You can set up a free mailing list for you and your friends at eGroups. Presumably you game as a social event, so use email to extend the social aspect a bit. Remind everyone of the time and place of the game. Ask people to confirm that they'll be there. This way you'll be able to plan for any missing people. If there are special details for this game session ("Bring $20 for the pizza fund"), this is the spot for them. If you run a regular game and need to cancel a session ("No game this week while I'm on vacation"), you can easily communicate it here. While climbing the mountain to the dragon's lair, the group barely fought off some griffins. Now the group stands at the entrance to the dragon's cave." The reminder will get people excited for the next game and get them planning their actions. If your mailing list is being archived, these short summaries can be collected to form a brief history of the campaign to reminisce over. Maybe the player writes up a twenty page history of his character's childhood traumas, but it's just words on paper. The player certainly doesn't know his character. After a few sessions you'll start learning about who the character really is. Does the character stick with his friends through thick and thin? Does he help people in trouble? Actual game play adds details to a character. Unfortunately many of the little details, the details that make characters human, don't usually come up in play. Details that can be useful. What does the character dream about? What did he think of his schoolmates? Who does he fantasize about? Attach some little reward to answering it (experience points, a re-roll during the next game, a vote on pizza toppings). You certainly don't want your players to start resenting the questions.some simple (What type of hat does your character wear?), some hard (How does your character feel about the war?). If you need particular information for a future plot line, ask several months in advance (Who is your character's dearest love? What does your character have nightmares about?).