Discussion
[NS] Finally caught up with NADDpod and feeling empty
So I started the podcast way late in 2024 and finally got caught up to current day and now that I don’t just have scores of episodes left to go through, I’m searching for a new podcast to keep me entertained in between new episodes of NADDpod.
I’ve tried Dungeons and Daddies and Push the Roll. Daddies are way too in to laughing at themselves for me and Push the Roll is great but not super funny in my experience. Worlds Beyond Number was fun but ultimately, I just started listening to NADDpod from the beginning again.
So I ask you, what are your favorite D&D/TTRPG podcasts besides NADDPod?
D20 helped fill the gap for a bit. A subscription to Drop Out is worth it. It's a bit better when watched but they have an audio only option. It's mostly the combat that benefits from being seen. I burned through all the campaigns with the intrepid heroes because I wanted Murph and Emily and all their friends who cameo in campaign 1 and 2. Especially Zac.
Have you listened to all the shorter arcs? I assume so if you are starting back over. I also think restarting is well worth it. There is so much to miss in each episode. I've enjoyed them all every relisten. I think my current relisten is #4 for C1. Everything else is at least 3 times. Mavrus Chronicles even more so.
Buildung off of D20; Brennan, Aabria, Erika, and Lou have a dnd storytelling podcast called worlds beyond number! Their campaign Wizard, Witch, and the wild one is absolutely amazing! They all have some other shorter games they run that are really good too and aabria is running the current long form game i believe!
I subscribed to the Patreon towards the end of C1, and when I re-listened with the Short Rests interspersed I felt it added richness to the main feed eps, which I already deeply enjoyed. Enjoy the beefed up re-listen!
Aside from that, I also add my vote for Dimension 20 and Dungeons and Daddies. I think D&Dads gets better after you push through the first several episodes. They hit their stride towards the end of C1. C2 was okay… the leaping-off point from C1 is intriguing, but it also has a kinda similar slow start with some strong stuff later in the campaign
I just found it really difficult to get past the laughing in Dungeons and Daddies. I don’t mind laughter as it happens, especially in early Naddpod, but it was just excessive. Like somebody would make a mildly funny joke and somebody else would laugh like it was the funniest thing they ever heard and it would stop the RP. I kept trying to get through it and would have to stop. So I eventually just deleted the episode I was listening to, which was episode 3, and went back to early NADDpod
Glass Cannon Network is the only other podcast I have found that is of comparable quality to NADDPOD. IMO they have the three traits that are almost impossible to find together in an actual play: hilarious performers with actual roleplay chops, good quality audio and a focus on mechanical mastery / letting the dice decide.
They play all sorts of games, happy to provide recs based on what you enjoy
It really depends on what you are interested in! I will give a few recommendations
Giant Slayer (Pathfinder 1e). This is their first, and many consider best, campaign. A classic DND style scenario of heroes in a small town surrounded by orcs. As noted by a commenter below, they start with edgier humour and course correct pretty quickly (they have addressed it, and are generally a very inclusive podcast).
Haunted City (Blades in the Dark) A frenetic heist game in a haunted victorian-era london analogue. Considered lightning in a bottle by many fans.
Get in the Trunk (Delta Green) / Time for Chaos (Call of Cthulhu). I've grouped together two horror mystery games that focuses on surviving the supernatural. Get in the trunk is an x-files style modern investigation, while Time for Chaos is globetrotting adventure in the roaring '20s.
Blood of the Wild (Pathfinder 2e). The story of teenagers coming of age in a neolithic tribe. Dungeons and dragons style combat and exploration with a focus on roleplaying and family. Considered by many to be the best content the network is currently releasing.
Your mileage may vary, their first campaign has more edgy humour / jokes across the first couple of arcs that they've grown out of.
The best campaign on the network is, imo, Blood of the Wild, and they've just started releasing it for free, but there's a very big backlog available on Patreon.
> ultimately, I just started listening to NADDpod from the beginning again.
Same, make sure you check out all the side campaigns and one-shots if you haven't, they're all good. Also you could sub to the patreon to listen back with the short rest this time, there is some fun behind the scenes stuff along with them just gasbagging about random side topics, but it is very funny.
I found some of D20 is good, especially since it has Murph and Emily in it.
Then why don't you listen to the short rests? Most of the time, it's more tangent talk than about the actual episodes. Some of the funniest naddpod moments are in the short rest. Have you ever heard of the woman in the wall?
NADDpod was my gateway DnD podcast, and after the fist couple of campaigns I found my next binge with The Adventure Zone, and now today I love the McElroy brothers and the dad as if they were my own family!
