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How to make an RPG Podcast

How to make an RPG Podcast

So you want to start an RPG actual play podcast? 

Great idea!! Rpg podcasts are really hot right now.  just think of the story your party can tell about evil wizards and warrior maidens !!! Podcast and RPGs are a lot of fun to make!! So what are you waiting for? This article will point out some things you can expect from this process. At the bottom of this article, I have a list of tips on being an RPG Podcast producer

Have a great concept for your podcast

Just like running a game of Dungeons and Dragons, A podcast takes a little bit of prep. Some Gamemasters plan out every single detail. Some fly by the seat of their pants. Or if you are like me its a little of both. Podcasting is very similar. I know more than one podcast where every word is scripted like a play or a movie. Others will be recorded chaos. whatever you decide to do you are going to need a great concept.

You are going to hear me say this a few times "Content is King" The stronger your content the more listeners you will keep. (Getting the listeners in a different story) Make sure your idea stands out. having the DM Run another Dungeon Crawl from that module from the 80s will only go so far (That and there may be copyright issues) Have a Unique idea that is all yours.

By the way, the whole "Getting Drunk and playing D&D has been done a lot so if you are going to go that route bring something more to the show than vodka 

Hosting your RPG Actual Play Podcast 

There are all kinds of hosting companies. You could code your own RSS feed but I found that paying a hosting company who specialises in podcasts works best. I am a fan of Libsyn. They are easy to use hand do a lot with your RSS feed that would take me forever to code myself. Oh and their customer service Rocks (They do not pay me I am just a happy customer) 

It takes time to edit the show  

Some people think we just hit record then publish. There is a ton of editing to do. I figure that my podcast takes 5 hours production for every hour of published content.(You can reduce that ratio by practice or good planning ) I highly recommend that you set aside some time to work a little bit every week. Personally, I'm up at 5 AM every day before work, doing something for the show.

How long should an RPG Actual Play Podcast Be? 

it's easy to have a game session take four to six hours in one session. However, your listener is not going to stay listening to that long. I have already done the research for you. My listeners want between 30 Min to an hour per episode. This means that a single game night we a get anywhere from two to three episodes. (We remove a lot of content) 

But do not take my word for it .. .ask your listeners to do a poll on twitter. 

You don't need an expensive microphone or software.

I know I know, you need to kit out your game studio like a 7th Level Palidin on a shopping spree. But don't fall for that.
I have been podcasting for a very long time. I know more than one podcaster that is all about the whiz-bang microphone and top end studio software, And yet their show is not any fun. It is better to have great content and crappy equipment than to have spent all the money so your crappy show is a very good sounding pile of shit. We are still trying to make ends meet with the show. However, with patience and a few backers, we are going to slowly add to our equipment but we need to have better content first. 

Say it with me "Content is King/Queen"

The first season of Star-Fall was recorded on my phone. Yah that is right my phone. The sound quality is not horrible and its portable. Get your show going then work on upgrading.

Here is some Free/Cheap software to help with the editing

Garageband (OSX comes on every mac)
Audacity (Free and Cross-platform)
Ardour (Cross-Platform Pay what you want)

Pro-tip : Youtube has video lessions on all the software above. 

Rpg Podcast is not an overnight success

Unless you have a HUGE budget to advertise before you even publish forget about the concept of being an overnight success. Podcasting is not a sprint. Or a Jog or even a hike. it's more of a long journey where you are not sure where the castle is located. It's about the random encounters along the way and having fun. It's far too common for a podcaster to start up something and notice they only have 10 downloads for their first episode and give up. It takes time. As long as your notice your downloads slowly growing you are doing fine.

Copyright is not your friend unless you are the creator

So by now, you should know that you should not be playing your favourite music in the background when recording a game. There are a few other IP issues you should be aware of before you hit record. Such as much as your rules lawyer player wants to read the spellcasting rules for Shadowrun 4th Edition out loud to prove a point. Unless you want to talk to real lawyers with a real lawsuit DONT!! Edit that out!! The text in the rules are copyrighted and you should avoid it like a first level cleric avoids a Black Dragon.

Artwork.

As an artist, I get Real angry if someone uses my artwork without a pre-arranged contract or permission. This is not better to ask for forgiveness scenario. If you need artwork for your game look up public domain images and try your hand at photoshop or contact an artist to do it for you (Hint Hint)

Trademark.

Putting the famous logo of your favorite game on your website has some serious potential for lawsuits. It implies they are endorsing you when they are not. A company MUST defend their trademark like a dragon guards a hoard. They have no choice but to contact their lawyers to deliver the legal smackdown on you. They are not being evil its just the rules 

Useful Links 

Public Domain music

RPG Clip Art 

Hire an artist 

 

how to make money with a podcast

How to get paid for your RPG podcast

How do you like the idea of being paid to be a gamemaster? Being a gamemaster or running a podcast is hard work. Why should we not get paid? There are a few ways to get paid my Favorite is Patreon. This service allows your listeners to subscribe to your show. This has been very good for us as it keeps our show up and running, At the time of writing this we make double what it costs to make the show. The rest go for Pizza and beer for the cast (And computer upgrades) 

downloads wordmark white on coral 

RPG Podcasting Tips you are not going to find in any book.

have a backup recorder. RPGs are very impromptu if your mic dies for some reason you are never going to be able to have that moment again. Use your phone recorder as a backup recording device.

Get involved with the RPG podcasting community. Other podcasts are NOT your competition they are your allies. A show that does the same kind of show as you have listeners that would love your show. Reach out say Hi.. most are willing to help. That said ... help other podcasters!

Contribute don't Distribute.
If you are on twitter do more than post links to your show .. talk about RPGs as a whole. Get into conversations with other podcasters and RPG lovers about their games. if you must have a formula for this a good ratio is 10 RPG tweets for every one link to your show.

