GM help: How to speak (not write) privately to your players?

Hi, As a long-time tabletop GM, I often play games with intrigue and hidden elements, players having secret knowledge and things like that. In a real-life game I often take players aside to tell them something only their characters would know or even resolve some secret action they would want to do. For many such things (especially playing out a secret scene), an exchange of notes is simply too slow and awkward. My question is if anyone has figured out some good technical way to do things like this over the web. On roll20, one can of course use whisper in the chat - this I would be equivalent to sending notes. But is there some way to quickly swap into a "private" conversation with another player using one of the microphone solutions - roll20, skype or google hangout? How do people solve this? . Griatch

+1 Since my group only uses Roll20 for combat, and we do PbP for everything in between I no longer have to worry about what you describe as a GM. However, I know exactly what you mean. Every game I've played in or GM'ed certain players knew things others didn't. With today's technology, you would think that it would be very possible to do what you propose, but honestly, other than creating a separate channel in Ventrilo - maybe call it "The Kitchen" (since that's where all our secret conversations were held)" - and just hopping over to it with whomever you need to talk to, I don't know of any other way.

This is one of the reasons I use Mumble for in-game voice communications since it's easy to create a private room, have the scene then rejoin the rest of the group. I guess you could end the current Skype/Hangout session and then fire up a new conversation, but to me it would disrupt the flow of the game more than just the private conversation.

@Lifer4700 Ventrillo is not something I've tried very much, using a separate channel like that is an interesting idea actually. As usual I would suspect requiring anyone to install any new software is never a good idea in general (especially with one-shot games on roll20), but skype is on the other hand already required by many so ... @Dave D Never heard of Mumble but reading about it, it looks pretty nifty. Thing is of course that whereas I have no trouble to install it (there is even a nice Debian package for it), there is always a problem with requiring people to install new software to do anything. Especially since I at the moment run one-shot games here on roll20, which by necessity gets new players every time. Since it's a direct server I imagine there could be issues with firewalls too maybe? A friend mentioned that you may be able to put a call on hold in Skype and then make another call. If one could put the group call on hold this way and simply call up an individual player, that may be a workaround (I've not actually tested if this is possible though). . Griatch .

Personally, I don't use it, but another software similar to Ventrilo is Teamspeak. But you run into the same issue of client software installs again. Of course Skype is an install as well. (one that I don't particularly trust, and won't allow on any networks or machines I manage - it's a dirty, dirty program - but that's a whole other story.) I don't know if this sort of thing is possible on Google+ Hangouts, but even that requires an install... So, I guess we're back to hoping that Roll20 can be a pioneer in this field! 8)

This would be a great addition. Have you posted it in the suggestions forum?

Personally, I like to use teamspeak - its fairly light on its traffic use, and with the right setup you can have buttons that let you whisper to players with the press of a key. so without even switching rooms or alerting the other players in your group you can simply whisper the player fo the character that made that spot check or nudge certain players in a direction without alerting the others or even having to interrupt them. (as GM I have priority speaker, which means i muffle the others voices when I talk so that noone has to strain to hear what i'm saying when others in the group are too busy laughing hysterically or talking about the lastest show they watched nonstop to pay attention themselves) its also has a fairly easy to set up server, running off your home computer if you don't want to pay a monthly fee to have one running on a dedicated server.

Michael H. said: ...its also has a fairly easy to set up server, running off your home computer if you don't want to pay a monthly fee to have one running on a dedicated server. That's what I like about Ventrilo. Michael H. said: ...which means i muffle the others voices when I talk so that noone has to strain to hear what i'm saying when others in the group are too busy laughing hysterically or talking about the lastest show they watched.. I was not aware of that!! I think you just converted me from Ventrilo!

