Actual Play podcasts

[timmy2383]

I'm interested to know peoples' preferences/opinions on Actual Play podcasts:

1. Do you listen to them?
2. If so, which ones do you listen to?
3. Do you prefer professional (highly edited, high sound quality, music, effects, etc)? Or more low-tech/amateur (limited editing, standard audio quality, chip crunching, etc.), almost literally just a recording of regular people playing D&D?
4. Do you get bored listening to long combat sequences?
5. Do you prefer a serious tone or one with levity?
6. What kind of episode release length do you prefer? Each episode is length of session (like 3 hours or so)? Or always set length (like maybe 1 hour per episode)?

 

[thorgrit]

1. Not usually.

3. I don't care so much about sound effects, music, or a lot of post-production (though trimming for time or unrelated content can make it better). Most of what I need to be able to listen to one is a lot of pre-production setup. Preferably separate mics for each player running to a mixer, or at least everybody making an effort to be recorded at the same volume. Having volume disparities where, without me changing the volume on my headphones, one person's talking risks damaging my eardrum while simultaneously a different person is barely audible is just a killer for me. Loud noises that also cover up people talking bug me, including crunching chips, or loudly rolling dice.

4. Even if everything is perfect, it still takes some effort for me to fully pay attention and actually enjoy them, long combat or no. Unlike most podcasts, where they're consciously discussing a topic, with reinforcement, to an audience, it's easy for minor (or even major) things to be mentioned only once, and easy to lose track of.

5. Too serious gets way too boring. I guess 75/25 or 80/20 split?

2. Happy Jack's RPG Podcast does some APs, and their Eldemy game was one I managed to hold on to for the longest time, maybe 8-10 episodes (out of at least 22).

(I don't want to say nobody can enjoy APs of any kind, obviously many do. I just can't seem to, even though I've tried. It's just not my bag.)

 

[wedgeski]

1. Yes.

2. Several from this list, as well as watching the superlative Critical Role every week.

3. Much as it pains me to say it, low-tech roleplaying podcasts are often very difficult to listen to, so I prefer a degree of production.

4. Not in general, and not at all if I can see the battle-mat. Audio casts with lots of combat are greatly improved by DM's who narrate sympathetically to the people listening.

5. I like games that hew close to my own tables, so having a laugh is part of that. However, I quickly get bored of podcasts which are only 50% game and 50% laughing at each-other's jokes, no matter how good those jokes are.

 

[iserith]

I'm interested to know peoples' preferences/opinions on Actual Play podcasts:

1. Do you listen to them?
2. If so, which ones do you listen to?
3. Do you prefer professional (highly edited, high sound quality, music, effects, etc)? Or more low-tech/amateur (limited editing, standard audio quality, chip crunching, etc.), almost literally just a recording of regular people playing D&D?
4. Do you get bored listening to long combat sequences?
5. Do you prefer a serious tone or one with levity?

1. Yes.

2. CritJuice. I've listened to loads of them though. It's just most don't make the cut.

3. I have no preference in this regard. My main complaint is that most podcasts I've listened to aren't very entertaining. It's as if the people playing D&D don't remember that other people will be listening.

4. No, provided it's an interesting scene, how long it goes on for doesn't really matter.

5. Levity. I wouldn't mind listening to a serious one that is entertaining. But D&D tends to lend itself to levity.

 

[Demorgus]

1. Yes

2. Crit Juice, Happy Jack's Actual Play (Eldemy), Godsfall, Nerd Poker, and Critical Hits with regularity, others hit or miss.

3. I want it to sound good, but it doesn't have to have a lot of music/sound effects.

4. Depends on if things are being described in an entertaining way or if I'm just hearing dice hit a table top.

5. Levity with touches of seriousness.

 

[timmy2383]

Thorgrit,

1. Not usually.

3. I don't care so much about sound effects, music, or a lot of post-production (though trimming for time or unrelated content can make it better). Most of what I need to be able to listen to one is a lot of pre-production setup. Preferably separate mics for each player running to a mixer, or at least everybody making an effort to be recorded at the same volume. Having volume disparities where, without me changing the volume on my headphones, one person's talking risks damaging my eardrum while simultaneously a different person is barely audible is just a killer for me. Loud noises that also cover up people talking bug me, including crunching chips, or loudly rolling dice.

4. Even if everything is perfect, it still takes some effort for me to fully pay attention and actually enjoy them, long combat or no. Unlike most podcasts, where they're consciously discussing a topic, with reinforcement, to an audience, it's easy for minor (or even major) things to be mentioned only once, and easy to lose track of.

5. Too serious gets way too boring. I guess 75/25 or 80/20 split?

2. Happy Jack's RPG Podcast does some APs, and their Eldemy game was one I managed to hold on to for the longest time, maybe 8-10 episodes (out of at least 22).

