[VIDEO] Can I Animate My Actual Plays? (TTYOL Episode 1 Part C)

✨Can I Animate My Actual Plays?

This post describes observations of Actual Play practices and what I would like to try instead.. The text adds more context and links to complement the embedded video.

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Textual vs Visual Actual Plays
• 00:51 – My preferred style
• 01:50 – Using art
• 03:00 – Example time
• 04:08 – AI in Art?
• 05:14 – Update from the FUTURE

Text vs Visual

In the realm of Solo TTRPG Actual Plays, I more often encounter the text-heavy variety.

Maybe it’s because I’m new to this hobby, but I more often see the written word, varying from shorthand that outlines mechanics, actions and oracles in succinct bullets through to careful long prose, akin to what you might see in novels.

Even if you were watching a video, the Actual Plays often rely more heavily on words. We might be watching a Vtuber or Youtuber, but we listen for the words to construct the gameplay in the theatre of the mind. (Which, as much as I love words, this does get hard for someone with mild aphantasia) In videos, we hear descriptions of fantastic locations, listen for the tone of NPCs and rely on words to understand the narrative.

When there are images included, these are usually supplementary: a few images to convey the vibe at the start, a few images of specific characters, maps and the like.

What if Actual Plays were visual novels?

I basically use the solo TTRPG hobby as a vehicle to force myself to express myself creatively, so taking inspiration from different creators and other genres, I wondered if I could ‘animate’ my Actual Plays, so they functioned like mini visual novels. (And when I say ‘animate’, I mean ‘Image A sways onscreen to convey motion’, not painstaking frame-by-frame changes.)

How? What?

My plan is to use Canva as my little animation helper. It’s not the right tool for the job, but I find it easy to use for editing documents, videos and graphics, so I’d rather stick to the one tool. Plus, Canva can easily caption videos, so that’s an added bonus!

But if Canva adds the little animations, what am I actually animating?

My plan is to use a combination of my own art (yep, my own somewhat crude digital art, either in Infinite Painter on Android or Procreate on iOS), human-made art that is licensed through Canva as well as royalty-free art like on Unsplash. That will make it easier for me to build scenes without investing weeks or months into each actual play. Even still, I think this will take a lot of effort! So we’ll see how this goes.

Use of AI

I believe in the responsible use of AI. So I wouldn’t share AI-generated images in my videos or posts.

How might I use AI for art?

• Removing backgrounds from images or graphics
• To support my art-making (e.g. example images)
• Feedback and discussion (like a ‘rubber ducky’ that talks back for programmers… but for art?)

I’m keen to hear feedback on what I’m trialling, so please do send me an email, respond on your own website or leave a comment below or on Youtube. 💗

What else?

🎥 NEXT VIDEO:

[Actual Play] Iron Valley x Wandering Tea Garden – Solo Roleplay Episode 1 Part D – I actually play the game. Really. Truly.

📖More Tabletop Roleplaying?📖

• 💗 Browse all Actual Play sessions (video and written): https://patsitive.co.nz/category/writing/actual-play-writing/
• 💗 TTRPG notes: https://garden.patsitive.co.nz/solo-roleplaying/

📝 Accessibility

I’m working on making my content friendly for folk who are hard-of-hearing, low visibility, and dyslexic and anyone who can benefit from easier access. Thanks for your patience! 💖

Ngā mihi nui, Pat (Kind regards, Pat) (Mabait na pagbati, Pat)