The RPPR AP podcast site is now up

[SageNytell]

I can see the image just fine on Imgur, I'll have to check again on my work computer on the AP site. As for browser, I use Firefox. It's the weirdest thing, I can even see the image location on the page source but nothing shows up for me.

[beowuuf]

Overzealous ad-blocker?

[clockworkjoe]

Some of Caleb's notes as a player for the Tribes of Tokyo game



This was part of Operation Black Dolphin

[Teuthic]

I am starting to think that Caleb and I are kindred spirits. Caleb! Move to South Florida! We will turn Miami into even more of a death trap than it is.

[clockworkjoe]

changed the menus on the AP site a bit and added a new page http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/the-best-of-rppr-actual-play/

[Tadanori Oyama]

Every single one of these top ten games feature Ross. Four of them are even run by him! The bias involved here sickens me...

[clockworkjoe]

So I have an idea to (partially) satiate the desires of hardcore AP fans: RPPR B Sides. I can create sets of themed APs that I have not posted to the main site and then make them available for a price - but if you can't pay, you can wait a year and I will post them on the site. Each B Side will have some new content to go along with it as well - a 'GM's commentary' podcast, PDFs of character sheets - any typed notes I may have and so forth.

What interest would you have in the following themes of APs? Figure around 5-10 episodes per B Side

Con games: The largest group of unreleased APs by far - I record every game I run at cons but I seldom post them to the site, so they've built up. I would discuss con games with Tom as a bonus podcast. Hand outs and pregen characters on PDF will also be made available. Because the audio isn't as good as normal games, I would put in more episodes, like 15 or so.

D&D miscellaneous adventures: I've played in numerous D&D games run by Bill, Dan, and Matt, usually with a different set of players than the RPPR crew. They're incomplete campaigns for the most part, but I had fun with them. I could talk about running or playing dungeon crawl scenarios as a bonus podcast or read excerpts from the Eye of Argon or something like that.

Horror/Slenderman/Night Floors: I have at least 4 con games of the night floors that are unposted, plus a skype game of the Fear Itself Slenderman game, and possibly some others. Bonus podcast will be a discussion on running Carcosa themed games.

Grab bag: so far I've found an unreleased Road Trip playtest scenario, Tom's unfinished Mutants and Masterminds campaign, a TMNT one shot, some improv comedy skits, and an AP of Arkham Horror with Cody and Mike. I don't know how entertaining the audio AP of a board game would be, but Cody insisted I record it, so there.

I'll keep digging through the archives to see what else I haven't posted.

There's the also the possibility of making entire campaigns available before they're released publicly - Fortunes of War is 100% done and Tribes of Tokyo is already pretty far in. I know some of you, especially the ones who usually pay for the preview episodes, listen to episodes multiple times, but I'm afraid if I make the entire campaign available at once, you'll binge on it once and then drift away. Of course, Netflix doesn't seem to have a problem with making entire seasons of a show available at once.

I'd like to offer great new content as well as older material with the B Sides, so I'm open to suggestions for ideas for bonus content.

[Dom]

I would be willing to pay for APs, it's what I do during the Kickstarters anyways. However, it is sort of a double-edged blade when I listen to these APs, since that means that when they are posted on the AP site, I have nothing new to listen to for that week. For example, because this week the Fortunes of War episode was posted, I had nothing new to listen to so I just decided to listen to something else.

If possible, I'd like APs that are unlikely to get posted on the AP site. The Con games are a great example: they have lower audio quality so many of them might not be 'fit' for the AP site, but I'd still listen to them. The same could be said for some of the really old APs that ware unlikely to be posted when there is so much more new and more relevant content in the backlog.

[Tadanori Oyama]

I agree with Dom. Totally down with purchasing APs; unhappy that it leads to unhappy times later (like this week with the Iron Heroes game). Still gonna buy them if I can though.

[clockworkjoe]

Yeah, I thought that might be a reaction. Out of the first 3 I listed, which would you want to hear first?

[SageNytell]

Con games sound good.
Same reaction here, I will give you all the dollars but I know I'll regret it down the road. 

[Tadanori Oyama]

Con games would be good.

[Setherick]

From an economic standpoint, it would be better if Ross hid all the premium content -- major campaigns -- behind a paywall and made all the "B-Sides" available for free. But this is counter-intuitive in the podcast economy where premium content is the only reason people are visiting the site anyway.

As a compromise, why not just leave all the premium content for free and never post the APs designated "B-Sides" on the free side? That way dedicated listeners would get first-listen access to the premium content and subscriber-only access to all of the content?

[beowuuf]

I like the sounds of the packages idea - certainly the con games and D&D one-shots sound cool, especially with the commentary/advice podcasts on the side and the handouts.

[Tim]

If I get a bunch of content early (as you are saying making Fortunes of War available before they go live) then when the week comes when the new content comes out to the dirty masses then I don't have anything to listen to. I already felt this when I backed one of the kickstarters and got a bunch of stuff early and then realized you were going to post it. I did not listen to the fortunes of war play I had access to early because of this.

Perhaps if it was just outside the normal stream of content (extras that will eventually go live as you noted) that would work but for me just getting a lump package of things that will eventually be in the normal stream does not work well. Others mileage may vary.

I actually find the con games not as great (with the exception of Mr Glancy's games - I think someone should just follow him with a microphone in his day to day interaction) since your are doing them in a large space with a lot of background noise and the audio quality suffers. I have no problem with non RPPR regulars being in/hosting games but if the situation is such the audio is compromised I tend to stop listening.

This may hopelessly date me as an old man not with the hot new business models but my personal feeling would be to create a subscription service (I know you already have a way to donate money but looking for something more formal). Being a 'member' may get me nothing more than to be 'ahead' on the streams some amount of time. Being a member might also just get me nothing but a pat on the back and a bumper sticker/tote bag although this of course will likely limit the people who sign up. A subscription service would create an actual revenue stream instead of step function payments which some people (including myself) believe to be better long term way to fund a business. It create incentives in the business to keep going as opposed to the temptation of taking all of one time cash and spending it on expensive cars/drugs/companionship (note I did not say that would necessarily be a waste of money). I also think it is easy when you have a lump sum to plan poorly so late in the game you realize you need more cash. You are seeing a number of Kickstarter projects having this same issue. With money coming in the door each month/quarter you need to plan better for today but tomorrow you have a revenue stream so your corrections might not have to be as dire.

All of the above being said I understand why a bundling model is much easier for you to do. You don't have to create a mechanism to gate release of content based on subscription status and track, maintain, and process subscription payments. If you bundle you just give a pre-vetted list of people a link to a place they can pull the files and they handle distribution. The model I want is a much higher technical investment so that might make it a non starter. I am sure services exists to help solve the technical problems but they will want some form of cut which then eats into the revenue and you end up having to buy the discount dollar store Cheerios not the fresh free range ones made by well paid and happy indigenous peoples of an underprivileged country that you buy at Whole Foods.

In the end I will likely buy some bundles as I am at a point in my life that I am happy to pay people for the content I enjoy even if I don't automatically pull down and listen to them. One of the aspects of the crowd sourcing movement that people use to talk a lot about but I have not heard much of recently is the idea of being a patron of something. I get some small amount of affirmation knowing that while I might have 'overpaid' for something I am supporting content/products I want to see in the world.