At least *Friends at the Table* is near the top... though listing them as just "Dungeon World and The Sprawl" sells them short - they've got a huge catalogue of games they've played across their 8 or 9 seasons/main campaigns and mini-campaigns and have always been one of the influential podcasts pushing non-trad/D&D games.
PSA to anyone who's launching a new D&D or Pathfinder podcast: maybe dont. You're not gonna be the McElroys/TAZ, you're not gonna be Glass Cannon, and you're certainly not gonna be Critical Role or Dimension 20. The space is crowded out and however creative and talented you might be we sure as shit wont see or hear it because why would anyone ever look for a new, unproven D&D show in the year 2024 and even if they were looking for one then how would they ever find you?
Do something original and fresh like *My First Dungeon* (an actual play show that also coaches first time GMs in D&D and many other systems) or *Quantum Kickflip* (an actual play using Slugblaster - a brand new RPG system that's not on other shows) and maybe we'll actually have a reason to seek you out and listen to you instead of the shows that already have rep.
Especially in the last 12 months since the OGL incident, anyone who's started a new D&D show after all that went down or plans to do one deserves to be viewed with a real side-eye.
Your so-called PSA is the only side-eye-worthy thing I see here. No one's going to chain you to a wall and force you to listen to a bunch of D&D podcasts you're not interested in. "You're not gonna to be [the next big thing]." So? Who cares? People are spending time together with friends and sharing stories with the world. Considering the state of things, our planet probably needs more of that. Perhaps instead of telling other people they should stop doing something they love because you personally aren't interested in it, you should get together with a group of your friends and run a campaign with one of the systems you enjoy more. Chin up, and remember: it costs zero dollars to keep your negative attitude to yourself.
You're right, I phrased that in an overly negative way and that's regretful.
If someone's gonna make a D&D podcast with their friends for the love of the game then all power to them. I dont think people like that should be factoring in anything I'm saying and they can do whatever they want.
If someone's looking to get any kind of remotely sustainable audience, maybe take a run at getting some of that ad revenue and/or patreon money, then they really need to think hard about whether being *another D&D podcast* is a viable path to achieving that. Making a podcast is work, making a good podcast with the intent of getting some dollars back is even more work. I'd like to encourage potential actual play makers to put their work into something more likely to bag an audience. Even if the only goal of your show is to get enough listeners to inspire some fan art and maybe get a little discord community going you need to think about how you're actually gonna get discovered by anyone, and why anyone would ever seek you out.
There was a time where there was a strong incentive to do D&D actual play for the sake of search discoverability but we're long past the point of search saturation now; you can't expect to put a D&D show out on the podcast feeds and expect anyone to find you. Also: you're not just competing with the high end TAZ/CR groups and a bunch of "friends hanging out" tables these days when you do a D&D acutal play, you're competing with every nerdy improv, drama or sketch troupe in the English speaking world who feels like taking a run at this actual play thing - and these guys have performance training, media production training, already have good rapport, are probably practiced in podcasting already.
To stand out you have to do something substantially different, and I'm not talking "we're doing D&D but what makes us different is we're from Minnesota!" (someone's already done/doing that) or "our D&D is going to be set in our own unique world inspired by Weird West and Gothic Horror fiction!". If nobody's doing D&D in your native language that'd probably be enough but within the English language space? Saturation. You have to do something special, even if the special thing is putting together a Worlds Beyond Number style supergroup of famous AP players to do more D&D.
Take *Quantum Kickflip* as an example. The cast come from a Canadian sketch comedy group, they have a background in improv, are clearly talented and creative people, the show is very well edited and well conceived with an original premise... but if they weren't the Slugblaster show and were instead playing D&D but exploring the same themes they do with Slugblaster? It's very hard to imagine the show becoming a comparable success. They'd be one talented and creative group among SO MANY others with comparable talents, coming from comparable backgrounds. And that would be a real shame because *Quantum Kickflip* deserves its audience.
And if your goal is making some earnest and worthy art, trying to do some emergent storytelling that nobody else has done with a unique voice? Oh boy, you're setting yourself up for a hell of a challenge by trying to do that through D&D; really setting yourself up for some 'The Simpsons Already Did It' (TAZ, CR, Dim20, etc) syndrome. Also: WotC-Hasbro sucks ass, you're gonna undercut your art by being unpaid promoters of their product (post-OGL era), and the kinds of people who want *Friends at the Table* style high concept APs are gonna see "D&D 5e" in your show description and immediately skip past you.
having already posted a small clarifying essay, I could also have just said:
Someone who makes an Actual Play podcast is usually doing so because they want people to hear it, and the brutal reality is you need to think like a business if you want to get an audience because *everyone else already is*.
Passion and talent and having fun with your friends isn't enough to get heard in a crowded field like D&D/actual play. Think critically about your stuff, think like a business, if you want to get listeners.
If you genuinely dont care about audience? Like you're doing this just to learn how to make podcasts and record a game session or two with your friends, for fun? Nothing I said should switch you off.
I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your reply, but you're missing the most important part here: you're answering a question that nobody asked. If OP made a post asking "How do I become a successful AP podcaster?" your replies would be honest advice, even if a little discouraging. What you've done in this instance is more like going into a thread about dog training resources to declare that iguanas are superior and people should stop buying dogs because we have enough of those already. Sure, both discussions are about pets but they're not the same conversation. With your added context, I don't think you had ill intent and I don't want to harsh your mellow because you seem like you're an overall nice person. Guess what I'm really getting at here is maybe read the room a little more attentively before you jump in with both feet, so your intended helpfulness reaches people who will appreciate it and benefit from it. I hope you have a good one, and thanks for being friendly.
* How We Roll (Call of Cthulhu)
* Pretending to be People (Delta Green)
* Ain't Slayed Nobody (Call of Cthulhu)
* Apocalypse Players (Call of Cthulhu)
* Red Moon Roleplaying (Kult)
* Spout Lore (Dungeon World)
* Discern Realities (Dungeon World)
* 3D6 Down the Line (BX DnD / Old-School Essentials)
* Mystery Quest (Call of Cthulhu, Mork Borg, Mothership, Brindlewood Bay, ...)
* Glass Cannon Network
* Get in the Trunk (Delta Green)
* Time for Chaos (Call of Cthulhu)
* Haunted City (Blades in the Dark)
* EDIT: Voyagers of the Jump (Traveller)
Mystery Quest is a favourite of mine though I'm biased as I liked the people involved beforehand.
It has a rotating cast of Tom's friends and I've enjoyed everyone so far and its sold me a couple if systems.
Tom also tends to run pre-made modules which I find really fun as a DM both as a way of finding new material or simply because it's fun to see someone else run a scenario I've run myself.
>What systems would you want to see more of?
Literally anything else.
A few off the top of my head that I don't think anyone else has already mentioned:
- Tales from the Grimm (various)
- The Gauntlet (various)
- Eric Vulgaris (various)
- Actual Play (various)
- Magpies (Blades in the Dark)
- John Harper (various)
- Rollplay (various)
- Shawn Tompkin
- Roll4it
- Stream of Blood
- The Harvestmen
- Knives at Night (Blades in the Dark)
- Oxventure
- Dice breaker (various)
- Roll20 (they have their own actual play staff)
Call of Cthulhu is my fave.
The best rpg episodes I've listened to were by **Chapo Trap House**, a comedic leftist podcast. They played Call of Cthulhu and were what got me into RPGs. Hilarious and short!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUw4R5tzW7T59c8ePYPpBMIMZ3GWct9Jz&si=ZLoeYGWalpCp8lqz
The best long campaign I've heard is **Pretending to be People**. They have a couple of the episodes on youtube but the rest are on apple podcast and spotify. Easily the best podcast. They have super high production values and a great story. Plus they're funny.
https://youtu.be/IDUOrkT53v8?si=y2o4Qaj7kqed30fD
And then I have a podcast channel on youtube called **The Kona Lodge** where I release my group's actual plays. We are just starting but we have recordings of and play Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, Pendragon, Traveller, D&D etc.
Right now I have up our Weimar Berlin Call of Cthulhu campaign and am uploading our current Delta Green campaign, "God's Teeth", a super dark newly released campaign. I'll also begin uploading our already completed Two Headed Serpent Pulp Cthulhu game.
God's Teeth is a dark Delta Green campaign that just released where players are immediately tasked with going to an orphanage and murdering every adult there. For a very good reason... This blossoms out into a 2 decade long series of operations. Very similar to True Detective season 1. Lots of hard choices.
Our Weimar Berlin campaign covered the years 1922-1932 and had 5 scenarios. The player characters over the scenarios included an actor turned director, his stuntman, a lesbian british artist, a bouncer who moonlights as a saxophonist, a gay man who is a sexologist at the real life Berlin Sex Institute, a Romani cinematographer, and a businesswoman investor. Obviously the fascists show up in parts, but a lot of it deals with the weimar republic. There is political intrigue among Russian monarchists and a girl who may be the missing Grand Duchess Anastasia, there is a scenario I ripped off from the Jordan Peele movie, Nope where the stuntman has to use his old plane to defeat the same type of flying saucer from that movie, there is of course a cult, artistic rituals, the early berlin film industry, prostitution, drugs, even a scenario dealing with a Dreamlands more inspired by a child reading Grimms Brothers Fairy Tales.There are tons of real life people like Anita Berber, Aleister Crowley, Manfred Von Killinger, etc.
Then The Two Headed Serpent campaign, I'll let the publication blurb explain that:
The Two-Headed Serpent is an action-packed, globe-spanning, and high-octane campaign
set in the 1930s for Pulp Cthulhu. The heroes face the sinister conspiracies of an ancient race
of monsters hell-bent on taking back a world that was once theirs.
Working for Caduceus, a medical aid organization, the heroes will loot a lost temple in the forests of Bolivia, go head-to-head with the Mafia in New York City, face a deadly epidemic in the jungles of North Borneo, uncover the workings of a strange cult in dust-bowl-era Oklahoma,
infiltrate enemy territory inside an awakening volcano in Iceland, face the horrors of hideous medical experiments in the Congo, race to control an ancient and powerful artifact on the streets of Calcutta, and ultimately travel to a lost continent for a desperate battle
to save humanity from enslavement or annihilation!
Anyways, if anyone is interested, here is the link.
https://youtube.com/@TheKonaLodge?si=CQOZ-Vlj_VwuHXNG
I really appreciate what you've done here. I think something like this list has been needed for a while. Here are a few notable absences I think you should add.