Record 5-10 Episodes before publishing
It's really hard to keep up with the publishing schedule. If you get behind you are going to lose listeners. We did not do this and I'm busting my ass even with an assistant editor (Who ROCKS BY THE WAY )to not fall behind. It's not uncommon to have an entire season ready to go before publishing.

You may have quiet fans
Just the other day I was thinking that nobody cared about my show when someone random at work told me they loved the show. So fans may not reach out to you.

Figure out if you are going to be Clean or Explicit and stick with it. Explicit has a limited range vs Clean. But clean is more work because you have to edit out the cursing or get everyone really good at not cursing in the first place.

The GM should not be the one controlling the recording equipment. This took me a while to get. WOW does it make a big difference to the game as a whole to let someone else control the microphone
. Now I can focus on being a good gamemaster and not a sound tech.

Fun anymore Rule If you re making no money whatsoever. but you are having fun!!! Then keep going. The moment this becomes a job stop. Your listeners can tell.  

After working on the blog post on Skrup.I have decided that I needed to also create a blog post on all the other words we use in the podcast. In this list, I have included words that have been used but edited out of the show for one reason or another. 

 

Star-Fall Actual Play Podcast Glossary 

Skrup: See The Word Skrup

Warzodian: Someone from the Planet War-Zod. 

Zap-Nap: A stun pistol

Uber-Skrup-Nasty: Slag given to a heavy pistol that fires barbed needles. This weapon has been banned in all nations 

Star-Fall: The energy that is released from entering or exiting FTL . Also used as the Act of entering or exiting FTL 

Street Preacher: Church of the Illumination special units used to help convert citizens before an invasion. These preachers are dangerous not only because of their extensive training but the fact they are often true believers. This occasionally Backfires when the goals of the Church and the core beliefs of the church are at odds. 

Paladins: The Powered armoured troops used by the order of the Ancient Light. Their armour is far more advanced than anything the confederation has. 

Elome: Sentient Lizard species 

Fractal: A visual image used by G'Dar to expand their mind into a psychic Virtual reality  

Ko-Har-Din: The skill used by the G'dar for psychic abilities similar to how humans use martial arts.  Not religious in nature but often mistaken for one due to the amount of ritual and chanting. 

Roleplaying games in Katoomba 

You don't always have to be the GM. Avoid Burnout and learn something by letting someone else GM 

RPG Dice Katoomba

I'm making the drive from Emu Plains to Katoomba today to play my Bard in D&d5e. It's certainly worth the drive. It's nice to not be gamemastering Star-Fall all the time. I have some advice for people who are making an actual play podcast and that is to take some time to be part of the RPG world that has nothing to do with a project. My Friends Dungeons and Dragons game is the perfect time for me to just play. (And avoid the dreaded burnout) 

My good friend Aaron is running the D&d5e game with a theme of a nasty underworld. (As in crime not underground) I'm playing the chaotic good Bard. (Yah I know a stretch). What I love about this is that I get to sit back and actually not be in charge. I think that it's important to be a player now and then because I learn so much from watching other people GM. Aaron is rather good at plot lines and NPCs. He may not know this but I'm taking notes to improve my own game. 

Aaron has a way of keeping the plot very interesting beyond the stats. Oh, Sure we have stats but it's not what the game is about. Often the problems seem to be just outside of our reach to solve. He has injected a keen sense of dread 

Roleplay Heavy campaign!

If you have spent any time on my twitter feed you would know that I love a good adventure with lots of Roleplaying. Aarons game is perfect for me. We also have other players who really add to the roleplay. Being that I am playing a bard this suits me just fine. 

Our monk is more all about his religion and the moral path. (The opposite of my drinking wenching bard ) our characters are always arguing. 

Our Elvin mage is all kinds of mysterious. I just love this character. Because it's about what she doesn't say that makes us question about her intentions. The GM has allowed us to do a special attack where I throw a bottle of Alcohol and the mage ignites the bottle in mid air creating a makeshift fireball. Soo much fun. 

Ork Rouge is all kinds of Shaddy without being a walking excuse for "Backstab". I think what makes this character so dangerous is not the knives but his contacts. More than once we had an entire Thieves guild have our backs for a price (Ummm not wanting to pay that price but nobody asked the bard) 

Playing a Bard you get really good at roleplaying out of any situation.

If you are all about the stats or one of those players who can't wait for your next action never play a bard. But if you are looking for a Roleplaying challenge then to roll up your bard and don't look at your dice for the rest of the day. 

Let's face it my bard can't fight at all. He is great with the social interactions but anything with a sword I am so screwed. So my only real defence is to build a network of friendly NPCs that owe me. (I'm taking a crazy amount of notes on the NPCs so I can call on them later) 

The current joke of the group is I am always trying to find a way to solve every problem by throwing a party. So far two game nights this tactic has worked. The GM is on to me... let's see if I can keep this up. 

So that said I'm feeling refreshed and going to get back to editig Star-Fall 

 

 

Create little details in your game 

So a few days ago we recorded another episode of Star-Fall RPG Podcast. Part of the world building was that the players were not allowed to use their ship to arrive on the planet surface. Lucky for them there is a shuttle that departs from the space station every few hours. The joke around the table was that the player characters all had "K-run cards". and of course I felt the need to create cards as a joke. 

Posting this on the group forum. They loved it. 

K-Run Public Transit card for RPG Star-Fall Podcast

How can this help your RPG game?

Now I'm not saying that you need to make public transit cards for each of your players in your game. But there are little things like props that you can do to add a little more to a game session. During a game listen for moments where everyone is laughing about something that would be considered small. Something that would make a great detail. 

 

 

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