NotebookLM may just be an assistant to many peoplebut this is just the most basic functionality. You can take advantage of its system to do whatever you wantand that means it can be a way to have fun.
While I like to use it as my own assistantwhen I started playing around with itI found many uses that anyone would find worth it. Since it’s free to start usingyou've got nothing to lose by trying a few of these ideas out.
D&D campaigns
The hardest part about running long-term Dungeons & Dragons sessions is keeping track of everything. LuckilyNotebookLM essentially acts as a personalized digital resource manager for all the narrative details and lore. I am actively running a D&D campaign with my familyand NotebookLM has kept track of everything that has happened and keeps us up to date on everything that has gone on.
This means the most difficult work of the Dungeon Masterlike tabs on characterstimelinesand loreis essentially done. You can upload every session summaryall your rough notesand character descriptions as your source materialand the tool turns into an amazing lore keeper that truly never forgets a single detail.
Since NotebookLM's main feature is being an AI-powered research assistant that only uses your documentsyou can query your entire campaign history. You can ask it to help you solve tough plot holes or even suggest compelling characters or plot twists.
The fusion sous chef
While NotebookLM can hold all of your recipesit is even better at recognizing similarities and suggesting ideas based on what you have given it. It can transform your old static recipe collections or ingredient lists and turn them into an active invention engine for creating new culinary dishes. It just needs you to put in a good number of recipes to begin with.
This is neat because it really takes advantage of NotebookLM's ability to analyzesynthesizeand create content directly from the recipes you give it. It can also keep any allergies or dietary preferences in mind while it makes suggestions.
For exampleyou could upload three totally different cookbooksmaybe FrenchJapaneseand Texas BBQand use them as your source material. You could then ask NotebookLM to "Create a dessert recipe using the technique from the French sourcebut the flavor profile of the Japanese source,” and get that recipe.
A "series bible" manager for writers
Writing any story that will take a lengthy amount of time is not easy because of all the information you need to keep in mind. HoweverNotebookLM is actually an awesome tool if you're a creative writerand you need to handle your "series bible," which is basically what keeps the lore and continuity straight in big projects that require more than just notetaking.
When you're doing creative writingespecially with complicated storieskeeping track of characterstimelinesand lore can be a total nightmare. NotebookLM jumps in and fixes this problem. It's a proficient lore keeper that just doesn't forget anything. All you need to do is upload all of your relevant materials.
This means every chapter you've writtenyour rough notesand any pieces of information you have. Once you've uploaded everythingyou can use the chat interface to ask questions about your whole body of work.
Design a local scavenger hunt or mystery tour
NotebookLM is a great tool if you want to design a local scavenger hunt or a mystery tour. It lets you take local data and turn it into a real-worldinteractive game. If you wanted to set up one of these mystery toursyou'd start by uploading a bunch of different documents into a notebook. Think PDFs about local historythose super obscure legends about your townor even a map that shows all the local parks.
By grounding the powerful AI model in those specific filesthe tool instantly turns into a smart research assistant. It can answer your questions and generate ideas based only on that localspecific knowledge you fed it. Nextyou can prompt the AI to whip up a fun "National Treasure" scavenger hunt for the participants. It works whether you are making something for kids or setting up a cool date night.
A 'what if' episode generator for fan theories
NotebookLM works amazingly well as a "what if" episode generator for your fan theories. This is because it gives you a specialized and controlled space for expanding narratives and imagination. This feature really leverages NotebookLM's main strengthwhich is being an AI-first notebook that uses documents you upload.
If you want to use thisyou can upload things like scripts or maybe those super detailed wikis from your favorite TV shows as your source material. When you isolate the AI model to only those specific documentsit basically creates a private language model that knows everything about that fictional universeincluding the established lorecharactersand timelines.
After the canon for the universe is uploadedyou can use the chat interface to ask complicated and creative questions that actually start brand-new narratives. It’s a great way to explore your own ideas with characters true to the show.
The personalized trivia night generator
There’s no better tool for trivia night games than NotebookLM. Upload specific documents that relate to your group's interestshistoryor whatever topic you chose for the trivia night. As soon as you upload the materialsNotebookLM's core function as an AI research assistant kicks in.
You can just ask it directly to generate 20 trivia questions and specify that you want varying difficulty levels. The tool is pretty good at extracting and generating questions based on the content of your sources that you find or ask it to find. This even allows it to create those tricky Jeopardy clues where the answer is obscure information found deep in the text.
My favorite is using it for trivia about your own familybut you can do it in regular history. Either waybecause of how deep NotebookLM gets into its documentsyou’ll likely get questions you’ve never thought of.
NotebookLM's real power isn't just summarizing stuffeven though that’s what it’s great at. It is more of a tool that holds your information and lets you do anything you want without the issue of hallucinationswhich most AI have. It's an app I don't mind paying for.
The tool is more of a catalyst for using your own knowledge base in some seriously inventive and innovative ways. All you have to do is think of something that takes the fun out of whatever you’re doingand give it to NotebookLM because it can be the solution you’ve waited for.