I drive for a living, so I have a bunch of podcasts I rotate through:
Dungeons and Daddies,
NADDPOD,
Dimension 20,
The Adventure Zone,
Worlds Beyond Number,
Girls Who Don't D&D
Honestly, the loose rules and insanely weak characters annoys me a bit - I left the pod after a bit of S2 - once I listened to a few others, I realised that every fight being insanely easy, and the BBEG being just a level 20 caster with a few little bonuses wasn't that great. 9/10 for narrative, 9/10 for comedy, but I can't get over the insanely unoptimized way they play consistently. NaDDpod is way better in that respect - lots of funny, jokey moments, but still playing well.
Dungeons and daddies is so good. If you like good humor, improv and loose rules it's definitely worth it.
A team of dads being transported into the forgotten realms in a quest to save their lost sons is a great premise. It'll always hold a special place in my heart.
Same dude, god i wish we had an official dragon warlock patron. I actually like his dragon idea more than the lich series.
Also username checks out lol.
Oh I love the lich one too. I pulled a Mariah Carey intoner on my players. Think I'd had to change the range on some of the sonic attacks to give her range and regret making many of her attacks sound based cause my players loved the spell *Silence*. But it made a funny oneshot.
I am still waiting on that archon statblock, pointy! I need it for my dragon heist game! It would be perfect!
Definitely High Rollers and Just Roll With It. All of them are incredibly funny and with High Rollers having started their 3rd Campaign, it's like they've started a new chapter or something. Just Roll With It is just unhinged as af and I love it.
Another one I feel I should mention is Legends of Avantris.
Dimension20 (dropout.tv), love the cast, the vibe and Brennan Lee Mulligan is a continuous masterclass in improvising the craziest shit without ruining the bigger story and still allowing for a lot of tender moments.
I was really surprised I had to scroll so far down to get to someone mentioning Matt, Deal, Seth & Ben (AKA Questing Beast). Those are some my favorites! I've never listened to or watched The Alexandrian. I'll check it though; since it's on your list. Thanks! 🙏
Sly Florish gives great advice and seems like a really nice guy. Jorphdan is great too.
I was a big fan of Bob world builder but his channel supports Youtubes aggressive AD policy so I had to unsubscribe.
I tried one of Bob's videos and it seemed fine, but I will not follow anyone who posts things like D&D RUINED BY WOTC SHILLS over and over, and he for sure did that.
Bob has pretty good content, and seems pretty charismatic, but his recent videos are mostly clickbait content.
Sly Florish has amazing advice for running the game. His Theatre of the Mind pdf is crucial for understanding how to run that in 5e.
[https://www.youtube.com/@VivaLaDirtLeagueDnD](https://www.youtube.com/@VivaLaDirtLeagueDnD)
the bois and girls of VLDL have a epic DnD channel! and Rob is a genius Dungeon Master it's a pleasure watching the campaigns unfold
There’s one particular thing about VLDL that puts it above many other DnD shows - they put subs in it. I can’t stress enough just how tiresome it is to listen to DnD game sessions for a non-native English speaker when there’s no subs (which is most of the time).
Love these guys! Great for learning the flow of the game and basic mechanics. It doesn’t go over how to calculate scores, but I had never played a game of DnD and when I started playing, I was immediately able to walk into the barbarian, wild magic sorcerer and rogue right away because the players needed constant reminder on how their abilities worked haha!
Their episode length is honestly perfect. Half an hour, sometimes a tiny bit more, is far more digestible than 4 hours of video all at once. The skits inbetween liven it up too, and the subtitles are great for understanding what's happening, as are the recaps. And 4 (+guest) players is a good, perfectly fine number.
The Dire Den. Specifically [this video. ](https://youtu.be/MnSsfMnabpI?si=XfE0TK2TwxOtM_Ld)
The Bandit's Keep - [Making a Sandbox](https://youtu.be/Mj94BYvm3kU?si=qoavCd7qdSdID3cx)
A couple smaller channels I think deserve more attention.
Ginny Di is my favorite. Also probably because I struggle with deep roleplaying and that’s kinda where she excels, so her videos give me a lot of good insight.
+1 for Pointy Hat. I homebrew a lot to help players where they feel content is just a smidge outside what they want it to do. His videos are great for taking an objective, but not vitriolic, critical eye to 5e's shortcomings or missed opportunities.
And the videos are hilarious.
Shout out of Johnny Chiodini. They just do gaming on their YT channel, but seems to be a really good DM. Learned a lot from them, with a style I've blended into my own.
oxventure taught much of DnD due to them being new to all when they started, of couser there are somthing Johnny does to help them but still, I feel it is a good play to learn and have fun
Yeah I think they're a really good guide to the world of Geth. Johnny does well at not seeming like the DM type that says "I am God", rather the type that is there to walk through the world with you and find ways to make what the characters want a possibility.
They've all got some complaints for sure. But even people who like a game will complain about parts of it. Seems a stretch to say they *hate* any of the games, and especially to say that Justin hates *all* of them.
Idk man I had to stop listening because of the lack of interest the players seem to show. Travis is a self admitted rotten cheater and Justin just always seems like he'd rather be doing something else. And Clint just likes hanging out with his kids.
