Looking for Tips for Streaming FG

[RoleforFun]

Hello fellow adventurers!

I'm starting a live-streamed campaign with some friends this Friday (Session 0). I was hoping to get some tips from any experienced streamers and viewers out there. I've been DM'ing for a year or so, and using FG for about 8 months. I currently have all the rob2e effects packages (which I love) and almost all of Devin Night's fantasy tokens (which I also love). For streaming, I'm using Streamlabs OBS through Twitch, and I've covered most of the basics as far as what to put on the Twitch page. It's nothing fancy because I've only tinkered with it this week, but it'll build and be enhanced over time and create other social media pages (Insta/Face/YouTube/etc). As far as the stream goes, I'm trying to use it to have fun, while introducing new people to D&D and Fantasy Grounds. So like a casual, fun, tutorial with Lost Mines then followed up with various other campaigns of increasing difficulty and stricter rules. It's going to be every other Friday, starting at 8pm CT. If anyone has any tips to share feel free to post them here, or I can link you to my discord/twitch channels so we can chat directly there. If anyone would like to go the extra mile and check out the stream for intelligent insight, critique, and fun, then please feel free to do so as well. This is a great community and I hope to do it justice through my show. Also, if anyone would like to join up and help manage the social media presence/twitch page/etc then I would be happy to oblige. I'm not nearly as experienced in these areas as I would like and the more our beloved FG is cast in a positive, dynamic light then the better for the community! I appreciate any help in advance, hope to see you on Friday!


Very sincerely,

Catalyst 20X

[JohnD]

One thing I'd say is to be sure you're ready to stream a game. I don't just mean you as the DM either... I'm talking about your players as well. I've seen streams where it's painfully obvious that people don't know how to use FG all that well and spend time fumbling around with making basic rolls, or audio communication or not being able to connect to the DM. Watching a "game session" where the first 45 minutes are troubleshooting stuff that should have been resolved ahead of time is a big downer.

[RoleforFun]

Great points John. I'm doing dry runs with all the technical stuff for every player because of the very reasons you pointed out. I am going to have 2 players experienced in D&D but new to FG, and 3 also experienced in FG. Like I mentioned, part of this is to show people new to FG how to use the program so hopefully that will be more like "learning opportunities" rather than getting it bogged down. Using VSee as our video chat client may also help because I can screen share to help them along. I have faith it will work out reasonably well, but I wholeheartedly agree that it can be a trainwreck. I'm also planning on doing shout outs to learning resources like FGC, Digital DM's webseries, etc. If you or anyone else knows of any useful resources, please be sure to shoot them my way so I can plug them as well. Thanks for the tip!

[GarthGiantbane]

I recommend you include the "All Things Fantasy Grounds" from Rob2e and Fantasy Grounds College.

All Things Fantasy Grounds playlist (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuHtXAS9yMqX0PqyGqUKULA/playlists)

All of the early sessions were very targeted to Fantasy Grounds software and how it works.

[RoleforFun]

I recommend you include the "All Things Fantasy Grounds" from Rob2e and Fantasy Grounds College.

All Things Fantasy Grounds playlist (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuHtXAS9yMqX0PqyGqUKULA/playlists)

All of the early sessions were very targeted to Fantasy Grounds software and how it works.

Great! Thanks bud!

[LordEntrails]

I'm no expert, and I'm not doing all these things myself, but here are my thoughts;
- Start on time, every time
- Have a pre-stream intro that you start 5-15 minutes before you "go live", no sound from you and the players during this time and edit this out before posting to you tube. It should provide enough info for viewers to learn a little bit about what you are going to play; rulesystem, player and character intro's, and stream start time ("top of the hour"). You can use Power Point or Google Presents to make this and save it into a wmv or mp4 and loop it.
- Have a 15-60 second Go Live intro that grabs attention so people know you are starting NOW.
- If you can, stream from a player perspective
- Keep the story moving, don't get bogged in rules, Try to get your players to tell what their characters are trying to do, not what rules/checks/saves/die rolls they want to make.
- If your "streamer" is a player, they can interact with the viewers from time to time, as long as it doesn't take away from the game.
- Have something for your viewers to do, I ask my viewers at the end of the stream to award inspiration to one player, the one that they enjoyed the most from that session. Their are bots that allow viewers to give healing potions, advantage etc to a character.
- Welcome your viewers when you go live, both in chat and verbally.
- Give a short, 30 second re-cap for your players and viewers at the start.
- Thank your viewers at the end, and end the stream. Don't keep the stream running while you and the players chat about non-play stuff.

[RoleforFun]

Good ideas LordEntrails. Thanks for the input!

[Atua]

Watch others players streams for ideas.

Also, one of the tools I use is called Snaz. It adds a handy little countdown timer, so that your start of stream can be telegraphed fairly easily.

[shadzar]

I said i would never "post" a comprehensive list like this because people should already know it if they want to stream because it is common sense but...

