How to Record a TTRPG Session (D&D, Pathfinder & More): The Complete Guide

"Wait, what happened last session?" is the most common sentence at any tabletop. Recording your game fixes that — but "how do I record a TTRPG session" has two very different answers depending on how you play. This guide covers both, and what to do with the recording once you have it.

Online vs. In-Person: Two Different Problems

Recording an online game is a software problem: the audio is already flowing through Discord or a VTT, so you just need something to capture it. Recording an in-person game is a hardware problem: several people around a table, dice clattering, snacks crunching, and one shared room of sound to capture cleanly.

Pick the section that matches your table.

How to Record a Discord Session

If your group plays over Discord voice, a recording bot is the lowest-effort option — nobody has to run software on their own machine, and the recording starts and stops with a command.

1. Add a recording bot to your server. Kazkar and Craig are the two most common. Craig gives you raw, per-speaker audio files; Kazkar records and then transcribes and summarizes the session for you.
2. Start recording when the session begins. With Kazkar you run /summon in the voice channel; the bot joins and starts capturing.
3. Play as normal. The bot records in the background — no need to babysit it.
4. Stop when you're done. Run /banish and the recording is processed. With a raw-audio bot you'd download the files here; with Kazkar you get a transcript, a narrative recap, and wiki entries within minutes.

For a deeper comparison of the options, see our full list of D&D session recorders and our Craig Bot vs. Kazkar breakdown.

How to Record an In-Person Session

No Discord audio stream means you have to capture the room. You have three realistic options, cheapest first:

• A phone voice-memo app. Free and always in your pocket. Place the phone face-up in the center of the table. Fine for a small, quiet group; struggles with big tables and background noise.
• A dedicated USB or handheld recorder. A cheap omnidirectional mic or a handheld recorder in the middle of the table is a big step up in clarity, especially with five or six players.
• A laptop running a Discord voice channel anyway. Some hybrid tables put a laptop on the table, join a voice channel, and let a bot like Kazkar record — bridging the in-person game into the online workflow.

Once you have the audio file, you still need to turn it into something readable — see the next section.

Getting Usable Audio Quality

Transcription is only as good as the audio you feed it. A few habits make a large difference:

• Put the microphone in the center, not in front of one loud player.
• Ask players to avoid talking over each other — it wrecks both the game and the transcript.
• Keep snacks and dice trays a little away from the mic.
• For online play, encourage headphones so the bot doesn't capture echo.

From Recording to Transcripts, Recaps & a Wiki

A recording you never listen to again is just storage. The value comes from turning it into something you'll actually use:

• Transcript. A speaker-labeled text version you can search. Most AI transcription tools handle this; a Discord bot like Kazkar does it as part of recording.
• Recap. A short narrative summary to read aloud at the start of next session. This is the single most useful artifact for most tables.
• Campaign wiki. NPCs, locations, and plot threads extracted and organized so nothing gets lost across a long campaign. See how to turn recordings into a campaign wiki.

Consent: Always Tell Your Table

Recording laws vary by region, and beyond the law it's simply good table etiquette: tell your players you're recording, say what it's for, and get a thumbs-up before you start. Nobody wants to discover a private in-character moment ended up in a shared file they didn't know about.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the easiest way to record a D&D session?

If you play on Discord, a recording bot is easiest — it starts and stops with a command and needs no local software. Kazkar also transcribes and summarizes the session automatically.

Can I record an in-person game without expensive gear?

Yes. A phone voice-memo app in the center of the table works for small groups. A cheap omnidirectional USB mic is a worthwhile upgrade for larger tables.

How do I turn a recording into session notes?

Run the audio through a transcription tool, then summarize it. Kazkar does both steps automatically for Discord sessions, producing a recap and campaign-wiki entries from the recording.