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Post by mook on Oct 11, 2015 11:23:38 GMT -8
Howdy Folks! Still only in the first quarter of the episode, but it's a good 'un. Just wanted to post to say I've followed JiB's lead the last year or so and recorded most of my games. I use this Tascam recorder, 90 bucks from Amazon; a bit pricey, but the quality is really great (for my purposes, anyway, which at least so far haven't included Actual Play... I just record so I don't have to worry about taking notes). When I listen back to the MP3, I use WinAmp and a plugin called Pacemaker, which speeds up the tempo but keeps the pitch the same, so I can listen to a 4-hour game in about 2.5 hours without chipmunk voices. I can't speak for my players, but I haven't had any complaints about it being distracting... me, I generally forget it's even on the table by 10 minutes in. It has been an absolute boon as a GM. I have never, ever found a satisfactory way of keeping notes while GMing... whether I'm writing them with a pen and paper or typing on various devices, it has always been just too damned intrusive, "Hold on just a minute while... I... write... this... down." But now, consumer technology has reached a point where I can just plop this little piece of plastic on the table, fire-and-forget style, and completely put keeping notes out of my mind and just concentrate on running the game. The cost of this amazing convenience is that, at some time after the game, I have to spend a few hours listening back to the recording and making a page of hard copy notes. It's a cost I'm happy to pay. As an added bonus, it keeps an archive of all the games I've run! (I would love to do this for con games, but so far I haven't broached the subject. I'm always afraid there would be one or more players who are uncomfortable being recorded but would be too soft-spoken to say so when asked, and I don't want to unintentionally 'bully' anyone.)
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Oct 11, 2015 11:46:49 GMT -8
I've got nothing to add to the discussion this week except: Anomic aphasia, I have that too. I am useless with names! Real people's names, people I've work with I have yo to say stuff like "Her, sitting next to me, what's her name?!"
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maxinstuff
Supporter
Posts: 1,939
Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
Favorite Species of Monkey: Proboscis
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Post by maxinstuff on Oct 11, 2015 13:20:46 GMT -8
When I listen back to the MP3, I use WinAmp and a plugin called Pacemaker, which speeds up the tempo but keeps the pitch the same, so I can listen to a 4-hour game in about 2.5 hours without chipmunk voices. Winamp! Did you dl that on limewire?
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tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
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Post by tomes on Oct 11, 2015 13:32:24 GMT -8
Winamp! Did you dl that on limewire? Seriously had the same thought. That said, back in the WinAmp days I made a WinAmp skin as a fun side project... specifically built after Solomon's Key (the NES game), a la this. mook, let me know if you want the skin :-) Looks like this, with all the play parts extended:
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Post by mook on Oct 11, 2015 14:59:33 GMT -8
Winamp! Did you dl that on limewire? Seriously had the same thought. Ha! Pretty sure it came bundled on an AOL disk. Yeah, I am very much of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school. That means WinAmp for MP3s, Arachnophilia for HTML/PHP, Office 2007, Fraps, etc. I remember the sad day I was forced to leave behind Paint Shop Pro for Photoshop, which I still can barely use worth a damn! I did, however, start using VLC Player for media last year, I think that's pretty new. mook, let me know if you want the skin :-) Clearly if you have a WinAmp skin for a 30-year old game still on a hard drive somewhere, you lose any ability to mock me. I found an old-ass .zip file in a dusty corner of one of my HDDs a few months back... it was a dozen or so missions built with the "X-Wing Mission Builder!" (Looks like a fun skin, but I never played Solomon's Key, slacker that I am). For a moment I wondered what people do use to listen to MP3s... and then realized, probably nothing but a browser since everything is streaming?
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sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
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Post by sbloyd on Oct 11, 2015 15:44:03 GMT -8
I hear it really whips the llama's ass.
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Post by ericfromnj on Oct 11, 2015 18:38:42 GMT -8
OK, aside from a Tascam recorder, what else do people use to record their sessions? I was thinking my phone but the memory isn't there to do it anyway. Plus honestly I would not know what to do with a Tascam recorder after recording the thing to have a good place to listen to it in my house. Technology confuses me...
As for challenging the Pathfinder players, you could always just say fuck it, give them a powerful problem, and let them deal with it however they choose, even if it is not straight combat. Let a Tarrasque out and see what the players do. Throw some Fire Giants controlling a town of slaves at a 3rd level party. Force them to think outside the box.
Another suggestion is to have the terrain favor the NPCs. Sea trolls are far scarier when they start punching holes in the boats the PCs are on. Or perhaps you have archers up a mountain with some stronger types who trigger an avalance. There was a D20 system called Iron Heroes that had all these fun terrain rules you could use - everything from swaying ships to rolling kegs against people in a bar fight - that would make the combat more interesting. If you create this stuff ahead of time and the NPCs use it on the adventurers, perhaps the combats could favor the NPCs, at least at first. (Of course fair is fair and if the PCs can do things right back to the NPCs, then by all means let them enjoy themselves.)
