The Role Playing Public Radio Forums
General Category => Role Playing Public Radio Podcast => : Tadanori Oyama September 03, 2009, 01:28:19 PM
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All the talk of new Actual Play sessions from the crew and GenCon got me excited and I had an idea: why not try and make a fan specific library of Actual Plays?
I mean, all of us are fans of the show. Most of us play games during the week. I'm sure a few people record their sessions. So, as a grass roots movement of community members, let's share our games.
I'm willing to host the recordings. I know there'd be some logistical problems, like moving the large sound files around, but we can at least discuss it.
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I'd more than happy to host it on RPPR - keep it under one roof. I've more than enough storage and bandwidth.
What's a good way to implement it?
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Well, given the size of an audio file that runs two or three hours, direct transfur over the net, such as through e-mail or IM, is unlikely to be helpful.
As I see it there are three real choices:
1) Hard copy. Sending a disk to whoever hosts the files. IT's slower and does cost some money, but no significant chance of error or data loss.
2) FTP access. An FTP program can hook into a server from any computer, so long as the user has the name and password of the server section. If a dedicated section of space could be set to upload only than it'd work well. Danger is, of course, granting access to hosted files. Not practical from my point of view.
3) Torrent transfur. My favorite option since all it requires is that the host and the sender have their computers on and connected to the internet. The sender bundles their files, creates a torrent file, the host downloads it and starts the transfur. With big files it can take some time but I've seldom had problems with torrents.
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I've actually started recording my sessions lately, I wouldn't mind doing this to be honest.
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I've been recording sessions for a few months. I don't think any of the ones that I have right now would be very interesting to listen to, I plan to try and make them more impressive in the future.
On the other hand, it might be fun to just throw the raw, normal stuff up and trade with other groups. Kinda like watching game films in sports, only we're not competing, we're helping each other.
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Sounds like a good idea. Improving our "game" would probably be the most beneficial thing we can get out of recording our sessions, a neutral perspective that is willing to assist is always better than a biased one.
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I'll look into methods of setting up a community file uploading and sharing system - something where people can upload their episodes whenever, then a moderator can approve them and they get posted to the site - with some kind of tagging/filtering mechanisms of course.
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Cool. I'm glad you're interested in this Ross, I thought I was gonna be more difficult to get this rolling.
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Nah, Ross is the biggest RPG'ing nerd ever. 8)
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Probably should set up an group of 2-3 people to review them before they are posted. Not to be dicks, but simply because, in my honest and humble opinion, RPPR has a tradition of giving high quality content actual plays. Practically every other podcasts have terrible and boring actual plays for various reason (boring story, bad players, too many fights). The PA & PVP + Wil Wheaton one was pretty good but certainly had its down and is infested with metagaming (some of which is funny, I have to admit.)
Anyway, it should probably be reviewed for content and then decided upon. If it's rejected, it should simply explain why so that the person can fix whatever is the problem or record another type of game.
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Probably should set up an group of 2-3 people to review them before they are posted. Not to be dicks, but simply because, in my honest and humble opinion, RPPR has a tradition of giving high quality content actual plays. Practically every other podcasts have terrible and boring actual plays for various reason (boring story, bad players, too many fights). The PA & PVP + Wil Wheaton one was pretty good but certainly had its down and is infested with metagaming (some of which is funny, I have to admit.)
Anyway, it should probably be reviewed for content and then decided upon. If it's rejected, it should simply explain why so that the person can fix whatever is the problem or record another type of game.
well once I launch the RPPR AP podcast, I would like to have a community podcast section - where people can upload, listen and review games - moderators just check to make sure the files don't have copyrighted music and meet some basic standards (i.e. it actually has to be a AP episode and nothing that could get anyone in trouble)
However, everyone would review and rate fan AP episodes then I would publicize the best of the best on the main site. That way the RPPR AP podcast becomes the RPG actual play center of the internet and I am one step closer to dominating the universe providing the best RPG podcasting out there.
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I really like the sound of this. I mean, we all want to see Ross become internet famous. If there's anything I can do to help please let me know.
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I really like the sound of this. I mean, we all want to see Ross become internet famous. If there's anything I can do to help please let me know.
find a good CMS/backend that can handle that kind of thing - uploading big files, community ratings etc - what do FPS mod sites use? Start there
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I'll get on it right away.
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First results: http://sourceforge.net/projects/back-end/
Appears to be a fairly basic design, still looking into application and implementation. Probably better things out there.
