Market Research for a Mouse Guard podcast

I’ve been recording the last few sessions of my Mouse Guard campaign, with the intent that I’ll eventually chop it up and post it, probably on my YouTube channel. So I thought I’d do a little market research, since I’ve never done one of these before. Please answer the following questions, so I may deliver the best, most entertaining product possible.

  1. What is the ideal length, per episode, for you? 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour, or an entire session, no matter how long?

  2. The first recorded session didn’t turn out as well as I had planned. I was rushed for an idea for the game, and it turned out a little dumb. And since I’m still relatively new at this game, I didn’t run it very well. Would you like to hear this first episode anyways, or leave it as an unaired pilot?

  3. Would you be willing to listen to episodes on YouTube, or would you prefer your podcasts to be in actual podcast format, as in audio files on iTunes?

  4. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much tolerance do you have for mouse-related pop culture references in the game? 10 being you love them, 1 being you can’t stand them.

More questions may be forthcoming, depending on how much interest crops up.

  1. 20 min
  2. No. If you’re not satisfied with it, don’t publish it.
  3. Multiple formats. It’s the internet.
  4. As in Mickey Mouse? I’ll abstain from rating, but say that a MG podcast should focus on MG.

I was thinking more like an adversarial NPC who suspiciously resembles Ratigan from the Great Mouse Detective (including a cooperative fox instead of a cat). Or that the mayor of Sprucetuck is named “Mr. Ages.” All still very much in the setting, of course. They would seem perfectly innocuous if you don’t know the reference (but my players will know them).

That stuff is all fine.

  1. & 3.
    If you put them as podcasts on iTunes (which I hugely prefer), there is no reason not to have them as entire sessions. And not chop them up in 20 min episodes. Then when I download them from iTunes I can listen to it as long as I like, no prob.

Btw; I’ve been looking for AP podcasts with Mouse Guard, so I’m looking forward to this. :wink:

This is just me, but I can’t listen to unedited play sessions. A brilliant example of how to edit something like that is the “Fiasco” episodes of the “TableTop” online show.

  1. I guess an entire session would be best - I want to learn how a MG session runs.

  2. If I were you, I wouldn’t put out a poor recording/session. This’ll be the first impression people get of your AP and can make it or break it.

  3. Downloadable mp3 please. I don’t care what other format you publish it in, but I can’t listen to it otherwise due to time constraints.

  1. At most 20 minutes. I can’t listen to anything longer than that. (The idea of listening to some podcast’s 3-hour+ actual play podcast is laughable. Not gonna happen.) I could do up to 40 minutes if the show is well organized and the hosts are good and have a nice, engaging dynamic.

  2. Unaired pilot until you get Internet-famous. Then post it as a “look at this pilot episode, ye billions of subscribers.”

  3. YouTube (meh), .mp3 download, inset into a webpage, or via iTunes subscription.

  4. Scale of 1-10: 3. Keep on point; stay interesting. Mouse pop-culture not required.

  1. I prefer to be able to listen to the whole thing without effort. If it’s broken up that’s okay. But if it’s more than three parts, I’d also post the whole thing. Maybe break it up by obstacle so it makes sense? Are you going to add anything besides the AP? Maybe wrap each section with a minute of commentary on how it went vs how you planned.

  2. Save for later, but release eventually. Label clearly.

  3. MP3 or no go.

  4. If I won’t notice, I won’t care.

  1. id like whole sessions, with table chatter cut out, just the players RP (maybe add in the mechanics as a narator of sorts, ie dispo, OB setting and rolls etc…)
    so its almost an auido adventure book of a MG session, rather than a fly on the wall session

  2. have it as a no.0 on your website/podcast, with clear description that it is the test episode, and release it AFTER the first 2-3 of the new shiney verison

  3. podcast defs, others as people require

  4. pop culture references are ok, but rather than make the reference and then skip on description, give descripton of character, and maybe drop “like a mouse version of Tyler Durden” at the end of your descripton… and characters can resemble anyone as a reference, not just anthropomorphic characters :slight_smile:

(5. make sure you pimp it on this forum AND other RPG groups)

Whole session please. Podcast format preferred. I’d wait until you get a good game session and post that one. Skip the one you don’t feel right about. I’d strongly prefer heavy MG theme and without references to real life in any way.

And heavy use of mechanics!