Gamers exPlane YouTube Series

I had this mad idea, and found a madman to help me explore it.

The Idea: What would happen if I video-chat-interviewed Gamers Plane users and posted those on YouTube?

The Rationalization: My obsessive brain insisted that I do this, but did not fully explain why. So why would I do this? Afterall, I'm an introvert and I have no experience conducting interviews. I want to know more about all of you, you people who I largely only know through your posts. You have a lot to say, and while I could probably post huge chunks of video showing what I know about GP, (guides, tips, tricks, and anecdotes) you could, too, if only you had a platform and the impetus to do so.

The Team: I sought a few of you for advice, and many people have contributed to the development. Among them, Lavtodd, Windyridge, Len, Skeptical_Stun, and Keleth have all given me advice or feedback.

The Mission Statement: Gamers Plane is an amazing, inclusive community, full of positivity and respect. I want to construct not criticize; build everything, destroy nothing; find common ground and avoid divisive topics; shine a spotlight on how normal and human we all are.

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The Result: I present to you the first episode of Player Versus Player, the interview subtopic to this project. Here I interview GP moderator Len and we spent 45 minutes talking. I think we both could have continued for hours.

Gamers exPlane - Player Versus Player - s1e01 Qralloq v Len

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Next Steps: I have a couple more people who have expressed interest in participating. I'll set up times with them and hope to get those going soon. But all of you can contribute, whether or not you want to be anywhere near a camera and microphone. Send me feedback, suggestions, questions, requests. If you would like to be interviewed, please reach out, either through a PM or on Discord.

I'd later like to expand this to include user guides ("Qral-lore"? ew, awkward). I could easily run through topics like: What a New User Should Know, Building a Character Sheet, Setting up a New Game, Using the Administrative Control Panel, or How To Sing Heavy Metal Songs So Off Key Even Geese Would Will Complain.

Another possible topic is Q&A (Qralloq & Answers). If users send me questions, I'll answer them in a video series dedicated to such. Maybe an interview with a subject matter expert could be arranged.

I want this to be in part a community project. I am inspired by you all.

One thing both Len and I spoke about by PM afterwards is that neither of us remembered to thank Keleth. While the existence of the interview itself is a tribute to his amazing creation, both Len and I are deeply appreciative of everything that Keleth has given us.

Thank you, sir, for creating Gamers Plane. You are the very best.

This is awesome. Can't wait to check out the first episode!

You need to add a podcast format! This seems awesome!
I Recommend using Anchor or Acast to host the podcast if you're willing to figure out distribution yourself then definitely Acast otherwise use Anchor, the advantage to those is that they are both free!

Edit: by request I've added Closed Captioning and tried to edit most of the weeds out of the automatically generated content.

I really enjoyed listening to this. It was nice to put a face to two of the names around here and to hear you guys talking about issues I have run into as both a GM and a player. It is easy to loose sight of the fact that literally everyone runs into the same problems from time to time and you shouldn't let it ruin your experience. A lot of good insight here.

I'm 2/3 the way through the first episode as I post it, and it is great. I know I've said it before, but obviously the work that made this all successful is you folks. I'm glad I was able to create the place for it, but my gosh, you've all done so much amazing stuff here and outside. I'm super excited to see this going, and you have my complete support for it!

Just finished the episode. It's really awesome!

great watch, a very interesting insight ! Thanks for creating this

Such a great episode!

Cool.
I would be up for a chat if you need more players to talk to

I'll look into this. Anchor looks pretty intuitive, so thanks for the recommendation. I'll just have to work out stripping the audio off the video file, which should be easy (challenges the gods to defy THAT prediction!).
Excellent. I've sent you a message on Discord to arrange a time.

Greatly enjoyed the episode. Looking forward to the next one.

I wouldn’t mind going on an episode. This is such a cool project, and I would love to see others "in-person", too!

I've just started (about 15 minutes in) and it's quite good so far. Might be biased as I've been mentioned. I feel GP famous lol

Awesome, I'll send you a PM, maybe set something up for in two weeks or so?

I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Finally got to listen to the interview fully. Nice episode, I loved it! Interesting discussions, good variety of topics, great interviewee. And also not bad audio and video quality, too - which I think is pretty important for this kind of thing! I would enjoy seeing more episodes. :D

I'd offer my help, but I have no decent camera, or editing skills. XD Unless you need to draw something, I guess! But do I ever have things to say about ghosting, as someone who did it a lot before... Would be cool to hear more of your thoughts about it.