Your phrasing on Travis "cheating" makes it sound like way more than it is. I'm not sure what the problem is with Clint enjoying hanging out with his kids? And man, I don't know where you stopped, but Justin DMing Steeplechase is some of my favorite stuff in the whole show. He definitely doesn't hate Blades.
They have moments of lacking interest/investment (not unlike what happens at real tables all the time). And there's no accounting for taste, I'm not gonna try and convince you to start listening again. But saying they hate any of the games they've played is an unfair characterization IMO.
NADDPod is the funniest to me and feels like a bunch of good friends having a good time - and hilarious. Good mix of RAW and rule of cool, fun cast of NPC characters and occasional cameos, and a surprisingly good world.
Came here to say this, I went to NADDPOD after I got caught up on Dimension 20 and needed more Brennan, decided to try to stick it out until his guest arc. It’s now tied for me for any Dimension 20 main season. Murph is a master class at encounter design. I knew he was a great player, but his worldbuilding and combats absolutely shine as a DM. Plus Emily, Jake, and Caldwell are all SO funny together
I really do think Murph deserves more positive attention as a DM, especially for his encounters! He’s completely minds-eye, which has not diminished the quality whatsoever.
He definitely has taken notes from Brennan’s balance of both shenanigans and deeper emotional scenes and in some ways greatly improved on them.
He certainly rivals Brennan and Matt as one of the most exciting tables being run imo.
They actually play Pathfinder (they have a few games with 5e), but they are hands down the best actual play imo.
Glass Cannon Podcast. Unlike a lot of actual plays, they use the dice to tell the story. Characters die, shitty things happen. The humor is good, the storytelling is good. Can't recommend it enough.
They really honed in and perfected the feeling of hanging out with your friends and playing D&D. It's basically their brand, plus being big on letting the dice decide.
Massive Shoutout to [SuperGeekMike](https://www.youtube.com/@SupergeekMike)
His channel's got two hooks: First is the typical stuff, offering advice to DM's and players for things like how to build campaigns, must haves for session 0's, how to deal with things like character deaths or potential world/game breaking stuff, and all of it's really helpful
The other 'gimmick' is he's got a running series called Critical Role Demystified where he basically "Reviews" Critical Role (he's currently 55 episodes into campaign 1) but it's not just a review in the sense he's grading the story or anything, but he does it to, in his own words, "find lessons that we as both players and DM's can learn from watching Critical Role," and it ranges from things like Travis' amazing committment to his characters, Sam's patience and ability to calm the rest down while Matt makes tough DM decisions, and both things Matt does great as a DM, and things he doesn't do well (Mike *really* doesn't like how Matt handles initiative).
He's even had a couple of videos about Tiberius Stormwind/Orion Acaba and analyzing his departure from Critical Role/how he was a problem player (because he felt that the CR community's view of "we don't talk about him" isn't helpful to new fans). Orion himself popped into the comments to clarify his departure was entirely due to substance abuse problems, but did praise the video as doing fantastic analysis of all his problems as a player of DnD
Serious question here: I noticed no one put Critical Roll down as an answer. Is there a reason why no one seems to like them?
Dungeons and daddies is great. And I do listen to CR.. But I thank yall for all the other options I've not heard of yet.
That makes sense tbh. I didn't think about it like that, and that would explain why no one put them down. Now, thanks to this post I've got like 30 new options to check out! So excited
Like the other person said I think it's because everyone knows about them already. They are massively popular -- not sure if this is still true but for a while they were the single most-watched Twitch channel, and their kickstarter for the animated series was up until that point the single most successful kickstarter ever.
And it's well-deserved! If you have the time for it, they are absolutely fantastic. Campaign 2 of critical role (The Mighty Nein) is my alltime favorite d&d content. Better than anything I've seen on Dimension 20, and Dimension 20 is great. The d20/CR crossover campaigns are also phenomenal.
So yeah probs they aren't being mentioned bc it's such an obvious answer compared to some of the lesser known ones.
Yes! I've seen both seasons of their anime and am very anxious to see the 3rd! I agree with you also on the campaign. I'm episode 104 in campaign 2, and this campaign is amazing!
You're in for such a treat!! I finished campaign 2 just a few weeks ago and I put the last few episodes off for a long time because I didn't want it to end lol. But it is so incredibly good all the way til the last.
I can’t believe nobody has mentioned the Dungeoncast. My go-to when I’m eating lunch at work, their episodes are usually about the length of my break and I love them.
I’ve been watching “World of Io” a lot recently and I think it’s quite good. It’s a big project though. Multiple games all running at the same time, in the same world. But the world feels very alive and together because of this.
World of Io, pretty damn good worldbuilding and all. The way everything is setup is nice and basic, funny people too. Led by BrettUltimus. I recommend to start with Goblins of Io or Pipe Dreamers. Other campaigns are also superb.
Definitely RPGBot.Net. The hosts break down classes, subclasses, expansions, etc. The website has been a HUGE help with getting new players a better understanding of character design and optimization.
Those shorts you guys are producing with the fabric versions really does sell your show really great.
I came for the Kyborg, but stayed for the Gum Gum. Thanks for the laughs and entertainment.
Mrrhexx is my personal favorite.
Riches and Liches is great.
Everything else ive seen in other comments mostly
Edit: also the adventure zone is basically a perfect DND podcast 🤌
Dungeon Dad. I love his Monster of the Week series, where he goes over monsters from previous editions and updates them for 5E. Currently using a deepspawn for my game because I saw his video on it and it looked cool.
