Find an NPC, location, or decision with VoLog Search

You are about to return to a game and one detail has slipped your mind. What was the name of the inn? Why did the group decide to trust that character? Where did you find that item?

The answer is probably somewhere in an earlier Session, but you no longer know which one. You could reread the whole campaign, although that is not very convenient a few minutes before the game starts.

VoLog Search lets you ask the question directly from a Session.

Start with the question you actually have

You do not need to remember an exact word. Write the question as you would ask it at the table.

For example:

• "What was the name of the inn?"
• "Where did we meet this NPC?"
• "Why did we keep that item?"
• "What did we decide to do about the prisoner?"
• "Who told us about the door beneath the temple?"

VoLog Search looks through the Full note for the Session you opened and any useful earlier Sessions from the same campaign.

You can ask in English or another language. The answer follows the language of your question.

Use a specific Session as your starting point

The Session where you ask the question acts as a point in the story.

Suppose you are reading the sixth Session in a campaign. VoLog Search can use what happened there and in earlier Sessions. It will not look at a Session that takes place later in the story.

For Session notes, VoLog Search stops at the Session you opened and those that came before it. This reduces the risk of bringing back an event that was played later. If you ask from the latest Session, you naturally have everything that came before it.

To recover an older memory, open the Session where that information becomes useful, then ask your question there.

Narrow the question without starting again

The first answer may remind you of the right character without telling you everything. You can then keep the conversation going.

After "Where did we meet this NPC?", you can ask "And what did they promise us?" without repeating the name. Your earlier questions help VoLog Search understand who you mean.

This is useful when the memory returns in pieces. Begin with a broad question, then narrow it down:

1. find the person, place, or item;
2. ask what happened there;
3. return to the decision you wanted to remember.

What VoLog Search does not do

VoLog Search does not search the Internet. It relies on the contents of your Sessions.

If something was never said or added to the notes, it cannot be found there. When the notes do not support a reliable answer, getting no answer is better than receiving an invented detail.

For anything important, keep one simple habit: open the relevant Session and check the passage. A quick answer can point you in the right direction, but your notes remain the place to confirm a difficult name, a table ruling, or an exact consequence.

Clear questions help as well. "Who was he?" may be too vague when several people appear in the Session. "Who was the guard we met outside the tower?" gives VoLog Search a stronger starting point.

Find the thread without rereading everything

VoLog Search is most helpful in the small moments when memory slows down the game: before replying to an NPC, while preparing the next game, or during the opening recap.

You can look for a name, a relationship, a promise, a place, an item, or the reason behind a choice. The aim is not to replace reading your Sessions. It is to lead you more quickly to the detail you need.

A campaign soon becomes too rich for anyone to remember every detail. Being able to ask it a question helps you recover one detail without losing the pleasure of reading through the story whenever you want to.