A minor thing, but it was super interesting to hear that you had a game set in Moscow. I would've loved seeing that! I'm usually not a fan of historical settings, but it would've been the one I actually know something about. XD

Anyway, I think this is cool! Kudos to you, and I'll wait for more! :D (Also, you have infectious laugh, so thanks for making me smile. XD)

Two weeks sounds great!

Q! Not even half way though and I already am loving this!

If you need people I can do whatever you need

You could add the Q&A at the end of the video segments, or load up on the questions and ever couple of episodes add that Q&A

Great start. I enjoyed it muchly.

Thanks for setting this up Qralloq. It was fun to do, and I'm glad many folks liked it :)

Great first video Mr Q. I enjoyed it a lot. Looking forward to many more.

Thanks Cave, I'll PM you about setting up a time.

Thanks. I have thought about people with issues about being seen, or who have poor camera setups. It would be cool to even try a voice chat. We could layer the voice track over scenes from GP or a slideshow of things.

Your thoughts on ghosting would be wonderful, and even just talking about gaming in Russia.

This can be quite beneficial, especially to people new to RPG in general if not only new to PbP RPG.
Keep up the good work and the community will be giving you feedback for sure. I think you're already onto something good ;)

Always interesting putting names to faces. Looking forward to more of these in the future, well done!

Another episode recorded yesterday, this one a more reasonable 16 minutes long, although he and I have a lot more to discuss - follow-up interviews with him to follow. I will post new episodes on Fridays, so expect another to drop on the 28th.

I'll upgrade my webcam as my laptop one isnt as good as I thought it would be, so episode three (to be recorded tonight) should see an improvement. Mainly it's the blurring when I move that bugs me.

I've also realized I use male gender terms automatically. This is despite my IRL gaming groups having cis het men as a distinct minority (like 4/14). I endeavor to be more inclusive.

Lastly, a few people have asked about audio only interviews. This is certainly doable, and I half expected those requested before I started. I think for those, I'll just have a placeholder image rather than attempt to clutter the experience with a slideshow. Or alternatively, just have their camera off for the Zoom so you can still see my blank resting-introvert-face.

Edit: Friday's guest is Kalajel!

Bold of you to assume I have a decent microphone. :P

But yeah, that would be nice! For a video feed, I can actually draw my avatar character (the propeller succulent!) emoting - you know, like some YT channels do? - so it's not just a blank space. I can probably edit it myself even, just need to figure out how does one do alpha channels in videos...

Anyway, I probably can't do it right now - going to be too many interruptions, plus I'm not actually sure if I have a microphone better than, well, a phone - but I'll let you know when I can. :D Glad to see this continuing!

Fabulous idea, this, Qralloq! Looking forward to more in the series!

Enjoyed watching you two chat! Thanks for doing this, Qralloq. I definitely appreciate the community-building aspect of this project. My suggestion would be for you not to shy away from more broadly applicable suggestions, tips, and tricks to make play-by-post work in any context, not just on GP. I think that kind of discussion would potentially serve a much broader public, as advice for running and sustaining a post-based game is sorely lacking out there.

If it becomes more broadly applicable, we could also share it on reddit or wherever and with its connection to GP, it could potentially bring new people here

I've never really found a podcast that I cared about enough to be able to incorporate it into my routine. But this is so... personal/relevant/close to home for me that I watched it thru in one go.

Enjoyed it. Thanks for doing this.

I love this concept, fun to see faces on here.

Suggestions:

I know this isn't the goal at this point but I know video length does matter for YT algorithms. Maybe (along with the long form interviews), short quick sections 10-20min videos could help bump videos in relevant searches.

What about like GM-tales as a segment? Starting interviews with a more focused lens on someone's experience GM-ing her on GP.

I present to you the second episode of Player Versus Player, the interview subtopic to this project. Here I interview GP user Kalajel and we spent almost 50 minutes talking (in two chunks). As before, I think we both could have continued for hours.

I bought a new webcam (you will see the difference in the two chunks) and had some connection issues with my laptop, so I relocated to a computer hard wired to the router. I'll probably use that setup from now on.

Gamers exPlane - Player Versus Player - s1e02 Qralloq v Kalajel

Edit: subtitles now added

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The third episode had been recorded, to air next Friday. And I have two more interviews scheduled before then. Whew!

For the third and later episodes, I'm planning on adding a little more to supplement the interviews, following this draft format:

Intro sequence 0:20
Episode synopsis 1:00
Player Versus Player 20:00-25:00
Meme of the week 0:30
Viewer Mail 3:00
Qralloqian Lore 2:00
Did you know...
Wrap up

Viewer Mail will only work with continued mail, so keep it coming!

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Edit: YouTube has warned me about a copyright claim for the Scorpions tune that I used for the intro sequence. I'll need to find something that fits their rules for future segments.

