Using Discord voice w/FG, identifying who's talking

[Stormhound]

In trying to get my game up and running, I've found that it can sometimes be a challenge to easily identify who's speaking without keeping the Discord window open...something I don't want to have to do, because even though it's on my second monitor I want to be able to use that monitor to pull up reference material (the equivalent of having a DM Screen with charts and such).

I tried turning on the Discord overlay, but the results were grossly unsatisfactory (difficulty positioning the overlay to somewhere useful on my main screen, horrific lag in the overlay identifying the speaker).

I'm not trying to set up streaming, so that's not even a concern; I'm not trying to replicate a setup like The Digital DM has (for screen real estate reasons if nothing else). But it would be great to have some way to ID who's talking without having to look at a second screen, mentally translate the username (oh, yeah, he's playing THAT character), and generally distract myself from just listening and responding. Someone out there has to have figured this out already...or at least have some bright ideas...

(I've already thought of having my players change their usernames on that particular Discord to their character names, just to eliminate the "translate" step, but that still means keeping the Discord window open.)

[Zacchaeus]

I'm not aware of anything.

There was something like this for Teamspeak I remember which I used once but I kept forgetting to look at the thing when someone spoke so I was no better off with it

[Ram Tyr]

In trying to get my game up and running, I've found that it can sometimes be a challenge to easily identify who's speaking without keeping the Discord window open...something I don't want to have to do, because even though it's on my second monitor I want to be able to use that monitor to pull up reference material (the equivalent of having a DM Screen with charts and such).

I tried turning on the Discord overlay, but the results were grossly unsatisfactory (difficulty positioning the overlay to somewhere useful on my main screen, horrific lag in the overlay identifying the speaker).

I'm not trying to set up streaming, so that's not even a concern; I'm not trying to replicate a setup like The Digital DM has (for screen real estate reasons if nothing else). But it would be great to have some way to ID who's talking without having to look at a second screen, mentally translate the username (oh, yeah, he's playing THAT character), and generally distract myself from just listening and responding. Someone out there has to have figured this out already...or at least have some bright ideas...

(I've already thought of having my players change their usernames on that particular Discord to their character names, just to eliminate the "translate" step, but that still means keeping the Discord window open.)

I recently ran a game at FGCon and this is always a problem when you are not able to identify the speaker by their voice alone. You noted that you are trying to get your game up and running. From experience, my best advice is start the game. Ask, "Sorry, who is this again?". I have probably asked that in every first session I've played with new people... and likely the second session as well. (I won't admit that it might sometimes happen after the second session because I don't want anyone accusing me of being the old senile guy that can't tell Kevin from Karen on Discord.) I actually make a brief note of the discord names, player names, and character names. Having a real world note might work better for you than something on the computer, but that doesn't help with the initial step... identifying the speaker by their voice. Now, over time, you will be able to identify everyone by their voice, their laugh, their sense of humor. That familiarity is one of the sources of fun in playing these kinds of games. Don't let the speed bump you experience when you start with a fresh group keep you from reaching the promised land.

One other things I have seen done is to have the players Discord name on the character sheet after the character name. Character (Discordusername). That way if you look at the party sheet it reminds you which character is associated with each player. If your players make use of the FG chat, both names will appear acting as a reminder. Again, a tangential benefit but not a solution to the main problem.

Once the people in your gaming group have become your friends you won't need any assistance identifying the speaker... the voice will be enough. So, keep in mind that this problem is one you will make irrelevant if you give yourself half a chance. Eyes on the prize, ears on the voices, and get your game on.

[Hurske]

This was something I always worried about at first. For me, I just get in the mindset of the world when I run a game, and only address the characters name. For me it's just easier this way. Usually the players are paying attention, and once their character name are called, they do what they need to do.

[Trenloe]

There are a few things you can do - some involving the technology, and some just plain good-olde communication.

As mentioned above:
- Change the names in Discord so that when you do look, you can see which character is speaking.
- Change the names in FG, so you can match player names to characters.

- There's an overlay functionality in Discord - I've played with it a little, but it allows a small Discord window to appear in FG. It doesn't seem to be that great (positioning and staying visible) - maybe someone with more experience of Discord and the overlay can provide some advice. Some info here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xvpcXvNwJs and https://support.discordapp.com/hc/en...-Detection-101 and https://support.discordapp.com/hc/en...es-Overlay-101

Communication:
- Ask the players to mention their character name when describing their actions - i.e. use third person, not first person. Don't use "I open the door" but "Gandalf opens the door". I try to remember to do this when playing in one-off or convention type games - it helps the GM and the other players identify the voice over time, and if they don't identify the voice they at least know which PC it is referring to.

[mac40k]

A great idea that I stole from another GM during a recent FG Con game is to just request that the players begin speaking in 3rd person. Even if they are speaking in character, they start each new bit of conversation with, "Belor says...," or "Caitlin says..." rather than "I say...." That way the GM doesn't have to recognize the voices or ask for clarification, nor do the other players. Going forward, when starting a campaign with new people, I will be implementing this (and I've also adopted it as a player in a couple games I've joined post FG Con). In a long term campaign, it can be dropped once everyone gets to the point where they can recognize who is speaking.