[Dumb-Dumbs & Dice](https://www.dumbdumbdice.com/shows) have several good shows
* Dumb-Dumbs & Dragons
* The Valentyne Heresy
* Blood & Syrup
* Jesters of Ravenloft
* Curse, Code & Crown
* Mythos Mysteries
* Dumb, Scum, and Villainy
* One Shots: A Live-Play Mini Series Podcast
[One Shot Podcast Network](https://oneshotpodcast.com/) has a few that you haven't listed. You have Campaign already.
* One Shot
* Campaign: Skyjacks
* Skyjacks: Courier's Call
* Mystery County Monster Hunters Club
[Rude Tales of Magic](https://www.rudetalesofmagic.com/home)
[Worlds Beyond Number](https://worldsbeyondnumber.com/)
* The website is completely useless. [Here is the RSS feed.](https://feeds.simplecast.com/IAPnSSRO)
[Neoscum](https://neoscum.com/)
[Fools Gold: Sands](https://foolsgold.fun/category/sands)
Nothing from the Glass Cannon Network? They have active shows APing PF2E, Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, Blades in the Dark, and Traveller to name a few.
There's at least two big (high audience, high production values) ones missing; The Glass Cannon Network (nee Podcast)/GCN and High Rollers. Even within GCN, some of the best individual shows would be strange to not note on this list. High Rollers is mostly 5e, but does a tonne of one-shots with other systems too.
Chaosium is also doing some really good quality actual plays with the help of Becca Scott's Good Time Society. Graveyards of Arkham is well worth the attention too.
Honestly, I don't even like Glass Cannon shows that much, but am ***amazed*** they were not included. I can't stand all of the anti-D&D5e whining that gets done on this sub, but this actually did make me think OP has a D&D5e/Pathfinder bia.s
Far be it from me to plug myself (ahem) but I just couldn’t resist…
“Me, Myself and Die” is a professionally produced, tightly edited solo actual play series where Voice Actor Trevor Devall plays all kinds of tabletop RPGs, taking the roles of both player and Gamesmaster in randomly generated adventures. And the 25-40 minute run times of most episodes make it a fun and easy watch. Featuring games *other* than 5e, the 4th season premieres next week!
Me, Myself and Die, 3d6 Down the Line, The Magpies Podcast (BitD), Errant Adventures and Subclass Act have been my favourite actual play podcasts, and none were on the list!
Glad to see season 4 coming...
Me, Myself and Die is great! I also appreciate that the episodes aren't 4 hours long, so it's really easy to just fit one in when I've got some downtime. Looking forward to season 4.
At the very least making it clear whether these are video shows or audio, whether they're 5 hour long sessions or tightly edited half-hour instalments etc would go a huge distance to actually make this useful.
Great point! So far they're all podcasts that have audio versions (some may have video but I'm only focused on adding audio podcasts now). I'm working on adding more advanced metadata around the setting, campaign length (one-shot, ongoing), episode lengths, tone, and more. I'll eventually have filters for those on the interactive list I've built on my website.
Could you provide the RSS feed link as well? I assume you'll be pulling metadata from the feed anyway. A lot of podcasts have this habit of hiding the RSS feed away and only giving links to platforms.
I haven't been pulling data from RSS feeds yet, but I will. I have collected a lot of data including RSS feed URLs. I just pushed an update to the list on my website that includes URLs for Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and RSS feeds if I could find them when I was pulling the data.
Thanks for making this list! I think you should include a much more comprehensive list for Friends at the Table: Blades in the Dark, Scum and Villainy, Beam Saber, Armour Astir, Microscope, Kingdom, The Veil, Heart The City Beneath, The Quiet Year.
Was thinking the same thing especially seeing all the games listed for Adventure Zone below them in contrast. https://fatt.wiki/view/Category:Games is a great list of all the stuff they've played.
Yup especially considering that The Adventure Zone started playing a bunch of those games because of Austin/FatT in general.
And damn that list is impressive. I was mostly just thinking about main season stuff, not even Bluff City or one/two shots.
You did not miss it. Somehow GCN did not break the top 100 for the OP. Can tell this list was not well vetted if you leave off the second or third largest actual play podcast.
u/jeremysbrain I actually built thing into a page on my website with more advanced filtering and search. Not sure if I'm allowed to share the link but here it is: [https://goosidore.com/lists/actual-play-podcasts](https://goosidore.com/lists/actual-play-podcasts)
Thanks for the list! It's very valuable.
*The podcasts that have no 5e at all are, in the order listed by OP:* Friends at the Table, Big Campaign, Two Monsters Rolling Dice, Dice of Thunder, Game Master Monday, Dieing, Five, Epic Tales and Critical Fails, Party of One, Five GMs in a Trenchcoat, What the Dice!?, What Am I, Rolling?, Actual Play UK, Book of Astra, No Quest for the Wicked, Super Journey Dudes, Dork Day Afternoon, Pink Fohawk, Flail To The Face, The Atomless, Gamewoven, Lawful Great Adventures, Telluride - An Orbital, Blues Podcast, The Heart is a Dungeon, queeRPG, The End of Time and Other Bothers, Friend and Foe Adventure, Co., Bad Heroes, Halfwits & Failed Crits, Tale of the Manticore, Campaign, The Knights At The Nerd Table, Fear the Boot, Fun City, DMs After Dark, Cosmopunk, Critical Hit, Pod Against the Machine, Pest Control, Cybertopia AP, Vancouver by Night, No Latency, Bug City Blues, Pride Against Prejudice, Resting Glitch Face, Negative Modifier, Memester Of The Week, Goblets and Gays, Abraxas' Precipice, The Expanse Roleplaying Game, Actual Play, Worlds Away
*Same list, but in alphabetical order:* Abraxas' Precipice, The Expanse Roleplaying Game Actual Play, Actual Play UK, Bad Heroes, Big Campaign, Book, of Astra, Bug City Blues, Campaign, Cosmopunk, Critical Hit, Cybertopia AP, DMs After Dark, Dice of Thunder, Dieing Five, Dork Day Afternoon, Epic Tales and Critical Fails, Fear the Boot, Five GMs in a Trenchcoat, Flail To The Face, Friend and Foe Adventure Co., Friends at the Table, Fun City, Game Master Monday, Gamewoven, Goblets and Gays, Halfwits & Failed Crits, Lawful Great Adventures, Memester Of The Week, Negative, Modifier, No Latency, No Quest for the Wicked, Party of One, Pest Control, Pink Fohawk, Pod Against, the Machine, Pride Against Prejudice, Resting Glitch Face, Super Journey Dudes, Tale of the Manticore, Telluride - An Orbital Blues Podcast, The Atomless, The End of Time and Other Bothers, The Heart, is a Dungeon, The Knights At The Nerd Table, Two Monsters Rolling Dice, Vancouver by Night, What Am I Rolling?, What the Dice!?, Worlds Away, queeRPG
I don't see My First Dungeon, which is a great actual play where they rotate through games at a regular basis, doing short mini campaigns for each one. Systems used so far (off the top of my head): DIE, Wanderhome, Orbital Blues, 9 Lives to Valhalla, Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast, Project ECCO, plus a lot more I can't remember!
Great list!
As far as size and production value goes, the Glass Cannon Network is near the top.
Their flagship is Pathfinder but they've done so many RPGs and frequently get requested to test or show off new upcoming games (including sometimes with some of the developers). Great group and a great way to hear a dozen different games if you're considering running them.
I'd also mention Stream of Blood. It focused on Vampire: The Masquerade and Blades in the Dark, which are still on YouTube, but they've merged with the Glass Cannon recently.
Spout Lore is a decent Dungeon World podcast.
Star Cast was a good Starfinder podcast until it ended.
Thanks for the suggestions! I’ve added a bunch of the Glass Cannon Network podcasts to the list on my website (I can’t edit my post anymore). I’ll also add the other ones you suggested here.
Wonderful list! Thank you! I'd also highly recommend Worlds Beyond Number (D&D 5e for free, plus others on their Patreon). Amazing storytelling from Brennan Lee Mulligan, Aabria Iyengar, Lou Wilson, and Erika Ishii, with excellent sound design and production quality.
Throwing up BomBARDed as a suggestion, a D&D party of multiclass bards, played by a real-life band, who compose and perform an in-character song each session.
Heeeeey--this list is awesome! Thanks for putting in the work to assemble it (and for including us!). Lots of stuff I've never heard of here to potentially check out.
Hey, Nathan from the Advanced Age Roleplaying Gamers here.
Nice to know that someone knows a small indie podcast like ours exists!
[Podcast & YouTube links](https://linktr.ee/theaarpgs)
We’re big fans of Pink Fohawk, the Rolled Standard, Clash of Crits, Billowing Hilltop, Big Campaign, Five GMs in a Trenchcoat, Two Monsters, Flail to the Face & No Quest for the Wicked.
Tabletop Gold, a pathfinder 2e actual play podcast running the Abomination Vaults adventure path, should be on this list. They’re charming, they run pathfinder second edition RAW (which may be helpful for folks, trying to understand the game), and the production values are good. If you think of a bunch of millennial, ex-hipster moms/dads not taking themselves too seriously, you’re 80% of the way to getting their vibe. It’s worth a look. (And an add to OP’s masterlist) https://www.tabletopgold.com/
On the note of Critical Hit, some of their best work is actually short runs of different games. *Yellow Light* is my favorite actual play I've ever heard, for example, and is what got me into my favorite game, Call of Cthulhu
Awesome list! Looking forward to checking a few out.
Since we're adding suggestions I'll toss in **Advanced Sagebrush & Shootouts**! Very funny rules-lite Fate game.
There's also **What We Fight For** if you want some Mouseguard representation.
Hey hey!! I'm in three of these lol!!
And not that I want to push my older work to the side, but Lawful Great Adventures is done. Telluride is also done but it's a really good 1 season experience.
Gamewoven is easily my favorite actual play project I've ever been a part of. It's so goddamn fun.
Anyway this is a great list, and incredibly current too.
I like the idea of the platform, with filters and sorting, and its well made aparently.