Check out this page for royalty-free music

I have loads of those copyright things on my youtube channel. It just means that if adverts are shown then the music copyright holder gets paid. Meh. Seems fair to me. Although some tunes (those involving alcohol) mean your youtube video can't be watched in Islamic counties.

If you're feeling really geeky then get an AI to write you some music at https://www.aiva.ai/.

Tabletopaudio, It's also great for actual play games they have 10 minute tracks but you can easily make an Intro or outro out of the only audio sections

Finally found the time to watch this episode!

Thank you for doing this, I'm excited for everything else you'll put up! 😃

Maybe if you give some notice before you start an interview, let us know who you talk to and some idea what about if you already know, people could ask more suitable questions to incorporate into the episode rather than just generic ones, as a suggestion.

Great idea, bowlofspinach. I'll seek permission from the next interviewee and post that here, although this thread might start getting clunky.

On Tuesday evening (North America time), I'll be interviewing @lavtodd. We'll discuss the usual, but also their experience with running a game on Roll20 vs GP, playtesting their own RPG, their webcomic and writing, and how being a creative compares to being a PBP player or GM.

Those all sound like very interesting topics. Plus, Lav already wrote me for a second about this so I'm very excited to see that episode.
I just hope she doesn't bash me too much 🤣

How can I bash your game when my character was chaos incarnate? XD

Loved it!

Everyone has tickets and popcorn?

With that introduction, wide awake at 3:30 in the morning as thunder peals across the prairie night, lets pretend I drank my coffee super early and drop it:

Gamers exPlane - s1e03 - Qralloq vs Skeptical_Stun

First, we had some connection issues so there is a little bit of a lag between our responses. Sorry for that, but it doesn't really affect the quality of the stream, just adds some five second pauses between comments.

Following the interview portion, I've added a:
- Meme of the Week
- a brief viewer mail section, about seven minutes (send me mail to be answered in next week's video)
- an end of the video, one-minute wrap up

Lastly, I think I mention in the intro another new segment called Qralloqian Lore (tip and trick) segment but it didn't make the final version.

I think this style of video will be the new format, but execution may vary.

Thanks to Skeptical_Stun for going along with the interview given the lag. Maybe I'll see you in a Deadlands game later this year!

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Next week, Runekyndig and I bridge an eight hour time difference and talk about stuff for sixty-nine minutes and we certainly could have gone longer. Again, send me any feedback or Qs for Q&A, which I'll likely record on Tuesday.

Thanks again for watching!

Adam, you got too much graphical time on your hands. I f'ing love it !

Too much time?

Haha, that's ridiculously wicked. You're hired.

Qralloq you are getting better and better at hosting this thing. The new segments are great. Really appreciate these videos. Keep them coming!

Adam LOL! When's your episode? It's bound to be the most verbose. XD

Heck yeah, I want to hear about your pipe collection!

Episode Four has been released early. https://youtu.be/DS0j59C13QA

In episode four, I interviewed Runekyndig. We talked about GP and about storytelling heavy vs crunchy systems, why new users might be abandoning GP shortly after joining, tools to use to assist with your gaming, and what gaming obstacles there are for non-native-English speakers.

I also added a Meme of the Week, in QQ&AA I answered a question about clashing with other players, and in the new segment Qralloqian Lore, I divulged a tip and trick on why you might start clicking a little black box.



Next week, I'll publish an interview with LavenderTodd, with whom I had another interesting talk.

Those topics sound super interesting. But it's past 1 am. I think I have to wait until tomorrow to watch...

The benefit of having subscribed to the channel is I get notified when Qralloq published early. Very interesting talk you and Runekyndig had!

Learned quite a bit from that video and I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know about the last post feature.
What was that you were drinking later in the video, Qralloq? Pineapple juice? I guess you have to stay healthy to be in and run so many games!

Talking is thirsty business. Gotta stay hydrated.

Great points about the "join a game" functionality of the site.

Hoping you eventually do a tip on making character sheets public by clicking on the mysterious 'book' icon in the Characters page and turning it red.

so true.

how is the podcast format coming along?

Oh yeah, podcasts. I have to figure out how to extract the audio from my videos which should be nearly trivial. After that, Anchor should work great.

I'll make time for that this weekend.

VLC can do that through the convert option

Even an online converter could do the trick.

Nicely done! Lots I hadn't considered before.

Tubidy

The audio podcast has been created. Episodes 1 through 4 have been uploaded.

Anchor fm channel link

You can find episode 1 here: Anchor FM

Theoretically should also be available on Spotify.

Edit: publishing on the Apple stuff, the Google stuff, and other places will have to be done on a manual basis. I take requests, but otherwise I'll leave those alone for now.