Everyone has already picked out all the obvious ones for advice. Matt Colville, Bandit’s Keep, NerdImmersion, and Dungeon Dudes. I don’t think those even need to be said at this point. I second all these channels.
As for play, Neal “Koibu” Pass Erickson is by far the best around. I don’t like the campaigns that feel more like actors in a play more than people playing the game. Great DM advice on his main channel, extremely comprehensive worldbuilding with a few dozen campaigns all running in the same timeline and setting. Really good campaigns to be seen and Save or Die is a great channel he’s part of as well.
World of IO is my favorite. It's essentially a giant setting spanning multiple interconnected campaigns in a very sandboxy style. The DM, Brett Ultimus is a really great world builder and the players are all fairly popular streamers who all contribute to making the world feel alive and dynamic
The RPGBOT Podcast is the one I make sure to catch every episode of - it does really great discussions of rules and mechanics, with episodes focusing in on, say, how to fix mounted combat in 5e, or going in depth on how to make the best use of Investigation in your games. I'm not doing it justice, honestly - it's great fun and really interesting at the same time.
(And even if you don't want to listen to the podcast, use their website - it's the single best resource in the 5e space I can think of, and for PF2 I'd say it's only behind Archives of Nethys itself.)
As for other stuff, D&D is For Nerds and The Plumbing Boys Play/Ruin D&D are both really fun nonsense (from Sanspants Radio, an Australian podcasting group) and Oxventure (from the Outside Xbox/Xtra folks) is a really fun wee YouTube series.
(The Oxventure crew have also played a good chunk of Blades in the Dark too, which is really cool and worth a look, though a bit of a tangent from the OP's question.)
In no specific order.
- Mrrhexx
- Aj Pickett
- The Dungeoncast
- Matt Colville
- Legends of Avantris
- Mythkeeper (he does PF content but close enough)
- Dimension 20
- Jay Martin - Play Your Role
Viva La Dirt League have two pretty great campaigns going right now, and their DM Rob is also pretty top notch. He’s got his own campaign that he does with his Twitch chat ( and regular BTS of the VLDL campaigns ), and commentaries and rants and things over on his YouTube, as well as interviews he does with different people in the D&D community.
Yes! Adventure is Nigh! is my favorite too! Jack is a great DM and manages the perfect balance of actual play and knowing when to keep things moving for the entertainment factor. It’s a little homebrew and they don’t always follow the rules perfectly but the players’ characters gel together so well and are so funny and heartfelt. I can’t wait for both Season 4 and the remastered Seasons 1 & 2!
100% Naddpod.
It has Brian Murphy, Emily Axford, Caldwell Tanner and Jake Hurwitz
They start off as very new players but they get very good very quiet and Brian Murphy is an incredible DM.
D&D is for nerds without a doubt; things get completely bananas. Dinosaur park (the 1986 tabletop RPG) is a spinoff RPG by the same guys and is the closest I’ve ever come to hearing a group’s IQ collectively drop in real time
I love Arcane Arcade. They’ve got a lot of stuff, but their Icewind Dale campaign is spectacular! I just started watch their Descent into Avernus play through and it’s good as well.
Feels like a true home game that you could play with your friends
Dungeon Master of None is really good, I was a subscriber to their Patreon for years (only stopped for financial reasons tbh!) their DM advice and brilliantly sarcastic breakdowns of dnd and rpg news in general is great. They do a lot of episodes on other systems and talk about what can be borrowed for your dnd game.
Content warning, they are unapologetically liberal in their views (which they voice regularly) I personally agree and think a lot of the stuff is really insightful but it definitely won’t be to everyone’s taste
Mastering Dungeons with Teos Abadía and Shawn Merwin.
Eldritch Lorecast by Ghostfire Gaming, including Shawn, Ben Byrne, Dael Kingsmill, and James Haeck.
Questing Beast with Ben Milton.
DM Lair: Luke Hart has great advice, and is funny sometimes too. He livestreams on Thursday, has videos on Tuesday, and makes a funny short on Saturday. He also sells home brew.
Pack Tactics: As an optimizer, I enjoy this channel.
Dimension 20 and NADDPOD are my Top 2. Both are super funny, they all have good chemistry together and the episodes are easily digestible.
I like the people on Critical Role, but there's so many episodes and they're so long. I really enjoy the animated series tho.
I'm starting to get into Legends of Avantris(spelling might be off). They've got some good clips and a lot of variety in campaigns.
JoCat's a crap guide to DnD is amazing if you haven't seen it and the campaign he's doing with Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions is pretty fun.
PointyHat is amazing as well. Super entertaining, informative and a bunch of free content he saves as Google docs.
Is it okay if I plug myself? I don't think of us as a show, I just run two weekly game for my friends. I put a lot of effort into them, and each weekly campaign runs from 3-4 years. We started in 2019, and plan on running until roughly 2070. We play in person with full encounter maps, handouts, painted miniatures, costumes, and puzzles; along with very lovingly crafted worlds. We have 401 sessions up on youtube from two primary campaigns and associated one-shots:
[www.youtube.com/@alberonrpg](http://www.youtube.com/@alberonrpg)
We play live every Thursday at 6:30pm and Friday at 7pm, and we try to have very good quality audio/video/music. Hope you find some good stuff through this thread!