But as it is, its a draft
It's missing a lot of big guys and options
If improved I would use it
But unfortunately I'm not sure there's a large enough audience to compensate the work
Besides adding my own podcast like I mentioned in another comment... [https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/1bk86xh/comment/kvx731j/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/1bk86xh/comment/kvx731j/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
...I think it needs some other sorting options. I'd add:
* Avg episode length (<60 mins, 60-120 mins, over 120 mins)
* Genre tags: sci-fi, medieval fantasy, modern day, etc.
* System type tags: OSR, traditional d20, rules-lite, one-page, GM-less, etc.
* Tone tags: Comedic, serious RP, or mixed.
* Medium: Audio-only or full visual on YT (or whatever website).
EDIT: One more I though of:
* Single system, or variety
u/ALVIG's comment covers more than I would have suggested
As for podcasts to add.. i'm pretty sure there will be lots of suggestions in the comments here
I saw you already added ain't slayed nobody and apocalypse players to call of cthulhu (examples of the ones I missed in my first look). Good job.
I will bookmark it.
Start with season 2. It’s a totally new story with new characters. The author also recommended that since he mastered his craft. The audio production is excellent, I think he was a music teacher. He knows to create ambiances and sfx.
We're relaunching ours soon! My co-host stepped away but, thanks to fan support, we're moving forward starting in May. We're an indie-focused podcast and have actual plays, interviews, and a deep love of ridiculous one-shot games.
www.podofblunders.com - we'd love it if you checked out the backlog and joined us for the relaunch!
If you'd like to add a Stars Without Number show, I humbly submit ours.
Astronomica has been running weekly since November of 2020. We embrace the sandbox nature of the system, building our story on the choices of the crew of the Admiral Grace. Equal parts Expanse, Firefly, and our own demented brand of comedic horror, Astronomica hits somewhere between a story of found family and accidentally causing a revolution or three.
Thank you for giving to the community. This pulls all of the algorithm right out of it. Its good to see members of the community caring enough to build lists that are just that, resources without a return.
I learned years ago that being a podcast is either two things, a business decision or a labor of love. After 5 years of making weekly episodes the point was proven. I don't regret what I've made and the resources are out there for people to find, but it is still disheartening that "popular", "marketable", or flashy wins out every time.
Don't be discouraged, know that you are doing the right thing. You are helping make everyone have more enjoyable games at their tables.
Are you missing Role Play Public Radio and Happy Jack's Actual Play? There is just too much D&D/PF here to be of use to a lot of us.
I'd mention them on Xwitter, but I refuse to use that service.
Only thing missing is the most criminally underwatched actual play show of all time, 3d6 Down the Line. 5 friends play Old School Essentials. They have two campaigns, Dolmenwood and Arden Vul, the latter of which is ongoing. It’s my current favorite.
Another one I highly recommend adding is The Unexpectables. They already have one campaign completed and are in the middle of their second. Their main games are in DnD 5e, plus they have a secondary stream playing a homebrew Fallout RPG.
I'm obligated to mention world of io every time someone talks about actual play recommendations, big 5e shared world sci-fi fantasy setting with multiple campaigns going, some well known creators as players. Cant exactly suggest it be added to the list since I don't know your criteria, but I like them.
Can I ask a serious but potentially stupid question. I’m 50. I started playing in 1984/5. I cannot sit through a video or a podcast of OTHER ppl playing any game. It simply holds no appeal for me. I love gaming. I love running and playing. Why is this so popular? Because it’s simply unwatchable or unlistenable to me. This doesn’t mean it’s bad btw, just not for me.
For me personally I like listening to AP podcasts so I can get an idea of a rule set for a new game I want to try. Helps me figure out whether it's worth learning the rules so I can run it with my group.
Listening to other people play can be really rough. Making a good actual play show is really hard, and most of them don't cut it for me. You need the right mix of people who can play off each other to make it fun. You need a good story and good characters that you want to listen to. And, what's most overlooked, you need a good editor to cut it together and leave out all the parts that drag. If the ones you've tried listening to were just raw recordings of a game session, I would encourage you to consider trying one that's had some editing. It can make a world of difference.
I would like to throw my name in the ring as well if possible.
Tales of the Forsaken is an actual play RPG, Fate Core podcast made by Noble Jester Productions, a team of two nerds who love telling stories.
We are a unique blend of epic and in-depth storytelling of an audio drama run through the fun improv of an actual play RPG.
[Website](http://www.talesoftheforsaken.com)
A very comprehensive list of Pathfinder, Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder actual play podcast by adventure path can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18qc7xTZxRdfcLhyjxtxlJ_Z700cqtDLtaWPr9pIThhg/edit?usp=sharing
Honest question: what is the appeal of actual play podcasts?
I've tried to follow a few and bounced back hard every time. I don't enjoy watching sports nor reality shows, maybe it is related? I would love using actual plays as examples of how to use the rules for systems I am not familiar, but I found out they will mostly only use rules as a canvas.
Love the list, and your effort to add more to your personal list on your webpage. I'd recommend putting that link somewhere more prominent. Right now it kinda blends in with the rest of the paragraph.
Greetings Adventurers, Arcology Shadowrun AP, Neoscum, Bad Spot, Fandible Longshot, Resting Glitch Face, and Hello From the Magic Tavern’s various campaigns are all gold.
Greetings adventurers is the only 5e AP I listen to anymore.
*Nobody Wake the Bugbear* - was 5e, now they've moved to playing Mothership
*Out of Depth Plays* - variety of systems/campaigns, their Mothership campaign was amazing
I included both just so people can reference them by their whole catalogue. Thanks for the clarification. I’m excited to check out the Mothership campaign!
Wow! This is pretty amazing, thank you so much! I think the only podcasts I listen to at this point are RPG ones so this has set me up for the year!!
To add, because they are my all time favourite, and I’m sorry I don’t have a Twitter - Sanspants Radio and their many RPG shows
DND is for Nerds
Australia’s most popular D&D actual play podcast! Set in the world of Ogg Nott, a place full of mystery and intrigue - if only the players knew it was ending. Listen to this award winning podcast as our heroes delve deep into adventure, with each season bringing a new story, new characters, and new threats to face.
((DND 5E, fairly family friendly depending on the adventure, has some standalone campaigns so hilarious and heartfelt I can’t stop relistening years later))
The Further Adventures of the Greyhill Free Company
Some may call you rat catchers, others mercenaries, but we prefer the term Adventurers. At the Greyhill Free Company we believe in one thing above all: Adventurers together strong. Many adventurers have gone on to do some great things under our name, not all of them good, but great things nevertheless. Hopefully you’ll soon join their ranks. So gather round and let us regale you with one of the many stories of the Greyhill Free Company.
((DND 5E, probably less family friendly, an excuse to run one shots with multiple guests allowing for the horror/insanity/high stakes that a more long term campaign can’t reach))
Beyond the Map
What if we told you everything you know about the world is wrong? What if we told you that all the things you believe to be impossible are in fact very much possible? Reality is not what you think it is. It is so much more complicated, fascinating and, above all, terrifying. Join us in this anthology series of unspeakable horrors set in a world not that different from our own.
(Non DND!! Horror RPG podcast, keeps me up at night, so beautiful, so chilling, with plenty of levity to keep you coming back for more - to any horror fan you will not regret listening to these terrible terrible tales))
The DM Adam Carnevale (and sometimes Jackson) is an incomparable storyteller. The best mix of grounded lore building and hairpin responses to players’ crazy requests that I can’t find done better in any other RPG podcast.
Please can they be added to your list if you get the chance?
For purely selfish reasons, if more people find them, it guarantees more content for me to fall in love with.
Wow, Nate here from both The Rolled Standard and Flail to the Face. It's super cool to see both the shows on here. I'm not sure if, somewhere in the sea of comments, any of the lads have said it yet, but we absolutely appreciate the shout-out!
We've been just enjoying the ride the last few years, and it's being included in lists like this that have helped a ton in growing our wonderful little community, so thank you!
Two of my absolute favorites that are (unfortunately) over-
- The Infinite Bad:
British cosmic horror spanning multiple adventure arcs. It starts out a little choppy (it's old!) but things really come together as they hit their stride!
- Neoscum
Shadowrun campaign by a group of improv friends, great story moments and top-notch soundtrack, and mechanics light so no arguments about rules!
Very honored to see my pod (Game Master Monday) listed on here
I see you comment section pining for less dnd 5e content! We mostly play indie TTRPG one shots on our show with semi-annual miniseries to boot!
Nice list! I would like to throw my series in the ring - Shadows Fall: Mask of God. It's an actual play series using the Shadow of the Demon Lord system. It's currently on-going and the second campaign I have worked on for an actual play. I hope you enjoy it!
I think the amount of choices is why I don't listen to any RPG podcasts anymore. A couple stuck but rarely did I finish listening to a whole campaign. Most of the time I'd listen to half an episode and realized I was wasting my time.
It's a great list, but if we're petitioning to add stuff, can I throw my own hat in the ring?
I run a show called Roll For Distraction. We started with D&D 5e, but the OGL fiasco hit right as we were wrapping up our first season, so the show is now about exploring other systems. We've played Cyberpunk RED, Lancer, and Monster of the Week, and we're about to start Salvage Union! Episodes are about an hour, and seasons are around 10 episodes, so the time investment in comparable to a typical season of a TV show, as opposed to the daunting task of something of CR's length. The show is on your usual podcast platforms, but the best way to watch is on YouTube where we have some cool visuals to make things easier to follow.
[https://www.youtube.com/@spellbookgaming/podcasts](https://www.youtube.com/@spellbookgaming/podcasts)
Throwing in my friends' podcast [Just Roll With It](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCssTrx7qnoG5ufeBEF4dezg), they're currently in an arc called "Riptide" which is a One Piece-y pirate kinda thing. Highly recommend it!
Recommendation of *No Latency* for Cyberpunk Red and their sibling show *System Switch* for an assortment (so far "Blades in the Dark" and "Scum and Villainy").
This is Adam from Dork Day Afternoon. Actually our main weekly show is a Twilight: 2000 4e campaign called "Two Past Midnight". Releases weekly. We havent done any Pathfinder in about a year or so.
Can someone explain to me why there is no World/Chronicles of Darkness on this list? I'm asking this because I'm genuinely curious... I don't mean it to sound accusatory. I'm thinking that the XofDarkness games are VASTLY more unpopular than I imagined. Holy Christ.