Oh wow, it is on Spotify. I didn't think it was that easy to publish something on there. Awesome

Sticher is the most important one your missing, Anchor does a few automatically beyond just Spotify but Stitcher can't be done automatic as it need Email verification.

Beyond that It would be up to others specific apps as that would give you almost all the podcasting population,
Another thing to consider is your RSS Feed as certain less common podcast apps let you add a podcast with the RSS Feed

Added Sketcher and Google Play. ITunes was a giant mess of errors so I'll get to it later.

yes don't worry, though may people use iTunes/Apple Podcasts they've been having errors on both ends, and are losing listeners It took me over a week to get summited to iTunes the Artwork Error, theirs nothing you can do about it don't bother changing your artwork it won't work until it wants to.

I know, right? Kudos to Qralloq.



...but now we have someone who understands this stuff, I can't help but think about the Postcast for each system thread too.

Has anybody ever thought of publishing their PbP adventure as a podcast? Reading it out - like an audiobook. Surely it's been discussed here before.

I've just been reading suggestions for Librivox volunteers to familiarise myself with best practices for recording narration. Dunno - maybe a topic for the discord.

I know CESN at some point considered making a game he was running into a neat document thing for others to read. Not a podcast, though.

I like the idea of reading a pbp game out as an audiobook in theory but it would probably require a lot of editing to not sound off. Unless you have different narrators for each post and have it somewher between audiobook and actual play. Interesting discussion for sure

Didn't see that anywhere on here It's an interesting Idea though, Love the Idea Pbp is a little bit slow for an Actual Play usually though, usually they run around an hour and release once or twice a week, I suppose a game that's been around for a while would be okay anything visual in the fourms eg. Pictures/maps would need to be discribed.

I have to say though it is something I thought about doing :)

Unfortunately for free each of us are limited to two podcasts one on Anchor and another on Acast.

I weep for anyone wanting to listen to episode 2 audio only... T_T

The podcast version should be up on:
Spotify
Google Play
ITunes
Stitcher
Breaker
PocketCasts
Radio Public

Episode five, featuring the amazing lavtodd, is uploaded and ready for release on YouTube on Friday. Podcasts to follow in the evening.

I present to you Episode 5 - Qralloq Versus Lavtodd



The fifth episode has Qralloq grill gamersplane.com user lavtodd about her gaming experience (growing up in a gaming household??), juggling multiple creative outlets, and contrasting the strengths of real-time against the asynchronous nature of play-by-post.

There is also:
- a Meme of the Week
- a user question (about reviving a flagging game)
- tip and trick: making character sheets public

The podcast version of Episode 5 has now also been published, which should be available in the usual places listed previously.

Anchor FM

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I am looking for additional interviewees. If you are interested, know that we'll work on a rough set of topics in advance so you can think about them before facing the camera - it is all ad libbed but not blindly.


Direct link for older browsers

Yay! Can't wait to listen to this one (Once I'm caught up with all my games moving forward while I was at work 🤣)

is there a link to lavtodd webcomic?

In the video description (or there was when I looked)

Yup, in the video description.

lavtodd's webcomic can be found at: webtoons

her Etsy store is at: LavendersVault

(Someday, I might try and cajole her into making and selling a GxP tee shirt. But don't tell her yet.)

This was a really great episode. I loved hearing the discussions comparing writing solo v.s. play-by-post collaborative writing. I joined GP partially because I was in a bit of writing block rut. It has been very beneficial. Now I have the opposite problem. The ideas and words are flowing freely but I don't have as much time to write stories because I want to make more posts and join more games. It's a problem that I don't really mind having.

I also loved the discussion on player expectations and second guessing where you take things in games. My writing tends to be very weird and very dark (biggest influences are Kafka, PKD, and Grant Morrison). I try to reign this in when playing with other people but it doesn't always work. I need to do a better job of letting people know what to expect when they sign up for one of my games and make sure they know that I want them to speak up and tell me if they don't like the direction I'm taking things in.

Sometimes I get excited about an idea and forgot that not everyone is onboard with the constant threat of trusted NPCs backstabbing their character as they work their way through increasingly convoluted conspiracies while the fabric of reality falls apart around them; all within a game that was advertised as light hearted silver age superhero fun!

Hey Griffrpg. Sounds like you and I should be playing games together. We could probably have a great discussion on the more gonzo or visceral RPGs out there.

I am looking for more interviewees for Gamers exPlane. Love to talk to anyone with very little or tons of experience, or somewhere in between (laughing). We could talk about indie games or favorite settings or even have a constructive argument about a hard topic (I have been given a few requests I could share).

