GM technology at the table - speaker

[Kevin B]

Hey all,

I'm trying to find a way to have a blue-tooth headset talk to a blue-tooth speaker for when I GM, especially at conventions.

Has anyone looked into this before?

Obviously I don't want to blast the sound to overpower the other tables but I also don't want to lose my voice (which I tend to do). I just want to talk at a normal level and have the other players hear it.

I do have access to an iPad, iPhone and an android tablet.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

[armac]

One of my local GMs has done this for his daughter at conventions. I believe that she even used her setup at GenCon. I'll try to point him in the direction of this thread.

Angus

[LaShana]

I'd love to hear more about this. I'll be doing GenCon games this year and I run a lot of convention games. And I have a light Minnie mouse voice and people have trouble hearing me. ;/

[Terminalmancer]

That's... a brilliant idea. Would like to know more myself, if anyone has set up such a thing.

[GM Lamplighter]

The issue with speakers is that it doesn't just make it louder for your table, but for all the tables around you. I toyed with using our band's Jam Hub (which feeds 6 pairs of headphones) but it's just too much gear to haul.

[Incendiaeternus]

I have a harmon set up with my laptop for syrinscape, but it can overpower a room easily.

[Slothsy]

I am fairly soft-spoken, and I find these things help:

1) I sit with my back to the noise, facing the players. (So, for example, they're in the corner).

2) Besides bluetooth headset -> speaker, there are these things. I have one, but only use it if players are having lots of trouble hearing.

3) I make knowledge checks and venture captain briefings into handouts, which helps out on both questions (they can refer back themselves) and on not having to strain my voice.

[Jayson MF Kip]

Does 'standing' count as 'technology'?

[BigNorseWolf]

ponders some sort of wearable plastic ears to direct the sound...

[DungeonmasterCal]

This is only distantly related to the original post, but I have one player who Skypes in for sessions because she moved away for work. I run the audio through my home theater system. We tend to get pretty noisy when we play, and this way everyone can hear her contributions, as opposed to using the tinny laptop (yes, now I have a laptop) speakers.

[Mistwalker]

Catching up on emails.

My daughter did indeed use a voice amplifier at Gencon a couple of years ago.

She took a simple and direct approach to the volume - she let her players set it, so that they could hear her soft spoken voice, but not blast the neighbours.

Her biggest problem was forgetting about the speaker, and leaning over to move minis, and getting feedback when the mike went in front of the speaker.