So, I realize this is not a Running the Game video and for a lot of folks...watching 4 hours of other people playing D&D is not fun, and it's not why they come here. I 100% sympathize. But just as there are many people who prefer the more intimate, more crafted, Running the Game videos, there are also people who like to see it all put into action and I want to make those people happy to. Those of you for whom this is not your cup of tea, I ask only that you bear with us, new Running the Game soon. Maybe tomorrow!
I recently rewatched a few choice hours from your previously broadcast sessions specifically to see how you handle certain game situations that I'm facing as a relatively new DM. So this is a pretty lucky stroke for me as it combines entertainment with educational material just at the right time. (What I mean to say is: Mission achieved, I'm made happy. Cheers.)
Oh wow. Camera quality and audio quality have increased noticeably. The multiple angles for miniature action is also fantastic. This is fucking awesome Matt.
I would mess with people playing the flyingT-rex game... PC: "I summon pixies" DM: "You have pixies, they are laughing and cavorting." PC: "I tell the pixies to make us fly" DM: "you now look like flies"
I just wanted to tell you that I haven't played D&D since 1982. I have been so inspired watching you guys, I have started playing again and I have gotten my three daughters involved. Thank you for doing this!!
11:38 Start 38:50 Lord Saxon Is Coming Against You 45:27 Performing the 'ceremony' 58:00 Battles about to start, Where do you want to be? 1:41:00 Catapaults fire 2:09:30 "1v1 me bro" 3:40:00 Retreat, etc
Real people playing D&D :) This makes me believe that I can do it too. It's great to see voice actors do it, but seeing you and your friends play gives a more realistic picture. And when you've never played, like me, it's hard to imagine how it's going to be with one's friends. This helps mee, Matt Thanks
you guys are way too hard on yourselves. I think everything looks wonderful! very clear picture and sound. love the various camera angles. It might be helpful to include what the character class/lvl each person is playing under their names for those not familiar with the campaign
This is great, Matthew Colville. Production quality and game quality are top notch. Thank you so much for doing this for us. I know it wasn't easy to get set up, but we really appreciate it. And thanks to all the great players as well.
Hey Matt, I grinned like a damn fool when I saw this video pop up. I have to say I think the production quality is great, granted I'm just a person who watches a bunch of D&D streams but has no studio/video/audio experience just thought I'd give feedback. Improvement is extremely noticeable from last time. Audio is crisper, can hear everything everyone was saying on their turns, only muddle came when people were talking over each other but that can't be avoided I imagine. Potential improvements?: -Try remove that hum in the background (I presume it's a PC/Fridge/AC, not sure). Don't know if this is possible but it may help bring out even more clarity in the players voices -Maybe have a CR take on player names, join the two player cams and list their names below the cameras, in my opinion it makes it appear a bit more seamless and will probably give you more room for labels and such. I loved the way you showed character information on your previous streams (The Mul, Campaign Diary 09 for example) - Reduce the cycling on the bottom right camera, the view of the dice tray didn't need to be there in my opinion since half the dice rolls can't be seen because it's on a different camera, or because when it did catch a dice roll you can't always make out the number. I think the best thing would be to have a singular camera mounted above the tabletop so we can see everything that's happening at all times. Where people are moving and what not. Other than that I really can't notice a whole lot to be honest. The only streams I've noticed that look and sound "better" are Critical Role for example, but that is done in a Studio with more expensive gear (I presume) with a dedicated and knowledgeable crew on hand who set up and manage the stream. EVEN THEN I can't see or hear a HUGE difference. For the production you have in Place I think you've done a great job and I can only hope these become a more regular occurrence! :) Also your players are awesome. LOVE IT, keep up the great work
Actually I very much enjoy the "real D&D" experience. I love Critical Role, but those folks are professional voice actors, and they set a completely unrealistic expectation for D&D. You guys looked like you were having a blast, and we got to learn "on the job" with a great DM, while seeing how those concepts would apply to normal people in an ordinary game. Also "Lord Snaxton" had me DYING.
Yeah. This is reminiscent of how games with my first group went. We were a bit more theatrical with our characters, but the casual-ness of just gaming and having a good time with your friends existed there as it does here which is nice.
the guys of CR don't "set a completely unrealistic expectation".... they're just not akward in front of a camera. I'm sure every other neighbor out there would be as loose as the CR guys are in front of a camera, without cameras. the difference being, one game you're seeing, the other you're not.
Nighthawk While I love CR, it does set an unrealistic expectation if you think DnD is played like that. Most DMs aren't going to have distinct voices and act out unique mannerisms for every NPC, and most players aren't going to have a different voice for the character they play. There is much more theatricality in CR than in most DnD games because they are all actors. That doesn't mean all DnD games need that lvl of theatricality, but if you expect them all to have that, you have unrealistic expectations.
John Creekpaum most games are like critical role if the players are actually enjoying themselves. that's the core of the session to have fun. nothing is forced on CR and even on a lot of these shows and especially Matt's stuff here too. You shouldn't call something unrealistic just because you may have not obtained it yourself. many have and many will continue.
Matt O'Connor I think I may have been unclear. CR doesn't create unrealistic expectations, but people who assume their DM is going to have a unique voice for every NPC and their game will run from 1-17 with the same players and characters because that's what DnD is have unrealistic expectations. While some have that experience, they are few and far between because those attributes are not the core of the game. Having fun together is the core. Assuming every game is being run by a professional voice actor is an unrealistic expectation. Assuming you will have fun is realistic. Those assumprions and expectations aren't because of the CR crew, but because of the person watching it. You don't need a DM who can act out Victor the Black Powder Merchant in order to have fun, and if you think that's the norm of every DM you have an unrealistic expectation.
I don't think I have much to say for feedback, Matt. The stream quality has substantially improved since the former attempts, and the work that you guys (especially Jerry) put into it clearly shows. Excellent work everyone! Thanks for sharing your game with us as well. Hopefully I can drop into your streams whenever they occur.
I love both this style of video and the Running the Game series! I feel that this is demonstrating how you handle all the things you've set up in your Running the Game, whereas RtG is more helping to explain concepts and ideas as well as giving inspiration to DMs running new games or new DMs in general for when they create the campaign.
