High Level Games
High Level Games
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
    • Storytellers Vault Products
    • Fantasy Adventures
    • DMs Guild Products
    • Snowhaven
    • Army Men
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Trusted Resources
  • Join The Team
  • About
  • Contact
    • Star Trek Adventures
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
    • Storytellers Vault Products
    • Fantasy Adventures
    • DMs Guild Products
    • Snowhaven
    • Army Men
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Trusted Resources
  • Join The Team
  • About
  • Contact
    • Star Trek Adventures

Welcome to the High Level Games Blog, News, and other stuff to take your games to the next level!

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com

Becoming An Online Role-Playing Celebrity: 3 Reflections On Actual Play Podcasts

8/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
So, you want to start a podcast? Or some other media by which you hope to broadcast your gaming session to the world? It seems simple, and on one hand, it is: put a microphone on the table, record everyone playing, and bam, instant content. However, if you want to produce something that anyone other than those sitting around the table would actually want to listen to (such as HLG’s Aether Sea or Black Squadron), it takes a lot more finesse. Below are three factors to consider when deciding whether to create or play in a broadcasted game.

1. Censorship
We over here at High Level Games are a vile bunch, veritably bursting with all manner of intellectual putrescence. However, the content we produce is still closely monitored and edited to avoid giving off certain kinds of offensive messages (e.g. discrimination). While this is well and good, it forces you to be mindful of everything you say. It’s not that offensive speech necessarily gushes forth whenever we open our mouths, but we need to avoid creating situations where things can be misinterpreted. Certain words might become taboo, certain phrases or situations avoided. Thanks to the wonders of post-production editing, it’s not the end of the world should someone inadvertently promote racial genocide, but it is more work for whoever’s doing the editing. Having to censor your words and actions in game takes more forethought and planning than a regular game session and can take away some of the fun (at least until you get used to it).

2. Entertainment
Let’s say you have no ethical or moral standards whatsoever and impose no censorship on your broadcasted session. You still need to entertain your listeners and that requires a certain style of play that might be different from that which you may be accustomed. The world and gameplay need to come alive by the words of the players. This requires vivid descriptions of all environment, people, actions, weapons, or anything else which exists in the game. It requires you to put the scene into the mind’s eye of your listeners and speak life into it, accessing your theatrical sides to put on the show. That’s not to say you must do funny voices or exotic accents, but they certainly help. You don’t have to be witty or come up with hilarious quips, but they certainly help. You know that hilarious inside joke you have with your friends? No one else is going to get it, so it gets nixed. Some of us are naturally more gifted artists (not me) than others (definitely me) and it can be a struggle to produce a story to which anyone would actually want to listen. Even something as simple as reading out the number that you rolled doesn’t come naturally to us as tabletop gamers. It can make the gaming session seem more like work than play, at least until you get used to it.

3. Technical proficiency
This is a small detail, easily overlooked when thinking about creating something like a podcast. This sort of endeavor requires that there be a certain level of technical expertise in the group. Firstly, there is knowledge of audio hardware and software. If you are all playing together in one location, just one person needs to have a nice mic and be good at getting everything set up; however, if you are playing online, everyone needs to have a good mic setup and know how to set up the audio settings properly. Recording software is becoming increasingly user-friendly as time goes on, but you will need to understand how to properly utilize the software (and don’t forget to save the audio recordings). Secondly, at least one person needs to have knowledge of the post-production editing software and process (as this is not me, I can not speak any further to this, other than that it is by far the most crucial step in this whole process). Lastly, someone needs to know to put the content online and, more importantly, distribute and promote it. As this is also not me; see VP Quinn (the marketing genius behind HLG) if you want to know more about how he works his magic.

Playing a role-playing game with the intention of broadcasting it to the world can be very enjoyable. It is akin to performing on stage: your performance becomes something meant for others rather than yourself. It requires a different mindset than a normal gaming session but can be more rewarding. I mean, how awesome is the prospect of entertaining not just you and your friends, but the world?

Jake is High Level Games most devilishly handsome correspondent and plays the devilishly handsome Squall Santail in HLG’s Star Wars Black Squadron Actual Play.


Savage Worlds: Fast, Furious, and Fun! - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    All blog materials created and developed by the staff here at High Level Games 

    ​

    Picture
    Click here to support our community for as a little as $1.00 for exclusive content, free downloadable stuff, and even discounts on role-playing game items.

