Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Been thinking about this for a bit and putting out a feeler if the community would be interested in a Community podcast and if so what would everyone want to hear about.

My ideas would be interviews to suggested players and staff taking some questions from the player base and others to mix it up.

How much interest would there be in something like this?

Sounds like a lot of work. Build zones instead or just log in game lul.

It could be interesting, but topics to cover would likely run dry fairly quickly, wouldn't they?

It seems like one of those things that could open the door to OOC talking about IC things which is never a really great thing.

They are fairly easy to setup and do and can cover all topics from favorite IG moments to AD&D in general but the cast wouldn't be IC or spill out anything current unless it's something the community would want to know.

If you're willing to put in that work, it sounds like something I could listen too

"Velcome to ze newest podcast, Kren and Friends. Our first guest enjoys spongebathing ze elderly and exploiting orphans.... Ameris! Our musical guest, wooing damsels everywhere, ze Darius Brothers!"

I approve of this idea.

Sounds interesting.

i would take a gander at it

The bgtssc podcast. Discussion of the passing week ongoing happenings. Builds. Places to see. Players of notice and stories.

I'm so there! Plenty of tales that soooo many people forget that should be retold *fiendish grin*

As someone who has seen plenty of community based podcasts start up (and end) I would like to wish you the best of luck and offer some insight.

1) Do it fortnightly, often doing it once a week is simply overburdening and leaves you and your guests short of topics to discuss.

2) Always have a back up guest (two if possible) People simply are bad at meeting deadlines and being punctual, its a harsh but true thing with time zones and busy lifestyles anything can and most likely will go wrong.

3) Have a regular, having someone at your side who has good chemistry and familiarity with you is pretty crucial, when it comes to entertainment there needs to be a constant flow, some guests might not know what to say or be microphone shy, you may need someone who can work off you and you the same with them just to keep the entertainment going and fill out a segment and its so much easier to do with two of you than you having to carry the show each time.

4) Segments, schedule your podcast segments allocate time for each so your start would be your introduction segment, where each person would briefly introduce themselves before delving deeper into the full schedule id recommend something like;

Start
Introductions (brief)
Headlines of current things going on in the server (brief)
Interviewing each guest (long)
Review of current stories both on forums or in game (long)
Speculation on upcoming events (brief)
Talk of your next podcasts and expected guests if possible (brief)
Outroductions of your guests. Where they can be found social media what guilds in game what characters etc. (brief)
Finish

5) Shorter is better than longer, when starting this up remember that your audience may not have 3 hours to dedicate to listening to a podcast especially if its stretched thin.

6) Microphone quality/audio levels, In youtube videos and true to twitch too is that the first thing people will receive is the audio, if the audio isn't great the rest of the entertainment will be a pain, I'm sure not everyone here has £70+ headsets or dedicated microphone set ups (the dream) Be sure to get in early with everyone so you can set up audio levels and do equalisation where necessary.

7) Rehearsal, It might sound silly but write out the headlines you want to speak about make notes about and the things you would like to mention it doesn't have to be a full essay but mention like Character X's story and what you liked such as theme of loneliness, use of colourful formatting etc. further more hand the notes out to your guests/ ask them what they want to discuss and put it on the notes, that way all of you are on the same page and know what each of you wants to talk about and can help each other into it.

8) Ground rules, be sure to lay out the law for the pod cast, the last thing you want is you losing control to rowdy guests or people getting upset, have no direct slandering of each other you don't want this podcast to be used as a weapon or a method of upsetting guilds players staff etc. So think about the rules, that protect other players and the guests from themselves, and don't be afraid to pull in the leash or crack the whip to get things disciplined again.

I can not emphasise enough however do not allow people to insult the Devs DMs or other staff, those guys work so hard for the server, if your podcast is bringing the community together and some ill wording gets sent towards the staff it can feel like the community turned on them or us as fellow players and no one deserves that, even if some people are of the opinion that one or two people do deserve it, they don't. They deserve praise and gratitude for a hard job done well.

9) Indicators of who is talking, its a simple thing but really helped, in the podcasts I listened to there would be overlays, you know like TeamSpeak or mumble overlays that would bring the persons name into the screen and light it up when people was talking in a YouTube video you can always highlight which person is talking but its a lot of work, if there was a little light by the persons name as they talk your sorted.

I hope these insights and suggestions help you and you can make something decent of a podcast, I look forward to hearing what you come up with that's for sure!

Cool!

I'd give it a listen!

There's lots of good advice in taylorstar's post. As several others have suggested, short in duration and heavy on content probably beats long and winding side roads when it comes to podcasts.

My plan is to try and get everything I need together in a few weeks do a few dry runs and try it out. The goal being nothing more than 30 to 45 min a pop and if all goes well make them longer if requested.

I guess what I have to ask now is who the community would like to hear from or about? I'll stay away from hot topics like Drow and Paladin's and Balance issues and focus more on what makes the game fun for them and why.

Any other feedback you would like to hear about please post below.

Thanks for the advice taylorstar that was put together very well.

All the new changes and additions for the server would make a really nice topic. If you could interview a developer that would be gold.