10.26
Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of RPG-themed podcasts. ^^ Some of them are really good, such as Brilliant Gameologists and Have Games Will Travel, to name just a few. Others less so.
The most unsatisfying type of RPG podcast, in my experience, is the “live play” podcast, where people record their experiences of gaming around the table. On the surface, this seems like a good idea. After all, radio plays used to be a big medium, and in Japan they have “replay” books which are basically transcripts of people’s gaming scenarios. A short 4-hour game could easily be distilled down to a really wonderful 1-hour podcast with lots of sound effects, music and some narrative summary. But… how often does this happen? ALMOST NEVER! I have heard a few decent live play podcasts, but more often it seems like the players and DM follow these rules:
* Spend all your time making an awesome-sounding, atmospheric intro to the show (”In the Dark Ages of Yheffgaal… a brave group of heroes…”). Don’t bother editing or doing postproduction on ANYTHING else. It’s perfectly fine if you cut straight from the atmospheric intro to some guys talking about their trip to the DMV the day before.
* Feel free to talk about ANYTHING during the game, and NEVER edit the podcast afterward to cut out the boring and irrelevant parts! Your OOC conversations about waiting in line to enroll in classes deserve to be immortalized on the internet forever!
* Continually check the rules even in the 20th or 30th session — “So I still get to do my 5-foot step.” “A shift is a move.” “So it’s my turn.” Is this like the 20th year of a marriage where the participants can’t even bring themselves to be excited about anything anymore?
* In combat, don’t describe ANYTHING other than the raw rules effects. NEVER use any kind of flavor description or bother describing the actions of the monsters. Your combat should sound like this: “Okay, Bob, you are dazed and take 12 points of damage. Earl, you take 6 points of damage. George, you are dazed and take 12 points of damage.” “I roll a 19.” “Okay, you hit.” “I do 15 points of damage.” “Okay.” (Is this why people say D&D 4e combat is so quick? This is horrible! When I DM I make sure to describe every blow!)
* DM, don’t address the players as “you”. Be sure to talk about their characters in the third person. Players, do the same. Never use “I” or “me” when referring to your characters. It’s not like thinking of the character as “you” is the fundamental rule of roleplaying or anything! >_<
* Don’t describe anything.
* Don’t act out any of the NPCs.
* Don’t ever sound excited or interested in anything.
In short, I am not impressed by the live RPG podcasts I have heard. In fact, they suck. (Although the ones from Britain are better… they’re funnier, and maybe it’s partially the accents…) To put it in one sentence: if you sound this bored when you KNOW YOU’RE RECORDING A PODCAST, how boring must your game be when you’re NOT being recorded?! Why would anyone want to hear this? Basically, not naming any names… if you’re not willing to (1) act and ham it up and sound excited and (2) do postproduction on your podcast so that it sounds interesting (boring parts removed, sound effects and music added, etc.) then don’t inflict your lame D&D live play podcast on the rest of the world. Thanks! ^_^*
I agree that it is rare to find good recordings of games.
I’ve enjoyed two shows that have done well and I’ve enjoyed listening to:
Critical Hits (on the Major Spoilers Podcast)
Penny Arcade (at the WOTC website)
Both are 4E and do a great job describing the system and providing atmosphere and setting.
I prefer Call of Cthulhu.
@Paul Yes, Call of Cthulhu would be well-suited to atmospheric podcasts… maybe 4e is just too gamey? (Although I do love it) ^^ Do you know any good CoC podcasts?
@Jimflexx I have not listened to Critical Hits, thanks for the suggestion!
What are the few good live play podcasts you’ve heard?
The podcast for Return to Northmoor are good, but I’ve only listened to the first few. They give a rundown on how they designed the adventure and then they edit the actual game play.
Role Playing Public Radio is building an impressive catalog of actual play recordings. In addition to an on-going D&D campaign, there are a number of one-shots, including some Call of Cthulhu games.