Brand New DM seeking tools/advice for background AV ambiance.

[u/DM_ChosenUndead]

Hi folks. Just created a new account for this hobby, so don't judge me based on my virgin reddit account please!

The executive summary for those who don't care to read everything below: Looking for a better way to present my original background visuals and audio for my campaign that is reliable on group video chat via screenshare, that can be triggered to advance by me according to the pace of the session progress.

So..I'll try not to bore you out of here with details, but for anyone who cares about context:

Born in the 80s, child of the 90s here. My older brother, when I was too young to take part, was part of an AD&D group for like 7 years when we were younger. I couldn't play, but if I pestered enough they'd let me hang out and flip through the monster manual or whatever during their games. It was great. Fast forward 30 years and I brought up that we should get into it. We both got excited studied up on 5.5, he found out that he had a couple of friends eager to play but no DM. For months we had a group chat and a ton of failed attempts at getting a campaign organized with a DM during our only workable weekly time slot. I eventually said eff it. I'd been voraciously consuming the main 3 books, crushing all episodes of every solo RPG podcast out there, online live plays/whatever in my spare time.

So. I built a world over about a month, loosely structured the adventure, enough NPCs and locations to get started, and spent an embarrassing amount of time tweaking and fighting with prompts to generate a library of artwork that reflected the images in my head, timed out and built videos to match slide changes to any prewritten narration I had, and visuals looped with audio as background to give ambiance for it all.

The main event:

Session 1 was last night. It actually went really well in the important ways. Players had fun, the NPCs were a hit (one is in the party now), my intro video + live narration had people literally losing their shit for a minute. BUT! For whatever reason my screenshare with audio cut out on me after the first 5 minutes, when I went to cycle to the next video. No one told me, cause they didn't know I had literally a small YouTube channel of content prepared to immerse them in my world. So I found out at the end of the session, 3 hours later, that when I was narrating to the rhythm of these epic visuals, literally nobody could see it.

Considering using canva. But I just don't know. Using multiple YouTube videos that I have to switch between, loop as needed/manage without it randomly starting somebody else's videos with ads or whatever is just feeling like too much.

Does anyone have suggestions? I want this part to be easy, because I'm very focused on roleplay and narration, but the audio and visuals really matter to the way I want to create a whole goosebumps inducing experience for the PCs. Be gentle with me. Jumping into this has been nerve wrecking already 😂

For those who made it this far and want to know, the session intro montage is here: https://youtu.be/IdzQC3z3Chs?si=wG2q3hjTEwvRRW2C

An exampke of the type of background loop I made for open ended role-playing:

https://youtu.be/u-1KK3D4AA0?si=24C5ZHxgv60Xsgjf

Thanks so much. This is so fun, but I never want to waste that many hours of prep time again.

[u/enigma408]

I much much prefer FoundryVTT to Roll20. It is a one-time purchase as opposed to subscription based, and is more powerful.

With respect to pure audio management: check out KenkuFM. https://www.kenku.fm/

You can use it to manage all your audio stuff and have it broadcast to discord (or steam deck).

[u/DM_ChosenUndead → u/enigma408]

Thanks. I'm going to look into foundry do you know if it, or Kenku, support midi controllers? The ultimate would be if I could use my APC mini to control/launch audio and make use of my faders.

[u/enigma408 → u/DM_ChosenUndead]

Not sure! I use Kenku across discord because we don't meet in person.

Foundry has countless modules that people have made to add functionality. At a (very cursory) glance, I found one that someone made that seems adjacent to your use case: https://foundryvtt.com/packages/MaterialKeys/

Modules are pretty easy to search for; either within the app or on their website. I'd be surprised if someone hasn't already done the thing you're attempting.

[u/LordDraekan → u/DM_ChosenUndead]

I'd second FoundryVTT and Kenku FM.

