List all of the things a good D&D stream would need

Alright, folks.

You know more about this than I.

What does a good D&D stream need?

What equipment would you need?

I've always been interested in the idea of streaming a D&D campaign, so I would like some advice for -

1) Streaming real life campaign

2) Streaming internet campaign

Thanks in advance to anyone who has knowledge of this.

Good sound equipment is a base requirement--people hate and will tune out if they have a hard time hearing the players. There are a number of online resources that give advice on equipment. I find that the Dragon Talk podcasts' interviews with various RPG stream-show creaters to be interesting and worth checking out if you are looking into starting your own show. But good sound is, of course, not enough.

The field is getting crowded. One the one hand, this is good because it shows demand and there are different audiences for different styles of play.

I think the most important thing is to find a hook, something compelling that will keep people coming back and which will build a fan base. Critical Role has a compelling story, great voice acting, and yet follows the rules and is clearly D&D. Dragon Friends uses published adventure paths but has talented and funny improv comedians playing before a live audience. I think that if you are going to simply play published adventures, then you need to lean more heavily on the charisma of your players. If you have a compelling homebrew world and adventures, and a charismatic DM, that can carry a lot of slack from the players.

I'm writing this from the perspective of a fan of a number of streams. Some I've watched:

Acquisitions Incorporated (I only watch the PAX shows, first streamed RPG shows I enjoyed)

Critical Role (only the new show, I never wanted to make the commitment to catch up on the Vox Machina shows, also, four-hour live or video is too much, but now that I can follow by podcast, I listen to every episode)

Dragon Friends listened to the first two seasons.

Godsfall, one of the best-produced podcasts. Not really a streamed game. Lost of editing done. Makes it great to listen to.

Harmonquest, also not streamed, but a great mix of recorded live play with animation.

Girls, Guts, Glory. Love their original YouTube show. Have not watched since they've moved to D&D's Twitch channel.


Currently, D&D has a podcast where each episode is one popular live-stream group playing an aventure related to the MTOF book. Parallel to this, Dragon Talk is having the creators being interviewed. So the most recent episodes of Dragon Talk may be of interest to you.

I don’t think the field is crowded. I think there’s plenty of room for different shows produced as shows.

So the list contains:
1.) proper equipment to record and play the medium. If you’re doing an old timey radio style show, that’s fine - if you’re doing on-camera performances that’s cool too, but you’ll need players who are also performing and not just noses buried in character sheets and books. And you’ll need the stuff that captures the show the way you mean it to be captured.
2.) a cast of players/characters that don’t blend into one another. Or some sufficient/hard spotlighting.
3.) a storyline with an end in mind. An end. A terminus to the plot of that story line. If you want to continue, great, but then make sure any subsequent storylines also have an end in mind/sight.
4.) endcaps That frame what happened last time, queue up this time, and ask probing questions about what might happen next. Probably best if scripted.
5.) hard pacing & framing hand-in-hand with some smooth editing.
6.) a clear theme

TBcompletelyH, I don’t listen to or watch a lot of other people’s games. Usually, the players are the audience, so if I’m not playing then I’m also not the intended audience and that makes for a dull experience (for me). So if you do this, I advise you to keep in mind that the people in the show are performers and the game is more like a story or a dramatic enactment than it is an actual game. The audience won’t be participating. Completely different beast than running a game.

Good luck!!

If I were to run a stream, it would be a homebrew world.

I would probably run some elements based on fan feedback, to kind of give an interactive element to the community.
An example would be starting location, choose the next plot point from several, invent a BBEG, etc...

You have some good suggestions above, but I would ask: Why do you want to do this?

If you are looking for a large audience - you are going to have to really think about getting some people with some performance chops to be your players.

If it is a fun way to log your campaign and is for your amusement - just make sure your players share your enthusiasm.

Good luck!