Evernote is a wonderful little application, that is freely avaible over at “http://evernote.com”. Evernote is an interesting convergence of mobile-cloud-desktop based application. The application comes ready for your smart phone (currently only Windows Mobile or iPhone), your desktop, as well as allowing you to browse to your published or syncronized content. The blurb from there site reads “Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere”. Having used Evernote in two of it”s versions (web & desktop), I can say I am quite eager to get it available for my G1.

Like most Web 2.0 applications, the service comes with a free “Basic” service and an option to upgrade to a “Premium” service package. Having used the “Basic” package for the last 4 months, I am quickly reaching the limits of the “Basic” package (more on the differences below). The most powerful thing about the tool as a Dungeon Master, is it”s ability to receive “clippings” from my web browsing. Being a D&D Insider subscriber, I find myself on occassion planning whole game sessions with 2 to 3 encounters using the wonderful Encounter Builder included in the DDI service. After planning the encounter, I navigate to the “printer-friendly” version, and from there clip the item to Evernote. In Evernote, I round out the encounter by copying in the monster stats from my PDF copy of the Monster”s Manual. In a matter of 20 minutes, I”ve got a decent quality amateur adventure available on my laptop, desktop and web.

That”s right, laptop and desktop without having to sync up files on my favorite thumb drive! The application”s free version allows you to maintain up to:

20,000 Text Notes; 400 Mobile snapshots; 270 Web clips; 40 Audio Notes, and 11 Hi-Res photos (not able to find much on resolutions sizes for hi-res on their site, yet), as well as a 40 MB transfer limit per calendar month; also can be used off-line without ever syncronizing via an internet connection.

Another interesting quirk, is that there is an option to “publish” a given notebook. This allows you to synch the given notebook with the Evernote service, and share it from their website! This option is pretty awesome in it”s own right, but I really have only marginally used this to publish a small portion of my game notes. This tool is pretty feature rich, even in the “Free” incarnation. I have been cataloging and tagging my game notes (screen shots below) as well as session notes. The tool is a great tool out of the box for capturing information and cataloging it. Better than index cards and post-its, the tool allows me to capture thoughts and then come back to them later when I have more time to flesh out campaign points.

My latest additions have been scanning my GM”s Notebook (a good old composition book) into Evernote as jpgs. The application took the files from my hard drive, and using the clipping tool, imported them to my local and cloud versions of the notebook. Then, I began indexing, tagging and organizing the images into a consistent thought. 25 pages of handwritten notes, organized into a virtual notebook in a little under an hour (including scanning). I have to say, I was pretty impressed. Not only with myself for organizing my notes this much, but also with the tool that allowed me to do it so EASILY!.

Having recently read an article on GeekDad”s column at Wired, as well as James Wyatt”s column “Dungeoncraft” on Wizard”s site, I was inspired to organize my campaign and game electronically. This tool has been a welcome addition to my Dungeon Mastering arsenal!

4 out of 5 Bier Boots (would have given the 5th, but the lack of a synching platform for the G1 is a minor but important “vacuum”).