Just got my Syrinscape subscription earlier in the week and curious who all else uses the platform. I understand they are working on getting approval for their sound sets for Descent Into Avernus, which I'm starting this week. But, until the final product releases, are there any suggestions for other sound sets in the system to fill in with? I have found a handful of ones I like for different tavern scenes, but those are pretty easy to find in the search function of the site.
The biggest surprise to me is that out of all the official D&D content that they have, Curse of Strahd isn't one of them. For as highly rated as that campaign is, I'm surprised it wasn't a priority. To the point, one of my friends is DM'ing that campaign and I'd estimate we are just over halfway through. I'd like to take advantage of the subscription and nail down some sets for the remainder of the campaign. Any suggestions on what to use?
Outside of that, any pointers to the overall use of the software would be appreciated. I've downloaded ALL of the Fantasy genre to both my phone and laptop. Haven't quite worked out how to use the online player, though I'm told its search function is better than the offline version which I have downloaded.
I'm about to try the trial to see what the adventure packs sounds like. Their demo YouTube videos are super annoying with the faux amazement from the owner/presenter and the voice acting seems a bit suspect in the examples. But I do want to give it a try. I strongly suspect I will not go with the subscription. Over the next year I'll be lucky - very lucky - to get through Icesphire Peak, Phandelver and Dragon Heist and all those three cost just over half than one year's Fantasy subscription, plus I'll get to keep those adventure packs in the longer term.
The subscriptions are definitely overpriced considering you can only get value from what you use, not from what you have access to. It's a common trick from SaaS companies that is very in-fashion these days, but often ends up as bad profits.
I've used Syrinscape some, and one thing I will mention is that don't get too focused on the official soundsets like wondering why Curse of Strahd isn't there. There are a TON of soundsets for a whole variety of moods - from official D&D adventures, official Pathfinder adventure paths, and just generic ones. I often pull from several of them rather than just using the one official one for an adventure. For example, when my campaign recently went to Waterdeep, I wound up liking "Bustling Port Town" for some of the background rather than the official Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. So the official ones are handy, but there are so many others that my biggest problem is it gets a bit overwhelming with all of the options and scrolling through them all.
RichestMat: Depends on how you look at it. Their business model is everything released during your subscription is yours forever. So, you basically do buy the sets, but get access to all previously released content. If you are involved in multiple campaigns like I am, fronting the costs for all the sound sets you need access to from the starting gate is a hefty investment. Subscriptions are easier to swallow. Especially when they also grant you permanent access to what is released during your subscription period. I have only been a subscriber for a week and already own 6 sound sets I'll keep forever. These are also sound sets I REALLY like and have been using and playing around with a lot already. Not to mention with Descent Into Avernus...the prerelease test material is AMAZING and really sets the mood I was looking for. I can't wait for the final product to release. And, that will also be something I get to keep forever as though I directly purchased it. While I will agree that I prefer purchases over subscriptions, in this case, I feel it just makes more sense with the benefits provided.
I have to agree with you Ken. Having gotten the subscription with access to everything....it's very overwhelming. I think my count was 532 sound sets to choose from. And...they aren't particularly organized to my liking. If there was a way to organize, sort or even group sets together, that would be amazing. I know updates are supposed to be coming for an improved search function, but not sure when to expect that feature.
I enjoyed using it in our home session tonight. Transition was smooth once I found where I wanted to start. But I honestly think YouTube CoS has the most fitting ambiance, except for every scene inside Castle Ravenloft. That goes to Syrinscape hands down.
I had a lot of fun as a player. And, you navigated it very smoothly during play. I was really impressed considering you only messed around on it for maybe ten minutes before we got started. Makes me excited to really get into Avernus for my campaign seeing how it worked for you. However, for CoS we could definitely set up both the YouTube soundtrack and Syrinscape to switch between the two based on situation. Also, I think it definitely helps that we got it hooked up to the old sound system. Not sure if you noticed too much since you were focused on DM'ing and the speakers are fairly hidden, but I could tell a huge improvement over last week's session.
Perhaps, but you were also using it to send out text updates with map locations and the sort. I like to thing we are actually progressing and getting better at this with time. If not, at least we are still having fun and engaging with the dynamic and purpose of gaming to begin with.
Once Syrinscape finishes rolling out DIA, I can't promise to keep the subscription going, but in the meantime I'm really enjoying using it (even though it's only a week in) and am looking forward to the upcoming updates. Guess it depends on how useful I feel it ultimately is doing an entire campaign with it. I'm enjoying it, but as Mat said above, roughly $7-10 per month is kind of high for just accompanying sound sets for a game. I pay less than that for Disney+. But, it's something kinda new and the way you can custom mix the sounds is definitely my favorite part of the system of Syrinscape. Still too early for me to make a call. Ultimately, I'm excited for it, and just like owning a new car, need to drive it for a while until the new feeling wears off to see things more objectively. I'm hoping to still be impressed down the road and I'll give it the duration of this campaign to wow me. Until then, if I can gather input from other users on how to best utilize the software, I'll take it!
A few sub-quests down DIP and with a few days left on my trial I'm still unsure. The UI is just awful and it won't even run on my iMac now. I wish I had tried it more with a more full adventure with spoken lines to get more of an experience. Overall though I'm feeling general music would have done the trick and be less fiddly than these tiny buttons while also keeping track of all the other spinning plates.