Honestly Matt, this is very well put together. What makes this work is the story, the characters and the players. Production-wise this is a if you build it they will come kind of thing. That being said, DnD is quite entertaining and there's certainly room to follow more than one story. The fan base will develop as people learn who the players are, who their characters are and what the story is. If things go well, nothing will warm your players up to the idea like free food from twitch chat. ;) The key thing for them is to try and ignore the cameras and have them be themselves which they seemed to warm up to over time. Just tweak the graphics format as you go, it looks like you've already got a lot of the technical stuff working which is awesome. You will have a much bigger audience next time if you are clear with your channel when you'll be having these and keep it consistent. You will be flooded with viewers if the other Matt (who we know you know) gives any sort of referral to your game, so beware / be ready for that. Cheers!
Hey Matt, thanks for posting this video. I've been DMing for about 4 years, only discovered your Running the Game series about a month ago, and it's been both fun and useful (especially love your "Why we play DnD" episode). Today's episode was great, keep up the inspiring work!
Just wanted to say thanks for uploading to UA-cam! Started watching the stream last night, but wasn't able to stick around. I personally enjoy every video you upload, even the ones that are 4+ hours long of content. I generally find an activity like planning a Dungeons and Dragons adventure or making custom terrain pieces as I listen to your story unfold. Always entertained, and very appreciative of the hard work and determination you possess for your videos. Thank you!
I do love seeing you in action Matt. Not only is it entertaining to experience your style of DMing, but it is very informative and is great to see you enact the things you are teaching us.
I think the quality of the stream is great. It's really nice to actually SEE how you run your game, and this was a nice preview of your mass combat rules, which I'm looking forward to. I would say that watching the stream I didn't get a great view or idea of the action on the board, but I think that can be fixed with the right camera angles. Also, you might want to fix the microphone situation, since whenever multiple people are talking, you can hear all of them on stream, and it's hard to make out what's being said. Other than that I think it's great and look forward to more of these.
Matt Colville this is the best representation of an actual game. If the players are game, and they continue to play the game without looking/playing to the camera. Then please use this format when you start your new game. The comments about the players character names /race/class should be considered.
Truly, my only critique would be the microphones picking up everything outside of the voices. While they may not pick up the other players'/DM's voices, it does greatly amplify bags of chips being opened, and other background noises. I am no expert on how to fix this, but it's my only issue, really. The camera quality is greatly improved, and the audio has also improved overall. I, like many of your followers, would enjoy your continual streaming as I(we) hold you in high regard when it comes to DM'ing and storytelling. I would love to see more of these in the future. I'd also like to add that you (or anyone else for that matter) do not need to compare yourselves to other streams that already exist. We will follow and watch your videos and streams because we enjoy it.
MOAR OF THIS PLEASE!!! Quality is amazing, and your castle setup is memorizing. Also Matt, don't worry so much, your fans are grateful for ANY content you put out!!
Hello Matthew! Thanks for the awesome videos you put up! I was sad when campaign diaries stopped. I really enjoy watching both you and your players interact in D&D. The Stream looked great and I thought it was great having multiple angles for the table. Also, I think your players are great! It is cool to see how they interact and overcome the challenges before them. You are a master storyteller and your descriptions are great. Edit: From a production point of view, the only way I see to improve is to have active camera control where you switch to where the action is happening. When rolls are made you switch to the rolling tray and once seen, switch back to the top of the keep. Again, it still looked great, but that is maybe one way to improve.
I know I'm four months late to watching this, but I love watching you and your friends play D&D. Thank you Matt (and Jerry! He needs to be an NPC!) for getting this whole rig running and thank you to all seven of your friends for bringing this cool story to life!
i love watching you guys play. it gives a real insight into how games actually flow and who the characters are. that being said, i also love the 30 min summaries, theyre really engaging, offer us behind the screens insight and a feel for the campaign overall.
please please please do this more often I've enjoyed it immensely and would love to see and get ideas and inspiration from how you play.. it's one thing to talk about it it's another to see how you play from your mannerism to your body language as you dm.. little things like that thay really can't be expressed in a sit down conversation plus I love going along for the ride and I hope your friends would like to do it more often as its helped me far more then even I may realize
I dig the occasional game play video, like this one. You have a wealth of information to share, and these allow you to do so in a different, and unique way. Thanks for doing what you do!
I am cautious about over-subscription, and thus try to stay subscribed to only as many channels as I can actually keep on top of the content from. For this reason, my subscriptions are a rare currency indeed, won only through acts of supreme awesome. With this video, you, sir, have earned one.
I enjoy watching this not so much for the story (although I did become somewhat intimate with everyone's characters), but instead for watching you DM. I think it is very important that I expose myself to all kinds of other DMs to see what they do differently so I really appreciate this video!
This session really begins at the 23:20 mark. It seemed to take that long for you guys to get comfy with the stream and get back in the zone. I haven't watched any campaign diaries before, but being a big fan of Running the Game I figured I'd give it a go! I ended up skipping most of the first 20 minutes, and 23:20 is a very solid in-medias-res place for the story to start. Anyway, great work! Your crew is great, and very generous allowing themselves to be put on the Internet. You should be most proud!
the quality of the cameras and the audio is 200% better, really like the set piece wish i played in person and not over the net, i think it works better if you ignore the cameras and dont really notice it, my only complaint about Crit Roll is that there is too much camera posing. i enjoy watching dnd being played because the way the players react and the way situations play out, hope you keep it going and that it isn't to much of a inconvenience to your players. Great job keep up the good work.
I really enjoyed that! Stream looks great, the several boxes are nice and appear very professional. The one thing, if it's an easy change, is if the rotating cameras could focus on the action a little more - rather than changing to another camera that doesn't have much action going on. I like what you pulled off. You ran a cool game, Matt. I especially liked the opening scene with Lord Kenway and the closing scene with [redacted in case people are avoiding spoilers]. Your players are really clever and their characters are endearing. Larz, Anna, Thomas, EJ, Gertz, and Phil I'm really grateful you shared your game with this community.
