What is Softrope?

Softrope is an audio application for Dungeon Masters, a kind of RPG sound mixer.

Softrope brings customisable organic soundscapes like rainstorms, battles and creepy dungeons as well as spot effects such as growls, screams and explosions to your tabletop RPG. Music tracks can also be added to any scene.

Softrope allows you to build a collection of sound-based scenes. You build each scene with simple single sound-effects, layered up to create a more complex soundscape.

How about an example?

Picture the scene, your players’ character’s are tramping through a lush green tropical rainforest, in a storm. Let’s build a soundscape for this.

1st Sound Effect: A short rain loop. Set in Softrope to loop continuously. 2nd Sound Effect: Another continuous loop, this time some chirping jungle birds. 3rd Sound Effect: A thunderclap set to loop with a random ten to thirty second gap.

Now the thunderclap sound effect might get a bit repetitive, so Softrope allows you to choose multiple samples for each sound effect, and randomly chooses one for each repeat. The randomness of the actual thunder sample used and the random gap between thunderclaps keeps the whole scene sounding more organic.

How does it work during play?

While you are running a game, be it Dungeons and Dragons, GURPS, or whatever, you need things kept simple and out of the way. During play you are presented with a single window full of scene buttons, click one and that scene plays with the settings you've setup in the Scene Editor. It's as simple as that.

Requirements

Softrope needs the Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5SP1. If you are running Wizards' Offline Character Builder then you can run Softrope. Windows 7 will work straight out the box.

Mac OS X and iOS

Some people have been asking about Softrope for Mac OS X and iOS. I'd love to do this. Unfortunately I'm not a proud owner of a Mac, iPhone or iPad. I'd like to make apps for all three.

I'm saving some money, but don't want to buy a Mac if the demand is not there so if you are interested then you can help me out.

How Can I Help?

First off follow @softrope on twitter. Tell you friends, tweet about #softrope. Try Softrope out and contribute to new ideas and bugs on the forum.

If you really want to help out in a material way then you can donate towards the costs of developing, particularly if you'd like to see iOS and OS X version, which require a hardware outlay for me.

Why the name Softrope?

I wanted a word that would be fairly unique yet still RPG/DnD related. Surely I’m not the only DM to have a this happen in a situation where rope was required.

Player: “I’ve got some soft rope, will that do.” DM: “WTF? Soft rope?” Player: “Here on my equipment I’ve written, ‘Rope (S0ft)’.” DM: *Looks closely*. DM: *Slaps player*.

At the end of the day it was a choice between Softrope or 50ft Boots.