Based on Dave D:s recommendation I tested out Mumble - it's open source and free to use, which is a bonus to me. It was very easy to setup (it's available for both Windows/Mac and Linux - and for us Linux users it's in the main repos). When starting for the first time it basically walks you through a wizard to configure everything. Probably no different from other offerings, but it's important for this to work easily if one is to convince a player to install it. The server itself was as easy to start - just forward the right port through the firewall and that was that. I also like that one configures the server using the normal client (by logging in with admin privileges) rather than by some custom admin program. The sound quality seems very good at least on my hardware - a clear improvement over Skype. Feature-wise Mumble seems to have all that's needed. It has the "Priority speaker" thing mentioned from Teamspeak above (lets everyone hear the GM at all times), and from what I can see in the settings you can set up shortcuts to "whisper" to particular players as well. The use of channels in programs like this is indeed the solution to the problem of "taking a player aside" as was the original question of this thread. (Mumble has positional audio to place the voices of people in different directions depending on where they are in the game. Unfortunately I don't think this works for our particular use (you need to play an actual game with locational info), but if one COULD place the players around a virtual table and hear from where each spoke ... it would be very cool.) A Mumble vs Ventrilo vs Skype comparison is found here (I don't know how unbiased it is): <a href="https://mmo-mumble.com/help/ComparisonChart" rel="nofollow">https://mmo-mumble.com/help/ComparisonChart</a> I will try to test out Mumble for a game, see how it goes. If I can get my players to install it for a one-shot that is ... . Griatch

I will try to test out Mumble for a game, see how it goes. If I can get my players to install it for a one-shot that is ... Griatch Let us know how it goes. I've been wanting to try Mumble with roll20 for a while now, but fear of trying to get a whole group of folks set up have meant the usual default to skype.

So I put together a one-shot game using a homebrew game system and used Mumble for it! Quick review of my first use of Mumble in the game: I asked the players several days ahead of the game if they were willing to install Mumble for the game. I explained why and linked to this thread to boot. Everyone agreed. One had had issues with Mumble in the past but was willing to try again. I ran my own Mumble server (this is actually called Murmur) on my home machine. After opening my firewall to the mumble port this was very easy. I then simply put up the IP and server password on the campaign's login site. Out of 5 players, one had issues with connecting at all. He had to reinstall mumble completely (we are not sure why this was), but after that it worked fine. I started by assigning whisper keys to all players and instructing them to do the same back at me. I also started up with two channels and added a third during the game (inspired by Lifer4700 above I named the main one "Livingroom", the second "Kitchen" and the third "Veranda"). This particular scenario is one which I've GM:ed several times IRL. It has pre-made characters who hide a lot of secrets from each other and a reason to not reveal it openly. So the group ended up splitting more than once - occationally because they were literally apart but occationally because one person was discussing something about their character with me and it was easiest to just "step aside" to a separate channel to chat. Most of the time I managed to make it so that there was at least two people together in each channel. Since it's a very mystery-heavy game I encouraged them to actively discuss what was going on between them while I was away (and checking in on them it seems they really did). One time the players actually suggested their scene be resolved in a way so that they could discuss in private before I switched to the other one. Interestingly enough the players reported the splits worth the occational no-GM time (at least this is what they said with me asking them about it). The fact that they could see the rolls happening in roll20 without knowing what they were actually for also made them imagine all sorts of nasty things happening to their friends in that other channel. The fact that I occationally toyed with the music for one group (which also the other could hear) also let them picture nasty things happening - a sort of meta gaming by all means but which they claimed did made things pretty intense also for the players not currently GM:ed. I can also honestly say that some events most definitely would not have happened if everyone had been listening in at the same table. A memorable moment had the rest of the group completely forgetting a character planned to sneak out from their room during the night to scout around. They came back, found their room empty and started to worry for her. It resulted in them sending out people to look for her and getting a lot of good RP out of it. Another situation had the groups running into each other in a panic and punching each other, since each group was really not sure if what they ran into was an enemy or the other group, and chose to err on the safe side. You can of course say that all these things is possible with a single channel - just have Players separate player-knowledge from character-knowledge. This is true, but the players reported afterwards that this real-life insecurity increased the enjoyment and tension for them. In some scenes I did end up with one player in a single channel, which I don't think is ideal. It is hard to avoid without railroading though. I tried to switch between them as often as made sense but still I fear that despite them saying "that it was worth it for the total effect", sitting alone is nevertheless a drag. Mumble's whisper functionality was also very useful since it allowed me to sometimes interject results of wits rolls or various things a character would probably know without having to interrupt the ongoing discussion - the player would sometimes fluidly interject with this insight without dropping a beat, which was really nice! The priority mike was great, but also had some downfalls. It made me audible and able to easily chip into any Player discussion as things happened (this muffles the others). For some time my pickup sensitivity was set too low though, and also my occational chuckle or sigh would be picked up and suddenly muffle everyone despite me not actually saying anything. I guess I could use press-to-speak, but I tend to forget that damn button and I speak SO much during a game ... after I adjusted the pickup sensitivity people reported that things worked better - and I eventually took to muting myself (assigning a keyboard shortcut for this is essential) when players were discussing and I was just listening in. Overall I found the use of Mumble really helped me to play this scenario the way it was meant to be played. It would certainly not have been possible to reproduce in Skype or Google Hangouts. (ventrillo/teamspeak would probably work but the first doesn't support Linux and both are proprietary. I like to support open-source). I will definitely try to use Mumble for my GM:ing in the future, it answers all the questions I posed at the top of this thread, and at least this group of players were definitely willing to install and set it up, even for a one-shot. . Griatch