A lot of thought and effort clearly went into this. Camera angles, sound quality...great job! I'm interested in seeing more after hearing so much about this campaign
God i love these types of videos. I just started dm'ing a week ago and these videos gave me the confidence to actually start doing it. seeing how you deal with the rules and players really helped me.
Legit stream, man. Quality wise second to crit role only, and they have 100 episodes under their belts (of dwarven kind). Looks great, sounds great, camera views are great (I find I worry less about seeing whats going on but I like the imagery) Without a camera crew adjusting angles etc, this is what is possible and it's pretty damn epic. I care less about seeing the little details and look at the big picture and perhaps I'm an odd one. But I like it. I find it extremely useful as a new DM watching how all your thoughts and schemes and plans play out in a game. Even getting HANGRY or having time constraints, getting sidetracked, multiple conversations. Seemed real, and good to see you at work. Loved the cameo in the Battle Royal on Thursday ;) Thanks for all these vids. Best.
Hey Matt, I'm really excited about this video and hopefully a continuous series. I've been watching your videos and they have been extremely helpful with my own D&D games. Thanks for that! Regarding the audio, I would recommend a high pass filter around 100-150 hertz. I can hear a low rumble which I think is coming from an air conditioning or a fan. The filter will also help with the "pops" from your lavalier mics from p's and b's sounds and from heavy breathing. If your sound board doesn't have a HPF you can try to attenuate the bass on the main eq or individual channels. But not too much otherwise vocals will become too thin. You can also use a compressor to help out with audio clipping when the table gets loud from laughter. You can do this per channel or if you can use a bus channel. I would set the ratio high, maybe 10:1 or higher with a quick attack and medium/long release. I did hear the cell phone ring. With 7 mics, and I think a table, they pick up everything. The music in the background is at the correct level. It's subtle enough were its not overpowering the mix. Nice levels all around. Kudos to your sound engineer! Anyways, that's my take with the audio. I'm looking forward to the next game!
This is great worth all the effort you put in! Suggestions: 1. The camera in the bottom right view change changes a bit too often for my taste. I find myself focusing on that and being distracted away from the people talking. 2. Character names / classes under each person (Note: only a few mins in)
I have to say seeing your GM style and the way you "off the cuff" so many things makes me feel so much better about my own GM style. Great video as always. Keep on keeping on!
im still enjoying whatever format you put out, still impressed by people who can DM while i cant even roleplay a proper character without it slowly turning into me :x
Matt, I'm really enjoying the stream. I run it in the background as I peruse my D&D manuals. It really gets me in the mood. You're a great person, thanks for enriching my life.
So sad that I missed this stream! I love watching you guys play, the 'not produced' part and authenticity of normal people playing a normal game is awesome! Gets me amped to start DMing again soon! Keep the videos coming!
Love it, Matthew. Hearing you swear is a wonderful fucking thing. It gives you more humanity than your "Podcast Voice" could ever give you. Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your campaign. I hope to see more of this in the future.
I was beyond thrilled when I saw you streamed a full game session. Love all the advice vids and this beyond cements and validates it all being able to see it applied and used! Love love love that there is three stationary cameras and the constantly switching ‘battlefield’ cam is a genius touch. Something for all mindsets. Only criticisms are: 1. the windows can easily be ALOT bigger... and all the dead/wasted space is a bit much and detracts from the overall immersion. 2. The character name is just as important than the players (if not even more so once people join and learn the campaign and world). So looking forward to having this to watch on a regular basis and seeing how the stream AND campaign progress. I don’t usually comment but again I was thrilled to see you do a live game session and have recently been experimenting with streaming/YouTubing board games etc so if in any way i could help by offering my opinion after all the awesome advice you’ve given I’m happy to.
This was awesome, but I feel I have to tell you a funny story related to watching this video: I work as a night auditor in a hotel. I basically get paid to watch youtube videos and work on D&D stuff. I was watching this video and Matt started whistling along to the music he's running in the background. A couple of dogs staying in the hotel on the first floor just off the lobby started going NUTS at like 3 am. I lol'd. Good stuff, Matt
I love this video! The cameras work really well and it's awesome seeing the players you've talked so much about in your campaign diaries! The only thing I can think of is maybe having links to bios of the players and putting their characters names underneath their names. Keep up the amazing content! :)
Wow, I love the new characters! OMG! Gertz, THANK you for making a Green order character, so pumped to see Matt's novels come to life. Oh and the drinking game, take a drink everytime they make a pop culture reference is ALREADY at 2 drinks, and it's only 20 minutes in. . .
Saw you go live last night, RIGHT as I was headed to bed for early work tomorrow; prayed that it would be uploaded to youtube, and was not disappointed! Holy Crap, Kenway! And then Lady Sariel's decision at the very end there. You, good sir, are an inspiration to many *hat tip*
This is so awesome! Seriously good work! While watching this I couldn't help but feel like this partnered with a production crew (like HyperRPG) would spawn into something huge.
This is a great primer for folks who have never seen how a real game works. Four and a half hours is a bit much, but I can skip forward ;) Good stuff, and keep it up.
Thanks for doing this Matt! The effort of going through with recording, and dealing with all the technical hangups is appreciated. Any content is always a treat. Cheers!
I really preferred the campaign diaries to streams... listening to you summarize what happened in an hour was doable, but I can't keep up with these streams *and* Critical Role and run my games. But, I'm happy for you and for the people who do like the streams. congratulations on managing a working setup.
So happy to wake up to this. I absolutely love the multiple camera angles for the battle map. The camera quality is spot on as well. I'll have more feedback in exactly 4 hours 23 minutes and 41 seconds.
Echoing many of the comments, this was very well done. The biggest thing I would hope to see changed is the bottom right camera. Instead of having it switch at timed intervals, have it off until something is happening down there, then pick 2 angles and swap them at longer intervals. The changing camera while nothing was happening on it was distracting as I kept looking back assuming something was happening on that camera.
Hey man... love all your videos! I am very new to D&D as a whole, but I refer to your videos quite a bit for better breakdowns and understandings of systems inside the game. Though most of it is definitely geared towards GMs, I still learn a lot with each video. Thanks for all the time and effort you put into your channel for noobs like myself!