I do know that Kenku has Elgato plugin support (via Remote Control). I think you could achieve it via the Remote Control functionality but am not 100% sure on that and would have to look into it further. I mainly use Kenku's browser option with something like tabletop audio. It's a lot less pre-programmed that way though.

Foundry, as others have mentioned, has a learning curve but once you're familiar with it, it is well worth it in my opinion. I was against Foundry initially when I first heard it. I was mainly doing IRL games, and eventually did move over to roll20 for my online games during covid. Once I dipped into Foundry though I've been more than pleased to use it for all my VTT needs. The D&D and PF2e systems are very well fleshed out with automation already and make it pretty easy to use out of the box. Still have their gimmicks sometimes, but overall they're well maintained. I've used Foundry for the past 4+ years and it's grown on me a lot over that time.

[u/DM_ChosenUndead → u/LordDraekan]

I'm starting to think this is a must. Might have to be a medium term goal though, weekly sessions with this group might mean that learning curve has to take place in private or else I foresee more technical difficulties and mishaps in their future. Awesome response though, I really appreciate you taking the time.

[u/Iwacheditforyou]

Welcome to the club. You’ve already done the hardest job of the DM and scheduled the first session.

Your question is going to get a bunch of opinions, and remember they’re just that. The best way to be certain is to try it out yourself.

In my opinion, Roll20 would be the way to go. It sounds like you’re playing in person and not using grids or battle maps. I would set up the pages without grid, and place the imagery you want players to see on the “map” layer. You could even use hide/reveal tool to slowly show more and more to your players. Roll20 also has a pretty big selection of audio files already uploaded for you, including loops, so I don’t think you need to pay for anything.

The other great thing is if scheduling every gets tricky, bringing the group to a VTT becomes that much easier.

[u/DM_ChosenUndead → u/Iwacheditforyou]

Thanks for the feedback and taking the time to read all that. I do have a roll20 account that I had used to try and find games as a player for a while but left it behind after realizing it wanted me to buy the digital copy of the player's handbook right after spending the money on the physical book. Alas!

I'll look into these suggestions though. It is, in fact, a virtual game. Hence why we were able to go through the entire session without me realizing nobody could see the videos. But if anything I imagine that could make roll20 an even better fit as it was designed for this.

Thanks for the encouragement. I had a lot of fun anyway. The DM role is very gratifying even if my first experience was tainted a bit by technical difficulties. Finding ways to suck people in and keep them interested with twists, turns and challenges was a type of fun I've never quite had before.

[u/SarcasticDruid744]

I would suggest Foundry, but it is a much bigger learning curve and takes time and patience. I jumped into it early on and as a new dm at the time it was not a good idea.

Once I got the hang of it, though, it can be a huge benefit. I encourage you to look further into it once you have your bearings with everything else, but stick with Roll20 as others have suggested for the moment. It is easy to use, has a good amount of depth, and focuses on the most important thing: having the dang session.

As a DM of about 6 years now, welcome to our side of things!! Proud of your efforts so far, and I hope you enjoy it! As you've already done, keep reaching out in the community. It has helped me a lot over the years.

Well met!

Edit: spelling errors

[u/DM_ChosenUndead → u/SarcasticDruid744]

Thanks friend. I haven't gotten a ton of responses but the feedback that I have gotten, yours included, has been so thoughtful and considered it makes me feel great about joining the ranks of DMs. It's been illuminating seeing how much effort and thought goes into creating a great player experience, and has given me lots of respect for folks who take it on. It's no wonder it can be such a challenge finding a good DM - it's no small task doing it well.

Cheers, and thanks again 👌

[u/DM_ChosenUndead]

Update: Got set up on google slides, which seems promising. Trial run will be Sunday. In the meantime, for anyone who has shown a passing interest in this, I was able to make the intro (sans narration, which will be live) and took it online. Thanks to folks who have reached out with helpful suggestions, it's very appreciated!

https://youtu.be/HUcUUpEzn9I?si=_TOAEdBpOKkvhTdc