It never fails your character is on a dungeon crawl, it is dark, the torchlight is flickering making it barely possible to see around the next bend or even the ceiling overhead. The rush of the waterfall you just crossed under is still ringing in you ears and the DM has to stop and ask "What is your listen and spot skill modifiers?". Besides tipping the DM's hand and alerting the players that they are entering a possible dangerous situation you are also destroying the mood of the scene. This is where the DM's page comes in.

The DM's page list most of the common skill checks that are needed during a game. Now if a DM wants to know if Gronk the half-orc barbarian spotted the gnomish necromancer hiding in a pile of bones in a dark corner she doesn't have to tip the players off to do so. The DM also has a record of each characters hit points and saving throws so if she needs to scale back an encounter it can be done seamlessly.

That is pretty simple for the top part but what about the rest? The next section is for charting the players progress through the adventure and simplifying XP awards. No more guessing or scratching your head because you forgot that they didn't find the wizards ring or that they killed 4 Orcs and 3 escaped.

Spells. Spells can be a DM's worst nightmare. Imagine trying to keep track of spells in this battle: a Cleric, 2 wizards, 1 fighter and 2 rangers vs. 2 Beholders and a Mind Flayer. This is just asking for mental overload. Now when a character cast a spell you have a chart for spell name, caster level and duration. Just check off the boxes as needed. So if the player cast a spell or has a spell cast on him you can quickly see how long it will last. Now you can honestly say to the party's rogue "Yes you are still hasted but the ray of Feeblemind hasn't worn off and the effects of the Bull Strength potion have."

All that is left is the combat grid and miscellaneous information. Combat grid is for groups that don't use miniatures and miscellaneous information is just that miscellaneous information. Track NPC contact names, clues found or missed, anything you want. Remember you are the DM.