This was a great session, among my favorite of any streamed/recorded D&Ding I've watched. The set-up is impressive, and definitely worth you/Jerry's investment. The actual play and personalities at the table was also a blast. Look forward to more.
All the camera's on the players look amazing. The set on the table looks amazing. The only thing I can think of of a first impression is that there is a slight slant to everything.
I love your live streams! I do enjoy the campaign diaries but watching you and your friends play is super cool. The streaming has gotten better. Please keep it up and have fun with it!
Its fantastic to see you guys trying this again, i hope it works this time and you get it to not get in the way of you guys enjoyment. Super looking forward to hopefully seeing more of these in the future.
immensely enjoyed this... actually watching D&D is FUN... its the next best thing to being there playing. I dig the studio. I would definitely evaluate the volume of the players, some are loud at times, and others are soft at others... its just not entirely consistent. Lighting is good enough. You have done great things here! I look forward to more!
It seems like a successful test run! Sound quality was good (though picked up on a lot of rustling and such), visibility was good. Having the camera able to be placed on the play area was great. If I had any wishes it would be that there was the ability for you to switch feed layouts so that if you're pointing things out in the play area that you could push the camera feed of that to be full screen temporarily. Being able to switch from showing everyone + the play area, to showing just the play area but with greater clarity would be great!
That is quite the battlemap! Bravo sir! I'm basically pulling out the pencil and drawing on the map or using boardgame pieces if I want to be super clear on battlefield positions. :P
Stream feedback: Sound quality was good, the lav mics do their job well. There was a some cross talk from players not in the spotlight, but I think this is common to both streams and home games. I'm not sure if there's a solution but it was mentioned in game so I mention it now. Video quality was great for seeing the people and the map, but I had a hard time picking out which minis were which when they got clustered together. Also, I couldn't read the dice on the dice cam. *** SPOILERS *** The moment at 45:39 was amazing, thank you for that Matt!
The sound is excellent and the different angles are dynamic. My only suggestions are about the visual presentation/setup: show the character names below the players' names (maybe even race/class but clutter is a concern), try adjusting the camera angles slightly so that the cameras themselves are not visible, the black bookcase behind EJ/Gertz/Phil looks "off" and it doesn't help that they are all wearing dark clothes (another japanese-screen-thing behind them would fix it).
hey Matt, always watch your "running the game/campaign diaries" and enjoying the opening to this stream so far. One suggestion: add the player's character names next to their own names
I came for the new DM tips, but I stay to see how that mane is going. What beautiful hair and beard you have Matt. I'm also looking forward to the next 4 hours to see all of your helpful advice in action.
Good job Matt and crew. This is WAY more watchable then your previous live plays. I really enjoy listening to you talk in your videos but i think its a good thing you do not speak to the camera as much during this live stream.
Thanks for letting us peek in on your game, the effort of everyone involved and of course the players! No complaints here as far as the quality of the stream.
i dig the FM 84 shirt. my DM used to have Atlas playing softly on loop when we played. some people prefer atmospheric music while they play D&D but i quickly grew to enjoy hearing that album.
My only criticism is maybe a bit more of an introduction would have been nice. The last I heard about the campaign was that they were headed to the under dark. A more concise and forward recap of what was going on would have made it easier to follow at least for me. The quality and everything else though was spot on and I loved it. Tell your friends thank you and I hope to see more in the future. Once I figure out this Twitter and Twitch thing I'll be in good shape
I love the dwarven forge set up audio wise I recommend having at least on one side having something that can absorb the minor buzz on the back half of the players audio. love watching
Big thumbs up! But then, I've seen all the campaign diaries. if I hadnt seen those, I'd be totally lost. Huge technical improvement over your last (original) campaign vids. I listen in the morning while I'm walking the dog, blending smoothies, showering, etc, so clear audio is more essential to me since ive got to deal with ambient sounds. TMI?
![SKYBLIVION Live Development Stream[LIKING THE STREAM IS APPRECIATED]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jkHn9i4MTk0/mqdefault.jpg)
"I'm not going to call this a show, because shows are produced." Also say hi to "... Jerry, my producer".
Had a chuckle at this as well.
Sounded funny but isn't Jerry his producer at the game studio? Not specifically about the stream.
i guess it is kinda off topic but do anybody know a good website to watch newly released movies online?
So, I realize this is not a Running the Game video and for a lot of folks...watching 4 hours of other people playing D&D is not fun, and it's not why they come here. I 100% sympathize. But just as there are many people who prefer the more intimate, more crafted, Running the Game videos, there are also people who like to see it all put into action and I want to make those people happy to.
Those of you for whom this is not your cup of tea, I ask only that you bear with us, new Running the Game soon. Maybe tomorrow!
Thanks for giving Tarry a blessing Col'ville
I recently rewatched a few choice hours from your previously broadcast sessions specifically to see how you handle certain game situations that I'm facing as a relatively new DM. So this is a pretty lucky stroke for me as it combines entertainment with educational material just at the right time. (What I mean to say is: Mission achieved, I'm made happy. Cheers.)
Congratulations on getting this hell of a setup done!
I like both those things, I'm having a wonderful time.
I really enjoyed watching the previous streaming sessions. Happy to watch another game!
Oh wow.
Camera quality and audio quality have increased noticeably. The multiple angles for miniature action is also fantastic. This is fucking awesome Matt.
'I can't turn into a dinosaur when I've got to heal people.' - The Druid's Lament
I would mess with people playing the flyingT-rex game...
PC: "I summon pixies"
DM: "You have pixies, they are laughing and cavorting."
PC: "I tell the pixies to make us fly"
DM: "you now look like flies"
I just wanted to tell you that I haven't played D&D since 1982. I have been so inspired watching you guys, I have started playing again and I have gotten my three daughters involved. Thank you for doing this!!
"I crit"
"It does nothing"
That's rough.
11:38 Start
38:50 Lord Saxon Is Coming Against You
45:27 Performing the 'ceremony'
58:00 Battles about to start, Where do you want to be?
