Role-playing reviews

Reviews related to role-playing games, with a focus on Gods & Monsters, and a bit of superhero gaming.

Gods & Monsters Fantasy Role-Playing

Beyond here lie dragons

Portable speakers for Adventure Guides

Jerry Stratton, December 8, 2007

Logitech portable speakers: Logitech portable speakers on Portable speakers for Adventure Guides

The speakers fit easily in my gaming case.

The adventure I’m currently working on—The House of Lisport—has a couple of short audio files among the props I’m making for it. Nothing special, but they should make the adventure more fun. The problem is, how to play them? Managing a stereo remote and a CD, or getting up and walking over to the stereo, does not make the adventure more fun.

Enter portable speakers designed for MP3 players. I bought these Logitech speakers for traveling, but the moment I unpacked them and plugged them in, I realized they were perfect for tabletop gaming.

These aren’t the only option. There are a whole bunch of really nice, inexpensive (around $20) portable speaker systems. I chose the mm28 over the more beautiful Audio Source DB5 speakers because they were somewhat less expensive, and because they came with an AC power adaptor.

The mm28 box claims a whopping “over 45 hours” of battery life; it takes four AA batteries. I haven’t had the opportunity to test that yet. But it definitely works for game purposes, and it has a plastic shield for its speakers to keep them safe from cheese and tomato sauce (the plastic cover is really meant to be used as a stand, mind you).

It turns an iPod or other MP3 player into a game accessory, as long as the player has a 3.5mm input jack. All I have to do on my old 1G Shuffle is make sure my game tracks are at the beginning of the playlist, and triple-click the play button to move to the beginning when I’m ready to play them.

Sound quality, at least at the levels needed for tabletop gaming, is great. It’s very clear even at very low volumes. It also maintains clarity even at very high volumes—volumes higher than I’d normally want to use in my apartment.

It’s a very simple setup. There are no volume controls: volume is controlled through the MP3 player. It has an on/off button, and it turns itself off after about eight minutes of inactivity. Note that some people have had problems with the auto shut-off feature when listening at low volume or to quiet passages of music.

Owning this makes me want to add a soundtrack to my next adventure!

  1. <- Gentleman’s House
  2. The Mist ->