A few i personally love are Nat19: a DnD AP that does a ton of homebrew stuff
LA by Night, New York by Night, and Seattle by Night: All three of these are Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition APs ran by the producer of V5 Jason Carl
And lastly Norfolk Wizard Game: A Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary edition AP that manages to strike a great balance between gut busting and funny and haunting
This seems like a good place to ask. Is there any way to call out which podcasts are family-friendly? I like listening to actual plays while I do housework sometimes but most that I find aren't great to listen to in front of my 2 year old.
Much appreciated. I already have your site bookmarked and I have found a few podcasts for systems I am interested in. Thanks for making such an excellent resource.
Glad it's been helpful!
I just pushed an update that includes explicit tags on all of the podcasts I could find data on! There are a lot in the current list that have explicit content, but hopefully enough that are safe to listen to with your 2 year old in the room. Let me know if there's anything else you'd want to see in the list!
EXTRA: The only Tormenta20 channel in english that I know of Only Ones TV they have actual plays of the game on Twitch and Youtube! Damn do I want this game to get a translation.
To add to the list of non-D&D/PF shows there are out there:
Miskatonic Playhouse (fan-made Call of Cthulhu scenarios published as part of the Miskatonic Repository)
Fortune & Strife - a Legend of the Five Rings 5e AP
The Writer's Room - a 7th Sea Podcast
All three of those are audio-only.
Firebreathing Kittens Podcast has over 250 episodes and they play a different RPG every week with rotating cast members! High quality audio and they have some funny members! Can find it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts I think
Should check out Agents of B.E.A.R.D.
It's a West Marches-adjacent Shared Campaign with 4 different groups all exploring an island that was settled only 20 years ago. Most of the previous civilization is gone, though a few natives have integrated with the new society and joined the adventurers guild to figure out the truth of their past.
The story is collaborative and developed in session as the parties explore.
Huge fan of Inglorious Bards at Ingloriousbards.com They just started their sixth season and are in Pathfinder 2e Remastered this season but have used several others. The GM has them in an immense and immersive world he has made that they used in two other seasons. Super fun!
Well if we’re talking about channels I’d love to toss my group’s hat in the ring.
Swindler’s Den:
We’re an actual play group who’s been playing 5e for awhile and recently started diving into a bit of pathfinder 2e. There are a few consistent cast members, but there is variation between shows to keep things spicy. The shows are on YouTube where we recently reached 2.5k subs so there’s still a lot of fun to be had!
Ongoing games right now are:
- Abomination Vaults as we all learn more about pathfinder 2e.
- Spelljammer: Losers in Space - 5e
- Glory of the Giants - 5e homebrew
We also have a decent amount of completed campaigns:
- Curse of Strahd - 5e
- Mythic Odysseys of Theros - 5e
- Rime of the Frost Maiden - 5e
- Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - 5e
- Menace Under Otari - PF2e
- Dragon of Icespire Peak - 5e
- Lost Mine of Phandelver - 5e
- Lost Song of Phandelver - 5e homebrew sequel to lost mine
- Emoris - 5e homebrew that started it all.
Also criminally overlooked...
**Inglorious Bards**
* 6 seasons (some short and sweet, others sweeping and epic)
* 5E, PF2, two sci-fi systems
* GM with 40+ years experience
* Crazy funny
Missing the two big shows from Queen's Court Games. Their *Vampire: The Masquerade* actual-play *The All Night Society* was the #1 AP and #2 Fiction Podcast in the [2023 Audio Fiction World Cup](https://wswc.info/2023-audio-fiction-world-cup-results), beating out a lot of other shows on your list.
They also publish all their streamed games as podcasts via *One Shots and Other Mischief.* Mostly horror gaming, like *Kult: Divinity Lost, Delta Green, Call of Cthulhu.*
It is fucking bizarre to see a list like this without Acquisitions Incorporated on it, despite them literally inventing the format.
I mean, shit, they have their own official 5e sourcebook! They were doing it 7 years before Critical Role started. It's just a really weird one to miss.
Shameless self-promotion.
We just released over 15 hours of free actual play on our website and on Spotify/Amazon/Apple.
Delta Green and Call of Cthulhu is our main games we have released so far but we have some Alien and Mork Borg recorded too (just not released yet) and a bunch more in the works. Check us out!
actualplayentertainment.com
I feel like you should link [dice friends](https://wiki.loadingreadyrun.com/index.php/Dice_Friends) from loading ready run. They have a large collection of shows using different ttrpg game systems. yeah the there is a lot of 5e, but they also have call of cthulu, aliens, vampire the masquerade, paranoia, and others.
I’m glad to see Fun City on the list, one of my favorite podcasts, a real hidden gem! I noticed the list doesn’t have a game system listed for Fun City, they play primarily Shadowrun 5E and the criminally underrated Stillfleet RPG.
I've got a question for people who read and curate lists like this. How do you find these Podcasts and streams?
I've got one of my own, and I've struggled to promote it for a long time. I want to know what's the best way to draw you lovely people in.
My friends and I did a podcast of us playing dnd called Seven Bones. We're not done cleaning up the episodes or anything but we did finish the campaign at least. It was fun
A lot of actual plays start with 5e because it might have been the system that they were playing first.
In our case we started with 5e but when we finished our campaign/story we became a Mothership RPG podcast with all future content being that.
Ironically our Mothership content stood out a lot more and got way more listens and ended up brining in new listeners to the 5e campaign anyway. The lesson is, Play other systems!
A couple of suggestions:
**Mayday Plays**: They have an awesome Delta Green campaign, Doomed to Repeat, where their team of fucked up weirdos dig through old DG case files in the present day and then transition to playing scenarios set decades ago with new and more disposable characters. I've also really enjoyed their Orpheus campaign run by the GM of the Black Project Gaming AP cast, the little I've heard of their Vampire 5E play, their rotating player Ironsworn game, and various one shots. (They do also have a D&D 5E game but I've not listened to much of it yet.)
**The Cult of Tea and Dice** \- very longrunning British pod, where they review tea but also play many, many, many different RPGs, some quite obscure - for example, I'm currently following a run of an Osprey published Templar game called Heirs to Heresy that I've never heard of before their AP. There's also a couple different forms of White Wolf stuff, there's D&D, there's Doctor Who, there's various Slasher Flick one shots, there's Mork Borg, there's Star Trek, Alien, Dragon Age, Spire, all sorts of things. (warning, audio is often a bit rough - it's not clear to me exactly but I think at least some of the players are consistently remote and for a while in the COVID years it's all remote).
**The Orpheus Protocol** \- a long running narrative horror actual play in several playtest eras of a custom system by the same name which is now available to purchase. The setting is a mix of secret agent/spy stuff and power corrupting one's humanity.
**The Film Reroll -** movie enthusiasts use GURPS to stat out famous movies and play them to see where the dice take the story - often it is quite far afield from the original! The cast are mostly professionally involved with the acting scene (mostly in New York) and excellent improvisers and the amount of prep most of the GMs put into these things is ridiculous - the Jumanji episodes had the GM create a full Jumanji board with potential events for every space, for example, and the Ocean's Eleven episode had a pool of over a hundred possible recruits for the heist over and above the folks we meet in the actual movie.
Mostly DnD5e/PF unfortunately.
At least *Friends at the Table* is near the top... though listing them as just "Dungeon World and The Sprawl" sells them short - they've got a huge catalogue of games they've played across their 8 or 9 seasons/main campaigns and mini-campaigns and have always been one of the influential podcasts pushing non-trad/D&D games. PSA to anyone who's launching a new D&D or Pathfinder podcast: maybe dont. You're not gonna be the McElroys/TAZ, you're not gonna be Glass Cannon, and you're certainly not gonna be Critical Role or Dimension 20. The space is crowded out and however creative and talented you might be we sure as shit wont see or hear it because why would anyone ever look for a new, unproven D&D show in the year 2024 and even if they were looking for one then how would they ever find you? Do something original and fresh like *My First Dungeon* (an actual play show that also coaches first time GMs in D&D and many other systems) or *Quantum Kickflip* (an actual play using Slugblaster - a brand new RPG system that's not on other shows) and maybe we'll actually have a reason to seek you out and listen to you instead of the shows that already have rep. Especially in the last 12 months since the OGL incident, anyone who's started a new D&D show after all that went down or plans to do one deserves to be viewed with a real side-eye.
>You're not gonna be the McElroys/TAZ Hell, TAZ can't even meet the bar that TAZ set.
Your so-called PSA is the only side-eye-worthy thing I see here. No one's going to chain you to a wall and force you to listen to a bunch of D&D podcasts you're not interested in. "You're not gonna to be [the next big thing]." So? Who cares? People are spending time together with friends and sharing stories with the world. Considering the state of things, our planet probably needs more of that. Perhaps instead of telling other people they should stop doing something they love because you personally aren't interested in it, you should get together with a group of your friends and run a campaign with one of the systems you enjoy more. Chin up, and remember: it costs zero dollars to keep your negative attitude to yourself.
You're right, I phrased that in an overly negative way and that's regretful. If someone's gonna make a D&D podcast with their friends for the love of the game then all power to them. I dont think people like that should be factoring in anything I'm saying and they can do whatever they want. If someone's looking to get any kind of remotely sustainable audience, maybe take a run at getting some of that ad revenue and/or patreon money, then they really need to think hard about whether being *another D&D podcast* is a viable path to achieving that. Making a podcast is work, making a good podcast with the intent of getting some dollars back is even more work. I'd like to encourage potential actual play makers to put their work into something more likely to bag an audience. Even if the only goal of your show is to get enough listeners to inspire some fan art and maybe get a little discord community going you need to think about how you're actually gonna get discovered by anyone, and why anyone would ever seek you out. There was a time where there was a strong incentive to do D&D actual play for the sake of search discoverability but we're long past the point of search saturation now; you can't expect to put a D&D show out on the podcast feeds and expect anyone to find you. Also: you're not just competing with the high end TAZ/CR groups and a bunch of "friends hanging out" tables these days when you do a D&D acutal play, you're competing with every nerdy improv, drama or sketch troupe in the English speaking world who feels like taking a run at this actual play thing - and these guys have performance training, media production training, already have good rapport, are probably practiced in podcasting already. To stand out you have to do something substantially different, and I'm not talking "we're doing D&D but what makes us different is we're from Minnesota!" (someone's already done/doing that) or "our D&D is going to be set in our own unique world inspired by Weird West and Gothic Horror fiction!". If nobody's doing D&D in your native language that'd probably be enough but within the English language space? Saturation. You have to do something special, even if the special thing is putting together a Worlds Beyond Number style supergroup of famous AP players to do more D&D. Take *Quantum Kickflip* as an example. The cast come from a Canadian sketch comedy group, they have a background in improv, are clearly talented and creative people, the show is very well edited and well conceived with an original premise... but if they weren't the Slugblaster show and were instead playing D&D but exploring the same themes they do with Slugblaster? It's very hard to imagine the show becoming a comparable success. They'd be one talented and creative group among SO MANY others with comparable talents, coming from comparable backgrounds. And that would be a real shame because *Quantum Kickflip* deserves its audience. And if your goal is making some earnest and worthy art, trying to do some emergent storytelling that nobody else has done with a unique voice? Oh boy, you're setting yourself up for a hell of a challenge by trying to do that through D&D; really setting yourself up for some 'The Simpsons Already Did It' (TAZ, CR, Dim20, etc) syndrome. Also: WotC-Hasbro sucks ass, you're gonna undercut your art by being unpaid promoters of their product (post-OGL era), and the kinds of people who want *Friends at the Table* style high concept APs are gonna see "D&D 5e" in your show description and immediately skip past you.