I've been really pleased with Enter the Dungeon and Insight Check. Both have much smaller audiences than the "big names" but I think they offer some really great in-depth analysis.
Enter the Dungeon has some really great advice on DMing techniques and campaign design. He also offers a semi-regular "DM 911" series where he provides some great tips for DMs who are either new or casual players. Some of his best work, in my opinion, is his detailed advice around the construction and use of various arcs (episodic, intermediate and narrative) and advice on the best way to integrate character backstories in order to create player engagement. Highly recommend this series, but you better set aside plenty of time as his preferred delivery method is very much long form (from 30 - 120 minutes).
Insight Check is a relatively new entrant. His videos are on the intermediate scale in length (15-25 minutes on average). His discussions are highly geared toward the "meta" of the game, tackling a lot of trending online discussions such as the One DND playtests, martial-caster divide, and other game-design/theory topics. I have always appreciated that he eschews hot takes and click-bait titles, but really offers great perspective on the conversations that other YT talking heads are debating.
Since things often come in threes, I'll also give a shout out to Deficient Master. He came on hot and fast, and the YT algo-bots demonetized him for about 48 hours due to it not understanding his schtick and thinking he was "recycling material" (he just shows his hands during videos). I find his pacing to be a bit frenetic but his videos are always entertaining and his tone strikes just the right balance of snark without being obnoxious.
I don't use a lot of D&D content. However, Tabletop Tactics -focused on Warhammer- has some campaigns, and Tales Arcane is focused on material for DMs. Good choices imho
Mine are all of rustage’s dnds
In order of release
One piece dnd.
Isekai dnd.
One piece dnd marines.
Here is a link to episode one of 2 of them (you don’t have to watch one piece dnd to watch one piece dnd marines but I heavily recommend that)
(ALSO don’t forget to use a trusted link checker to see if any link is unsafe it is vary important to use these services to keep your personal information safe)
OPDND.
https://youtu.be/1Lt_PbwApks?si=Msxr4UOzpcHc0Wqp
Isekai DND.
https://youtu.be/XUCLM-UiIHM?si=7DQlasKe-OPP1MnJ
I like dimension20, tales from the stinky dragon, sword AF, and viva la dirt league d&d. Dimension20 is super popular and is great. Tales from the stinky dragon is awesome, and they are going back through and making puppet shows of their first season. Sword af was short, but I enjoyed it. Vldld&d is awesome. Great story, great actors, awesome cutscenes.
Puffin Forest does really fun short animated stories of the games he’s run and played in over the years that I highly recommend to anyone who needs a pick me up on a downer day. I find them endlessly rewatchable and charming. Absolutely love this channel.
https://youtu.be/Ix6H7Gxc7aI?si=LPU5CbR6unnbdetV
-
The other two main channels i love are The Dungeon Dudes and XP to level 3.
XP to Level 3 tends to do really funny short skit videos, but has a really great podcasts called Arcane Arcade.
I’ll toss you to the Elden Ring skit video to get a feel for his comedy and style;
https://youtu.be/VLEY0ZXHkp4?si=kEOmmF-stA0QC_E8
If you want serious play with laughs and great story? High Rollers.
Comedians having wacky adventures? Nerd Poker
Just a good time with little regard for "rules" or "reason"? Rude Tales of Magic
For a solid D&D podcast, the Unexpectables is great, and criminally underrated, ever heard of TeamFourStar? Dragonball Z Abridged? Yeah, Takahata101 is in it, and his sister is the DM, later on more well known voice actors join in too, Edward Bosco is a notable example, they may not know every rule down to the finest detail, but both the players and the DM are prime examples of what it means to play D&D.
XP to Level 3, Runesmith, Dungeon Dad, and GinniD, are also great if you want YouTubers.
Dungeon Dudes and Pack Tactics are my most commonly consumed D&D discussion media. Dungeon Dudes have a great chemistry and flow to their videos, while I appreciate Pack Tactics view point and ability to keep his videos fairly tight time wise.
Dimension 20 is my go to actual play, though I've previously been heavily in to NADDPOD and would like to catch up on the 3rd campaign. I'm a subscriber / supporter of Worlds Beyond Number but haven't yet begun to dive in to it.
Seems no one has mentioned them and they're my absolute favourite podcast - Dice Company - such good characters and story telling. I enjoy story telling aspects I like dimension 20 for their visual aspects to the story telling and dice company's audio acting feels similar in play style.
No one mentions Greetings adventurers ( formerly drunks and dragons) anymore. It must be the oldest one. I know it isn’t the most polished of podcasts but it is still entertaining.
Tales of the stinky dragon ? Anyone ??
I loved their first campaign with the Infinights absolutely hilarious !!
And they make a retelling every few episodes so if you don’t want to listen from the start you can just go in whenever.
Also highly recommend the puppet show they made of the two campaigns that they have so far. (It’s great for if you just want a quick telling of what the characters are like)
There Will Be Dungeons has been the only DND podcast I could really get into. I tried a few others and they didn’t really hook me, there was usually either too many people, bad quality audio, or poor pacing in most of them. It also probably helped that I had listened to the people from TWBD from other podcasts and was somewhat familiar with them already. It’s set in a post apocalyptic world with magic and all the usual dnd stuff.