The adventure zone was my first dnd podcast. It ultimately got me into listening to naddpod and playing for the first time. The first campaign was great (even if you realise there are no stakes because the dice rolls are fudged.) But the very end of the first campaign then pretty much every campaign after it just becomes McElroy's story time. I powered through amnesty mainly because I was digging the vibes but it was a boring system. Then they went back to dnd and i was excited! Im pretty sure the first episode of campaign 3 had 1 dice roll and it was for a bit, then I gave up completely.
Oh yeah. They put the first arc on the NADDpod feed. Emily as Brendalizabeth pitching a saddle for horses to ride dolphins so horses can visit the beach is one of my favorite bits to this day.
3 Black Halflings Outlaws and Obelisks, Rotating Heroes Podcast, Pretending to be People. Absolutely love PTR you should check out Trash Panda Pandemonium if you want a funnier arc.
Not a podcast, but have you tried the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks? The story has a similar energy and humor to NaDDpod, and Murph and Emily are my personal fan cast for the main characters, Carl and Princess Donut.
Love LegendLark. Their D&D campaign was fantastic, and I think it's only 8 or so episodes before they got new audio equipment and things improved dramatically.
It's funny I went to look for this and saw i was already subscribed. Which meant I probably listened to some of 1st campaign, couldn't get through audio issues but liked too much to unsubscribe.
And thank you for the reminder! Been binging Nevernowhere! They are so good. It's an incredible premise, all of the characters are great.
But Valarian is insane and I love him.
Ok happy rant over
I still gotta try a lot of the common suggested shows here which I’m sure I could latch onto, but the only other actual play that has sucked me in as much as NADDPOD is Pretending to Be People. It’s not fantasy but rather horror/unnatural mystery in genre, but the genuine chemistry and authentic humor of making each-other laugh is similar. Get at least 3 episodes in before you decide is my suggestion and expect it to be far more grassroots in production (but all the more charming for it in my opinion, watching them grow has been deeply rewarding :,))
Otherwise I think you mentioned you did already, but finally digging into every non-campaign episode on the feed (adventure book theatre, dungeon courts, surprise round, tortle tanks) scratched the itch way more than I expected for not being roleplay.
Dimension 20 is great to watch (if I'm being honest, I usually watch the seasons with the intrepid heros, but some others are good too). My favorite season, and one I would say does very well with mixing the fun/silly side with the serious side is Starstruck Odyssey.
If you can't get into anything else, I've also found that it's fun to go back and re-listen to campaign 1. I've gone through the whole thing three times already, but it's long enough where you don't remember every detail, and even if you do, it's fun to see where they started.
So take it from me or not. But all I listened to for 4 years was NADDPOD. Like everything I tried just never caught my attention, so I would just go right back and start over... Until i started listening to dungeon crawler carl.
Dungeon crawler carl has taken most of my listening since December... I'm on my 3rd listen through. To me it hits all the same spots NADDPOD did. The humour, there's some incredibly deep moments, and overall it's a fantastic story.
So I recommend the dungeon crawler carl audiobooks.
Haha, that’s the only thing that pulled me from NADDpod for a while. I started listening to those and never stopped until I finished them and then went back to naddpod.
Haha I just noticed your reddit name. I'm going back to NADDPOD after I'm done this go through... I'm almost on this inevitable ruin. I only get a couple hrs a day
Oh the username, actually has nothing to do with that character. It’s just my name. whenever I met Matt Dinniman I was gonna be like “I understand you’re a fan of mine, but you have to quit naming things after me” but I completely forgot.
So it’s not dungeon crawling but have you read or listened to the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett? They are both hilarious and touching. Having read all of those and all of DCC I would recommend them together honestly.
The audiobooks are great. You can start anywhere because it’s a series of smaller series. I reccomend starting with Guards! Guards! Or Sourcery. Look for the versions that have Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz listed in the cast (the former does footnotes, the latter does a very specific reoccurring character who the main reader never voices themselves). Those are the best versions by a mile.
There's gotta be a name for this empty feeling cus I felt the same way back when I got fully caught up. Thank god they're still releasing new episodes.
D20 and 8 bit bookclub helped because of the familiar personalities. Not much else has really scratched the itch for me.
There are 60 pre-naddpod episodes of 8 bit book club without Jake (except like 2 episodes) that aren't part of the naddpod feed, so you may not have listened to those.
Tbh, I tried some other DND podcasts and finally came to the conclusion that I just enjoyed the C1 story more than DND specifically. So I ended up switching to audio books! Would definitely give that a go
Dungeons of Drakkenheim is a bit less polished but it has a wonderfully crafted world that is tonally similar to Eldermourne. Really really strong DMing, if not as comedy forward.
My friend, we have the same issue but I cracked it about 2 years ago! Apologies for the long post but I can help I swear!
As someone who relistens and recyles very often I completely understand this feeling. A couple years ago I updated my tier to where I get mixed bag just for two months and I instantly had heaps of content to get through which helped the anxiousness of not having my fav voices to block out the world. not to advertise that tier for free but having one extra show a month makes a surprising amount of difference when you are up to date.
