Behind the Dm Screen: Visual Breakdown of Matt Mercer's Notes and Binders
The Exandria campaign setting spans thousands of years of recorded lore, three continents, and complex political tensions. Managing that breadth without drowning his prep notes requires Mercer to operate on a strict "node-based" worldbuilding system. Mercer does not write broad, sweeping histories directly into his session notes. Instead, he maintains a strict separation between regional lore archives and table-ready prep.
His worldbuilding binder uses three concentric tiers of documentation:
- Settlement Nodes: One-page settlement summaries listing governing bodies, primary law enforcement, prevailing cultural attitudes toward outsiders, and three active street rumors.
- Faction Webs: Relational diagrams showing how local organizations view one another (e.g., The Clasp vs. The Myriad). Mercer tracks these using simple arrow diagrams: allied, hostile, neutral, or indebted.
- Lore Drops: Bite-sized historical tidbits written out on perforated cards. If a character rolls an exceptional History check, Mercer pulls the corresponding card and reads or paraphrases the information directly.
This system prevents world lore from bloating session binders. Mercer prepares only what the players can tangibly touch, interact with, or uncover within the upcoming four to six hours of game time, archiving the rest in his master setting binders at home.