Griatch said: I guess I could use press-to-speak, but I tend to forget that damn button and I speak SO much during a game Having the players on push-to-talk does a great job of cutting down on extraneous chit chat and crosstalk in my experience. Like yourself, I talk waaaay to much to use it myself. I haven't had anyone bail out of a game when they find Mumble is required yet either. If you decide to push Murmur off of your computer and on to a dedicated server, I recommend the folks over at Command Channel . For under two bucks a month, I get an eleven slot server that I can relocate world-wide depending on who's playing in a given game. Useful when a game has had people logging in from Pennsylvania to Taiwan.

Griatch said: In some scenes I did end up with one player in a single channel, which I don't think is ideal. It is hard to avoid without railroading though. I tried to switch between them as often as made sense but still I fear that despite them saying "that it was worth it for the total effect", sitting alone is nevertheless a drag. I was actually the player that Griatch had sitting alone, and I can honestly say that it was nothing but a positive. I spent most of the time thinking about my plans for my time apart and for how I would return to the group. I spent roughly an hour IRL sitting in silence(I confess Youtube was used a bit), but it was entirely worth the extra depth it added. I actually ended up rejoining the party in a way that caused all sorts of insane paranoia to go through my head for a good half hour until it was all cleared up. I believe that if your players genuinely want the best RP experience possible that they'll enjoy splitting on the Mumble channels.

I actually prefer Dolby Axon, It has a smaller bandwidth usage and a better sound quality then most of the above listed. Designed for gaming. Easy to spit a room off of your main chat room. And it is free, and requires no server. <a href="https://axon.dolby.com/" rel="nofollow">https://axon.dolby.com/</a>

Using Roll20 in Google Hangouts I simply ask the players not involved to mute the relevant audio outputs. Then we wave when we're done. I trust my players and they probably can't lip read.

I guess that would work if you're using video... I don't know anyone my age that owns a web cam.

@Lloyd J: Didn't hear of Dolby Axon before. At least for me, it would not be usable since there doesn't seem to be a Linux client. Personally I also like the ability to control my own server without needing any accounts. If one has a limited/costly internet a hosted solution may be an idea though. @Spyke Google Hangouts is nice, it's a good fallback if everyone has webcams, thanks! The drawback I can see with people muting/deafening themselves (regardless of trust or not) is the fact that the muted players cannot talk to each other while you are off talking to your "chosen" player(s). Players left "GM-less" in a Mumble channel (at least when it was more than one person) were able to discuss their next move (and also relax and goof off a bit without affecting the game). All lead to them often having a plan and ideas ready when I got back to them. . Griatch

@Griatch: True. I try to keep the private chat part short. It's not really a solution for a full party split, but it does work for a quiet word regarding some sneaky plan a player has or when a character or two run on ahead. @Lifer4700: if you're using text chat instead of video you could send a 'back together' message that way. Alternatively move all the players to a 'Private - Keep Out!" screen and move them all back when the private chat is over, as a visual cue. Or slap a big "Silence! GM being awesome!" token over the centre of the current screen.