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<blockquote data-quote="Sleepy Walker" data-source="post: 7749724" data-attributes="member: 6924770"><p><strong>Sound effects/Sound tracks</strong>____In my experiences soundtracks can really enhance an session or battle, but a poorly chosen song at the wrong time can really bring people out of the experience. This means that there is a certain amount of overhead when dealing with sound tracks and the like. I've recently dipped into this while DMing my adventure and found that 50% of a good youtube soundtrack is not for me or my adventure. This means I have to spend hours culling the herd in Audacity on top of the hours I spend finding the songs in the first place.</p><p></p><p>Sound effects can be really nice, but finding the right ones takes a fair amount of time as well. Once a library is generated it can really add that surprise factor in an ambush or add in the creepy factor for a mysterious foe. I've found that certain effects have a lot more effect than others so crossbows firing, arrows hissing through the air, or a monster's inhuman growl can really set the mood.</p><p></p><p><strong>Physical Items/Props</strong>_______ Giving players physical items is an excellent way to bring something real to the adventure. I have experienced magical items being represented by individual note cards and I really enjoyed that. It also made trading, tracking, and recovering items from player corpses very simple.</p><p></p><p>I am currently going to experiment representing gems and small art pieces with painted acrylic clear gem-like bits. I've found that painting one side creates a luminous effect on the clear half (seeing the pigment through the transparent acrylic) which is perfect for emeralds, saphires, quartz, etc, and painting both sides is perfect for gems like Jade.... and other similar gemstones (haven't run into the other kinds yet). They are super easy to paint and the ones I found come in two sizes, so I just made my own value for each gem type based on the size. I figure if I have a base general price for exactly two sizes I can then easily identify them when they are traded in and can spend more time bartering on how they actually look instead of looking up what they are worth and having them be weightless coins vouchers. Added bonus is that they already look like diamonds, the most desired type of gemstone, just not cut into the traditional diamond shape.</p><p></p><p><strong>Drawing/Mapping</strong>: Setting one person to be the cartographer can really bring that person focus, especially if they have troubles focusing or is otherwise quiet. Sometimes the time it takes to describe the scene well enough to make a good drawing would be better spent just drawing it yourself.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Summary</p><p><strong>Sound tracks</strong>: Low return on investment, requires careful DM selection based on situation, draws DM resources both out and in game (time/timing).</p><p><strong>Sound Effect</strong>: Low return on investment but better than sound tracks, similar problems as sound tracks until library generated.</p><p></p><p><strong>Item cards</strong>: Decent return on investment, low DM cost, helps give important items a tangible presence</p><p><strong>Monetary props</strong>: Have yet to implement, expect issues with players losing gems but otherwise a very positive response. Should give an added dynamic to trading gems in or getting them appraised. Makes gems easier on the DM and not being forced to automatically tell the player what it is worth or make notes which may not be used for months of real time.</p><p></p><p><strong>Cartographer</strong>: Excellent for bringing focus or purpose to one player, side benefit of having something visible for the other players. Can be excessively time consuming for complex environments.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sleepy Walker, post: 7749724, member: 6924770"] [B]Sound effects/Sound tracks[/B]____In my experiences soundtracks can really enhance an session or battle, but a poorly chosen song at the wrong time can really bring people out of the experience. This means that there is a certain amount of overhead when dealing with sound tracks and the like. I've recently dipped into this while DMing my adventure and found that 50% of a good youtube soundtrack is not for me or my adventure. This means I have to spend hours culling the herd in Audacity on top of the hours I spend finding the songs in the first place. Sound effects can be really nice, but finding the right ones takes a fair amount of time as well. Once a library is generated it can really add that surprise factor in an ambush or add in the creepy factor for a mysterious foe. I've found that certain effects have a lot more effect than others so crossbows firing, arrows hissing through the air, or a monster's inhuman growl can really set the mood. [B]Physical Items/Props[/B]_______ Giving players physical items is an excellent way to bring something real to the adventure. I have experienced magical items being represented by individual note cards and I really enjoyed that. It also made trading, tracking, and recovering items from player corpses very simple. I am currently going to experiment representing gems and small art pieces with painted acrylic clear gem-like bits. I've found that painting one side creates a luminous effect on the clear half (seeing the pigment through the transparent acrylic) which is perfect for emeralds, saphires, quartz, etc, and painting both sides is perfect for gems like Jade.... and other similar gemstones (haven't run into the other kinds yet). They are super easy to paint and the ones I found come in two sizes, so I just made my own value for each gem type based on the size. I figure if I have a base general price for exactly two sizes I can then easily identify them when they are traded in and can spend more time bartering on how they actually look instead of looking up what they are worth and having them be weightless coins vouchers. Added bonus is that they already look like diamonds, the most desired type of gemstone, just not cut into the traditional diamond shape. [B]Drawing/Mapping[/B]: Setting one person to be the cartographer can really bring that person focus, especially if they have troubles focusing or is otherwise quiet. Sometimes the time it takes to describe the scene well enough to make a good drawing would be better spent just drawing it yourself. Summary [B]Sound tracks[/B]: Low return on investment, requires careful DM selection based on situation, draws DM resources both out and in game (time/timing). [B]Sound Effect[/B]: Low return on investment but better than sound tracks, similar problems as sound tracks until library generated. [B]Item cards[/B]: Decent return on investment, low DM cost, helps give important items a tangible presence [B]Monetary props[/B]: Have yet to implement, expect issues with players losing gems but otherwise a very positive response. Should give an added dynamic to trading gems in or getting them appraised. Makes gems easier on the DM and not being forced to automatically tell the player what it is worth or make notes which may not be used for months of real time. [B]Cartographer[/B]: Excellent for bringing focus or purpose to one player, side benefit of having something visible for the other players. Can be excessively time consuming for complex environments. [/QUOTE]
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