Adding sound and sound effects to FG game

[vaughnlannister]

Hi All, I was wondering what your opinion was about using sounds in FG session?
I am worried that the sounds may be too distracting and could delay gameplay.
Does it really add something, is it worth adding?

[LordEntrails]

Some people swear by it...
I tried is one session about a year ago and in my case my players felt that the background sound track was too repetitive. So, at least I did a poor job in sound track selection, or my players just are not going to want background sounds.

That said, I do intent to introduce sound triggers at some point. Probably not just for attacks/hits/misses (too repetitive), but probably for critical hits and automatic misses. Maybe, I'll then add in some one-shot sounds for special occasions.

[vaughnlannister]

Yes, I'm also tempted with adding sound triggers to our games, yes I get where there at, I find tracks to get repetitive as well but I could like play it for a few minutes and stop the play for instance, that an idea I'm thinking about. Although I don't find sounds in video games too distracting, I think they can be if your trying to interact with other players.

[mattekure]

I am in several campaigns that use sounds, both as player and DM. It can really go either way. If the DM takes the time to prep and select appropriate music and triggers, it can really enhance gameplay. If the DM puts in little prep and just picks things at random, it can be very distracting. I dont personally like heavy soundtracks in the background, but on occasion they can ramp up the tension. One main consideration for me is the ability to turn down the music volume independent of the voice volume. If the Voice and Music are coming over the same channel, its very distracting and can become hard to hear.

[vaughnlannister]

Ok thanks, I thinks its worth a shot!

[Trenloe]

Definitely worth a shot. I use background music/sound effects in most of my games. It does require prep to make sure things are appropriate. I have a good library of background music that I’m familiar with which allows me to quickly select what I want.

There’s plenty of musicians who develop 10-15 minute loops for RPG gaming. I also look for games on sale (or just cheap) on gog.com that include the soundtrack as an extra. This is a great source of background music - the old D&D games (Baldur's Gate, etc.) are perfect for this.

[vaughnlannister]

Thanks I will, I've already added sounds from Patrician III to my sound library, just loved the sounds in that game :)!

[Mytherus]

I just started using sound about a month ago. I use syrinscape online. It's super easy to use. With the subscription (about 10 bucks a month) you get every sound syrinscape has. At any rate i was worried it would be overwhelming but everyone has their own player they adjust their own volume. Theres extenstions for fg that make it easy to plan out what music or sound effects to play just by linking them into your story entries. Finally it also does spell and weapon sounds automatically. The players like it a lot so its worked out so far.

[osarusan]

I've been using music for about 20 years now, and sound effects for about 2 years.

It absolutely can be a distraction. It's not an easy thing to do, and I've learned a lot in that time about when to use background music, what kind of music to use and what not to use, etc.

I use Winamp + Discord to stream music at a low level, so the players are free to mute the music if they don't want it at all.

I use Syrinscape + the FG Syrinscape plugin to do sound triggers. It's pretty fun, but it can be buggy too. You'll have to manually adjust a lot of the sound entries if you use that plugin, otherwise you'll get sound effects when you don't want them. My main recommendation is that as long as it doesn't become a distraction, it can be quite fun. But it can very easily become a distraction, so be careful!

[tomjscott]

How do you use Sounds in FG? I saw a video of someone running an FG game and there was a Sounds button, but I don't have any such button in my FG. Is it some sort of add-on module?

[Zacchaeus]

How do you use Sounds in FG? I saw a video of someone running an FG game and there was a Sounds button, but I don't have any such button in my FG. Is it some sort of add-on module?

The video probably showed an extension that is no longer available. But there is this one https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?53583-AudioOverseer-(Audio-Management-Extension)

But there is no native in build way to play sounds in FG.

[tomjscott]

Ok, thanks. Do you know if FG Unity will have sound capability at some point?

[Zacchaeus]

Ok, thanks. Do you know if FG Unity will have sound capability at some point?

It isn't planned that I am aware of.

[mattekure]

How do you use Sounds in FG? I saw a video of someone running an FG game and there was a Sounds button, but I don't have any such button in my FG. Is it some sort of add-on module?

do you remember which video you saw? There was an older extension which allowed you to trigger sounds from within FG that is not longer available. Currently, there are 2 FG extensions commonly used for sounds.

I wrote one specifically for working with Syrinscape sounds. It is available on the DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/301496/Fantasy-Grounds-Syrinscape-Sound-Links?affiliate_id=712946

Celestian also wrote one called AudioOverseer which is free and available here on the FG forums.

[tomjscott]

do you remember which video you saw? There was an older extension which allowed you to trigger sounds from within FG that is not longer available. Currently, there are 2 FG extensions commonly used for sounds.

I wrote one specifically for working with Syrinscape sounds. It is available on the DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/301496/Fantasy-Grounds-Syrinscape-Sound-Links?affiliate_id=712946

Celestian also wrote one called AudioOverseer which is free and available here on the FG forums.

This video showing a session of Princes of the Apocalypse has some Sound feature being used.

https://youtu.be/JRKcDbWk8rE

[Zacchaeus]

Yes, that one extensions is no longer available.

[fabiocm]

It isn't planned that I am aware of.
Is it really not planned? :cry:

I mean, FG already play a ring on turn start. Is'nt that already part of the work on making it play any other sound?

[Trenloe]

I mean, FG already play a ring on turn start. Is'nt that already part of the work on making it play any other sound?
Playing a small built-in sound is completely different from streaming/uploading sounds to all the clients in almost real-time.

[mattekure]

Is it really not planned? :cry:

I mean, FG already play a ring on turn start. Is'nt that already part of the work on making it play any other sound?

The ring on turn sound is baked into the FG executable. Thats a very different thing from managing and playing external content, whether actual files, streaming audio, or web linked content. That may be something they consider after Unity is out, but for now we use the various workarounds for getting and using audio within FG. I use syrinscape and my extension for it. It seems to work well enough for my group. There are other extensions available here on the forums as well to help with that. If FG ever does add more audio capabilities, I guarantee you extension authors will make use of it.

[LuckyDragon]

I use Syrinscape + the FG Syrinscape plugin to do sound triggers. It's pretty fun, but it can be buggy too. You'll have to manually adjust a lot of the sound entries if you use that plugin, otherwise you'll get sound effects when you don't want them.

Where can I find this sorcery?? Is the plugin just for FGC or can I use it in FGU?

[mattekure]

Where can I find this sorcery?? Is the plugin just for FGC or can I use it in FGU?

There are two extensions that work with Syrinscape. I have one available for purchase on DMsGuild and there is a free one available here in the forums called AudioOverseer. For my extension, there is also a separate optional product with prebuilt sound triggers to auto play sounds when certain trigger text appears in the chat.

Extension: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/301496/Fantasy-Grounds-Syrinscape-Sound-Links?affiliate_id=712946
Optional triggers module: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/303885/Fantasy-Grounds-Syrinscape-Sound-Chat-Triggers?affiliate_id=712946

Edit* Oh, and both work in Unity.

[LuckyDragon]

Perfect. Thank you :)