First of all I want to thank 1985 Games for sending us their Dungeon Notes in order to be able to write this review.
The project was born thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. In case you are interested in buying it, it is now available on the official store at a price of $24 (about 23 euros) in a triple package. If you use the code NoDiceUnrolled15 at checkout, you will get 15% off your order!
Do you find it difficult to keep track of everything your character can do and possess? Are you afraid of forgetting elements of the game world? Would you like a tool to track everything that happens during a fight? This accessory promises to facilitate the management of D&D5e sessions, both from the side of the master and from that of the players. Let’s try to understand how.
What Is Proposed
A booklet of about 60 pages, Hero’s Notes, contains everything you need to manage your character. A handy index summarizes everything that can be found inside; name, stats, skills, feats, image, animal companion, magic items, spells, inventory and background. There are also many pages left blank on purpose to be able to insert any type of content, including unofficial content or summaries of events. In my opinion, nothing is missing.
A second booklet (about 60 pages too) is instead designed for the narrator and bears the name of Campaign Notes. Here too you can easily find what you are looking for through the use of the index. It starts with a synopsis of the world map, and then has various sections dedicated to its gods, the events that marked it, the main factions and places, objects and most important characters. This is followed by various free pages for any other type of content. This booklet is very well structured, although not as exhaustive as the one relating to the characters; it’s very useful for keeping track of what’s going on, but obviously a world is more multifaceted than a character.
The content of Dungeon Notes proposed in this review ends with four blocks of sticky notes. Each of them offers an element to keep an eye on, so as not to have to delete and rewrite too many times on the character sheet, ruining it. The downside is, of course, that they will finish (although each block has a large number of notes). Specifically, two seem to be more aimed at players: one to manage life points and wounds and the other to mark the spell slots; the other two are probably more suitable for the master: one for the initiative and the other for the details on the places.
Dungeon Notes Material Review
The materials used for these products are simple but functional. The books have a soft cover and sturdy pages. However, I would like to point out that, compared to the images in this review, the final covers will still be improved. The layout is on a single column and very rich in tables to best and schematically enclose all the necessary information; the font used is clear and classic. There are very few illustrations in the margins of some pages and here too simplicity dominates; black lines and shading, nothing more. However, this technique refers to a classical art and, for this reason, it is very enjoyable.
The sticky notes have a very similar style: functional layout, no illustrations, classic black and white font. The adhesive side is not too strong and in this way there is no risk of damaging the surfaces on which they are used.
Final Considerations
Dungeon Notes, the protagonist of this review, turned out to be a simple product but that does well what it was designed for. You shouldn’t expect something too complicated, but a set of useful resources to manage data in a fluid way, both for the players and for the master. Obviously we must also take into account that this is material designed specifically for D&D5e, so using it with other gaming systems may not be optimal.
The proposed price is honest, but it must still be taken into account that it is a consumable product; each booklet contains only one character (or a campaign) and the sticky notes will end sooner or later. At the same time, however, taking notes is simpler and the character sheets and manuals are protected from erasures and damage. For those looking for a tool with these purposes, I absolutely recommend Dungeon Notes!
