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Post by hightechnocrat on Jan 18, 2016 14:34:18 GMT -8
Hey Jackers and Jacker-associated forum-goers.
I'm a mod over at /r/DnD, and I wanted to comment in response to your discussion of the WotC AMA on /r/DnD.
We got a message from Trevor Kidd (Marketing & Community Manager) that Chris Lindsay (Product Marketing Specialist) and Mike Mearls (Senior Manager D&D R&D) wanted to do an AMA. They even provided proof that it was them with a picture on Twitter, which is generally how AMAs verify the identity of the subject. This was /r/DnD's first AMA. Until now, all of WotC's AMAs have been done on /r/RPG because it was a bigger community. This was our first AMA and we were very excited.
They didn't tell us about the subject of the AMA until the AMA post went up, which was two days after DMsGuild.com went live, so that was the major topic of the conversation. Trevor, Chris, and Mike were nice about answering questions, though I don't think they managed to answer every question. A big chunk of the thread was people asking specific questions about the function of the new OGL, but Trevor, Mike, and Chris weren't really able to answer any of the complicated legal specifics.
We probably made some mistakes since this was our first AMA, but overall I think everyone did fine, and I'm happy WotC was nice enough to come answer questions about the OGL and GMs Guild.
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Post by Probie Tim on Jan 19, 2016 7:50:29 GMT -8
Hey, that's actually pretty darned cool of them.
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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 Jan 19, 2016 11:20:35 GMT -8
Hijacking this thread for general discussion of the episode - I think I agree with the jackers about music. Better in theory than practice. I HAVE used it effectively - did a great Watchmen scenario some many years back, set in 1967, which each scene preceded by a relevant track from that year. But generally distracts from conversation (and let's face it, RPGs are all about conversation.
Yes you can have it on in the background (low volume, and preferably without words) but there's every chance that the musc will be somehow inappropriate for what's actually going on in the game. What I'd like is some sort of app/composition with a myriad of loops, that combine to create a responsive soundtrack, like on many computer games. The loops could include "locality" specific loops for locations/ cultures. The GM could press a button it add a "fight scene" loop into the mix. Or when the GM presses the button that adds a "suspense" loop, that might cue the players to make a perception check:) !
That said, I recently ran a Nights Black Agents game where a scene set during a performance of a Vampire opera. I tracked a recording of that opera down and played it during the long fight scene. It worked really well, but even so pissed some players off (in character just enough to justify it).
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Jan 19, 2016 20:03:27 GMT -8
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Post by jazzisblues on Jan 19, 2016 20:51:22 GMT -8
The trick with using music is to make it appropriate to what's going on in the game and to keep it in the background. It should not intrude on or overrun play. Sound effects are cool, but again should be used sparingly. Have to be very careful with both volume and with speaker vs mic placement.
I use a soundboard app on my iPad that lets me make playlists on iTunes and then I can import the playlist and it makes sound boards out of the playlist. It has controls for cross fading and all manner of interesting tricks.
Just my 2 krupplenicks worth, your mileage may of course vary.
JiB
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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 Jan 19, 2016 22:39:30 GMT -8
The trick with using music is to make it appropriate to what's going on in the game and to keep it in the background. It should not intrude on or overrun play. Sound effects are cool, but again should be used sparingly. Have to be very careful with both volume and with speaker vs mic placement. I use a soundboard app on my iPad that lets me make playlists on iTunes and then I can import the playlist and it makes sound boards out of the playlist. It has controls for cross fading and all manner of interesting tricks. Just my 2 krupplenicks worth, your mileage may of course vary. JiB What's it called?
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Post by ericfromnj on Jan 20, 2016 9:48:32 GMT -8
In my experience, if you keep the music low enough, the players only notice the music when it matches what is going on. Best thing to do is keep the music one central theme and play from there.