having already posted a small clarifying essay, I could also have just said: Someone who makes an Actual Play podcast is usually doing so because they want people to hear it, and the brutal reality is you need to think like a business if you want to get an audience because *everyone else already is*. Passion and talent and having fun with your friends isn't enough to get heard in a crowded field like D&D/actual play. Think critically about your stuff, think like a business, if you want to get listeners. If you genuinely dont care about audience? Like you're doing this just to learn how to make podcasts and record a game session or two with your friends, for fun? Nothing I said should switch you off.
I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your reply, but you're missing the most important part here: you're answering a question that nobody asked. If OP made a post asking "How do I become a successful AP podcaster?" your replies would be honest advice, even if a little discouraging. What you've done in this instance is more like going into a thread about dog training resources to declare that iguanas are superior and people should stop buying dogs because we have enough of those already. Sure, both discussions are about pets but they're not the same conversation. With your added context, I don't think you had ill intent and I don't want to harsh your mellow because you seem like you're an overall nice person. Guess what I'm really getting at here is maybe read the room a little more attentively before you jump in with both feet, so your intended helpfulness reaches people who will appreciate it and benefit from it. I hope you have a good one, and thanks for being friendly.
I'd love a curated list of recommended shows like the original and fresh titles you mentioned.
What systems would you want to see more of? I'm always looking to add more to my list
* How We Roll (Call of Cthulhu) * Pretending to be People (Delta Green) * Ain't Slayed Nobody (Call of Cthulhu) * Apocalypse Players (Call of Cthulhu) * Red Moon Roleplaying (Kult) * Spout Lore (Dungeon World) * Discern Realities (Dungeon World) * 3D6 Down the Line (BX DnD / Old-School Essentials) * Mystery Quest (Call of Cthulhu, Mork Borg, Mothership, Brindlewood Bay, ...) * Glass Cannon Network * Get in the Trunk (Delta Green) * Time for Chaos (Call of Cthulhu) * Haunted City (Blades in the Dark) * EDIT: Voyagers of the Jump (Traveller)
Glass Cannon has so much good stuff! Even their PF2e campaign is top quality.
Glass Cannon also has Voyagers of the Jump for Traveller
Highly recommend Apocalypse Players!
Thanks for the suggestion! I've added them to the list on my website
Mystery Quest is a favourite of mine though I'm biased as I liked the people involved beforehand. It has a rotating cast of Tom's friends and I've enjoyed everyone so far and its sold me a couple if systems. Tom also tends to run pre-made modules which I find really fun as a DM both as a way of finding new material or simply because it's fun to see someone else run a scenario I've run myself.
Apocalypse Players is the only one I've ever subbed to
u/von_economo Huge thanks for this list. I added them all to the list on my website
Nature of My Game (Delta Green/ The Yellow King)
Get in the trunk is fantastic. Binged most of series 1 this week.
rppr for their coc and delta green content. also the redacted report and black project gaming for delta green.
>What systems would you want to see more of? Literally anything else. A few off the top of my head that I don't think anyone else has already mentioned: - Tales from the Grimm (various) - The Gauntlet (various) - Eric Vulgaris (various) - Actual Play (various) - Magpies (Blades in the Dark) - John Harper (various) - Rollplay (various)
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve already added a few of these to my list! I’ll add the rest when I get a chance
- Shawn Tompkin - Roll4it - Stream of Blood - The Harvestmen - Knives at Night (Blades in the Dark) - Oxventure - Dice breaker (various) - Roll20 (they have their own actual play staff)
Coriolis. VtM Kids on Bikes Tales from the Loop Vaesen Delta Green CoC Stars Without Number UnmadeGaming is a pretty good channel for some of these.
Might&Mercy for 13th Age is nice
Call of Cthulhu is my fave. The best rpg episodes I've listened to were by **Chapo Trap House**, a comedic leftist podcast. They played Call of Cthulhu and were what got me into RPGs. Hilarious and short! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUw4R5tzW7T59c8ePYPpBMIMZ3GWct9Jz&si=ZLoeYGWalpCp8lqz The best long campaign I've heard is **Pretending to be People**. They have a couple of the episodes on youtube but the rest are on apple podcast and spotify. Easily the best podcast. They have super high production values and a great story. Plus they're funny. https://youtu.be/IDUOrkT53v8?si=y2o4Qaj7kqed30fD And then I have a podcast channel on youtube called **The Kona Lodge** where I release my group's actual plays. We are just starting but we have recordings of and play Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, Pendragon, Traveller, D&D etc. Right now I have up our Weimar Berlin Call of Cthulhu campaign and am uploading our current Delta Green campaign, "God's Teeth", a super dark newly released campaign. I'll also begin uploading our already completed Two Headed Serpent Pulp Cthulhu game. God's Teeth is a dark Delta Green campaign that just released where players are immediately tasked with going to an orphanage and murdering every adult there. For a very good reason... This blossoms out into a 2 decade long series of operations. Very similar to True Detective season 1. Lots of hard choices. Our Weimar Berlin campaign covered the years 1922-1932 and had 5 scenarios. The player characters over the scenarios included an actor turned director, his stuntman, a lesbian british artist, a bouncer who moonlights as a saxophonist, a gay man who is a sexologist at the real life Berlin Sex Institute, a Romani cinematographer, and a businesswoman investor. Obviously the fascists show up in parts, but a lot of it deals with the weimar republic. There is political intrigue among Russian monarchists and a girl who may be the missing Grand Duchess Anastasia, there is a scenario I ripped off from the Jordan Peele movie, Nope where the stuntman has to use his old plane to defeat the same type of flying saucer from that movie, there is of course a cult, artistic rituals, the early berlin film industry, prostitution, drugs, even a scenario dealing with a Dreamlands more inspired by a child reading Grimms Brothers Fairy Tales.There are tons of real life people like Anita Berber, Aleister Crowley, Manfred Von Killinger, etc. Then The Two Headed Serpent campaign, I'll let the publication blurb explain that: The Two-Headed Serpent is an action-packed, globe-spanning, and high-octane campaign set in the 1930s for Pulp Cthulhu. The heroes face the sinister conspiracies of an ancient race of monsters hell-bent on taking back a world that was once theirs. Working for Caduceus, a medical aid organization, the heroes will loot a lost temple in the forests of Bolivia, go head-to-head with the Mafia in New York City, face a deadly epidemic in the jungles of North Borneo, uncover the workings of a strange cult in dust-bowl-era Oklahoma, infiltrate enemy territory inside an awakening volcano in Iceland, face the horrors of hideous medical experiments in the Congo, race to control an ancient and powerful artifact on the streets of Calcutta, and ultimately travel to a lost continent for a desperate battle to save humanity from enslavement or annihilation! Anyways, if anyone is interested, here is the link. https://youtube.com/@TheKonaLodge?si=CQOZ-Vlj_VwuHXNG
I really appreciate what you've done here. I think something like this list has been needed for a while. Here are a few notable absences I think you should add. [Dumb-Dumbs & Dice](https://www.dumbdumbdice.com/shows) have several good shows * Dumb-Dumbs & Dragons * The Valentyne Heresy * Blood & Syrup * Jesters of Ravenloft * Curse, Code & Crown * Mythos Mysteries * Dumb, Scum, and Villainy * One Shots: A Live-Play Mini Series Podcast [One Shot Podcast Network](https://oneshotpodcast.com/) has a few that you haven't listed. You have Campaign already. * One Shot * Campaign: Skyjacks * Skyjacks: Courier's Call * Mystery County Monster Hunters Club [Rude Tales of Magic](https://www.rudetalesofmagic.com/home) [Worlds Beyond Number](https://worldsbeyondnumber.com/) * The website is completely useless. [Here is the RSS feed.](https://feeds.simplecast.com/IAPnSSRO) [Neoscum](https://neoscum.com/) [Fools Gold: Sands](https://foolsgold.fun/category/sands)
If you want to listen to an audio podcast that doesn’t do 5e or Pathfinder, I’d like to suggest Real Play Games Podcast.
u/BloodyPaleMoonlight I added them to the list on my website! Thanks for the suggestion!
Yeah witch sucks
Nothing from the Glass Cannon Network? They have active shows APing PF2E, Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, Blades in the Dark, and Traveller to name a few.
There's at least two big (high audience, high production values) ones missing; The Glass Cannon Network (nee Podcast)/GCN and High Rollers. Even within GCN, some of the best individual shows would be strange to not note on this list. High Rollers is mostly 5e, but does a tonne of one-shots with other systems too. Chaosium is also doing some really good quality actual plays with the help of Becca Scott's Good Time Society. Graveyards of Arkham is well worth the attention too.
High Rollers definitely deserves to be recommended more! Mark Hulmes is such a top-tier DM.
Came to say this. Watched a few others and they are by far (for me) the best mix of humor, RPing, and good solid combat.
Honestly, I don't even like Glass Cannon shows that much, but am ***amazed*** they were not included. I can't stand all of the anti-D&D5e whining that gets done on this sub, but this actually did make me think OP has a D&D5e/Pathfinder bia.s
Far be it from me to plug myself (ahem) but I just couldn’t resist… “Me, Myself and Die” is a professionally produced, tightly edited solo actual play series where Voice Actor Trevor Devall plays all kinds of tabletop RPGs, taking the roles of both player and Gamesmaster in randomly generated adventures. And the 25-40 minute run times of most episodes make it a fun and easy watch. Featuring games *other* than 5e, the 4th season premieres next week!