1:41:00 Catapaults fire
2:09:30 "1v1 me bro"
3:40:00 Retreat, etc
This was very useful! I will also add though, the start of the Hand of Vecna discussion sorta starts at 3:31:38
Thank you Matt Lars Anna Thomas EJ Gertz and Phil for sharing your game with us!
It was my pleasure; thank you for joining us! :)
just pointing out, I can hear all the conversations with no problem... though your velvety smooth voice does distract me from the others :P
Real people playing D&D :)
This makes me believe that I can do it too.
It's great to see voice actors do it, but seeing you and your friends play gives a more realistic picture.
And when you've never played, like me, it's hard to imagine how it's going to be with one's friends.
This helps mee, Matt
Thanks
you guys are way too hard on yourselves. I think everything looks wonderful! very clear picture and sound. love the various camera angles. It might be helpful to include what the character class/lvl each person is playing under their names for those not familiar with the campaign
I showed up to the stream late, and whenever I would asked what happened to Edmund people would say "He died for his people". Now I get the joke XD
It was not a joke! He did! Especially for the new Baron...
This is great, Matthew Colville. Production quality and game quality are top notch. Thank you so much for doing this for us. I know it wasn't easy to get set up, but we really appreciate it. And thanks to all the great players as well.
Hey Matt, I grinned like a damn fool when I saw this video pop up. I have to say I think the production quality is great, granted I'm just a person who watches a bunch of D&D streams but has no studio/video/audio experience just thought I'd give feedback. Improvement is extremely noticeable from last time. Audio is crisper, can hear everything everyone was saying on their turns, only muddle came when people were talking over each other but that can't be avoided I imagine.
Potential improvements?:
-Try remove that hum in the background (I presume it's a PC/Fridge/AC, not sure). Don't know if this is possible but it may help bring out even more clarity in the players voices
-Maybe have a CR take on player names, join the two player cams and list their names below the cameras, in my opinion it makes it appear a bit more seamless and will probably give you more room for labels and such.
I loved the way you showed character information on your previous streams (The Mul, Campaign Diary 09 for example)
- Reduce the cycling on the bottom right camera, the view of the dice tray didn't need to be there in my opinion since half the dice rolls can't be seen because it's on a different camera, or because when it did catch a dice roll you can't always make out the number.
I think the best thing would be to have a singular camera mounted above the tabletop so we can see everything that's happening at all times. Where people are moving and what not.
Other than that I really can't notice a whole lot to be honest. The only streams I've noticed that look and sound "better" are Critical Role for example, but that is done in a Studio with more expensive gear (I presume) with a dedicated and knowledgeable crew on hand who set up and manage the stream. EVEN THEN I can't see or hear a HUGE difference.
For the production you have in Place I think you've done a great job and I can only hope these become a more regular occurrence! :)
Also your players are awesome.
LOVE IT, keep up the great work
Actually I very much enjoy the "real D&D" experience. I love Critical Role, but those folks are professional voice actors, and they set a completely unrealistic expectation for D&D. You guys looked like you were having a blast, and we got to learn "on the job" with a great DM, while seeing how those concepts would apply to normal people in an ordinary game.
Also "Lord Snaxton" had me DYING.
Yeah. This is reminiscent of how games with my first group went.
We were a bit more theatrical with our characters, but the casual-ness of just gaming and having a good time with your friends existed there as it does here which is nice.
the guys of CR don't "set a completely unrealistic expectation".... they're just not akward in front of a camera.
I'm sure every other neighbor out there would be as loose as the CR guys are in front of a camera, without cameras.
the difference being, one game you're seeing, the other you're not.
Nighthawk While I love CR, it does set an unrealistic expectation if you think DnD is played like that. Most DMs aren't going to have distinct voices and act out unique mannerisms for every NPC, and most players aren't going to have a different voice for the character they play. There is much more theatricality in CR than in most DnD games because they are all actors. That doesn't mean all DnD games need that lvl of theatricality, but if you expect them all to have that, you have unrealistic expectations.
John Creekpaum most games are like critical role if the players are actually enjoying themselves. that's the core of the session to have fun. nothing is forced on CR and even on a lot of these shows and especially Matt's stuff here too.
You shouldn't call something unrealistic just because you may have not obtained it yourself. many have and many will continue.
Matt O'Connor I think I may have been unclear. CR doesn't create unrealistic expectations, but people who assume their DM is going to have a unique voice for every NPC and their game will run from 1-17 with the same players and characters because that's what DnD is have unrealistic expectations. While some have that experience, they are few and far between because those attributes are not the core of the game. Having fun together is the core. Assuming every game is being run by a professional voice actor is an unrealistic expectation. Assuming you will have fun is realistic. Those assumprions and expectations aren't because of the CR crew, but because of the person watching it. You don't need a DM who can act out Victor the Black Powder Merchant in order to have fun, and if you think that's the norm of every DM you have an unrealistic expectation.
Love the "LARP'ING Plato's cave allegory" quote.
Can u put the character names under the player names
same as I was gonna say :)
Even just as annotations would work.
Was just going to comment this
annotations aren't a thing anymore IIRC.
Yes, please add character name, race, and class. This would be enormously useful for keeping track of who's who.
they sold the kid out....there will be blood
I don't think I have much to say for feedback, Matt. The stream quality has substantially improved since the former attempts, and the work that you guys (especially Jerry) put into it clearly shows. Excellent work everyone! Thanks for sharing your game with us as well. Hopefully I can drop into your streams whenever they occur.
Love the stream quality, love the minis, love seeing this epic battle in action. Thanks for posting this Matt!
Dungeon Dad is here too? It's a regular D&D bonanza!
I love both this style of video and the Running the Game series! I feel that this is demonstrating how you handle all the things you've set up in your Running the Game, whereas RtG is more helping to explain concepts and ideas as well as giving inspiration to DMs running new games or new DMs in general for when they create the campaign.
The audio and video quality are pretty good. Vastly better in fact than a lot of other "home sessions" found on UA-cam. I enjoyed this!