(I don't want to say nobody can enjoy APs of any kind, obviously many do. I just can't seem to, even though I've tried. It's just not my bag.)

2. Will have to check that one out. Thanks!
3. Good point about volume.
4. I agree, can be difficult to follow or be engaged when not part of the game. Any thoughts on how the podcasters could potentially keep an audience more engaged?

 

[timmy2383]

wedgeski,

4. Indeed. Sometimes it's hard to get around the "nerds doing math" portions of combat-heavy scenarios, even if they try hard to narrate and add flavor.
5. Yes, it seems a hard balance to strike. Good point.

Iserith,

2. Thanks! I give this one a try.
3. It's definitely hard when you're in the moment and playing. I guess it's just the nature of the beast? What do you think can be done to better engage audience, if anything?

 

[Matthan]

1. Do you listen to them?
2. If so, which ones do you listen to?
3. Do you prefer professional (highly edited, high sound quality, music, effects, etc)? Or more low-tech/amateur (limited editing, standard audio quality, chip crunching, etc.), almost literally just a recording of regular people playing D&D?
4. Do you get bored listening to long combat sequences?
5. Do you prefer a serious tone or one with levity?

1. Yes, they actually got me back into the hobby and I enjoy them a lot.

2. I've tried a lot. Most don't grab my attention after a few episodes (and I feel gracious giving some of them more than one episode). The ones that I still follow (when they update) are The Adventure Zone (5e), Crit Juice (4e though I think they've started doing twitch with 5e), Never Tell me the Odds! (FFG Star Wars), Campaign (FFG Star Wars), and Godsfall (5e). I'll listen to One Shot (various games) if it looks interesting or has a good cast that episode.

One addendum: personally, I can only make time for audio APs. I've actually stripped the audio out of Critical Role episodes so I can listen to it in the car. I do not have the time in my life to sit down at my computer and watch a stream for an hour or more. I like podcasts because I can listen to them while I'm doing something else. I recognize that I may be in the minority here, but I'm only interested in audio productions.

3. I don't care about sound effects so much. The only one that I listen to regularly that uses sound effects is Godsfall and I'm still getting into it. What I do care about is that everything and everyone sounds clear. I don't remember the name, but I tried to listen to a podcast with a group playing 13th Age and the audio was horrendous. I think there was at least one player on Skype whose volume was just completely out of whack from the others and it just made me turn it off. I don't think I made it past the first episode (there were some other annoying bits that I can't recall as well).

However, I'm pretty sure that most of the podcasts that I do listen to regularly are edited. They do it very well so I don't often realize it, but it's there and it makes the product better.

4. It depends on the players. In fact, I think that's true for all the podcasts. If you have entertaining people, they will make combat entertaining. If not, even if everyone at the table is having a good time, I'm checked out. I quit listening to Critical Hit because of incredibly long combats (4e) that the players struggled to make entertaining.

5. I prefer an entertaining podcast which usually will have times of both. Generally though, great humor is more important to me.

 

[timmy2383]

Matthan,

I agree about live streams, I definitely don't have the time. I like podcasts that I can listen to while I work or drive.

Regarding combat, it's definitely hard to keep it entertaining, especially when you get to higher level play and there can be more drawn-out fights. After 10, 20, 30+ fights it seems like there's only so much "narration" one can do to make it anything other than nerds doing math, but I guess if the players can keep the banter going for entertainment purposes then it wouldn't be so bad. But then again if players are talking a lot it's hard to keep things straight with the combat, I would think.

 

[Ristamar]

I'm interested to know peoples' preferences/opinions on Actual Play podcasts:

1. Do you listen to them?
2. If so, which ones do you listen to?
3. Do you prefer professional (highly edited, high sound quality, music, effects, etc)? Or more low-tech/amateur (limited editing, standard audio quality, chip crunching, etc.), almost literally just a recording of regular people playing D&D?
4. Do you get bored listening to long combat sequences?
5. Do you prefer a serious tone or one with levity?

1. Yes, a select few. I don't often hunt for new ones.
2. Crit Juice semi-regularly. Occasionally, the PAX games or Critical Role.
3. As long as the recording is clear and relatively even, production values are a very distant second to entertainment value. A talented group of players can trump poor recording quality, while a less engaging group will drag down even the sharpest production.
4. I can handle long combats as long as they're sustained by good narration and character banter from the players and the DM.
5. Either if done well. That being said, I think a serious tone is much more difficult to achieve because it's extremely sensitive to good pacing (a trait most games sorely lack, IMO, my own included). A good serious 'cast generally requires high(er) production values and the touch of a skilled editor. Given the aforementioned considerations, I usually prefer levity as a listener.