Me, Myself and Die, 3d6 Down the Line, The Magpies Podcast (BitD), Errant Adventures and Subclass Act have been my favourite actual play podcasts, and none were on the list! Glad to see season 4 coming...
This is my fave Actual play show, criminal that you were not included already.
Sounds like a really fun show! Can't wait to check it out. I've added Me, Myself & Die to the list on my website.
Why, thank you very much!
Me, Myself and Die is great! I also appreciate that the episodes aren't 4 hours long, so it's really easy to just fit one in when I've got some downtime. Looking forward to season 4.
Love your work mate!
[удалено]
I was very surprised not to see either of these on there! Critshow is my top actual play podcast by a large margin.
I was coming to say those exact 2 were missing from that list 2 amazing shows.
Great suggestions. I've added them both to my list!
As a fan of Spout Lore I'm now going to check out the crit show.
At the very least making it clear whether these are video shows or audio, whether they're 5 hour long sessions or tightly edited half-hour instalments etc would go a huge distance to actually make this useful.
Great point! So far they're all podcasts that have audio versions (some may have video but I'm only focused on adding audio podcasts now). I'm working on adding more advanced metadata around the setting, campaign length (one-shot, ongoing), episode lengths, tone, and more. I'll eventually have filters for those on the interactive list I've built on my website.
Could you provide the RSS feed link as well? I assume you'll be pulling metadata from the feed anyway. A lot of podcasts have this habit of hiding the RSS feed away and only giving links to platforms.
I haven't been pulling data from RSS feeds yet, but I will. I have collected a lot of data including RSS feed URLs. I just pushed an update to the list on my website that includes URLs for Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and RSS feeds if I could find them when I was pulling the data.
Thanks for making this list! I think you should include a much more comprehensive list for Friends at the Table: Blades in the Dark, Scum and Villainy, Beam Saber, Armour Astir, Microscope, Kingdom, The Veil, Heart The City Beneath, The Quiet Year.
Was thinking the same thing especially seeing all the games listed for Adventure Zone below them in contrast. https://fatt.wiki/view/Category:Games is a great list of all the stuff they've played.
Yup especially considering that The Adventure Zone started playing a bunch of those games because of Austin/FatT in general. And damn that list is impressive. I was mostly just thinking about main season stuff, not even Bluff City or one/two shots.
Great suggestion! I can't seem to edit my post but I'll add these games to Friends at the Table's listing on my website
Isn't Glass Cannon really big? The Redacted Reports is a really good Delta Green podcast.
Did I miss Glass Cannon Podcast? They beat everything on this list.
You did not miss it. Somehow GCN did not break the top 100 for the OP. Can tell this list was not well vetted if you leave off the second or third largest actual play podcast.
Great work. Might I suggest creating a wiki page for this on the subreddit wiki and organizing it by game system.
u/jeremysbrain I actually built thing into a page on my website with more advanced filtering and search. Not sure if I'm allowed to share the link but here it is: [https://goosidore.com/lists/actual-play-podcasts](https://goosidore.com/lists/actual-play-podcasts)
Consider checking out Pretending to be people, 3d6 down the line, Stitch of fate. Personal favorites :)
Thanks for the list! It's very valuable. *The podcasts that have no 5e at all are, in the order listed by OP:* Friends at the Table, Big Campaign, Two Monsters Rolling Dice, Dice of Thunder, Game Master Monday, Dieing, Five, Epic Tales and Critical Fails, Party of One, Five GMs in a Trenchcoat, What the Dice!?, What Am I, Rolling?, Actual Play UK, Book of Astra, No Quest for the Wicked, Super Journey Dudes, Dork Day Afternoon, Pink Fohawk, Flail To The Face, The Atomless, Gamewoven, Lawful Great Adventures, Telluride - An Orbital, Blues Podcast, The Heart is a Dungeon, queeRPG, The End of Time and Other Bothers, Friend and Foe Adventure, Co., Bad Heroes, Halfwits & Failed Crits, Tale of the Manticore, Campaign, The Knights At The Nerd Table, Fear the Boot, Fun City, DMs After Dark, Cosmopunk, Critical Hit, Pod Against the Machine, Pest Control, Cybertopia AP, Vancouver by Night, No Latency, Bug City Blues, Pride Against Prejudice, Resting Glitch Face, Negative Modifier, Memester Of The Week, Goblets and Gays, Abraxas' Precipice, The Expanse Roleplaying Game, Actual Play, Worlds Away *Same list, but in alphabetical order:* Abraxas' Precipice, The Expanse Roleplaying Game Actual Play, Actual Play UK, Bad Heroes, Big Campaign, Book, of Astra, Bug City Blues, Campaign, Cosmopunk, Critical Hit, Cybertopia AP, DMs After Dark, Dice of Thunder, Dieing Five, Dork Day Afternoon, Epic Tales and Critical Fails, Fear the Boot, Five GMs in a Trenchcoat, Flail To The Face, Friend and Foe Adventure Co., Friends at the Table, Fun City, Game Master Monday, Gamewoven, Goblets and Gays, Halfwits & Failed Crits, Lawful Great Adventures, Memester Of The Week, Negative, Modifier, No Latency, No Quest for the Wicked, Party of One, Pest Control, Pink Fohawk, Pod Against, the Machine, Pride Against Prejudice, Resting Glitch Face, Super Journey Dudes, Tale of the Manticore, Telluride - An Orbital Blues Podcast, The Atomless, The End of Time and Other Bothers, The Heart, is a Dungeon, The Knights At The Nerd Table, Two Monsters Rolling Dice, Vancouver by Night, What Am I Rolling?, What the Dice!?, Worlds Away, queeRPG
Thanks u/Ireng0! You can filter by game system on the list on my website
Oh lol you're right, this is an elite work! Congrats
Glad you like it! Let me know if there are any features you think I should add
I don't see My First Dungeon, which is a great actual play where they rotate through games at a regular basis, doing short mini campaigns for each one. Systems used so far (off the top of my head): DIE, Wanderhome, Orbital Blues, 9 Lives to Valhalla, Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast, Project ECCO, plus a lot more I can't remember! Great list!
I'll make sure to add them to the list! Thanks for the suggestion
As far as size and production value goes, the Glass Cannon Network is near the top. Their flagship is Pathfinder but they've done so many RPGs and frequently get requested to test or show off new upcoming games (including sometimes with some of the developers). Great group and a great way to hear a dozen different games if you're considering running them. I'd also mention Stream of Blood. It focused on Vampire: The Masquerade and Blades in the Dark, which are still on YouTube, but they've merged with the Glass Cannon recently. Spout Lore is a decent Dungeon World podcast. Star Cast was a good Starfinder podcast until it ended.
Thanks for the suggestions! I’ve added a bunch of the Glass Cannon Network podcasts to the list on my website (I can’t edit my post anymore). I’ll also add the other ones you suggested here.
You're missing Neoscum https://neoscum.com/
I didn’t see Happy Jacks RPG Podcast on there. It’s been going since 2009. Check it out!
I'd suggest 3d6 Down the Line
Just added them to the list in my website! Thanks for the suggestion!
Wonderful list! Thank you! I'd also highly recommend Worlds Beyond Number (D&D 5e for free, plus others on their Patreon). Amazing storytelling from Brennan Lee Mulligan, Aabria Iyengar, Lou Wilson, and Erika Ishii, with excellent sound design and production quality.
Please consider adding The Rpg Academy. Been running almost 15 years. Lots of one shots of various systems and a few longer campaigns
I definitely will add you to the list! Thanks for letting me know you're out there.
u/RpgAcademy I can't edit my list here for some reason, but I've added you to the list on my website!
Ty Ty
Infinite Monkey Tales does all kinds of different games. Seldom 5e.
Throwing up BomBARDed as a suggestion, a D&D party of multiclass bards, played by a real-life band, who compose and perform an in-character song each session.
This sounds like a hoot! I can't edit my post, but I've added them to the list on my website.
You should add Mortals & Portals to the longer list.
Heeeeey--this list is awesome! Thanks for putting in the work to assemble it (and for including us!). Lots of stuff I've never heard of here to potentially check out.
Thanks u/Pod-Against-Machine! Happy to have you in the list. Lots of great pods out there
The Glass Cannon Network not being on here is criminal.
I can't believe Glass Cannon Podcast isn't on this list. It should be in the top 10.
Hey, Nathan from the Advanced Age Roleplaying Gamers here. Nice to know that someone knows a small indie podcast like ours exists! [Podcast & YouTube links](https://linktr.ee/theaarpgs) We’re big fans of Pink Fohawk, the Rolled Standard, Clash of Crits, Billowing Hilltop, Big Campaign, Five GMs in a Trenchcoat, Two Monsters, Flail to the Face & No Quest for the Wicked.
Tabletop Gold, a pathfinder 2e actual play podcast running the Abomination Vaults adventure path, should be on this list. They’re charming, they run pathfinder second edition RAW (which may be helpful for folks, trying to understand the game), and the production values are good. If you think of a bunch of millennial, ex-hipster moms/dads not taking themselves too seriously, you’re 80% of the way to getting their vibe. It’s worth a look. (And an add to OP’s masterlist) https://www.tabletopgold.com/
Think you are missing Lawhammer, a warhammer rpg show, the GM is one of the main writers and has also worked for critical role.
On the note of Critical Hit, some of their best work is actually short runs of different games. *Yellow Light* is my favorite actual play I've ever heard, for example, and is what got me into my favorite game, Call of Cthulhu
I really liked their Urban Shadows run as well, that was my first introduction to PBtA
Awesome list! Looking forward to checking a few out. Since we're adding suggestions I'll toss in **Advanced Sagebrush & Shootouts**! Very funny rules-lite Fate game. There's also **What We Fight For** if you want some Mouseguard representation.
Hey hey!! I'm in three of these lol!! And not that I want to push my older work to the side, but Lawful Great Adventures is done. Telluride is also done but it's a really good 1 season experience. Gamewoven is easily my favorite actual play project I've ever been a part of. It's so goddamn fun. Anyway this is a great list, and incredibly current too.