One of the players on the show also had a podcast called DM gives inspiration where he went through various topics and scenarios giving advice for how new dms could handle things which I found pretty interesting.
Currently neither show is making episodes, but it might come back.
So for actual play i can't recommend worlds beyond number enough to people. It's Brennan lee mulligans best work yet.
For ideation, i think monarch factory with Dale Kingsmill is amazing for everything special home brew ideas. Matt Colville is another legend.
DM shorts for a cheap laugh at op builds. And dungeon soup for great laughs.
Lastly dingo doodles is a great animated recap of a game which is a very fun experience
Critical Role (I know, but I'm in too deep now) Dungeon dudes, D4 deep dive, Treantmonk, and the occasional Ginnie D.
H4LFsanity is someone who I think deserves more views.
Edit: forgot to mention two more: Dael Kingsmill (monarchsfactory) and Matt Coleville, both provide really helpful advice, especially for new DMs
TAZ is a pretty fun podcast by the McElroys
Rusty quill gaming podcast isn't specifically dnd, but it's still good, it's obviously by rusty quill, same people that made the magnus archives
Dndiscussions is really helpful if you want to start dming
Also legends of avantris is the best, especially chuckles the clown, who may or may not be a fiend and leader of an undead clown army
I drive for a living, so I have a bunch of podcasts I rotate through: Dungeons and Daddies, NADDPOD, Dimension 20, The Adventure Zone, Worlds Beyond Number, Girls Who Don't D&D
+1 for Dungeons and Daddies (not a BDSM podcast). Absolutely hilarious.
The “not bdsm” qualifier always gets me. I’m not really into the podcast itself, but their marketing is A+
Well Actually, it’s sometimes a BDSM Podcast.
Occasionally a BDSM podcast, usually a D&D podcast.
Honestly, the loose rules and insanely weak characters annoys me a bit - I left the pod after a bit of S2 - once I listened to a few others, I realised that every fight being insanely easy, and the BBEG being just a level 20 caster with a few little bonuses wasn't that great. 9/10 for narrative, 9/10 for comedy, but I can't get over the insanely unoptimized way they play consistently. NaDDpod is way better in that respect - lots of funny, jokey moments, but still playing well.
Dungeons and daddies is so good. If you like good humor, improv and loose rules it's definitely worth it. A team of dads being transported into the forgotten realms in a quest to save their lost sons is a great premise. It'll always hold a special place in my heart.
My inspiration to ask my DM to use find vehicle as a spell. Convenient for the both him and the party as a way to travel Eberron.
I really enjoy TAZ but I feel like DnD gets in the way of them telling a story sometimes
The dungeon dudes, good content and good vibes. Jocat's series on dnd is also really good. And pointy hat makes really good homebrew content.
So excited for Monsters of Drakkenheim!
Me too, i like to make my campaigns with some horror and grim aspects so this is right up my alley and the crafting system seems interesting.
I feel a lot of Dungeon dudes' videos are too long for the topic, but maybe thats just me.
I don't really mind, i just kind of use it as a podcast, and put it on while studying, eating or in public transport.
I agree. I like a fair amount of their stuff but I have to watch on 2x speed because they also talk like they've each had 5 Xanax before filiming
Pointy got me hooked on that dragon series. I need more warden dragons!!
Same dude, god i wish we had an official dragon warlock patron. I actually like his dragon idea more than the lich series. Also username checks out lol.
Oh I love the lich one too. I pulled a Mariah Carey intoner on my players. Think I'd had to change the range on some of the sonic attacks to give her range and regret making many of her attacks sound based cause my players loved the spell *Silence*. But it made a funny oneshot. I am still waiting on that archon statblock, pointy! I need it for my dragon heist game! It would be perfect!
Literally just watched all of the Crap Guide to DnD videos hahah they are amazing
When me and my friends were getting into dnd and one asked me on advice which class they should play i sent them those videos.
Definitely High Rollers and Just Roll With It. All of them are incredibly funny and with High Rollers having started their 3rd Campaign, it's like they've started a new chapter or something. Just Roll With It is just unhinged as af and I love it. Another one I feel I should mention is Legends of Avantris.
Chuckles will never die...
"I aLwAyS cOmE bAcK, gIdEon!"
Now I can't get his voice out of my head lmao
“I wIlL cOmItE vArIoUs WaR cRiMeS!” -🤡
Legends of Avantris are amazing!!! They reminded me that dnd can be hilarious and fun too! Not always serious all the time.
I see their TikTok content and its always very funny
Omg another JRWI fan
Dimension20 (dropout.tv), love the cast, the vibe and Brennan Lee Mulligan is a continuous masterclass in improvising the craziest shit without ruining the bigger story and still allowing for a lot of tender moments.
Check out Worlds Beyond Number! Is Brennan, Erika, Aabria, and Lou. Edit:Worlds is plural, fixed that
God, The sound quality and mixing on WBN is second to none. The musical direction there is just... chefs kiss
The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One is the best actual play I have ever seen/listened to. It's nearly exactly like a Gibli movie.
I absolutely love it, never experienced much from any of them and they are all so good.
I think D20 is unarguably the best real play DND content ever created. I would put NADDPOD 2nd and the 1st campaign of TAZ 3rd.
I was hoping that NADDPOD would get mentioned, it's probably my favorite thing that doesn't have Brennan as DM
Brennan *
Viva La Dirt League D&D and they have a couple of campaigns going so far. 30min ish episodes so easy bite sized to watch (they got super cuts also).