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I really want to start recording my Shadowrun campaign and the VTM, All Flesh, Fear Itself "One-shots" we are planning to run. I'd hate to post my version of the New World primer for fear of redundancy. Unfortunately, all I got is a Rock Band™ mic and a stand... does this suffice or do I need to upgrade. If so, what's a cheap solution.
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Actually I would think a different take on the New World might be interesting. After Gencon and Dragoncon, I've run several scenarios 3 to 5 times each and every group does things differently.
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Got my new microphone!!! The GM of our shadowrun campaign, however, asked me not to record it... for now.
So hopefully I'll have a couple of games recorded and edited by the end of next week.
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Shame, I'd love to hear a good Shadowrun game.
I've got recording pretty well worked out with the omni-mike I picked up. Only problem is that dice always sound really loud because, for reasons that escape me, my players seem to fucking aim for the mike when the roll.
I'm running a game of CthulhuTech this weekend because it's an off week for my DnD group and I'm using a diceless game variant so I should get a good game with good sound.
I just need to find a good CMS program, give it a test run, and we should be in business.
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I got a real cheap mic stand (got it forever ago but I think it was from Walmart or Target) so the mic if suspended over the table, stops the dice rolls from clipping out.
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I bought a zoom h2 before I left for Orlando to work at Disney World. When I head home early October, my friends are all anxious to game again with me, so I get the feeling a lot of content will be turning out from that.
Before I left I recorded our character creation session of Dust Devils where we basically explained the rules to each other, and then our first session where we struggled to understand said rules.
We always have a wicked fun time with InSpectres though, and I want to be able to share the awesomeness with you guys.
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I bought a zoom h2 before I left for Orlando to work at Disney World. When I head home early October, my friends are all anxious to game again with me, so I get the feeling a lot of content will be turning out from that.
Before I left I recorded our character creation session of Dust Devils where we basically explained the rules to each other, and then our first session where we struggled to understand said rules.
We always have a wicked fun time with InSpectres though, and I want to be able to share the awesomeness with you guys.
Damn, I'm jealous. I want an h2 so damn bad.
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I got it for like $150 off of buy.com. Considering the time, effort and money it would cost for a conventional setup, I'd say it's worthy investment.
I'm not nearly as enterprising as RPGMP3 with their binaural sound.
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I want a Zoom H4 now - it has XLR inputs. WHY CAN'T I STOP OGLING AUDIO GEAR
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Well like I said I got my Samson Go Mic, the quality is amazing, last night I begin to record my D&D 3.5 campaign for the first time. 5 1/2 hours later, I realize that Cakewalk has selectively chosen to record 2 hours and 12 minutes of the game. Even though we all saw that Cakewalk was recording the end of the game, it doesn't exist. The moment I pressed stop 3 hours disappeared.
Fuck Cakewalk, I'm switching to Audacity for everything.
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I want a Zoom H4 now - it has XLR inputs. WHY CAN'T I STOP OGLING AUDIO GEAR
This is starting to sound a lot like the Bates9000 bit from The Onion Movie
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Well like I said I got my Samson Go Mic, the quality is amazing, last night I begin to record my D&D 3.5 campaign for the first time. 5 1/2 hours later, I realize that Cakewalk has selectively chosen to record 2 hours and 12 minutes of the game. Even though we all saw that Cakewalk was recording the end of the game, it doesn't exist. The moment I pressed stop 3 hours disappeared.
Fuck Cakewalk, I'm switching to Audacity for everything.
That's happened to me in Audacity on OS X. That also happens because of computer issues - memory runs out etc. That's another added bonus with using a digital recorder that goes straight to a memory card - it will record without crashing.
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As far as free software goes, Audacity is the go-to with its super easy interface and near-professional features. It's worked almost flawlessly on my PC except for tiny timing glitches when overdubbing multiple tracks (which is incredibly easy to fix).
I tend to use Acoustica Mixcraft 4, but I don't like openly condoning pirating software so we'll leave it at that.
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That's happened to me in Audacity on OS X. That also happens because of computer issues - memory runs out etc. That's another added bonus with using a digital recorder that goes straight to a memory card - it will record without crashing.
Welp. That sucks. FML. Hopefully this won't be a consistent issue. I might just have to rob a best buy to get my damned podcast released. ;D
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I just read this thing, then spent an hour researching recorders. I have a birthday coming up and I think I'm going to try and spend some of that sweet birthday cash on an H2. I like the look of the H4s, and some of the features look amazing, but I notice they actually lack the 360 degree recording feature. Seems like it would hamper its usefulness as a RPG recording device.
Hey Ross. How do you set up your mic to reduce Dice noise and keep it out of the players' way? It sounds like its right in the middle of your table, but I never hear people moving it because it's on your map or whatever.