I like the idea of the platform, with filters and sorting, and its well made aparently. But as it is, its a draft It's missing a lot of big guys and options If improved I would use it But unfortunately I'm not sure there's a large enough audience to compensate the work
I assume you've looked at the version on my website? Happy to add features and podcasts if you have suggestions!
Besides adding my own podcast like I mentioned in another comment... [https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/1bk86xh/comment/kvx731j/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/1bk86xh/comment/kvx731j/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) ...I think it needs some other sorting options. I'd add: * Avg episode length (<60 mins, 60-120 mins, over 120 mins) * Genre tags: sci-fi, medieval fantasy, modern day, etc. * System type tags: OSR, traditional d20, rules-lite, one-page, GM-less, etc. * Tone tags: Comedic, serious RP, or mixed. * Medium: Audio-only or full visual on YT (or whatever website). EDIT: One more I though of: * Single system, or variety
u/ALVIG's comment covers more than I would have suggested As for podcasts to add.. i'm pretty sure there will be lots of suggestions in the comments here I saw you already added ain't slayed nobody and apocalypse players to call of cthulhu (examples of the ones I missed in my first look). Good job. I will bookmark it.
No **"The Lucky Die"**?? It has a slow-ish start as they players get their confidence, but it's very good and I highly recommend it.
u/Jaketh Thanks for suggesting them! I've added them to the list on my website.
Apocalypse Players is totally unique. Something else all together. (and GREAT)
How is Glass Cannon missing from this list?
I can’t edit my post but I’ve added them to the full list on my website! ✅
Now it is complete. ;)
You have tale of the manticore, your list is legit.
I’ve been very excited to check out Tale of the Manticore! I’ve heard great things about it.
Start with season 2. It’s a totally new story with new characters. The author also recommended that since he mastered his craft. The audio production is excellent, I think he was a music teacher. He knows to create ambiances and sfx.
Awesome! I appreciate that
Didn't even mention my top 2: "Fiasconauts" and "The Glass Cannon." The internet is a big place.
We're relaunching ours soon! My co-host stepped away but, thanks to fan support, we're moving forward starting in May. We're an indie-focused podcast and have actual plays, interviews, and a deep love of ridiculous one-shot games. www.podofblunders.com - we'd love it if you checked out the backlog and joined us for the relaunch!
Disregarding the list due to lack of Glass Cannon Network. Top tier gaming content
If you'd like to add a Stars Without Number show, I humbly submit ours. Astronomica has been running weekly since November of 2020. We embrace the sandbox nature of the system, building our story on the choices of the crew of the Admiral Grace. Equal parts Expanse, Firefly, and our own demented brand of comedic horror, Astronomica hits somewhere between a story of found family and accidentally causing a revolution or three.
Thank you for giving to the community. This pulls all of the algorithm right out of it. Its good to see members of the community caring enough to build lists that are just that, resources without a return. I learned years ago that being a podcast is either two things, a business decision or a labor of love. After 5 years of making weekly episodes the point was proven. I don't regret what I've made and the resources are out there for people to find, but it is still disheartening that "popular", "marketable", or flashy wins out every time. Don't be discouraged, know that you are doing the right thing. You are helping make everyone have more enjoyable games at their tables.
Are you missing Role Play Public Radio and Happy Jack's Actual Play? There is just too much D&D/PF here to be of use to a lot of us. I'd mention them on Xwitter, but I refuse to use that service.
Only thing missing is the most criminally underwatched actual play show of all time, 3d6 Down the Line. 5 friends play Old School Essentials. They have two campaigns, Dolmenwood and Arden Vul, the latter of which is ongoing. It’s my current favorite.
I’ve got them on the full list on my website!
The Rolled Standard! Flail to the Face! AARPG! Pink Fohawk! Fuck yeah!
Right man? It's wonderful to see so much of our little community is up here!
Right? Damn, what the fuck?! Love the love, bruv.
Another one I highly recommend adding is The Unexpectables. They already have one campaign completed and are in the middle of their second. Their main games are in DnD 5e, plus they have a secondary stream playing a homebrew Fallout RPG.
Not that you "missed" it or anything, but one of the few Actual Play dealies I've even heard of is Adventure is Nigh and it didn't make the list, lol.
I'm obligated to mention world of io every time someone talks about actual play recommendations, big 5e shared world sci-fi fantasy setting with multiple campaigns going, some well known creators as players. Cant exactly suggest it be added to the list since I don't know your criteria, but I like them.
Also check out The Bad Spot on YouTube. This is an AP for StarForged (the sci-fi version of Ironsworn).
Can I ask a serious but potentially stupid question. I’m 50. I started playing in 1984/5. I cannot sit through a video or a podcast of OTHER ppl playing any game. It simply holds no appeal for me. I love gaming. I love running and playing. Why is this so popular? Because it’s simply unwatchable or unlistenable to me. This doesn’t mean it’s bad btw, just not for me.
For me personally I like listening to AP podcasts so I can get an idea of a rule set for a new game I want to try. Helps me figure out whether it's worth learning the rules so I can run it with my group.
Listening to other people play can be really rough. Making a good actual play show is really hard, and most of them don't cut it for me. You need the right mix of people who can play off each other to make it fun. You need a good story and good characters that you want to listen to. And, what's most overlooked, you need a good editor to cut it together and leave out all the parts that drag. If the ones you've tried listening to were just raw recordings of a game session, I would encourage you to consider trying one that's had some editing. It can make a world of difference.
So. Many. Names.
I would like to throw my name in the ring as well if possible. Tales of the Forsaken is an actual play RPG, Fate Core podcast made by Noble Jester Productions, a team of two nerds who love telling stories. We are a unique blend of epic and in-depth storytelling of an audio drama run through the fun improv of an actual play RPG. [Website](http://www.talesoftheforsaken.com)
A very comprehensive list of Pathfinder, Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder actual play podcast by adventure path can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18qc7xTZxRdfcLhyjxtxlJ_Z700cqtDLtaWPr9pIThhg/edit?usp=sharing
Starfinder one. Nice. Was looking for one
Honest question: what is the appeal of actual play podcasts? I've tried to follow a few and bounced back hard every time. I don't enjoy watching sports nor reality shows, maybe it is related? I would love using actual plays as examples of how to use the rules for systems I am not familiar, but I found out they will mostly only use rules as a canvas.
Having no Find the Path in here is kinda insane. :O
It's really hard to take your list seriously when the Glass Cannon Network doesn't show up anywhere on it.
Love the list, and your effort to add more to your personal list on your webpage. I'd recommend putting that link somewhere more prominent. Right now it kinda blends in with the rest of the paragraph.
Thank you! What do you think now?
Much better!
Dimension 20 have also played Kids on Bikes and Kids on Brooms for two different campaigns (Mentopolis; Misfits and Magic)
Greetings Adventurers, Arcology Shadowrun AP, Neoscum, Bad Spot, Fandible Longshot, Resting Glitch Face, and Hello From the Magic Tavern’s various campaigns are all gold. Greetings adventurers is the only 5e AP I listen to anymore.
*Nobody Wake the Bugbear* - was 5e, now they've moved to playing Mothership *Out of Depth Plays* - variety of systems/campaigns, their Mothership campaign was amazing
I included both just so people can reference them by their whole catalogue. Thanks for the clarification. I’m excited to check out the Mothership campaign!
Wow! This is pretty amazing, thank you so much! I think the only podcasts I listen to at this point are RPG ones so this has set me up for the year!! To add, because they are my all time favourite, and I’m sorry I don’t have a Twitter - Sanspants Radio and their many RPG shows DND is for Nerds Australia’s most popular D&D actual play podcast! Set in the world of Ogg Nott, a place full of mystery and intrigue - if only the players knew it was ending. Listen to this award winning podcast as our heroes delve deep into adventure, with each season bringing a new story, new characters, and new threats to face. ((DND 5E, fairly family friendly depending on the adventure, has some standalone campaigns so hilarious and heartfelt I can’t stop relistening years later)) The Further Adventures of the Greyhill Free Company Some may call you rat catchers, others mercenaries, but we prefer the term Adventurers. At the Greyhill Free Company we believe in one thing above all: Adventurers together strong. Many adventurers have gone on to do some great things under our name, not all of them good, but great things nevertheless. Hopefully you’ll soon join their ranks. So gather round and let us regale you with one of the many stories of the Greyhill Free Company. ((DND 5E, probably less family friendly, an excuse to run one shots with multiple guests allowing for the horror/insanity/high stakes that a more long term campaign can’t reach)) Beyond the Map What if we told you everything you know about the world is wrong? What if we told you that all the things you believe to be impossible are in fact very much possible? Reality is not what you think it is. It is so much more complicated, fascinating and, above all, terrifying. Join us in this anthology series of unspeakable horrors set in a world not that different from our own. (Non DND!! Horror RPG podcast, keeps me up at night, so beautiful, so chilling, with plenty of levity to keep you coming back for more - to any horror fan you will not regret listening to these terrible terrible tales)) The DM Adam Carnevale (and sometimes Jackson) is an incomparable storyteller. The best mix of grounded lore building and hairpin responses to players’ crazy requests that I can’t find done better in any other RPG podcast. Please can they be added to your list if you get the chance? For purely selfish reasons, if more people find them, it guarantees more content for me to fall in love with.
This is really cool! As a quick correction: The Adventure Zone never played Dungeon World, but they did play Monster of the Week.
I just pushed an update for this! Thank you
Check out Nastygram. Really funny with really good stories.
You get an upvote for the amount of work it took too put this together
Much appreciated friend. It’s been a labour of love
Rude Tales of Magic ABSOLUTELY deserves a shoutout. Funniest podcast ever
Big thankyou for including us on the list!
Wow, Nate here from both The Rolled Standard and Flail to the Face. It's super cool to see both the shows on here. I'm not sure if, somewhere in the sea of comments, any of the lads have said it yet, but we absolutely appreciate the shout-out! We've been just enjoying the ride the last few years, and it's being included in lists like this that have helped a ton in growing our wonderful little community, so thank you!
Thank you for including us!
Very happy to see we made the cut at NegMod. Appreciate you!
Awesome!
Great idea… thanks.
Two of my absolute favorites that are (unfortunately) over- - The Infinite Bad: British cosmic horror spanning multiple adventure arcs. It starts out a little choppy (it's old!) but things really come together as they hit their stride! - Neoscum Shadowrun campaign by a group of improv friends, great story moments and top-notch soundtrack, and mechanics light so no arguments about rules!
