Using sounds in your games

[TheDude4000]

Hello RPGx community! I am fairly new to this and will soon be starting my very first PbP game. I was curious to know if anyone here uses sounds in their PbP games. Not so much music as sound Fx. I have a list of sounds I've made for some of my scifi games I've played on Roll20 and in person, such as computer alerts and alarms, etc. Does anyone do this? I found that you can upload sounds on soundcloud.com and put a link in the post, but I'm concerned it might break the immersion and take people out of the writing if they have to follow a link and click "play". I just wanted to see what others thought about this. Any feedback would be welcome! Thanks!

[Retry]

SFX are fantastic in live-play if handled correctly. They become mostly muted in pbp due to what you mentioned.

If I have to stop reading to open a hyperlink and click play just to hear a three-second >BZzzzZZT!< of someone receiving an electro-shock then it doesn't add much to my reading experience. This also opens the door for the reader to be subjected to ads that might be longer than the clip itself and cause a negative experience (pending on the platform, of course).

I've taken to doing what I have in this post and just posting the sound as if from a comic. Doesn't add much but its fun (for me) to do here and there when words are just not coming to me to properly describe the sounds.

[TheDude4000]

Very good points. I agree with you. I've had a GM put a link for mood music in at the beginning of a post, but that can be started and played while you're reading. For sound effects, I don't see any way you can do it unobtrusively mid post. Thank you for your thoughts!

[Kayal]

I think what you did ("BZzzzZZT!") should work wonders. That's exactly how I handled sound-effects in my PBP games.

As a GM, I try to describe every scene with two of the senses (usually sight & sound or sight & smell). In a PBP game, this type of sound effect not only satisfies that requirement, but drives it home.

Smell is a lot harder to demonstrate, so words have to suffice.

[SupersUser]

This is a great discussion! I saw this and immediately knew I had to read. I agree that having to open a hyperlink or hit play generally takes me out of the immersion. Doing a text effect, like in a comic, is a good compromise.