Honestly Matt, this is very well put together. What makes this work is the story, the characters and the players. Production-wise this is a if you build it they will come kind of thing. That being said, DnD is quite entertaining and there's certainly room to follow more than one story. The fan base will develop as people learn who the players are, who their characters are and what the story is. If things go well, nothing will warm your players up to the idea like free food from twitch chat. ;) The key thing for them is to try and ignore the cameras and have them be themselves which they seemed to warm up to over time. Just tweak the graphics format as you go, it looks like you've already got a lot of the technical stuff working which is awesome.
You will have a much bigger audience next time if you are clear with your channel when you'll be having these and keep it consistent. You will be flooded with viewers if the other Matt (who we know you know) gives any sort of referral to your game, so beware / be ready for that. Cheers!
Hey Matt, thanks for posting this video. I've been DMing for about 4 years, only discovered your Running the Game series about a month ago, and it's been both fun and useful (especially love your "Why we play DnD" episode). Today's episode was great, keep up the inspiring work!
Just wanted to say thanks for uploading to UA-cam! Started watching the stream last night, but wasn't able to stick around. I personally enjoy every video you upload, even the ones that are 4+ hours long of content. I generally find an activity like planning a Dungeons and Dragons adventure or making custom terrain pieces as I listen to your story unfold. Always entertained, and very appreciative of the hard work and determination you possess for your videos. Thank you!
I do love seeing you in action Matt. Not only is it entertaining to experience your style of DMing, but it is very informative and is great to see you enact the things you are teaching us.
Great, love seeing you GM in action. Glad they were willing to be back on camera again to share more of their story.
I think the quality of the stream is great. It's really nice to actually SEE how you run your game, and this was a nice preview of your mass combat rules, which I'm looking forward to. I would say that watching the stream I didn't get a great view or idea of the action on the board, but I think that can be fixed with the right camera angles. Also, you might want to fix the microphone situation, since whenever multiple people are talking, you can hear all of them on stream, and it's hard to make out what's being said. Other than that I think it's great and look forward to more of these.
Matt Colville this is the best representation of an actual game. If the players are game, and they continue to play the game without looking/playing to the camera. Then please use this format when you start your new game.
The comments about the players character names /race/class should be considered.
Way to 'drop the pants' on your table game, Senor Colville.. love it when you whistle along (like..ahem..any time...)
Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass your username :D
Miss that name. :(
Runehammer x s dssf yr Ed WERe sesedss eyE e sdsd seeddscdadee cd teeteR the rcv freedxdxffx xszxx
Truly, my only critique would be the microphones picking up everything outside of the voices. While they may not pick up the other players'/DM's voices, it does greatly amplify bags of chips being opened, and other background noises. I am no expert on how to fix this, but it's my only issue, really.
The camera quality is greatly improved, and the audio has also improved overall. I, like many of your followers, would enjoy your continual streaming as I(we) hold you in high regard when it comes to DM'ing and storytelling. I would love to see more of these in the future.
I'd also like to add that you (or anyone else for that matter) do not need to compare yourselves to other streams that already exist. We will follow and watch your videos and streams because we enjoy it.
MOAR OF THIS PLEASE!!! Quality is amazing, and your castle setup is memorizing.
Also Matt, don't worry so much, your fans are grateful for ANY content you put out!!
Hello Matthew! Thanks for the awesome videos you put up! I was sad when campaign diaries stopped. I really enjoy watching both you and your players interact in D&D. The Stream looked great and I thought it was great having multiple angles for the table.
Also, I think your players are great! It is cool to see how they interact and overcome the challenges before them. You are a master storyteller and your descriptions are great.
Edit: From a production point of view, the only way I see to improve is to have active camera control where you switch to where the action is happening. When rolls are made you switch to the rolling tray and once seen, switch back to the top of the keep. Again, it still looked great, but that is maybe one way to improve.
I know I'm four months late to watching this, but I love watching you and your friends play D&D. Thank you Matt (and Jerry! He needs to be an NPC!) for getting this whole rig running and thank you to all seven of your friends for bringing this cool story to life!
i love watching you guys play. it gives a real insight into how games actually flow and who the characters are. that being said, i also love the 30 min summaries, theyre really engaging, offer us behind the screens insight and a feel for the campaign overall.
please please please do this more often I've enjoyed it immensely and would love to see and get ideas and inspiration from how you play.. it's one thing to talk about it it's another to see how you play from your mannerism to your body language as you dm.. little things like that thay really can't be expressed in a sit down conversation plus I love going along for the ride and I hope your friends would like to do it more often as its helped me far more then even I may realize
I dig the occasional game play video, like this one. You have a wealth of information to share, and these allow you to do so in a different, and unique way. Thanks for doing what you do!
I am cautious about over-subscription, and thus try to stay subscribed to only as many channels as I can actually keep on top of the content from. For this reason, my subscriptions are a rare currency indeed, won only through acts of supreme awesome. With this video, you, sir, have earned one.
I enjoy watching this not so much for the story (although I did become somewhat intimate with everyone's characters), but instead for watching you DM. I think it is very important that I expose myself to all kinds of other DMs to see what they do differently so I really appreciate this video!
This session really begins at the 23:20 mark. It seemed to take that long for you guys to get comfy with the stream and get back in the zone. I haven't watched any campaign diaries before, but being a big fan of Running the Game I figured I'd give it a go! I ended up skipping most of the first 20 minutes, and 23:20 is a very solid in-medias-res place for the story to start.
Anyway, great work! Your crew is great, and very generous allowing themselves to be put on the Internet. You should be most proud!
I think as we go we'll get better at starting when we start.
the quality of the cameras and the audio is 200% better,
really like the set piece wish i played in person and not over the net, i think
it works better if you ignore the cameras and dont really notice it, my only
complaint about Crit Roll is that there is too much camera posing.
i enjoy watching dnd being played because the way the
players react and the way situations play out, hope you keep it going and that
it isn't to much of a inconvenience to your players.
Great job keep up the good work.
I really enjoyed that!
Stream looks great, the several boxes are nice and appear very professional. The one thing, if it's an easy change, is if the rotating cameras could focus on the action a little more - rather than changing to another camera that doesn't have much action going on. I like what you pulled off.