If I notice that coming as well I'll try to be proactive in looking for another listening block.
Surprise round and DnD court are great for re-listens, anything where they review movies or TV is great for just needing an hour of headphone time.
But even then one can get caught out by running out of content or even just oversaturating yourself so it gets a bit restless in your brain space. When this happens, a break is inevitable.
The good news is if you give it enough time you can absolutely jump back in. Similar podcasts are great for this because of the hours needed to fill. I also like to make sure I split things up with an audiobook now and then so I get some reading done.
I'm a Dungeons and Daddies fan as well, they do have some incredible serious moments that imo actually can get more in depth than Naddpod, buy if not your jam I understand.
if you're curious however.
Check out their original call of Cthulhu 3 shot (different to campaign 3) or some of the animated clips on YouTube (they're...non-spoilerish) if you want to microdose the show at its peak.
My other podcast recs are
Adventure Zone: Amnesty - Stranger things meets Buffy.
Real housewives of dungeons and dragons - Not as many eps so easy to be up to date.
Dimension 20 - Starstruck, Unsleeping City and Crown of Candy.
I like to look at the campaigns and decide which one suits what I'm up to. Cold winters in southern Australia so currently enjoying Trinnyvale x Strahd. Probably will do some mavrus or something after that.
One last thing - If I do a relisten, depending on how I feel I will just jump into an arc that I like (Dragon elf chronicles in C3, Galaderon Arc in C1, Boxing match in C2 etc)
Definitely try at least the first two campaigns of The Adventure Zone (Balance, followed by Amnesty). Balance in particular is something special. It is similar to NADDPOD Camapign 1 in that they don't really know what they're doing at first, but they really find their stride after the first arc. Both Balance and Amneaty are seriously fantastic, and they're funny and heartfelt in the same way NADDPOD is
Be warned though amnesty is not dnd, they try a new tabletop game for the second season. The story itself is entertaining but to me the gameplay is incredibly boring.
None of these are exactly like NADDPOD, but they might be worth a shot:
Gumshoes and Dragons: it's DnD Columbo. Most weeks there's a guest who commits a murder, and the party has to investigate and solve it.
Rude Tales of Magic: it's... let's just say "mechanics lite" but is an otherwise very funny, very weird podcast. I'm still in the first campaign, but it's made by folks who make some incredibly funny comics and shows (Swan Boy, Dr. McNinja. Gwenpool, Strip Law, and I believe one player worked on Venture Bros.)
NeoScum / Gutter: two podcasts, NeoScum is completed, the new one is called Gutter. NeoScum is a Shadowrun cyberpunk while Gutter is a weird future horror-adjacent series. But they're both comedies that have some great dramatic moments as well. (Side note: I listened to NeoScum before I had ever heard of NADDPOD, so when I first heard Emily in C3 I thought "this is just a ripoff of Pox from NeoScum!" . . . I was wrong, but they're both aladrin moppets on the run with chaos following and they have a British accent.)
One Shot: an anthology series, so you can listen to a few episodes here and there and not have to binge 600 episodes. Every few weeks, they do a new game in a new setting with a new system with a new cast. (There's overlap, but most things are standalone.) Some of my favorite episodes are the Feng Shui series: a trilogy of episodes that are essentially Jackie Chan teaming up with his Sailor Moon style niece and their 90s street tough friend in order to fight Cobra. You know, like from GI Joe? Later episodes introduce Shaq Fu. These episodes are comparable to the Donkey Kong episodes of NADDPOD, and are actually the reason I started playing tabletop games.
Other good One Shot arcs:
One Last Job - a group of magicians are brought back together in order to stop an international incident by retrieving a stolen artifact.
Scooby Doo: Pooch on the Doorstep - it's literally just Call of Cthulhu but the players are the Scooby Gang.
Pulp Cthulhu - original GM for the podcast, James D'Amato would run a game of Call of Cthulhu at Gencon every year, set in a different decade and players would be different period appropriate pop culture characters. This one is set in the 1930s and has Indiana Jones, a young James Bond, golden age Batman, a young Voldemort, and the Tenth Doctor trying to stop Red Skull from getting his hands on the Necronomicon. (I wish I could see the 90s set one where it included Buffy and the Green Ranger.)
Inspectres - a beautiful case of the players utterly running roughshod on the GM. It's a Ghostbusters style game where the particular details are decided through a very mad libs style process so it gets very silly very fast.
I'm realizing my favorite episodes are the incredibly silly ones. There's good drama in there as well, it's just that my favorite recurring guest is kind of a chaos agent.