    Archives

    April 2023
    February 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    13th Age
    2d20
    2nd Edition
    3.5 Edition
    3Deep
    4th Edition
    5th Edition
    7th Sea
    Acquisitions Inc
    Actual Play
    AD&D
    AdventureLookUp.com
    Adventurers!
    Aether Sea
    A+ Fantasy
    After Collapse
    Alignment
    Amazing Tales
    Amazon
    Anima: Beyond Fantasy
    Anime
    Apocalypse World
    Atomic Robo
    Australian
    Award Winning
    Basic Fantasy
    Belly Of The Beast
    Big Eyes Small Mouth
    Black Lives Matter
    Black Void
    Blades In The Dark
    Blood Pangea
    Board Games
    Book Of Exalted Darkness
    BrigadeCon
    Burning Wheel RPG
    Call Of Cthulhu
    Capers RPG
    Casual Roleplaying
    Changeling: The Dreaming
    Chaosium
    Character Arcs
    Character Creation
    Chris Spivey
    Cinematic RP
    Classics
    Comic-books
    Conventions
    Corvus Belli: Infinity
    Crawl
    Creators
    Critical Role
    Cthulhutech
    D100 Dungeon
    D20
    D&D
    D&D Beyond
    Deadlands
    Defenders Of Tokyo
    Degenesis
    Detako Saga
    Discord
    DMsGuild.com
    Dnd
    Dndbeyond
    Doctor-who
    Double-cross
    Dread
    Dresden-files
    DriveThruRPG.com
    Dr. Who
    Dungeon Crawl Classics
    Dungeons
    Dungeons And Dragons
    Dungeon Slayers
    Dungeon World
    Dystopia Rising
    Encounters
    Era: The Consortium
    Era: The Empowered
    Esper Genesis
    Evil Hat
    Exalted
    Faith RPG
    Fandom
    Fantasy-age
    Fantasy-flight
    Fantasy Grounds
    FATE
    Fate Accelerated Edition
    Fate Core
    Fate Rpg
    Fate-rpg
    Final Fantasy
    Forgotten Realms
    Fragged Empire
    Free League Publishing
    Furries
    Game Design
    Game Lore
    Gencon
    Ghosts Of NPCs Past
    GMTips
    Golden-sky-stories
    GoodmanGames.com
    Grognards
    GUMSHOE
    GURPS
    GURPS Lite
    Halloween
    Harlem Unbound
    Harry-potter
    Hero Builder
    Heroes Against Darkness
    Heroes-unlimited
    HERO System
    High Level Games
    Historical Fantasy
    HLG Con 2018
    HLG Reviews
    Homebrew
    Humble Bundle
    Indie
    Interface Zero 2.0
    Interview
    Invisible Suns
    Japanese RPGs
    JRR Tolkien
    Kickstarter
    KoboldPress.com
    KULT
    L5R
    Lankhmar
    LARP
    Lasers And Feelings
    Legendlore
    Legend Of The Five Rings
    LexOccultum
    LOTR
    Low Magic
    Mage
    Mage: The Awakening
    Magic And Steel
    MAID
    Mayhem
    Mazes And Minotaurs
    Meikyuu Kingdom
    Mekton Zero
    Mental Health
    Middle Earth
    Mighty Narwhal
    Mini Six
    Modern Adventures RPG
    Modiphius
    Monarchies Of Mau
    Monsterhearts
    Monte Cook Games
    Morra
    Mummy: The Curse
    Mutants And Masterminds
    Mythender
    Narrative Games
    Nechronica
    Night's Black Agents
    Novel
    NPC
    Numenara
    Odyssey Of The Dragonlords
    One Shot
    Online Gaming
    Orun
    OSCRIC
    Osr
    OVA
    Palladium
    Pathfinder
    Pathfinder 2.0
    PbtA
    PDQ
    Pire: The Masquerade 5th Edition
    Play By Post
    Player Tips
    Podcast
    Powered By Apocalypse
    Power Outage RPG
    Preview
    Promethean: The Created
    Pugmire
    Pulp
    Puzzles
    Questlings
    Ravenloft
    Ravnica
    Red Markets: A Game Of Economic Horror
    Research
    Review
    Review Article
    Rifts
    Risus
    Role Play
    Roll20
    Romance Of The Perilous Land
    Ryuutama
    Satanic Panic
    Savage Rifts
    Savage Tokusatsu
    Savage Worlds
    Seeds Of Wars
    Setting
    Settings
    Settlement Building
    Shadowrun
    SIGMATA
    Snowhaven
    Social Combat
    Social Systems
    Solo Play
    Standard Roleplay System
    Star Trek Adventures
    Star Wars
    Storytellers Vault
    Suited RPG
    Summerland
    Supplements
    System Design
    Table Top
    Tabletop Simulator
    Tales From The Loop
    Tales Of Equestria
    Talislanta
    Tariffs
    Teenagers From Outerspace
    Ten Candles
    Tenra Bansho Zero
    The Dark Eye
    The End Of The World RPG
    The Great Long Dark
    The One Ring
    The Very Important Task
    Titan Effect
    To The Temple Of Doom
    Trial Of Cthulhu
    Trinity Continuum
    TSR Marvel Super Heroes
    Ttrpg
    Twitch
    USTR
    Va
    Valiant Rpg
    Vampire: The Masquerade
    Video Games
    Villian
    Volo
    Vs Ghosts
    Warhammer
    Warhammer 40K
    Werewolf: The Apocalypse
    Westbound RPG
    Wild West
    World Building
    World Of Darkness
    Writing Tips
    Year Zero
    Zweihander

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly