignored that will have a future impact on the world.
Section 2 — Session Prep
This is where all of the week-to-week prep will go, and it will easily be the largest section of your binder as the campaign progresses. Each week, I like to start with a fresh spread, placing a small sticky note on the side of the page to serve as a tab for the session. This lets me jump back and forth between them easily if I need to reference an old plot hook, NPC, or Faction. If we are continuing through a location or adventure from the last session and no additional prep is needed, I append notes to the end of the previous one. Optionally, you can place an index for your sessions behind the tab, or leave it blank.
Breaking down my session prep
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A bulleted outline of the session: This is just a quick reference of all the things I assume will happen, in no particular order. They are just a reminder, and sometimes parts of the list will go unused depending on how the characters react.
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3-4 adventure hooks: You'll want to have these at hand to draw from when your characters interact with NPCs, or to leave as clues that keep the world feeling active and full of possibility. These will lead to other adventures or locations on your map, encouraging further exploration.
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Region-specific rumors, secrets, or clues: These tend to be more esoteric than direct adventure hooks. Sometimes they may lead to a person who has a hook, or are used for world-building, revealing NPC intentions, or forecasting character intent or nearby dangers. These aren’t all revealed every session, and often the unused ones can be pulled forward into future sessions.
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Important NPCs: I like to list out the features, quirks, and any unique traits of NPCs that the characters may interact with. If there are a lot, I will make a spread for them so I can reference them all at once, especially if they may encounter more than one at a time. If I’m making them up, and they aren’t detailed in an adventure, I will also add visual notes or even a picture to reference.
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Magic items: I like to copy down the magic items found in the adventure onto notecards to hand out to players when they find them, which speeds up play. I used to loosely tape these directly to the page and carefully pull them out when needed. But now that I am using a Japanese binder, I use one of these punches, which lets me stick the cards right into the section in any position I like — another perk of the format.
Other things that may be needed
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Conversion notes: When using a module from another game system, I will include things like monsters, treasure, checks or saves, magic items, and random encounter tables. I will even screenshot comparable monsters, print them, and put them on a spread or two so I can quickly reference them when they appear in the module.
For a detailed explanation on how to create these elements for yourself, check out the Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Justin Alexander also has some great tips for prepping a preexisting adventure over at his blog The Alexandrian.
Section 3 — Extra Locations (Optional)
This section is entirely optional, depending on how comfortable you are with improvising. I usually have a good idea of where the characters are headed for a session, but sometimes the players throw you a curveball solution to an encounter that you have to explore. For those situations, I like to have a city or two with a rough location key, and a few ultra-short dungeons I can place in an empty hex and make something up to pay it off on the fly.
Section 4 — Player Details
Last in the binder is the player reference sheet. This section comes last in the GM binder, so it’s easy to flip to and back when you want to double-check the details of a character, like their alignment, without disrupting play. I’ve included the template that I use for this (based on an old TSR product), which includes things like character name, alignment, class, level, species, sex, magic items, AC, and HP. Depending on the system you are using, you might also want to record things like languages, special abilities, or class features as well.
Finally, because I have been playing a lot of rules-light systems lately, I have been making a lot of custom magic items. I also keep a page or two here where I copy over the details of these items, so I can remember them later or reference them during my session prep.
Conclusion
So that’s my approach, hopefully I’ve rationalized it enough to help you develop a method that fits your needs as well. Every game is different, and every system has slightly different needs, so I continue to iterate and adapt the process over time.
Have a good idea that could make my process better? Hit me up on Bluesky.