Better yet, if you have a topic in mind, I'd love to give you a platform to explore it with me.

I love the podcast but I'm afraid I most likely will not be appearing on it. Afraid I am a little camera shy. And microphone shy. And generally just don't like speaking out loud at all, if I can avoid it.

I hope you do find more people willing to be on it though. It's always a good listen.

Recorded a surprise interview with Antiproduct today, (thanks again Antiproduct) so I've got the next two shows covered.

If I run out of victims guests, I'll switch to tutorial videos, or maybe karaoke. You've all been warned.

Are we singing Cannibal Corpse or Burzum?

I'll go ahead and put in a request for "I Cu....." On second thought, if I finish that title I'll probably be banned. There aren't a lot of Cannibal Corpse songs I could get away with typing here.

Text by lenpelletier

🤣🤣🤣
Is funny cause it's true.

From now on, everything lenpelletier says will be accompanied by a BRAAAAAM.

"Honey, I’m home!"
BRAAAAAM

Today I have for you Episode 6 - Qralloq Versus HeroAmongMen.

Episode 6 has Qralloq reconnect with a former game-mate, HeroAmongMen. They discuss ghosting, and focus a lot on the fifth edition of the world's most popular roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons.

The episode also includes:
- a Meme of the Week,
- QQ&AA (tools for dealing with sensitive content),
- Aussie Action News, and
- Qralloqian Lore (using hidden Notes on GP).



Link for older browsers

The audio version has been uploaded to the podcast sites, as well.

D: I also wanted random stuff to move behind me!

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Edit: another nice and interesting interview btw, looking forward to meeting with Hero in a game someday. (Ditto for any previous interviewees that we haven't met in a game of course.)

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Edit 2: Definitely do a ontheflybattlemaps video!

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Edit 3: awww, you used my meme 🤗

I just got caught up. This is such a great idea, Qralloq! Looking forward to further episodes!

Do an episode of your comeback. With a bio for us that are unfamiliar with you. I saw Discord erupt after you went and said hi - no clue why yet.

Spent two hours with Harrigan this morning, but we only recorded 1.5 hours. That will make the episode on June 9th the longest to date.

I, of course, would love to talk to Jabes online. Hopefully we can find a way to make that work. I think he and I will find common ground on a lot of issues.

Topic of idea for Jabes and Qralloq: How to not overextend yourself and participate in too many games. :P

You want to see us both confusedly shrug in unison? How odd.

Thanks for having me, Qralloq. Greatly enjoyed chatting this morning.

Following a conversation on Discord, I'd like to request some feedback or other participation:

1) MOAR GUESTS: to request more guests for the show. I have the next two shows covered, but after that I need people.

2) CONTENT LENGTH: Also, as some of these interviews have grown fairly long, I would like feedback on whether me giving you more than an hour a week of content is too much.

3) GUESTS FOR THE Q&A SEGMENT: I created a "Game" here to help manage the GxP Project and the multi-headed hydra that it threatens to become. You can see my evolving list of requested Q&A questions. If you have more, or would like to participate in tackling any of them, please contact me.

I personally am totally up for longer content. If it's too long to watch in one piece, so what? I have a full week per episode. Maybe don't make it 24 hours but other than that...

Lots of awesome questions.
I'd love to see this just as a regular question to all guests. Would be interesting to hear about everyone's favorite characters (both their own and those by other players)

@Qralloq, do you have a target for where you want this to go? A certain number of episodes? A certain volume of content in minutes? Personally, I think it would probably best if you set parameters for the show that could apply to each episode. An hour feels like good amount, especially since most podcasts don't even go that long. Gnome Stew, for example, is less than an hour. You could always do another episode that particular gamer if things go really well, and you're both up for it.

As for guests, I can think of a few worthy people that should get a spotlight. I'd be happy to send you more than the couple I posted on Discord.

No, I'm making this up as I go. I chose the season one, episode x format just in case it turned out to be something I wanted to continue. Originally, I guessed half hour shows. You're probably right about the power of creating and consistently meeting expectations.

Here is my thinking: I have no expectations that our audience is larger than a hundred or so folks here. It's possible that the scope of the target audience could grow, but I'm not convinced that will be done by packaging the show a certain size. I just haven't received any feedback other than "other people might not want to watch a long show."

Now, if GP users start to tell me they're not actually watching it because 1 or 1.5 hours is too long, and they would watch if it was kept to x minutes long, I'd be happy to parcel the show up. I want GPers to be have a voice that's heard. It's not heard if this community tunes us out.

So please, if you're reading this and feel that the format doesn't work for you, I'm all ears. Or eyes. Help me build what works best for the most people.