Just got my Syrinscape subscription earlier in the week and curious who all else uses the platform. I understand they are working on getting approval for their sound sets for Descent Into Avernus, which I'm starting this week. But, until the final product releases, are there any suggestions for other sound sets in the system to fill in with? I have found a handful of ones I like for different tavern scenes, but those are pretty easy to find in the search function of the site.
The biggest surprise to me is that out of all the official D&D content that they have, Curse of Strahd isn't one of them. For as highly rated as that campaign is, I'm surprised it wasn't a priority. To the point, one of my friends is DM'ing that campaign and I'd estimate we are just over halfway through. I'd like to take advantage of the subscription and nail down some sets for the remainder of the campaign. Any suggestions on what to use?
Outside of that, any pointers to the overall use of the software would be appreciated. I've downloaded ALL of the Fantasy genre to both my phone and laptop. Haven't quite worked out how to use the online player, though I'm told its search function is better than the offline version which I have downloaded.
I'm about to try the trial to see what the adventure packs sounds like. Their demo YouTube videos are super annoying with the faux amazement from the owner/presenter and the voice acting seems a bit suspect in the examples. But I do want to give it a try. I strongly suspect I will not go with the subscription. Over the next year I'll be lucky - very lucky - to get through Icesphire Peak, Phandelver and Dragon Heist and all those three cost just over half than one year's Fantasy subscription, plus I'll get to keep those adventure packs in the longer term.
The subscriptions are definitely overpriced considering you can only get value from what you use, not from what you have access to. It's a common trick from SaaS companies that is very in-fashion these days, but often ends up as bad profits.
I've used Syrinscape some, and one thing I will mention is that don't get too focused on the official soundsets like wondering why Curse of Strahd isn't there. There are a TON of soundsets for a whole variety of moods - from official D&D adventures, official Pathfinder adventure paths, and just generic ones. I often pull from several of them rather than just using the one official one for an adventure. For example, when my campaign recently went to Waterdeep, I wound up liking "Bustling Port Town" for some of the background rather than the official Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. So the official ones are handy, but there are so many others that my biggest problem is it gets a bit overwhelming with all of the options and scrolling through them all.
RichestMat: Depends on how you look at it. Their business model is everything released during your subscription is yours forever. So, you basically do buy the sets, but get access to all previously released content. If you are involved in multiple campaigns like I am, fronting the costs for all the sound sets you need access to from the starting gate is a hefty investment. Subscriptions are easier to swallow. Especially when they also grant you permanent access to what is released during your subscription period. I have only been a subscriber for a week and already own 6 sound sets I'll keep forever. These are also sound sets I REALLY like and have been using and playing around with a lot already. Not to mention with Descent Into Avernus...the prerelease test material is AMAZING and really sets the mood I was looking for. I can't wait for the final product to release. And, that will also be something I get to keep forever as though I directly purchased it. While I will agree that I prefer purchases over subscriptions, in this case, I feel it just makes more sense with the benefits provided.
I have to agree with you Ken. Having gotten the subscription with access to everything....it's very overwhelming. I think my count was 532 sound sets to choose from. And...they aren't particularly organized to my liking. If there was a way to organize, sort or even group sets together, that would be amazing. I know updates are supposed to be coming for an improved search function, but not sure when to expect that feature.
I enjoyed using it in our home session tonight. Transition was smooth once I found where I wanted to start. But I honestly think YouTube CoS has the most fitting ambiance, except for every scene inside Castle Ravenloft. That goes to Syrinscape hands down.
I had a lot of fun as a player. And, you navigated it very smoothly during play. I was really impressed considering you only messed around on it for maybe ten minutes before we got started. Makes me excited to really get into Avernus for my campaign seeing how it worked for you. However, for CoS we could definitely set up both the YouTube soundtrack and Syrinscape to switch between the two based on situation. Also, I think it definitely helps that we got it hooked up to the old sound system. Not sure if you noticed too much since you were focused on DM'ing and the speakers are fairly hidden, but I could tell a huge improvement over last week's session.
Hahahaha a sound system will sound better than my phone any day. I should have been putting my phone in a cup to amplify the sound.
Perhaps, but you were also using it to send out text updates with map locations and the sort. I like to thing we are actually progressing and getting better at this with time. If not, at least we are still having fun and engaging with the dynamic and purpose of gaming to begin with.
Once Syrinscape finishes rolling out DIA, I can't promise to keep the subscription going, but in the meantime I'm really enjoying using it (even though it's only a week in) and am looking forward to the upcoming updates. Guess it depends on how useful I feel it ultimately is doing an entire campaign with it. I'm enjoying it, but as Mat said above, roughly $7-10 per month is kind of high for just accompanying sound sets for a game. I pay less than that for Disney+. But, it's something kinda new and the way you can custom mix the sounds is definitely my favorite part of the system of Syrinscape. Still too early for me to make a call. Ultimately, I'm excited for it, and just like owning a new car, need to drive it for a while until the new feeling wears off to see things more objectively. I'm hoping to still be impressed down the road and I'll give it the duration of this campaign to wow me. Until then, if I can gather input from other users on how to best utilize the software, I'll take it!
A few sub-quests down DIP and with a few days left on my trial I'm still unsure. The UI is just awful and it won't even run on my iMac now. I wish I had tried it more with a more full adventure with spoken lines to get more of an experience. Overall though I'm feeling general music would have done the trick and be less fiddly than these tiny buttons while also keeping track of all the other spinning plates.
It's interesting, but I never took the time to get over the learning curve for it.
"Not all those who wander are lost"