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tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
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Post by tomes on Oct 11, 2015 20:08:56 GMT -8
For a moment I wondered what people do use to listen to MP3s... and then realized, probably nothing but a browser since everything is streaming? I'm with you on some of that stuff... fuck iTunes and Windows Media Player. I use VLC media player for playing mp3s on the computer.
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maxinstuff
Supporter
Posts: 1,939
Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
Favorite Species of Monkey: Proboscis
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HJRP 15-15
Oct 11, 2015 20:39:04 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by maxinstuff on Oct 11, 2015 20:39:04 GMT -8
I guess you could record sessions using G+ at a home with a laptop and an omnidirectional mic? EDIT: maybe Stu Venable could chime in a little bit about how the show gets streamed on G+ as opposed to the local recording? I assume all the gear is connected to the Laptop? Does G+ know whose mic is whose?
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d47
Journeyman Douchebag
RPG of Choice: Metagaming Melee
Posts: 194
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Post by d47 on Oct 11, 2015 21:28:11 GMT -8
OK, aside from a Tascam recorder, what else do people use to record their sessions? I was thinking my phone but the memory isn't there to do it anyway. Plus honestly I would not know what to do with a Tascam recorder after recording the thing to have a good place to listen to it in my house. Technology confuses me... You could just leave the files on the card in the recorder. Almost every handheld recorder these days has a headphone jack and some also have a small built-in speaker. So, if you set the recording format to a low-res mp3, you could store many days worth of sessions on relatively inexpensive 16GB SD cards, for example. I think just about all of the Tascam units have "Variable speed playback" too, so you can speed things up for review. (Disclosure: I do contract work for Tascam and Zoom.)
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Post by Stu Venable on Oct 12, 2015 7:16:35 GMT -8
I guess you could record sessions using G+ at a home with a laptop and an omnidirectional mic? EDIT: maybe Stu Venable could chime in a little bit about how the show gets streamed on G+ as opposed to the local recording? I assume all the gear is connected to the Laptop? Does G+ know whose mic is whose? When I'm recording the show, I have an audio out from my interface that includes the soundboard and the 4 mics in the studio as well as the music/announcer track. It doesn't include the audio IN from G+ Hangouts. This is called a mix minus. It's everything minus the audio G+ Hangouts sends me (which is the audio from anyone connecting remotely). This stops there from being a horrible time-delayed echo of people connecting remotely. This audio out goes in the audio input on a second computer that is running the hangout.(I also have a connector going from the audio out of the hangout computer to my audio interface so I can record the hangout audio on its own track.)
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Post by HourEleven on Oct 12, 2015 7:32:03 GMT -8
An audio mixer board does add a ridiculous amount of control to the equation (when we upgraded our board at work to a full digital, I bought the old analog mixer for dirt cheap and it's been amazing for my home audio recording).
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Benji
Journeyman Douchebag
Alea iacta est
Posts: 176
Preferred Game Systems: Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, V20, D&D 3.5, Castles & Crusades, Monsters & Other Childish Things, Little Fears, TFOS
Currently Playing: Not a damn thing
Currently Running: Pathfinder, Savage Worlds
Favorite Species of Monkey: Cebuella pygmaea
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Post by Benji on Oct 12, 2015 9:57:57 GMT -8
To follow up on the tech conversation, I'm looking into getting some gear that will serve several purposes. 1. Podcast (1 to 2 people and occasional guest) 2. Group meetings at conferences (work related) 3. General Session recording (may use for actual play?) I've been looking at starting out with the Samson C03U Recording/Podcasting Pak through Amazon. What else should I be looking for? Pop filter? Headset? Suspension boom? Mixer? I currently have an macbook air with a 1TB passport external drive for storage. I may be replacing my deceased iMac as well. Yes, I'm a fan of Apple after many years of being a PC user. I also wear Sketchers while using my Mac. Haters gonna hate. EDIT: I should mention this is foremost for a work project but I'm considering using it for hobby related work too.
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Post by weaselcreature on Oct 12, 2015 10:00:52 GMT -8
I record sessions on my iPhone. I have it resting right behind me and it picks up everyone fine. Dice noise isn't horrible. It picks up my son who plays about 20 feet away, but it's nothing horrible.
As a player, I always take notes. I hit the main things/occurrences that happen to the party, but everything is through the lens of my character. I also don't take notes on things that happen when my character isn't there. I was the main "Recapper" in our last campaign, and people always found it amusing what I thought was important enough to write down. Others would chime in with additions/corrections as well.
If it's important for your character YOU should be the one to write it down, don't count on someone else or the GM.
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sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
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Post by sbloyd on Oct 12, 2015 10:03:59 GMT -8
1. Podcast (1 to 2 people and occasional guest) 3. General Session recording (may use for actual play?) What was #2 going to be? Anyhow, if you're planning on doing such recording, I heartily recommend Stu's Angry Folk Podcast on Podcasting. It's only six episodes, and they're brief compared to the HJRP shows, but there's a lot of good stuff in there.
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