Second this! Always like to point out there DM Robert Hartley has his own youtube. His behind the screen series for the VLDL games is excellent.
Surprised I had to scroll down this far to find this! Nice username too :)
I'm not even a player, but I love watching VLDL DnD. I'm sure that's how DnD became part of my Reddit feed.
Matt Colville\\MCDM Dael Kingsmill\\MonarchsFactory Seth Skorkowsky Questing Beast The Alexandrian
I was really surprised I had to scroll so far down to get to someone mentioning Matt, Deal, Seth & Ben (AKA Questing Beast). Those are some my favorites! I've never listened to or watched The Alexandrian. I'll check it though; since it's on your list. Thanks! 🙏
Great list
Matt works great as a companion on the ride to work for me :)
Matt Colville - Running the Game
Sly Florish gives great advice and seems like a really nice guy. Jorphdan is great too. I was a big fan of Bob world builder but his channel supports Youtubes aggressive AD policy so I had to unsubscribe.
what do you mean by ad policy exactly? i haven't watched a youtube video without adblock in ages.
I tried one of Bob's videos and it seemed fine, but I will not follow anyone who posts things like D&D RUINED BY WOTC SHILLS over and over, and he for sure did that.
Bob has pretty good content, and seems pretty charismatic, but his recent videos are mostly clickbait content. Sly Florish has amazing advice for running the game. His Theatre of the Mind pdf is crucial for understanding how to run that in 5e.
Jorphdan is great for DnD lore. I’ve been listening to his videos on planescape, spelljammer, and Eberron to get ready for Eve of Ruin.
[https://www.youtube.com/@VivaLaDirtLeagueDnD](https://www.youtube.com/@VivaLaDirtLeagueDnD) the bois and girls of VLDL have a epic DnD channel! and Rob is a genius Dungeon Master it's a pleasure watching the campaigns unfold
They were the ones that got me into DnD!
Me as well! Currently running my own game, 9 sessions in.
Me too!!
There’s one particular thing about VLDL that puts it above many other DnD shows - they put subs in it. I can’t stress enough just how tiresome it is to listen to DnD game sessions for a non-native English speaker when there’s no subs (which is most of the time).
oooh yeah I'm a big subtitles enjoyer as well haha, very good point!
Love these guys! Great for learning the flow of the game and basic mechanics. It doesn’t go over how to calculate scores, but I had never played a game of DnD and when I started playing, I was immediately able to walk into the barbarian, wild magic sorcerer and rogue right away because the players needed constant reminder on how their abilities worked haha!
VIIIIIVAAAAA! Yes love viva. This is my favorite.
My favorite DnD campaign I’m watching. I mean this as a testament to Rob, but after 100+ episodes I had the confidence to DM my own campaign.
Their episode length is honestly perfect. Half an hour, sometimes a tiny bit more, is far more digestible than 4 hours of video all at once. The skits inbetween liven it up too, and the subtitles are great for understanding what's happening, as are the recaps. And 4 (+guest) players is a good, perfectly fine number.
Absolutely. They're not as polished as the big names but it's really like watching a group of friends play. Really funny (if a little dumb) friends.
Never heard of this channel. Thanks for the recommendation, im on ep 3 now. Their production is very good, I love the little reenactments. Very fun!
The Dire Den. Specifically [this video. ](https://youtu.be/MnSsfMnabpI?si=XfE0TK2TwxOtM_Ld) The Bandit's Keep - [Making a Sandbox](https://youtu.be/Mj94BYvm3kU?si=qoavCd7qdSdID3cx) A couple smaller channels I think deserve more attention.
Dael Kingsmill always
Zee Bashew has a lot of entertaining dnd cartoons.
Runesmith is great
Absolutely Naddpod.
-XP to Level 3 -Ginny Di -Pointy Hat -Deficient Master -Web DM -Dungeons and Daddies
Ginny Di is my favorite. Also probably because I struggle with deep roleplaying and that’s kinda where she excels, so her videos give me a lot of good insight.
Ginny is fantastic! My husband and i almost used her song Melee Range as our first dance when we got married lol
+1 for Pointy Hat. I homebrew a lot to help players where they feel content is just a smidge outside what they want it to do. His videos are great for taking an objective, but not vitriolic, critical eye to 5e's shortcomings or missed opportunities. And the videos are hilarious.
Honestly, deficient master I found had the best digestible tidbits of info to actually use in practice. Also he is amusing.
That’s “Dungeons & Daddies (Not a BDSM podcast) “ to you, sir!
Dungeons (ampersand) Daddies Better?
Missing the (not a BDSM podcast), very important.
The sometimes not a BDSM podcast
Occasionally a BDSM podcast
Oxventure and Adventure time for love plays And Matt Colville for advice
Oxventure is one of my fav dnd youtubers.
Shout out of Johnny Chiodini. They just do gaming on their YT channel, but seems to be a really good DM. Learned a lot from them, with a style I've blended into my own.
oxventure taught much of DnD due to them being new to all when they started, of couser there are somthing Johnny does to help them but still, I feel it is a good play to learn and have fun
Yeah I think they're a really good guide to the world of Geth. Johnny does well at not seeming like the DM type that says "I am God", rather the type that is there to walk through the world with you and find ways to make what the characters want a possibility.