Actually, now that I think about it, there was a time I had CDs for different races for a large city campaign. Whenever they went to a section of the city inhabited largely by one race, I would pop the CD in and let it quietly play in the background. It worked out quite well.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Jan 20, 2016 11:33:45 GMT -8
In regards to using music: This works really well if you're in a setting with a specific "sound." I usually use instrumentals and folk music to prevent the kind of distraction that Stork experiences. I use a mix of things depending on what's needed. I mostly use a YouTube playlist I've made (which is easy to manage in a tab if you're using a laptop...use ad block). Here's the playlist for my campaign so people can get a feel for the different types of music I use. I also use tracks from Plate Mail Games for specific moments. They are high quality and cheap. There are also a lot of music/sound mixing websites that are made for making background music for meditating or relaxing and those are great to mix background traveling music or music for exploring a forest.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Jan 20, 2016 11:54:53 GMT -8
Thought I'd post this what with all the Conan love in the episode.
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Post by alverant on Jan 20, 2016 20:51:15 GMT -8
I liked the episode, but not to complain, I sent in a letter a few weeks ago and it hasn't been read yet. I know everyone should get a turn but do you know when/if it will be read on-air please?
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willh
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 220
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Post by willh on Jan 21, 2016 6:15:26 GMT -8
I liked the episode, but not to complain, I sent in a letter a few weeks ago and it hasn't been read yet. I know everyone should get a turn but do you know when/if it will be read on-air please? They stopped reading every letter a couple seasons ago.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Jan 21, 2016 11:39:47 GMT -8
I liked the episode, but not to complain, I sent in a letter a few weeks ago and it hasn't been read yet. I know everyone should get a turn but do you know when/if it will be read on-air please? Try to resend it in. But remember the following: - Is your letter long? Like, if you paste it into Microsoft Word does it take up more than one page?
- Was the question, or a question similar to it, asked recently?
- Did you include at least five post scripts making everyone drink?
Your question might have been skipped. Try revising it and sending it again. You might just get read!
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Post by Stu Venable on Jan 21, 2016 15:19:07 GMT -8
Alverant's email is in the queue. Probably next episode or the one after. (FYI, there's no show tomorrow, I got a fecking cold and don't have a voice).
Right now, we're reading roughly half of the emails we receive -- maybe 60%.
Length is one thing we look at, yes.
The biggest criteria:
1. Does it have an interesting RPG-related question? 2. Does it get to this question QUICKLY?
When I read through emails, I do it by myself in my spare time. I start with the most recent emails, so things stay reasonably topical. When I read an email with a compelling question without a lot of preamble, that email gets included. If it's a new listener with a question, that gets included. I try to limit it to 6 emails a show, btw.
If I don't have 6 emails by this point, I go back and find ones with good questions that have long preambles.
Then I throw in either a GM confession or horror story to fill it out.
If I STILL don't have enough, I'll go through emails that are "gaming stories with a point or lesson."
That's pretty much the criteria by which I decide what gets read and what doesn't.
Really, really long emails will only get read if they are a) fantastic and/or b) it's a really slow email week.
I do go through the older backlog of unread emails if I don't get what I'm looking for in recent emails. Lately the farthest I've gone back is a month.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2016 2:54:07 GMT -8
I find background sound tracks better than music (unless the location in game is playing music, such as a bar). Nothing quite brings spelunking up as much as the occasional drip or whistle of wind. SWtoR did a really good job on Nal Hutta. I reccomend ripping it off if you ever run that setting. Traffic sounds and some PA type announcements. Whatever you do, don't play 'battle' music. It just doesn't work. RPG's rant movies that are paced to tracks, so you need something steady without crescendos at inappropriate times or that ends in the middle of a crucial moment.
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Post by jazzisblues on Jan 24, 2016 14:30:04 GMT -8
The trick with using music is to make it appropriate to what's going on in the game and to keep it in the background. It should not intrude on or overrun play. Sound effects are cool, but again should be used sparingly. Have to be very careful with both volume and with speaker vs mic placement. I use a soundboard app on my iPad that lets me make playlists on iTunes and then I can import the playlist and it makes sound boards out of the playlist. It has controls for cross fading and all manner of interesting tricks. Just my 2 krupplenicks worth, your mileage may of course vary. JiB What's it called? It's called AudioBoard. JiB
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