You ran a cool game, Matt. I especially liked the opening scene with Lord Kenway and the closing scene with [redacted in case people are avoiding spoilers]. Your players are really clever and their characters are endearing.
Larz, Anna, Thomas, EJ, Gertz, and Phil I'm really grateful you shared your game with this community.
A lot of thought and effort clearly went into this. Camera angles, sound quality...great job! I'm interested in seeing more after hearing so much about this campaign
God i love these types of videos. I just started dm'ing a week ago and these videos gave me the confidence to actually start doing it. seeing how you deal with the rules and players really helped me.
Legit stream, man. Quality wise second to crit role only, and they have 100 episodes under their belts (of dwarven kind). Looks great, sounds great, camera views are great (I find I worry less about seeing whats going on but I like the imagery) Without a camera crew adjusting angles etc, this is what is possible and it's pretty damn epic. I care less about seeing the little details and look at the big picture and perhaps I'm an odd one. But I like it. I find it extremely useful as a new DM watching how all your thoughts and schemes and plans play out in a game. Even getting HANGRY or having time constraints, getting sidetracked, multiple conversations. Seemed real, and good to see you at work. Loved the cameo in the Battle Royal on Thursday ;) Thanks for all these vids. Best.
Hey Matt, I'm really excited about this video and hopefully a continuous series. I've been watching your videos and they have been extremely helpful with my own D&D games. Thanks for that!
Regarding the audio, I would recommend a high pass filter around 100-150 hertz. I can hear a low rumble which I think is coming from an air conditioning or a fan. The filter will also help with the "pops" from your lavalier mics from p's and b's sounds and from heavy breathing. If your sound board doesn't have a HPF you can try to attenuate the bass on the main eq or individual channels. But not too much otherwise vocals will become too thin.
You can also use a compressor to help out with audio clipping when the table gets loud from laughter. You can do this per channel or if you can use a bus channel. I would set the ratio high, maybe 10:1 or higher with a quick attack and medium/long release.
I did hear the cell phone ring. With 7 mics, and I think a table, they pick up everything. The music in the background is at the correct level. It's subtle enough were its not overpowering the mix.
Nice levels all around. Kudos to your sound engineer!
Anyways, that's my take with the audio. I'm looking forward to the next game!
This is great worth all the effort you put in! Suggestions:
1. The camera in the bottom right view change changes a bit too often for my taste. I find myself focusing on that and being distracted away from the people talking.
2. Character names / classes under each person
(Note: only a few mins in)
I have to say seeing your GM style and the way you "off the cuff" so many things makes me feel so much better about my own GM style. Great video as always. Keep on keeping on!
im still enjoying whatever format you put out, still impressed by people who can DM while i cant even roleplay a proper character without it slowly turning into me :x
Matt, I'm really enjoying the stream. I run it in the background as I peruse my D&D manuals. It really gets me in the mood. You're a great person, thanks for enriching my life.
So sad that I missed this stream! I love watching you guys play, the 'not produced' part and authenticity of normal people playing a normal game is awesome! Gets me amped to start DMing again soon! Keep the videos coming!
Love it, Matthew.
Hearing you swear is a wonderful fucking thing.
It gives you more humanity than your "Podcast Voice" could ever give you.
Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your campaign. I hope to see more of this in the future.
I was beyond thrilled when I saw you streamed a full game session. Love all the advice vids and this beyond cements and validates it all being able to see it applied and used!
Love love love that there is three stationary cameras and the constantly switching ‘battlefield’ cam is a genius touch. Something for all mindsets.
Only criticisms are:
1. the windows can easily be ALOT bigger... and all the dead/wasted space is a bit much and detracts from the overall immersion.
2. The character name is just as important than the players (if not even more so once people join and learn the campaign and world).
So looking forward to having this to watch on a regular basis and seeing how the stream AND campaign progress.
I don’t usually comment but again I was thrilled to see you do a live game session and have recently been experimenting with streaming/YouTubing board games etc so if in any way i could help by offering my opinion after all the awesome advice you’ve given I’m happy to.
Took the time to watch all 4 and a half hours....regretted not a minute of it, great effort Matthew
This was awesome, but I feel I have to tell you a funny story related to watching this video: I work as a night auditor in a hotel. I basically get paid to watch youtube videos and work on D&D stuff. I was watching this video and Matt started whistling along to the music he's running in the background. A couple of dogs staying in the hotel on the first floor just off the lobby started going NUTS at like 3 am. I lol'd.
Good stuff, Matt
I love this video!
The cameras work really well and it's awesome seeing the players you've talked so much about in your campaign diaries!
The only thing I can think of is maybe having links to bios of the players and putting their characters names underneath their names.
Keep up the amazing content!
:)
Wow, I love the new characters! OMG! Gertz, THANK you for making a Green order character, so pumped to see Matt's novels come to life.
Oh and the drinking game, take a drink everytime they make a pop culture reference is ALREADY at 2 drinks, and it's only 20 minutes in. . .
Saw you go live last night, RIGHT as I was headed to bed for early work tomorrow; prayed that it would be uploaded to youtube, and was not disappointed! Holy Crap, Kenway! And then Lady Sariel's decision at the very end there. You, good sir, are an inspiration to many *hat tip*
This is so awesome! Seriously good work! While watching this I couldn't help but feel like this partnered with a production crew (like HyperRPG) would spawn into something huge.
This is a great primer for folks who have never seen how a real game works. Four and a half hours is a bit much, but I can skip forward ;) Good stuff, and keep it up.
Thanks for doing this Matt! The effort of going through with recording, and dealing with all the technical hangups is appreciated. Any content is always a treat. Cheers!
44:40 The reactions on the players faces... priceless!
I really preferred the campaign diaries to streams... listening to you summarize what happened in an hour was doable, but I can't keep up with these streams *and* Critical Role and run my games.
But, I'm happy for you and for the people who do like the streams. congratulations on managing a working setup.
So happy to wake up to this. I absolutely love the multiple camera angles for the battle map. The camera quality is spot on as well. I'll have more feedback in exactly 4 hours 23 minutes and 41 seconds.