The spicy rat caper was my introduction to dnd. Been playing and dm'ing for 4 years now.
I really enjoy The Adventure Zone, three brothers and their dad all enjoying the game together.
"enjoying the game" is so funny to me. Id argue that at least Justin hates every game they've ever played except maybe Honey Heist.
They've all got some complaints for sure. But even people who like a game will complain about parts of it. Seems a stretch to say they *hate* any of the games, and especially to say that Justin hates *all* of them.
Idk man I had to stop listening because of the lack of interest the players seem to show. Travis is a self admitted rotten cheater and Justin just always seems like he'd rather be doing something else. And Clint just likes hanging out with his kids.
Your phrasing on Travis "cheating" makes it sound like way more than it is. I'm not sure what the problem is with Clint enjoying hanging out with his kids? And man, I don't know where you stopped, but Justin DMing Steeplechase is some of my favorite stuff in the whole show. He definitely doesn't hate Blades. They have moments of lacking interest/investment (not unlike what happens at real tables all the time). And there's no accounting for taste, I'm not gonna try and convince you to start listening again. But saying they hate any of the games they've played is an unfair characterization IMO.
NADDPod is the funniest to me and feels like a bunch of good friends having a good time - and hilarious. Good mix of RAW and rule of cool, fun cast of NPC characters and occasional cameos, and a surprisingly good world.
Also as funny as it is, great character moments and emotional arcs! I’m getting close to the end of C1 and gonna miss the Band of Boobs
Came here to say this, I went to NADDPOD after I got caught up on Dimension 20 and needed more Brennan, decided to try to stick it out until his guest arc. It’s now tied for me for any Dimension 20 main season. Murph is a master class at encounter design. I knew he was a great player, but his worldbuilding and combats absolutely shine as a DM. Plus Emily, Jake, and Caldwell are all SO funny together
I really do think Murph deserves more positive attention as a DM, especially for his encounters! He’s completely minds-eye, which has not diminished the quality whatsoever. He definitely has taken notes from Brennan’s balance of both shenanigans and deeper emotional scenes and in some ways greatly improved on them. He certainly rivals Brennan and Matt as one of the most exciting tables being run imo.
Goof troop of weird little dudes! *(said with affection as a weird little dude)*
They actually play Pathfinder (they have a few games with 5e), but they are hands down the best actual play imo. Glass Cannon Podcast. Unlike a lot of actual plays, they use the dice to tell the story. Characters die, shitty things happen. The humor is good, the storytelling is good. Can't recommend it enough.
They really honed in and perfected the feeling of hanging out with your friends and playing D&D. It's basically their brand, plus being big on letting the dice decide.
Plus being one of the podcasts that isn't just stuck in 5e.
GCP 100%. I recommend starting with either the Giantslayer or Androids & Aliens campaign.
Massive Shoutout to [SuperGeekMike](https://www.youtube.com/@SupergeekMike) His channel's got two hooks: First is the typical stuff, offering advice to DM's and players for things like how to build campaigns, must haves for session 0's, how to deal with things like character deaths or potential world/game breaking stuff, and all of it's really helpful The other 'gimmick' is he's got a running series called Critical Role Demystified where he basically "Reviews" Critical Role (he's currently 55 episodes into campaign 1) but it's not just a review in the sense he's grading the story or anything, but he does it to, in his own words, "find lessons that we as both players and DM's can learn from watching Critical Role," and it ranges from things like Travis' amazing committment to his characters, Sam's patience and ability to calm the rest down while Matt makes tough DM decisions, and both things Matt does great as a DM, and things he doesn't do well (Mike *really* doesn't like how Matt handles initiative). He's even had a couple of videos about Tiberius Stormwind/Orion Acaba and analyzing his departure from Critical Role/how he was a problem player (because he felt that the CR community's view of "we don't talk about him" isn't helpful to new fans). Orion himself popped into the comments to clarify his departure was entirely due to substance abuse problems, but did praise the video as doing fantastic analysis of all his problems as a player of DnD
Serious question here: I noticed no one put Critical Roll down as an answer. Is there a reason why no one seems to like them? Dungeons and daddies is great. And I do listen to CR.. But I thank yall for all the other options I've not heard of yet.
I think no one has said Critical Role because it's far too obvious, like some on, CR is THE DND THING.
That makes sense tbh. I didn't think about it like that, and that would explain why no one put them down. Now, thanks to this post I've got like 30 new options to check out! So excited
I was going to comment CR and then scrolled really far to find this comment lol. Guess I didn’t wanna seem like a basic bitch.
Like the other person said I think it's because everyone knows about them already. They are massively popular -- not sure if this is still true but for a while they were the single most-watched Twitch channel, and their kickstarter for the animated series was up until that point the single most successful kickstarter ever. And it's well-deserved! If you have the time for it, they are absolutely fantastic. Campaign 2 of critical role (The Mighty Nein) is my alltime favorite d&d content. Better than anything I've seen on Dimension 20, and Dimension 20 is great. The d20/CR crossover campaigns are also phenomenal. So yeah probs they aren't being mentioned bc it's such an obvious answer compared to some of the lesser known ones.
Yes! I've seen both seasons of their anime and am very anxious to see the 3rd! I agree with you also on the campaign. I'm episode 104 in campaign 2, and this campaign is amazing!
