With the current situation my group are playing DnD remotely, so background music in session isn't a practical choice. I'm preparing additional between session material (the sound of the tavern when they arrived, or the noise of their camp while they long rest etc) and am considering adding plot hook rumours into the background music that's available (so they can hear someone talking about an issue they heard about in the area/next town)
I don't know whether this is fair, in terms of not penalizing players in-character for out-of-character decisions. All the characters would have potentially heard it but is it alright to only have those more interested/more available to get more into the extra 'fluff' have access to it?
I'm not going to be saying anyone can't have access to it but will be sharing with the players directly on request, mainly so that in-game language barriers can be more real (a dwarf singing in dwarvish won't be sent in a known IRL language to a player whose character doesn't understand dwarvish).
Does this sound reasonable or should I leave plot hooks for in-session only?
As a player, I love this kind of stuff. As a DM you may not want to go to the effort. It's hard enough getting most players to pay attention to anything not in the game as it is and if you throw in a lot of work for something they "might" find useful you are most likely just burning energy you could use to further the campaign. With that being said, there is a very small number of players that would love it (and also expect it regularly) and if you happen to have one of those campaigns, well, Kudos to your group! Most of the time the groups I've been in have been lucky to just have people show up on time, talk for 15-30 minutes and then try to remember where they were last time.
Of all the groups, I've been in two where there was another player interested enough to have meaningful discussion outside of game about things happening in the game. Sadly, 1 was long ago in a system far far away (CWOD:) but one I still play weekly with... and man, can we burn up a discord working things out and discussing what we know and think we should do.
I love the concept, and kind of wish I’d thought of it, but I’m not sure it would work. What if the players are speaking to each other when the background hint drops and they don’t even hear it? Then it’s all wasted effort on your part. Especially if you’re trying to do this remotely (I’m unclear if this is during your remote session or for when you’re back to in person) where sound quality can be an issue.
This is explicitly out of session extra fluff, because we can't reasonably do background music in session because it's all remotely, I'm not worried about it playing and them talking over it because it's essentially an mp3 they can play whenever. I just want to make sure that it's not likely to be interpreted as favouritism to those more invested out of session.
The way I plan it is that I offer to the group chat that there is [X Item of Fluff] (like art/layout of the tavern or a bit of a soundtrack from the tavern noise or wilderness noise) and they message me directly if they're interested in getting it, if several offers in a row nobodies interested I'll probably stop most/all of it but if they're into it then it's (IMO) a nice bit of additional stuff.
With that, potentially have things they can ask more about (for example, a tavern art may have job posters on a board and they get an idea of possible work (either downtime or adventure)) or they overhear rumours in the tavern music/noise. It's never going to be something that they wouldn't also be able to get in-game but I'm not sure if it could be interpreted as favouritism/there are issues (beyond effort on my part) that I haven't considered.
I think it would only be favoritism if you only offer it to some players. They all had the opportunity, but some of them chose not to take it, that not favoritism, that's people making choices. And for those players who do chose to, it ends up benefitting everyone. Assuming they can then tell the party, hey, I heard about this thing and we should go do it. Now everyone gets to go on the side quest. To me it's no different from during an in-person game, when one or two players pay attention to the DM while other players have side conversations. You're not favoring some people, just some people are more interested.
So, I'd say don't worry about it.
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With the current situation my group are playing DnD remotely, so background music in session isn't a practical choice. I'm preparing additional between session material (the sound of the tavern when they arrived, or the noise of their camp while they long rest etc) and am considering adding plot hook rumours into the background music that's available (so they can hear someone talking about an issue they heard about in the area/next town)
I don't know whether this is fair, in terms of not penalizing players in-character for out-of-character decisions. All the characters would have potentially heard it but is it alright to only have those more interested/more available to get more into the extra 'fluff' have access to it?
I'm not going to be saying anyone can't have access to it but will be sharing with the players directly on request, mainly so that in-game language barriers can be more real (a dwarf singing in dwarvish won't be sent in a known IRL language to a player whose character doesn't understand dwarvish).
Does this sound reasonable or should I leave plot hooks for in-session only?
As a player, I love this kind of stuff. As a DM you may not want to go to the effort. It's hard enough getting most players to pay attention to anything not in the game as it is and if you throw in a lot of work for something they "might" find useful you are most likely just burning energy you could use to further the campaign. With that being said, there is a very small number of players that would love it (and also expect it regularly) and if you happen to have one of those campaigns, well, Kudos to your group! Most of the time the groups I've been in have been lucky to just have people show up on time, talk for 15-30 minutes and then try to remember where they were last time.
Of all the groups, I've been in two where there was another player interested enough to have meaningful discussion outside of game about things happening in the game. Sadly, 1 was long ago in a system far far away (CWOD:) but one I still play weekly with... and man, can we burn up a discord working things out and discussing what we know and think we should do.
I love the concept, and kind of wish I’d thought of it, but I’m not sure it would work. What if the players are speaking to each other when the background hint drops and they don’t even hear it? Then it’s all wasted effort on your part. Especially if you’re trying to do this remotely (I’m unclear if this is during your remote session or for when you’re back to in person) where sound quality can be an issue.
This is explicitly out of session extra fluff, because we can't reasonably do background music in session because it's all remotely, I'm not worried about it playing and them talking over it because it's essentially an mp3 they can play whenever. I just want to make sure that it's not likely to be interpreted as favouritism to those more invested out of session.
The way I plan it is that I offer to the group chat that there is [X Item of Fluff] (like art/layout of the tavern or a bit of a soundtrack from the tavern noise or wilderness noise) and they message me directly if they're interested in getting it, if several offers in a row nobodies interested I'll probably stop most/all of it but if they're into it then it's (IMO) a nice bit of additional stuff.
With that, potentially have things they can ask more about (for example, a tavern art may have job posters on a board and they get an idea of possible work (either downtime or adventure)) or they overhear rumours in the tavern music/noise. It's never going to be something that they wouldn't also be able to get in-game but I'm not sure if it could be interpreted as favouritism/there are issues (beyond effort on my part) that I haven't considered.
I think it would only be favoritism if you only offer it to some players. They all had the opportunity, but some of them chose not to take it, that not favoritism, that's people making choices. And for those players who do chose to, it ends up benefitting everyone. Assuming they can then tell the party, hey, I heard about this thing and we should go do it. Now everyone gets to go on the side quest. To me it's no different from during an in-person game, when one or two players pay attention to the DM while other players have side conversations. You're not favoring some people, just some people are more interested.
So, I'd say don't worry about it.