I think about 1 hour (give or take a dozen or so minutes) is good length. Not too short, not too long.

Thanks. Would you rather only an hour of interview (with some topical QQ&AA questions for the guest), or a little shorter of an interview and keep the other segments?

Many gaming (and other) podcasts shoot for that 30-60 minute sweet spot because they are targeting exercise and drive / commute times, and because they are trying to grow an audience by being concise and on-point for the topic at hand. But wide-open interview shows and APs (for obvious reasons) tend to run longer. I have seen APs packaged up pretty nicely into one-hour chunks, and that has the benefit of one session creating weeks worth of content. You could indeed do the same with longer GP interviews. *Cough*

Counterpoint: one of my favorite gaming podcasts, Mud and Blood -often- runs over two hours and I love the gory detail and debates they get into on various subjects. And I have no trouble just stopping and starting the show as need be -- I don't usually complete the whole episode in one go.

I don't mind the idea of adjusting the format for the content -- see what Questing Beast does with his reviews (15-30 mins), and the recent interview series with various RPG designers that usually runs more like 60-90 minutes.

Loads of different paths to take here. For now, I'd do what feels right -- the thing is evolving and is pretty organic. By the time you get to the end of season one, some pretty obvious improvement opportunities will likely have surfaced that you can address or ignore. ;)

This would make a great discussion forum post too. Gives us a chance to celebrate each other.

Qralloq, I am simply happy to watch whatever you're making, not really concerned with length myself. I'm glad you're exploring things and focusing on what's fun, and it really shows that you're enjoying making this. For me, It's fun to see and hear people from the community and hear their ideas and experiences. I'll tune in regardless.

Good point! Sharing some positivity :)

I'm almost caught up with the series, Qralloq, and I really appreciate what you're doing. I'll admit that over an hour is a bit difficult for me, since I have small children and have very little free time to run YouTube videos. However, I haven't tried the podcast format yet, so that might be a better solution for me, as I can listen while walking the dog, driving, etc. One final confession is that the episodes I have watched (all but the last 1.5), I've watched a 1.5 x speed on YouTube. (Like I said, I have small children and little free time! ;P) Just another datapoint for you.

I listen to the podcast version while cleaning the kitchen after dinner

To the podcast listeners, is the audio challenging? I should listen to one to find out for myself, but I don't know what's normal. The only one I ever listened to was Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff and they were polished and professional.

You’ve only listened to one podcast!?!?!? I spent about 30 hours a week listening to podcasts. I can’t imagine life without them.

I watched the videos for most of these episodes but listened to the latest in podcast form. The audio was good. There are a few moments of dead air (a long one where I believe meme of the week would go) that could be edited out, but other than that it flows nicely.

I could add a parrot screeching non-stop for those 30 seconds. "Meme of the Week, arrawk!"

Edit: seriously considering that.

Or canned laughter. Everyone likes canned laughter.

Speaking of canned laughter, I've been giggling about this: In the shocking season finale, Qralloq pulls off his resting introvert face mask and reveals he was this former user all along!

you could use Audacity (free) to remove silences.
add a few more exclamation marks!!!!

Yeah, Audacity is pretty chill. It's also helpful for tweaking volume levels if needed, but that can get tedious, and I don't know if they're good with poor audio connection.

I've started listening to this as a podcast on Spotify (mainly because, as speculated, I primarily do my GPing at work, and on mobile no less, so I do listen to the podcast version to cut down on my data usage), and the last episode (the only one I've listened to in this format) had fine audio.

I'm interviewing Phil_Ozzy_Fer tonight. We'll discuss player/GM engagement, and drawing inspiration for game material.

Any questions or points you'd like for us to raise and discuss, send them my way within the next... 9 hours.

You know I'd love to chat with you, and there are def specific things I'd love to talk about but the social anxiety is strong in this one.
Yeah I confess I've overextended myself a few times. When I called myself an RPG addict in my (re)intro post, that was NOT a figure of speech.
That's the community for you. It's GP's greatest asset. There's not much more to my bio beyond what I put in my (re)intro post. Sorry to disappoint.

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On video length: I tend to scroll past videos that are more than 20 minutes long no matter the subject. But this series, though not as slick and polished as other YouTube fare, always leaves me wanting more!

On podcasts: Wow this thing is on so many platforms! Is the show mainly aimed at the existing community members or are you laso trying to reach a wider audience?

On QQAA and other segments: Yeah keep 'em coming and keep experimenting!

"slick and polished"... is that Esperanto? I do not know these words.
I was requested. It was easy to extend the podcast to the listed formats (one stop uploading).

