Audio is Catching On

Podcasts, Anchor, using Dropbox to share audio files, streamed recordings of actual online game sessions; the manner in which one can share their gaming activities with those not part of your game seems to be on the rise. 

With copious copies and impressions of any given game session being recorded makes the idea of new audio theater seems so much more possible. Whether or not it is a medium which is passe or unneeded, I am particularly aware of my attraction to radio theater as a child. In fact, whether it was a narration or just a song, hearing something on the radio, especially late at night, had an escapist, imaginative thrill that print or video missed. 

I think it has something to do with "theater of the mind", the ability to fill in blanks while a narrative unfolds creates an interactive experience only, well, a table top role playing game being the other can deliver. I've looked at some of the session reports generated by myself and my players over the last two years from actual play and I wonder how to make the content as interesting to consume as it is to play. Editing and writing it out in prose feels laborious and I'm just not into it. I've tried. But writing good fiction is tough, a slog and for me a chore. 

But making the text into an audio story seems much more interesting. I have satellite radio in my truck and I can listen to classic radio broadcasts from a time before television. While the medium is fine the stories are dated and just kind of suck. With today's online tools it would be real simple to do better, as long as you had a good script. Collaboration would be key, as well as changing narrative voice and focus. If you have ever listened to Firesign Theater you may get the jist of what I am thinking. I just need more time to pursue all this cool stuff. Dam day job. And I love game prep so I'm going to work on some of that right now instead of doing some heavy editing and rewrite. 

Dreams within dreams I suppose. 

[EDIT] Here is one of my players taking a stab at and Audio Session Report. Straight up awesome, give it a listen.