Streaming on Twitch:

Have your Twitch Dashboard (https://www.twitch.tv/broadcast/dashboard/) properly set up. remember 2 parts of the Stream Information section are being remove: Go live is being deleted with the Pulse features, and Communities is being replaced with tags (https://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/articles/2955065). A complete list of tags at this time (https://help.twitch.tv/customer/en/portal/articles/2956216-available-tags) is listed on Twitch, unlike the games list they refuse to publish because it comes from the GiantBomb.com website and therefore they are not allowed to post it since it isn't a list they made.

Title can be most anything you want.

Game/Category should be the game you are playing (Pathfinder, Starfinder, Pugmire, etc), and if you cannot find a specific game on Twitch then you can use "Fantasy Grounds" category since you will be using FG to play, or "Tabletop RPGs" category since it will likely be a tabletop rpg since FG doesnt support board games or card games at this time.

Tags should explain their purpose in that list so you know you arent misusing one. (Tags automatically get deleted after each stream so you have to add them back when you stream again next time.)
Suggested tags that are currently most searched for for RPG streams: "Roleplay", and either of these "Persistant Campaign" or "One Shot Adventure" if you are playing a game. there is also "Campaign Planning" if you are doing some prep work during stream and not actually playing yet.

Note: you can and SHOULD change tags and game/category while streaming if you change what it is you are doing mid stream. this will include you in the correct searches for people to find you.

Streaming software, like OBS and Xslpit, you should use 720p30. 1080 p is not going to go over well unless you are a Twitch partner, as they get better servers, and anyone not a partner doesn't get quality options by default. and 60 frames per second (FPS) is useless for an RPG stream since you dont have those high end particles effects from video games to capture. This will give you the most possible ability for viewers to reach and see your stream from all devices and network conditions with how poor internet can be in many locations around the world.

Once you have a stable 30+ viewers twitch then starts giving people Quality Options aka transcoding and you can stream at higher resolutions and higher FPS because you will be connected to better servers for the video output. then people that have a bad internet can lower the quality to be able to view the stream. without those Quality Options, your stream will be locked at whatever and FPS you set in the broadcasting software.


AFTER all that is prepared.. you want an overlay. you dont want to just screen capture FG or your desktop. This is just something to block portions of the stream, a palce to have a background to show your twitter name, etc for people to "network".

Also you want to have the combat tracker visible on the stream. Some DMs prefer not to show it, but most of the viewers of FG streams will ask within 2 minutes of entering a stream "Where's the combat tracker" because they know whats up with FG. ;)


When you have the overlay finished and ready and want to check how everything is going, if using OBS, hit Start Recording button. do a test stream and then go watch the recording to make sure everything looks good, all the players can be heard, all the audio levels are correct, so you dont have to fiddle with it during game.


Then once that is set, you will only really need to adjust audio level each new stream as the VOIP programs and mics people use might be different each stream.


If using cameras, also be sure to include them in your overlay, and test how they look in a local recording using the "Start Recording" button as well....


THEN when all that looks good, you can keep recording locally if you have the CPU power and the HDD space, and just hit "Start Streaming" and you should be live for people to find.
(if your broadcasting software is showing dropped frames, try lowering your settings and/or switching the ingest server you are using to get the stream to Twitch. the location of this setting will vary on the software being used, like all the other settings mentioned.)

AFTER you go live, be sure to announce your game in places like here at the forums, there should be some place proper for it? and on things like Twitter or Facebook, so people can find your game to see it.


WHILE you are streaming, it can be an itching trigger finger type of things thing but do NOT do these things:

Dont watch the viewer count. it will only cause stress. just stream your game and let people enjoy it.

Dont call out your lurkers. if someone comes into chat and you can see them in the list of chatters, let them speak FIRST. some people just want to watch a game, not actually interact. while Twitch is an active video streaming site, it does survive a LOT on lurkers, and maybe someone just wants to test a stream before committing to interact, or they might be AFK and doing other things just listing. so if they are AFK and you call their name it might annoy them they have to stop what they are doing and come respond to the voice calling their name ;)

a few other things to note, is that while you may be running a game and jsut happen to be streaming it, you need to interact with the people trying to interact with stream. talk to chat when you can.

don't be a grammar or spelling nazi. Twitch isn't just for the perfectly sighted people etc. many people in this world are dyslexic, or non-English speaking as their native/1st language.

a personal thing you should do, for your own health and that of your players and maybe even viewers, take "bio" breaks.. some people call them potty breaks, etc. after every 1.5 hours of stream you should get up from the computer, just like anything else, to stretch your legs, refill drinks/snacks. This would be a good time to interact with your viewers while you await the players to return and do the FG vote thing letting you know they ar all back.

If you will be leaving also and it will be an extended break, you may with to make a scene so you can put it on scree n while gone so people will know.


Also avoid any copyright audio. Twitch is cracking down on it and will issue bans from DMCAs.


Well, those are the basics of steaming a game on Twitch using FG (and lots pertain to non FG games also). Just remember, you are sharing your game with viewers around the world. your game should come first for the players, not the viewers... later you can add in viewer participation with all the fancy bots and bits and donations etc...


but bots and streaming alert systems are beyond the scope of this "Streaming FG on Twitch 101" post. ;)