Echoing many of the comments, this was very well done. The biggest thing I would hope to see changed is the bottom right camera. Instead of having it switch at timed intervals, have it off until something is happening down there, then pick 2 angles and swap them at longer intervals. The changing camera while nothing was happening on it was distracting as I kept looking back assuming something was happening on that camera.
Hey man... love all your videos! I am very new to D&D as a whole, but I refer to your videos quite a bit for better breakdowns and understandings of systems inside the game. Though most of it is definitely geared towards GMs, I still learn a lot with each video. Thanks for all the time and effort you put into your channel for noobs like myself!
It's great hearing you talk about D&D, but seeing you and your players actually show us is awesome.
11:38
Most blessed among commentors.
You saved me 11 minutes of my life and for that I thank you.
alex & emily Thank you kind sir
+
Thanks a lot!
This was a great session, among my favorite of any streamed/recorded D&Ding I've watched. The set-up is impressive, and definitely worth you/Jerry's investment. The actual play and personalities at the table was also a blast. Look forward to more.
All the camera's on the players look amazing. The set on the table looks amazing.
The only thing I can think of of a first impression is that there is a slight slant to everything.
I love your live streams! I do enjoy the campaign diaries but watching you and your friends play is super cool. The streaming has gotten better. Please keep it up and have fun with it!
My body is ready for this
Its fantastic to see you guys trying this again, i hope it works this time and you get it to not get in the way of you guys enjoyment. Super looking forward to hopefully seeing more of these in the future.
Really great setup Matt! This mysterious "Jerry" did a great job! I hope you keep up the streams this time cause it looks & sounds pretty great.
This is amazing. Thanks for putting in all the effort to stream and upload this Matt, I really appreciate it.
immensely enjoyed this... actually watching D&D is FUN... its the next best thing to being there playing. I dig the studio. I would definitely evaluate the volume of the players, some are loud at times, and others are soft at others... its just not entirely consistent. Lighting is good enough. You have done great things here! I look forward to more!
Haven't watched it yet but I already want to say "Just amazing and really inspiring". Thank you for sharing Mr. Colville
It seems like a successful test run! Sound quality was good (though picked up on a lot of rustling and such), visibility was good. Having the camera able to be placed on the play area was great. If I had any wishes it would be that there was the ability for you to switch feed layouts so that if you're pointing things out in the play area that you could push the camera feed of that to be full screen temporarily. Being able to switch from showing everyone + the play area, to showing just the play area but with greater clarity would be great!
That is quite the battlemap! Bravo sir! I'm basically pulling out the pencil and drawing on the map or using boardgame pieces if I want to be super clear on battlefield positions. :P
Stream feedback:
Sound quality was good, the lav mics do their job well. There was a some cross talk from players not in the spotlight, but I think this is common to both streams and home games. I'm not sure if there's a solution but it was mentioned in game so I mention it now.
Video quality was great for seeing the people and the map, but I had a hard time picking out which minis were which when they got clustered together. Also, I couldn't read the dice on the dice cam.
*** SPOILERS ***
The moment at 45:39 was amazing, thank you for that Matt!
The sound is excellent and the different angles are dynamic. My only suggestions are about the visual presentation/setup: show the character names below the players' names (maybe even race/class but clutter is a concern), try adjusting the camera angles slightly so that the cameras themselves are not visible, the black bookcase behind EJ/Gertz/Phil looks "off" and it doesn't help that they are all wearing dark clothes (another japanese-screen-thing behind them would fix it).
hey Matt, always watch your "running the game/campaign diaries" and enjoying the opening to this stream so far. One suggestion: add the player's character names next to their own names
Gods, this looks amazing, Forgotten Deity! You can certainly tell all the hard work that you put into it!
I came for the new DM tips, but I stay to see how that mane is going. What beautiful hair and beard you have Matt. I'm also looking forward to the next 4 hours to see all of your helpful advice in action.
Thanks for showing us your game. Seeing other groups play make this better for all others!
Good job Matt and crew. This is WAY more watchable then your previous live plays. I really enjoy listening to you talk in your videos but i think its a good thing you do not speak to the camera as much during this live stream.
Oh my god this setup looks BEAUTIFUL. Video and Audio quality look great!
Now for me to find 4 hours to binge watch this.
I love the Action Cam (mini cam). Thanks for putting up the raw game footage. I love it.
very fun to watch! the entire setup is great! looking forward to possible future streams!
Thanks for letting us peek in on your game, the effort of everyone involved and of course the players! No complaints here as far as the quality of the stream.
Really happy to see that FM-84 shirt. One of my favorite releases of 2016.
i dig the FM 84 shirt. my DM used to have Atlas playing softly on loop when we played. some people prefer atmospheric music while they play D&D but i quickly grew to enjoy hearing that album.
I am happy to see this group streaming again. I have missed watching you DM and watching your games!
From the 'doo-blah-dee-doo' (sp?), "All of this was made possible by folks buying my books!"
Write more books. ;-)
Dirigo Allagash WE WANT FIGHTER DAMMIT
All good things...
I believe it's dooble-ee-doo
My only criticism is maybe a bit more of an introduction would have been nice. The last I heard about the campaign was that they were headed to the under dark. A more concise and forward recap of what was going on would have made it easier to follow at least for me.
The quality and everything else though was spot on and I loved it. Tell your friends thank you and I hope to see more in the future. Once I figure out this Twitter and Twitch thing I'll be in good shape
I love the dwarven forge set up
audio wise I recommend having at least on one side having something that can absorb the minor buzz on the back half of the players audio.
love watching
Super Excited to see this group play again! Thank you so much Matt and team for doing this! :)
This makes me very excited for those stronghold mechanics that Matt will be coming out with. Really looking forward to all your future work!
whether this experiment works or not, its great that you're out there trying things! I personally hope for the best! You can't succeed unless you try.
Big thumbs up! But then, I've seen all the campaign diaries. if I hadnt seen those, I'd be totally lost. Huge technical improvement over your last (original) campaign vids. I listen in the morning while I'm walking the dog, blending smoothies, showering, etc, so clear audio is more essential to me since ive got to deal with ambient sounds. TMI?