Would you mind snapping a photo of your RPG table setup so we newbies to game recording can see your setup?
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I found out that once you run the audo through Levelater that the really sharp dice sounds are reduced alot.
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I've got the mic suspended over the table to reduce dice clipping and exactly as the honorable Tadanori Oyama stated: Levelator
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the rppr table
(http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/6981/dsc00838.jpg)
(http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/927/dsc00839.jpg)
(http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2862/dsc00837d.jpg)
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I'm listening to our newest AP... I've realized I have no podcast etiquette:
GM: describing the church
Me: (to player 2) "How's the wine?"
P2: "Good, what kind is it?"
Me: "Comes in a box, who knew"
P2: "What box?"
Me: "Kinda like a juicebox, but for alcoholics."
GM: description ensues.
I'm a winner.
In all sincerity though I'm dying to let you guys hear them. We're working on our site in our spare time.
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Gaming is always improved under Comrade Lenin's benevolent gaze.
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Thanks, Ross!
The little tripod and the cover for your H2: Do those come with it, or are they accessory things that must be purchased?
EDIT: Found the answer on Zoom's site. They are both included with it, even tho the windscreen is not mentioned on Amazon.
EDIT ALSO: http://www.bswusa.com/proditem.asp?item=055370 This. LOL. Turn your H2 into a treasure troll while protecting against extreme wind noise. (If you are experiencing wind issues at your gaming table, you need to reconsider the available snacks and food.)
I must say, it is great to see that my own gaming space is not much different (aside from being slightly more cramped). Only we are Pepsi people, and somehow not a single one of us has our obligatory Crown Royal bag.
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I miss my old place at the gaming table. Directly to Ross' left and directly across from Tom, so both Tom and I could make fun of Ross' descriptions. Good times.
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Setherick's avatar scares to poop out of me...that being said. Thanks for all the advice. I haven't had a problem since. I don't understand why but even with a 30 minute auto-save feature enabled, Cakewalk can't seem to record more than 90 minutes or so without deleting it once stop is pressed.
Audacity, being the amazing piece of software that it is, has not encountered such problems. Now I've got more AP's than I know what to do with. I don't have a fan base for my site so I can't wait 'til Ross get's to community site up and running.
P.S. Ross, is there any resources you need from the community the help facilitate this process?
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Setherick's avatar scares to poop out of me...that being said. Thanks for all the advice. I haven't had a problem since. I don't understand why but even with a 30 minute auto-save feature enabled, Cakewalk can't seem to record more than 90 minutes or so without deleting it once stop is pressed.
Audacity, being the amazing piece of software that it is, has not encountered such problems. Now I've got more AP's than I know what to do with. I don't have a fan base for my site so I can't wait 'til Ross get's to community site up and running.
P.S. Ross, is there any resources you need from the community the help facilitate this process?
A CMS (content management system) backend to handle the files - uploading, tagging, etc - so people can register, upload files, have them verified by moderators then made public.
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Dropbox maybe? Though it's prolly not perfectly suited to RPPR needs, it can handle large file transfers and uploads/downloads...
https://www.getdropbox.com/ I dunno too much about it other than my brother says it's great.
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No, it needs to be a backend that I run on the website - like wordpress or drupal or something like that.
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I've been trying free CMS programs. Since I have to upload them to my own server to test them out its taking awhile. Not as easy I thought it was going to be.
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Well, Swing And A Miss (http://www.swingandamiss.net) is pretending to be up and running. I know there are some glitches in the site and podcast, but I'd love to hear you guys' opinions. We have a good variety of AP's up now and more being recorded weekly. </Shameless Plug>
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did you only start recording on session 8?
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The D&D game I started recording on session 7, we had some issues with recording software and a few players were essentially terrible. We will be releasing session 7 later in a series called, "How Not To Game."
Session 9, which I'm in the middle of editing, goes back to the basics in a new story arc which should be easy for listeners to follow.
Shadowrun: We started recording in the middle of a great story arc but it is definitely still worth the listen. Next week we begin a new story arc with new players, so keep listening.
VTM: Starts at the first session
Mutants and Masterminds: Should be up in a couple of weeks starting from the first game.
Call of Cthulhu: " "
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Boo! Ghost here from Swing and a Miss.
I had a lot of fun with the most recent Darkworld campaign. Kudos to the players on that night. There were a few rough patches in a couple areas, story moving slowly or players not coordinating well enough, but I loved how it ended.
So, yeah, shameless plug, check it out when you get a chance. Ep. 5 is out now, 6 to come, and 7 is the one I just mentioned.