As to reaching a wider audience, I do hope that people outside of GP find the show and find some utility for it. A lot of what we discuss is personal interest, but a bunch is really diving into how play-by-post really operates, and that should be easily translatable to wherever they're playing.
Thanks! I appreciate everyone putting up with my eccentricities.

Episode 7 sees Qralloq visiting Antiproduct in the Mediterranean, and they discuss finding gaming and then finding Gamersplane.com in a dark dusty corner of the internet. Meme(s) of the week, a QQ&AA (using grid maps and other tools), Canadian Action News, and then Qralloqian Lore on using the Administrative Control Panel.

Podcast is up, YT had been slow on the subtitles but I'll try to get those edited as soon as they're available.

Tomorrow evening, (about 26ish hours from now). I'll be interviewing Remnant. We'll talk about genres and settings that we've tried on GP and what seems to work best, and about things we do to learn new systems.

Please pass on any questions you have for us, and I'll sneak them in like a sneak attack.

Finally had time to get myself up to date...

Great work Qralloq !! Loved every episodes so far !! Hope there are still many more to come !!!

Chatted with Remnant yesterday afternoon, I stopped recording after about 90 minutes but we weren't done so we kept talking. That's basically 90 minutes of Remnant talking and me laughing.

Knifeedgegames agreed to talk next weekend. I hope he doesn't bring up that one time where I abruptly asked to leave his Call of Cthulhu game and my character basically exploded on camera before I actually left. Awkward! I'm hoping we can talk about long campaigns (his Warhammer Fantasy game has been running on GP for more than five years), character development, and on learning new systems. If you have any questions you want me to relay, I'd be thrilled to do so.

Today I'm planning on putting together #9, Harrigan's episode for release on Friday, June 9. This one will approach two hours in length, so apologies to those who would like to spend less of their week listening to me say "Yeah" a bunch of times.

Knifeedgegame's interview, assuming nothing gets in the way, will be the content for release on July 30. I'm trying to align schedules with five or six more people I want to talk to. Amazing how much participation I'm receiving in this hairbrained scheme. Thanks everyone.

Lastly, if you're interested in joining me on the show, please reach out. Strangers and old friends, long time players and those new to PBP or the hobby, everyone has a story. Note: if you're unsure what we would take about, I try to help us both prepare in advance by working through a loose agenda that we're both interested in.

Yeah, better prepare or you get an all over the place episode, like mine (where I told Qralloq "hey, what are you doing in an hour or so? xD )

*Blinks slowly* I uh, mostly sat still at least... *avoids eye contact*

Every episode (except that first wanker...) has been a pleasure to listen to! Keep 'em coming!

Spectacular 😂

Definitely a fun project. Highly encourage others to participate!

I don't know about that, that guy spoke of at least two great games ! He even has an old site he made back in 2016, he doesn't promote it enough. I know that is something I often used back when I dm'ed for my friends (you know, when we could meet in person...). I think he should be very proud of it. I'll leave the link here for anybody curious enough...

Weak Magic Items for 5e

Those are some cool items.

I often used them to give more character to my magic items. Nothing is more boring than a +1 weapon...

But a Arctic Cudgel +1...

Weapon (Club), uncommon (requires attunement)
Icy wind and snowflakes bluster around this weapon, even in warm environments. The bearer can walk on the surface of the lightest snow, leaving no footprints.

The eighth episode finds Qralloq a thousand miles due north of Harrigan and they discuss a myriad of gaming related topics. Is the science of play by post being invented before your eyes? Maybe. At the very least, a burgeoning awareness of the metaphysics of the hobby shows its nascent self.
Less cerebrally, there is also a Meme(s) of the Week, QQ&AA (Topic: Splitting the Party), an oddly bitter French Action News, and Qralloqian Lore (a short bit on how to make a character and post as such in a game on Gamers Plane).

This video clocks in at 2 hours. Do I have an issue with time management and self-regulation? Yes. Yes, I do.

I'd like you to meet Harrigan!

Podcast version of episode 8 uploaded. I've begun just deleting the Meme of the Week portion so you don't get 30 seconds of silence.

I've got three interviews set for this weekend, all very different people, and two interviews already recorded. That gets us well into August.

I've got five interviews in the bank now. Here's the schedule:

July 16: #9 Phil_Ozzy_Fer
July 23: #10 Remnant
July 30: #11 Genisisect
August 6: #12 Knifeedgegames
August 13: #13 Khakiphil

I'll probably ease back on actively recruiting for a few weeks, but if anyone is interested, the lines of communication are open and I'm largely available in (North American time) evenings and weekends.

Also, we will likely hit 1,000 views this weekend! Thank you for the support.

Cool.

