35 thoughts on “I apologize if this is noobish, but other than Gauntlet, what are your fave actually play podcasts for DW?”

  1. I haven’t really heard any good ones (other than DR/Comic Strip), so I’m interested too. The One Shot podcast did two of them, but like a lot of AP podcasts these days the system was trampled in an attempt to do comedy. I actually enjoyed the second (I think it was the second) series, but you would NOT learn how to play DW correctly or at all from it. 🙂

  3. I have the Roo Sack gamers queued up. I haven’t listened to it yet, but I am finding their second go at Torchbearer intersting. So… Maybe… They seem to take role-playing seriously at least.

  5. I’m wanting to listen more as a student than as a consumer of entertainment. Sadly, production values on tabletops have moved toward voice actors and the like. It’s great to publicize the hobby, but it leads to a unaligning expectations.

  9. Andrew Huffaker Their first campaign is DW. And I think a later one? I’ve only listened to a little bit.

    There are some reddit threads on the subject that you might want to look at, too.

  13. As Asbjørn H Flø​ says, it takes a few (very long) episodes to get into but the Heiron arc shows players and GM learning DW from scratch and for that alone it is really useful and interesting. They also build up a fascinating world with lots of un-scripted drama.

    Oh, and they aren’t professional VO or improv comedians 🙏👍

  14. I’d love to recommend some AP podcasts but it’s a tricky sweet spot to nail. Not too scripted, professional or self indulgently wacky, but not so raw and unedited as to render it unlistenable in nice 45-60min podcast episodes.

  15. Agree with Ray Otus​ – I stopped listening to One Shot for the exact same reason! Why, oh why do people try to be wacky/funny in every one of these podcasts?

    The Gauntlet really is the king here. Comic Strip AP (Alfred Soultaker) and the recent 1.5 hour long Discern Realties episode on Ramshackle Crow set a pretty high bar. Obviously you know about these, but I think they still deserve a mention. Thanks, Jason Cordova​!

  16. I’m at work so can’t make the search for you but here’s some DW podcast I’ve enjoyed:

    OneShot Podcast played 5-6 DW sessions. Audio and postprod quality of OneShot episodes is outstanding. More on the funny side than serious tone though.

    Already mentioned, but to me the best serious DW actual play is Alford Soultaker from Comic Strip AP. Is has background music and some SFX, cool acting, potable sound quality (atlhough a bit low). Only “flaw” is that each episode is only 15 min long 😛

  17. Andrew Huffaker I don’t think it’s possible at the moment to beat Discern Realities if, as you mentioned, you’re mainly interested in learning from it. All of the Gauntlet podcasts with AP hit a very high standard. The Alford Soultaker series is amazing but David LaFreniere and Jason Cordova are the gold standard when it comes to DW education because they leave important bits of discussion in there. I would love to find more podcasts too but Yochai Gal and Ray Otus already hit on the problem. I find that the narrative takes a back seat to cheap humor and annoying character grandstanding.

  18. Thanks for the kind words about the Gauntlet APs here, folks. The serious kids don’t get the same kind of love and recognition the “funny” kids do, so it’s nice to see this.

  19. Right? The rewards for modeling a system accurately and generating more interesting/leveled fiction are totally on a different scale than the rewards for cutting up and (to some extent) satirizing/parodying a system. When I listen to Adventure Zone, for instance, it’s pretty clear they are playing D&D with about the same level of accuracy as the kids were in Stranger Things. (Probably less actually.) 😛

  20. Ray Otus I guess playing for an audience and playing for yourself is a really different thing. Also, I’m always struck by how many people don’t recognize the influence of editing. A lot of APs set a really unrealistic expectation for listeners because they have edited their show to seem maximally fun and enjoyable, or they cut out the boring bits where you’re just thinking and planning. You know, on Comic Strip AP, we add a lot of music and sound effects, but the gameplay is really straight. Very, very little editing is done on the gameplay end of things. We just play. I wish more people knew that about Comic Strip.

  22. Jason Cordova I have to disagree with part of your previous comment. I don’t think the bits where we can hear the thinking and planning are boring at all. I find myself mulling over those parts and changing the way I think about interacting at the table.

  23. Logan Howard Fair enough, haha. I just meant I have sometimes encountered this weird expectation that everything just flows beautifully around the table, like a scripted drama.

  24. I actually can’t enjoy raw AP (that doesn’t have at least some editing). On the opposite side, I’m enjoying heavy editing. With RAW actual plays it feel intrusive, as if I’m some kind of weird hidden voyeur in somebody else’s game.

    Plus, let’s be honest, an AP is meant to be some kind of entertainment. I don’t care much about that 1 min of one player trying to figure out the result of his roll or that kind of thing.

    I don’t have 4 hours to listen to somebody else’s game. I can barely afford 1 hour let’s play (I usually listen to those under 3-4 days). I guess that’s one of the many reasons why I can’t stand Critical Roll.

    As far as I’m concerned, Comic Strip AP editing style is flawless. Leaves out the boring and uninteresting stuff but still leaves everything you need to understand how the game works while keeping it interesting. Is it representative of a real game session. Maybe not. But it keeps the essence of the game while making it actually interesting to listen to as a form of entertainment.

  25. Even outside of Comic Strip AP, I would love for more straight Actual Plays of various game systems as it is a nice way to see how well they hold up to evoking the genres the games are meant to portray. I agree with Logan Howard that I enjoy listening to people working with (even struggling with) the mechanical and planning parts as it shows how the system works at the table.

    I am probably in the minority and not many people would want this type of AP, but I keep looking.

    In the past I have enjoyed some recordings of people’s convention games where the tone was set early and everyone was on board.

    But they are hard to find.

  26. Addramyr Palinor I see what you’re saying and agree for the most part. I didn’t mean that nothing should be edited out. Only that the moments of conversation about where to take the story and how to deal with certain situations that the Gauntlet crew lets us in on are very helpful and interesting.

  27. Yeah, I think raw APs either need a very experienced, creative and relaxed group able to clip through things at a pace, or they just feel like listening in on a random game for 3hrs. Which is interesting, but… niche.

    I think mostly listeners to the Adventure Zone (or other polished APs) get that it is radio done through the lens of D&D. Playing the game is a different sort of fun.

    +💯 on the need for less wacky antics through. Give me drama! Give me imagination!

  28. I agree with Logan Howard​. I want to see process and learn from how others run games. I like hearing people talk ‘above the table’ to hash out thing on the table.

    That being said, I don’t like hearing papers shuffle and dead air, since I can’t see what is going on.

  31. As awesome as Soultaker and Discern are, they don’t represent a typical play session. They normally have only 2 people involved. I think it leads to intimate game play, but they are also only about 20 minute sessions.

  32. Andrew Huffaker Definitely check out Jason Cordova’s youtube sessions for play with bigger groups. They’re much longer but still great! I haven’t had a chance to follow any of them all the way through yet (busy life) but am looking forward to it.

  33. We’re going to have Dungeon World stuff on Pocket-Sized Play in the future, too. Right now it’s Monsterhearts and The Woodlands (and those might still be helpful because they’re both PbtA).

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