As for upcoming episodes... I don't know when, soon I hope, but CoC will be up first, and since I'm working on that project now and waiting on new players to roll up new characters, the Darkworld of Shadowrun is taking a break. Until then, the VtM is colorful and fun, and the Hero edition of New World is addictive.
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I love AP's, so this was great =)
the only suggestions i have is to add some intro at the beggining so that we know what voice belongs to who and what kind of characters there are. i only listened to the new world one so far, but i liked it.
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Thanks a lot. The first recording of any campaign we have has player introductions, however, like I said session 7 of New World was abysmal and not released as intended.
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I'm working on a Call of Cthulhu game now and am interested in hearing more actual plays that involve a more traditional Lovecraftian setting, similar to the Murder of Crows (but without all the background chatter).
I like the concept of WW2 soldiers digging too deep and unearthing unholy relics, and such, but I get a feeling of a Castle Wolfenstein episode more than Lovecraft's Innsmouth or traditional detective stories.
How do you really convey terror in players in these games, especially when dealing with munchkin or power gamers?
(other than trying to minimize those players and select more story driven players)
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I'm working on a Call of Cthulhu game now and am interested in hearing more actual plays that involve a more traditional Lovecraftian setting, similar to the Murder of Crows (but without all the background chatter).
I like the concept of WW2 soldiers digging too deep and unearthing unholy relics, and such, but I get a feeling of a Castle Wolfenstein episode more than Lovecraft's Innsmouth or traditional detective stories.
How do you really convey terror in players in these games, especially when dealing with munchkin or power gamers?
(other than trying to minimize those players and select more story driven players)
a few ideas
give them everything the munchkins want and then show how futile their weapons are
body horror - infect the PCs with a nasty disease that mutates their body - clock is ticking
non combat horror - being trapped in a small room, drowning, visits from dead friends, or finding a nuclear bomb ticking down
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Those are good ones! Other good advice on getting horror across (First bit actually from Ross).
Don't kill too many PCs. CoC has a reputation for being deathy, but too many deaths will actually make the game less scary. One or two is okay to make them realize this shit is serious, but if you're killing people every game they'll just begin to see death as a matter of course.
Unexplained Shit. Just have random stuff happen sometimes. Don't give or have any reason behind it. A crazy guy runs out of nowhere and starts slinging strange green goop. For a few moments the stars all turn red. They see a portrait and for the rest of the story its eyes are staring out of every photograph or painting they see. Trust me it will freak them out a bit.
Avoid inescapable "You Will Lose" fights. They seem like a necessity, but the important thing is to leave a solution that allows survival but doesn't rely on deus ex machina. Instead allow survival at a cost. Example: They can get away from the Beastie of Death, but only after it stops to eat the first character is catches. Now they will be terrified of the fucker coming back and spend a bunch of time trying to figure out how to stop him.
End on a Mystery. Always try to end the game right after something unexpected or inexplicable happens. The madman they've had tied up just escaped. They found the man they thought was the cultist, but it turns out he was just a puppet. The monster has appeared and was studying them for a moment, before leaving. They'll be thinking about it all week, and be jazzed up for the next game.
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End on a Mystery. Always try to end the game right after something unexpected or inexplicable happens. The madman they've had tied up just escaped. They found the man they thought was the cultist, but it turns out he was just a puppet. The monster has appeared and was studying them for a moment, before leaving. They'll be thinking about it all week, and be jazzed up for the next game.
I have to admit that as a player I absolutely cannot stand having a game session end on a cliffhanger. I'd much rather see a session as a chapter in a story that has a definite beginning, plot structure, and ending. Now the ending may influence the next chapter, but let it end.
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I can see how both of those scenarios can be worked.
The big plot of the session can be completed so the players feel accomplished, but something they thought was small can reveal itself to be potentially bigger than they previously considered and will get them thinking about what they want to do for the next game.
The key thing is to keep the players thinking about the game even long after they last played.
If even one player comes to you, as a gm, and starts telling you what they want to do next time they play, or that they couldn't stop thinking about what happened last time for days, then you know your doing something right. Sometimes it's difficult for me to prepare to gm the next session because I get distracted by Hero's campaign and what I want my character to achieve next time.
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I have to admit that as a player I absolutely cannot stand having a game session end on a cliffhanger. I'd much rather see a session as a chapter in a story that has a definite beginning, plot structure, and ending. Now the ending may influence the next chapter, but let it end.
I'd like to clarify that I said end on a mystery, not a cliffhanger. I don't myself like the "The big bad appears and is about to kill you, come back next week!" style of game ending. So there I'm in agreement with you.