Wow -- you're putting serious time into this, Qralloq. Really great stuff for the community -- thanks again for all the effort!

Episode 9 is out, Youtube and podcast.

Episode 9 sees Qralloq connecting with Phil_Ozzy_Fer and discussing their mutual and separate histories. They also talk about engagement, player facing mechanics, learning new games through play by post, and gaining inspiration. There are some memes of the week, a QQ&AA on narrative play, and a not so short tip and trick on using the GamersPlane.com dice roller.

Always look forward to these. Thanks, Qralloq!

Great job you two -- some interesting conversation!

Today I have for your very viewing pleasure a fun and informative 90 minute conversation with Remnant.



Url: https://youtu.be/4_fv5knPMxg

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I've also loaded up the prior Qralloqian Lore videos as separate videos with their own Playlist, in the event that anyone wants to link them. I'll set up another schedule for releasing these, maybe Mondays.

Gamers Plane Tips Episode List

Hey all, it's already Friday in Australia so I published the video early. Enjoy!



Episode 11

Podcast version had been uploaded.

I'd like to introduce long time GP-user Knifesedgegames!



Url link

I liked the conversation on how different groups get into the fantasy genre! Good work as always. Thanks for posting!

Did you know we had a browsable public Character Libarry? I did not, until a few days ago.

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Note, I've been making tutorial videos, and those are stored here:

Here's a summary of them so far:
Qralloqian Lore Episode List

(Note: the first five are simply the isolated videos from Gamers exPlane Episodes 4 through 9

Last Unread Post

Making Character Sheets Public

For GMs, The Admin Control Panel

Private Notes

Posting as your character

Using the Dice Roller

On The Fly Battle Maps

Creating a Game and Recruiting

Exploring The Character Library

Thanks again to Qralloq for going to the trouble of doing this, and making all the content available. Dug the interview with Knifesedgegames, too!

...though I'm not so sure about that introvert business. A good topic for debate, perhaps.

Let me present to you Khakiphil. He and I talked about the usual and then about game balance: what that means, how to measure it, how to achieve it, and how is that related to player agency.



Url link: https://youtu.be/fmOFZPjX5y8

Podcast will be uploaded shortly.

Season One Finale
Keleth was gracious enough to lend me his time. Over two hours, he and I discussed a myriad of topics about GP, past, present and future. A must view, in your hosts humble opinion.

If you watch only one GxP video this year, here it is!



Direct URL link

I'm playing GxP catch up this weekend. Finally watched Episode 9 (Phil_Ozzy_Fer) and left another one of my overly-long comments. XD

Remnant is next! I'll get to Keleth's by tomorrow I hope!

Really enjoying these! Thanks, everyone!

Episode 8 (Remnant) done. Remnant, you've always been a riot in the best way possible and this talk has been no exception! I'm happy to finally put a face to the name and all the craziness!

I through up a video today on using and managing Subscriptions.

I just noticed the freeze screen is less than flattering of me. Damn you algorithms!

I thought those were set by the creator?

Qralloq didn't do me any favors either, if that's the case. ;)

Also finally finished the season finale. Awesome stuff! Bravo -- a great interview, Keleth and Qralloq.

I think creators can set them but if they don't, Youtube does it automatically

YouTube will automatically generate three video still captures to use as the video's thumbnail, or allow you to upload your own.

This is what I've heard from some YT content creators as well.

I know they allow some thumbnail input, but I haven't played with that. Maybe I should.

Dibs on sheep bells thumbnail.

I totally second the sheep bells thumbnail for Anti's video.

Just watched and thoroughly enjoyed Episode 11 (Genisisect)!

24:20 We should totally continue our samurai duel!

58:18 LOL at "the Jabes record" 😆

Might not be for exactly the same reasons but I can absolutely relate with your struggles with things most people take for granted, like carrying on a conversation and other social situations. Which makes me even more grateful that you made the effort to do this wonderful interview. Thank you!

Late to the game, but great job on these videos!

Just popped in to say that I'm always willing to talk, even if I know little about the subject at hand (which is definitely not the case with RPGs). If you need another victim, I'm available most times.

Awesome, WhtKnt. I'm not sure when I'll start on season 2, but October to December is probably a good time of the year for me.

Finally got around to Episode 12 (Knifesedgegames)

Another brilliant conversation!

What particularly struck a chord with me was the bit about introverts being actors with respect to the desire to be someone else or mask our real selves. And you're right, even before we enter the game space we're already portraying a persona, in effect playing a character. Mind=blown!

It's an honor having you in our D&D 5e game!

Oh and I could be wrong but this might be the first time I've met a fellow gamer who's also a colleague in the food industry!