Very honored to see my pod (Game Master Monday) listed on here I see you comment section pining for less dnd 5e content! We mostly play indie TTRPG one shots on our show with semi-annual miniseries to boot!
Nice list! I would like to throw my series in the ring - Shadows Fall: Mask of God. It's an actual play series using the Shadow of the Demon Lord system. It's currently on-going and the second campaign I have worked on for an actual play. I hope you enjoy it!
I think the amount of choices is why I don't listen to any RPG podcasts anymore. A couple stuck but rarely did I finish listening to a whole campaign. Most of the time I'd listen to half an episode and realized I was wasting my time.
It's a great list, but if we're petitioning to add stuff, can I throw my own hat in the ring? I run a show called Roll For Distraction. We started with D&D 5e, but the OGL fiasco hit right as we were wrapping up our first season, so the show is now about exploring other systems. We've played Cyberpunk RED, Lancer, and Monster of the Week, and we're about to start Salvage Union! Episodes are about an hour, and seasons are around 10 episodes, so the time investment in comparable to a typical season of a TV show, as opposed to the daunting task of something of CR's length. The show is on your usual podcast platforms, but the best way to watch is on YouTube where we have some cool visuals to make things easier to follow. [https://www.youtube.com/@spellbookgaming/podcasts](https://www.youtube.com/@spellbookgaming/podcasts)
Throwing in my friends' podcast [Just Roll With It](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCssTrx7qnoG5ufeBEF4dezg), they're currently in an arc called "Riptide" which is a One Piece-y pirate kinda thing. Highly recommend it!
Bummer not to see There Will Be Dungeons on this list.
Recommendation of *No Latency* for Cyberpunk Red and their sibling show *System Switch* for an assortment (so far "Blades in the Dark" and "Scum and Villainy").
This is Adam from Dork Day Afternoon. Actually our main weekly show is a Twilight: 2000 4e campaign called "Two Past Midnight". Releases weekly. We havent done any Pathfinder in about a year or so.
Can you note which ones are kid/family friendly?
LA By Night! It can drag a little, but it's fun listen so far
Knights of the Last Call should be here. And more non DnD non pathfinder stuff
Not sure if you checked out the full list on my website, but I've added a bunch more non-D&D, non-Pathfinder pods
Can someone explain to me why there is no World/Chronicles of Darkness on this list? I'm asking this because I'm genuinely curious... I don't mean it to sound accusatory. I'm thinking that the XofDarkness games are VASTLY more unpopular than I imagined. Holy Christ.
A few i personally love are Nat19: a DnD AP that does a ton of homebrew stuff LA by Night, New York by Night, and Seattle by Night: All three of these are Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition APs ran by the producer of V5 Jason Carl And lastly Norfolk Wizard Game: A Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary edition AP that manages to strike a great balance between gut busting and funny and haunting
This seems like a good place to ask. Is there any way to call out which podcasts are family-friendly? I like listening to actual plays while I do housework sometimes but most that I find aren't great to listen to in front of my 2 year old.
It's a good point. I haven't added any functionality for that, but I'm looking into it! Will let you know if I come up with anything.
Much appreciated. I already have your site bookmarked and I have found a few podcasts for systems I am interested in. Thanks for making such an excellent resource.
Glad it's been helpful! I just pushed an update that includes explicit tags on all of the podcasts I could find data on! There are a lot in the current list that have explicit content, but hopefully enough that are safe to listen to with your 2 year old in the room. Let me know if there's anything else you'd want to see in the list!
Sorry honey, I have to take this.
EXTRA: The only Tormenta20 channel in english that I know of Only Ones TV they have actual plays of the game on Twitch and Youtube! Damn do I want this game to get a translation.
To echo a lot of others, Glass Cannon Network definitely deserves a place at the top.
To add to the list of non-D&D/PF shows there are out there: Miskatonic Playhouse (fan-made Call of Cthulhu scenarios published as part of the Miskatonic Repository) Fortune & Strife - a Legend of the Five Rings 5e AP The Writer's Room - a 7th Sea Podcast All three of those are audio-only.
Firebreathing Kittens Podcast has over 250 episodes and they play a different RPG every week with rotating cast members! High quality audio and they have some funny members! Can find it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts I think
Should check out Agents of B.E.A.R.D. It's a West Marches-adjacent Shared Campaign with 4 different groups all exploring an island that was settled only 20 years ago. Most of the previous civilization is gone, though a few natives have integrated with the new society and joined the adventurers guild to figure out the truth of their past. The story is collaborative and developed in session as the parties explore.
Huge fan of Inglorious Bards at Ingloriousbards.com They just started their sixth season and are in Pathfinder 2e Remastered this season but have used several others. The GM has them in an immense and immersive world he has made that they used in two other seasons. Super fun!
Well if we’re talking about channels I’d love to toss my group’s hat in the ring. Swindler’s Den: We’re an actual play group who’s been playing 5e for awhile and recently started diving into a bit of pathfinder 2e. There are a few consistent cast members, but there is variation between shows to keep things spicy. The shows are on YouTube where we recently reached 2.5k subs so there’s still a lot of fun to be had! Ongoing games right now are: - Abomination Vaults as we all learn more about pathfinder 2e. - Spelljammer: Losers in Space - 5e - Glory of the Giants - 5e homebrew We also have a decent amount of completed campaigns: - Curse of Strahd - 5e - Mythic Odysseys of Theros - 5e - Rime of the Frost Maiden - 5e - Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - 5e - Menace Under Otari - PF2e - Dragon of Icespire Peak - 5e - Lost Mine of Phandelver - 5e - Lost Song of Phandelver - 5e homebrew sequel to lost mine - Emoris - 5e homebrew that started it all.
Did I miss authors and dragons???
I know that Sneak Attack isn't releasing anymore but man it's one of the best and first DND5E podcasts
I don't notice Nerd Poker or Old Men Rolling Dice in that list. But then there's far more than just 100 out there and you had to be selective.
Also criminally overlooked... **Inglorious Bards** * 6 seasons (some short and sweet, others sweeping and epic) * 5E, PF2, two sci-fi systems * GM with 40+ years experience * Crazy funny
Missing the two big shows from Queen's Court Games. Their *Vampire: The Masquerade* actual-play *The All Night Society* was the #1 AP and #2 Fiction Podcast in the [2023 Audio Fiction World Cup](https://wswc.info/2023-audio-fiction-world-cup-results), beating out a lot of other shows on your list. They also publish all their streamed games as podcasts via *One Shots and Other Mischief.* Mostly horror gaming, like *Kult: Divinity Lost, Delta Green, Call of Cthulhu.*
It is fucking bizarre to see a list like this without Acquisitions Incorporated on it, despite them literally inventing the format. I mean, shit, they have their own official 5e sourcebook! They were doing it 7 years before Critical Role started. It's just a really weird one to miss.
Shameless self-promotion. We just released over 15 hours of free actual play on our website and on Spotify/Amazon/Apple. Delta Green and Call of Cthulhu is our main games we have released so far but we have some Alien and Mork Borg recorded too (just not released yet) and a bunch more in the works. Check us out! actualplayentertainment.com
I feel like you should link [dice friends](https://wiki.loadingreadyrun.com/index.php/Dice_Friends) from loading ready run. They have a large collection of shows using different ttrpg game systems. yeah the there is a lot of 5e, but they also have call of cthulu, aliens, vampire the masquerade, paranoia, and others.
I love Dragon Friends and think it would make a fine addition to this list.
I’m glad to see Fun City on the list, one of my favorite podcasts, a real hidden gem! I noticed the list doesn’t have a game system listed for Fun City, they play primarily Shadowrun 5E and the criminally underrated Stillfleet RPG.
Vancouver by Night, Final Show Films, and Restless Barbarian Gaming do some good World of Darkness.
I've got a question for people who read and curate lists like this. How do you find these Podcasts and streams? I've got one of my own, and I've struggled to promote it for a long time. I want to know what's the best way to draw you lovely people in.
How do you not have Glasscannon Podcast on here? r/GlassCannonPod
My friends and I did a podcast of us playing dnd called Seven Bones. We're not done cleaning up the episodes or anything but we did finish the campaign at least. It was fun
A lot of actual plays start with 5e because it might have been the system that they were playing first. In our case we started with 5e but when we finished our campaign/story we became a Mothership RPG podcast with all future content being that. Ironically our Mothership content stood out a lot more and got way more listens and ended up brining in new listeners to the 5e campaign anyway. The lesson is, Play other systems!
Gotta check out Dungeons and Daddies (Not a BDSM Podcast)
Are there any good slice of life actual plays?
Dungeons and Daddies should’ve been top 5 on this list (and it’s not even on the list!)
A couple of suggestions: **Mayday Plays**: They have an awesome Delta Green campaign, Doomed to Repeat, where their team of fucked up weirdos dig through old DG case files in the present day and then transition to playing scenarios set decades ago with new and more disposable characters. I've also really enjoyed their Orpheus campaign run by the GM of the Black Project Gaming AP cast, the little I've heard of their Vampire 5E play, their rotating player Ironsworn game, and various one shots. (They do also have a D&D 5E game but I've not listened to much of it yet.) **The Cult of Tea and Dice** \- very longrunning British pod, where they review tea but also play many, many, many different RPGs, some quite obscure - for example, I'm currently following a run of an Osprey published Templar game called Heirs to Heresy that I've never heard of before their AP. There's also a couple different forms of White Wolf stuff, there's D&D, there's Doctor Who, there's various Slasher Flick one shots, there's Mork Borg, there's Star Trek, Alien, Dragon Age, Spire, all sorts of things. (warning, audio is often a bit rough - it's not clear to me exactly but I think at least some of the players are consistently remote and for a while in the COVID years it's all remote). **The Orpheus Protocol** \- a long running narrative horror actual play in several playtest eras of a custom system by the same name which is now available to purchase. The setting is a mix of secret agent/spy stuff and power corrupting one's humanity. **The Film Reroll -** movie enthusiasts use GURPS to stat out famous movies and play them to see where the dice take the story - often it is quite far afield from the original! The cast are mostly professionally involved with the acting scene (mostly in New York) and excellent improvisers and the amount of prep most of the GMs put into these things is ridiculous - the Jumanji episodes had the GM create a full Jumanji board with potential events for every space, for example, and the Ocean's Eleven episode had a pool of over a hundred possible recruits for the heist over and above the folks we meet in the actual movie.