What I meant to say was: Wrap up the plot point, and don't leave people in the middle of an event, or right at the beginning of one. HOWEVER, make sure that things aren't at a "stopping" point. Ensure that at least one unsolved mystery is still present, and if it's fallen into the background do something to call it out again so the players go "Ah, yeah, we never did figure out what that guy's deal was."
As Ghost said, the key is to keep the players thinking.
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i really enjoyed the vampire one shot. did you make it into a campaign?
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We are still debating that. I loved it, as did the other players, yet Wasabi is a very busy man, and we already have 2 weekly campaigns in addition to the "One-Shots"
Last thing he said was that if someone would like to take over they could... we're trying to work it out.
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Yeah Listend to the one shot vampires first time hearing a game of vampires I enjoyed it. Sounds a bit complicated but of course I have never read the rules Enjoyed the post though.
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Yeah Listend to the one shot vampires first time hearing a game of vampires I enjoyed it. Sounds a bit complicated but of course I have never read the rules Enjoyed the post though.
It's actually incredibly easy... This was Misha and Nay's first time role-playing and they learned the system within 5 minutes. Of course pre-gen characters make it impossibly simple to learn most games.
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yeah, dont get me wrong it sounded like they got it quick, I just think dice pools are hard and Im a visual guy so just hearing how it works and hearing it played sounds complicated but if I was to see it I would pick it up, or atleast read about it first, so I understand the concept. Ill prob download some more tonight, thanks for the good recordings.
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I've been listening to the podcast for a while now and really dig it. In fact the New World Primer inspired my current D&D campaign. We had a lot of episodes building up, so we decided to put up an independent podcast.
I don't want to overstep any bounds, so I thought I'd see if Ross minds some shameless self promotion to get some feedback. We're hoping to get some more diversity going with more Fear Itself, Wild Talents, and a few others. Anyway, if anyone is interested, I'd be more than happy to post a link.
I hope the Actual Play server and community site make it up soon. They are a lot of fun to listen to and there's no better way to improve your game than listening to others.
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you just posted to the yahoo group rpg podcasters, right? hahah, I didn't even look at the site until I sent the email.
Anyway, post away.
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It's a bit to late too ask, I can fix it if I need to, but I aired the "kick-ass" promo in Ep 3 but I edited it a tiny bit. Just wanted to make sure this wasn't an issue.
I was wondering if Ross had any plans to publish "The Age of Masks" campaign?
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I did indeed post to the rpgpodcasters group as well. Thanks for the quick and very thorough reply. I have a lot of homework now!
Without further ado, the NerdBound podcast currently features actual play of mostly my group's D&D New World Campaign (thanks to the RPPR crew), but several other games will follow. I definitely want to have some diversity. Some of the members are also interested in RPG commentary or reviews as well. Thoughts?
You can check us out at nerdbound.podbean.com or search us in iTunes.
Let us know what you think with ratings, comments, or email us at nerdboundpodcast@gmail.com. Finally, you can follow me on Twitter @nbneil
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I'm thinking about writing the Age of Masks as an actual comic first. Try to get an artist to draw it and everything.
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I'm thinking about writing the Age of Masks as an actual comic first. Try to get an artist to draw it and everything.
That's awesome. Have you done that with any of your work before? or is this a new endeavor?
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It'll be a new thing. I've written a few comic scripts but nothing published so far.
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I did indeed post to the rpgpodcasters group as well. Thanks for the quick and very thorough reply. I have a lot of homework now!
Without further ado, the NerdBound podcast currently features actual play of mostly my group's D&D New World Campaign (thanks to the RPPR crew), but several other games will follow. I definitely want to have some diversity. Some of the members are also interested in RPG commentary or reviews as well. Thoughts?
Hello, all. In addition to being a big fan of the RPPR podcast (and Cody's escapades), I'm also a member of Neil's gaming group. I'm the fellow penning the entries for each episode at the website and, if you listen to our misadventures through the New World, I'm the one playing the prissy cleric ...
It's good to know the community is as receptive and helpful to new groups. Who would have thought people like us would be producing the second coming of radio drama for the new generation?
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It's good to know the community is as receptive and helpful to new groups. Who would have thought people like us would be producing the second coming of radio drama for the new generation?
I've never heard it put quite like that. I love it. Welcome to the forums, CalabolgX
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I'm wondering: ???
A.Has anyone played the Dragonlance Fifth Age RPG?
B.As it is a card based game, do you think it would be worth recording for our AP section at SaaM (http://www.swingandamiss.net)?