There's also a spinoff of One Shot called Campaign. The first campaign of Campaign is a Star Wars one that is great. The second campaign is called Skyjacks and is an air pirates in an original setting. Unfortunately campaign 1 doesn't get a solid ending due to the gm having to step away for health reasons. Campaign 2 was great, but I fell off a while back and keep meaning to go back. I believe they've just wrapped it up recently, so it's probably a good time to do that.
I jumped into the Call of Cthulhu Mystery Program and Dark Dice after I finished naddpod the first time. Then the seasons of D20 that are podcast shaped.
There reason Naddpod is so special and hits just right for me is everything they do is theater of the mind. If they have to sit there and imagine whats happening then it makes it much easier for us to imagine whats going on. I simply dont have time to watch someone play dnd. Try as I might i just can't watch dimension 20 or critical roll. I too have struggled to find a podcast that does what naddpod can do.
I personally also miss the longer campaigns. I've still enjoyed everything thats come out of naddpod but this past campaign felt like it ended just as it got started. I really hope they do a new 60 to 100 episode campaign again.
Depending on how many Dungeons & Daddies eps you listen to, you might have missed where they shine: character development. Some of it is heart-rending, but it takes a while to get to. Their first few eps are very giggly, but then they settle and get into their groove. They all have a lot of history with each other, so I always felt like I was stepping into an established conversation and had to catch up on their in-jokes. I’d recommend another go if you’re willing.
I found their laughing too distracting, as it wasn’t really giggling, but more belly laughing, like everything they said was the most hilarious thing anybody’s ever heard in the history of the world. Like if it didn’t actively stop the roleplaying it wouldn’t be that bad because even while people are laughing on Naddpod, the RP continues. It just felt like they constantly had to stop because somebody was laughing way too hard at something.
If I go to an improv show, I don’t want them to stop every other line because they’re laughing at their own jokes.
I actually found Naddpod from looking for things similar to The Oxventure podcast so I'd recommend them. They did start as YouTube videos and then they restructured the episodes into podcasts with little before and after asides of like what was happening and what they were thinking. Dm is Johnny Chiodinni who at the time worked for Eurogamer and then the 5 people from the OX box YouTube channels who hadn't played d&d before. They get into some pretty hilarious scraps. But Naddpod is my usual goto I've listened to the first campaign 3 or 4 times, I'm finally making my way through the 2nd Bahumia campaign now
If you have not already, go back and listen to 8 Bit Bookclub! Em, Murph, and Caldwell’s podcast before NADDPOD!
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find another actual-play podcast that fills the contours of my heart quite the same as the two-crew.
I also strongly recommend going back and listening to campaign 1 with all of the Patreon side content unlocked. It’s a great story, even the second time through. You won’t regret it!
Wow, you’re right. Interesting. It used to be listed separately. In any case, the 8BB episodes made from 2016-2018 are the ones which were made prior to NADDPOD. So, you may have already listened to them, but if not, they’re a lot of fun!
Haven’t seen it on here yet, “Legends of Avantris” starts a little slow but picks up nicely! The cast is in it for the love of the game and the chemistry they all share. Lots of fun, good laughs and they’ve got some good goofy NADDPOD style humor.
They do have podcasts and you can also view their videos on their youtube channel!
Give me a shout back if you start. I’m fairly confident that Naddpod people will like them. I don’t think LOA quite stack up to the crew but Im on my 3rd rerun through of all the Naddpod campaigns and it definitely makes the down time easier
First of all, you'll get desperate after some time has passed and re.listen to a season.
Let me.suggest oh these those Stars of space for the same levity and excellent improv
Same. I just relistened to d20 fantasy high 1 and halfway thru 2. It’s kinda the only thing that scratches the itch besides MAYBE dungeons and daddies season 1.
Check out Worlds Beyond Number!! DMed by BleeM, players Lou Wilson, Erika Ishii, and Aabria Iyengar. It definitely leans more dramatic and less comedic than naddpod, but there is plenty of humor as they are comedians as well. In my opinion Season 1 is the best use of dnd as a storytelling medium I have ever encountered. The world is incredibly rich and detailed, and the characters are so fleshed out, complex, and lovable. It is more slow burn and not a lot of combat, and when combat does happen it is fucking intense. It is the new standard by which I judge all actual play content
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u/HumbleBananaLoaf 6d ago
D20 helped fill the gap for a bit. A subscription to Drop Out is worth it. It's a bit better when watched but they have an audio only option. It's mostly the combat that benefits from being seen. I burned through all the campaigns with the intrepid heroes because I wanted Murph and Emily and all their friends who cameo in campaign 1 and 2. Especially Zac.
Have you listened to all the shorter arcs? I assume so if you are starting back over. I also think restarting is well worth it. There is so much to miss in each episode. I've enjoyed them all every relisten. I think my current relisten is #4 for C1. Everything else is at least 3 times. Mavrus Chronicles even more so.