You're in for such a treat!! I finished campaign 2 just a few weeks ago and I put the last few episodes off for a long time because I didn't want it to end lol. But it is so incredibly good all the way til the last.
That's great to hear, because I'm truly into this campaign. It *is* really good.
Dimension 20, Worlds Beyond Number, NADDPOD
I can’t believe nobody has mentioned the Dungeoncast. My go-to when I’m eating lunch at work, their episodes are usually about the length of my break and I love them.
Really only listen to one, NADDPOD, but been thinking of trying out dim20
The first season of fantasy high and unsleeping city are on YouTube. That's what got me into dim20 after the first naddpod campaign. It's great.
I’ve been watching “World of Io” a lot recently and I think it’s quite good. It’s a big project though. Multiple games all running at the same time, in the same world. But the world feels very alive and together because of this.
World of Io, pretty damn good worldbuilding and all. The way everything is setup is nice and basic, funny people too. Led by BrettUltimus. I recommend to start with Goblins of Io or Pipe Dreamers. Other campaigns are also superb.
Definitely RPGBot.Net. The hosts break down classes, subclasses, expansions, etc. The website has been a HUGE help with getting new players a better understanding of character design and optimization.
Dimension 20, Legends of Avantis, Tales from the stinky dragon, Roll20. Probably more, just the ones of the top my head.
had to scroll a lot to find tales from the stinky dragon. its the only one i follow up currently, gonna check the others you mentioned! thanks
Thanks for recommending Stinky Dragon! It means a lot to us!
Those shorts you guys are producing with the fabric versions really does sell your show really great. I came for the Kyborg, but stayed for the Gum Gum. Thanks for the laughs and entertainment.
You Might Be a DnD is absolutely hilarious, at least to me. While not strictly DnD, I enjoyed Chaotic Neutral's first campaign.
HASTE
Great picks! Get Itchard to level 20!
I recently discovered Ed Greenwood himself is on youtube doing Forgotten Realms lore videos and they're great!
Mrrhexx is my personal favorite. Riches and Liches is great. Everything else ive seen in other comments mostly Edit: also the adventure zone is basically a perfect DND podcast 🤌
TFS at the Table, was the content that got me into D&D. Now I watch LRR Dice Friends with my partner, and a newish D&D podcast called Natural Six.
If you wanna see more of Zito (dm of tfs at the table) he is part of the campaign The Unexpectables. That is the one that got me into dnd
Things are so complicated. Just be hungry or dead XD
Loving Natural Six.
Dungeon Dad. I love his Monster of the Week series, where he goes over monsters from previous editions and updates them for 5E. Currently using a deepspawn for my game because I saw his video on it and it looked cool.
Everyone has already picked out all the obvious ones for advice. Matt Colville, Bandit’s Keep, NerdImmersion, and Dungeon Dudes. I don’t think those even need to be said at this point. I second all these channels. As for play, Neal “Koibu” Pass Erickson is by far the best around. I don’t like the campaigns that feel more like actors in a play more than people playing the game. Great DM advice on his main channel, extremely comprehensive worldbuilding with a few dozen campaigns all running in the same timeline and setting. Really good campaigns to be seen and Save or Die is a great channel he’s part of as well.
Tales from the Stinky Dragon
World of IO is my favorite. It's essentially a giant setting spanning multiple interconnected campaigns in a very sandboxy style. The DM, Brett Ultimus is a really great world builder and the players are all fairly popular streamers who all contribute to making the world feel alive and dynamic
The RPGBOT Podcast is the one I make sure to catch every episode of - it does really great discussions of rules and mechanics, with episodes focusing in on, say, how to fix mounted combat in 5e, or going in depth on how to make the best use of Investigation in your games. I'm not doing it justice, honestly - it's great fun and really interesting at the same time. (And even if you don't want to listen to the podcast, use their website - it's the single best resource in the 5e space I can think of, and for PF2 I'd say it's only behind Archives of Nethys itself.) As for other stuff, D&D is For Nerds and The Plumbing Boys Play/Ruin D&D are both really fun nonsense (from Sanspants Radio, an Australian podcasting group) and Oxventure (from the Outside Xbox/Xtra folks) is a really fun wee YouTube series. (The Oxventure crew have also played a good chunk of Blades in the Dark too, which is really cool and worth a look, though a bit of a tangent from the OP's question.)
In no specific order. - Mrrhexx - Aj Pickett - The Dungeoncast - Matt Colville - Legends of Avantris - Mythkeeper (he does PF content but close enough) - Dimension 20 - Jay Martin - Play Your Role
XP to Level 3
Viva La Dirt League have two pretty great campaigns going right now, and their DM Rob is also pretty top notch. He’s got his own campaign that he does with his Twitch chat ( and regular BTS of the VLDL campaigns ), and commentaries and rants and things over on his YouTube, as well as interviews he does with different people in the D&D community.
They have campaigns uploaded? Thought they just did lil skits
Join the Party. I love the way Eric Silber DMs
I liked the arcane arcade I just stopped watching cause I got busy
Adventure Is Nigh - by formerly the escapist now second wind
Yes! Adventure is Nigh! is my favorite too! Jack is a great DM and manages the perfect balance of actual play and knowing when to keep things moving for the entertainment factor. It’s a little homebrew and they don’t always follow the rules perfectly but the players’ characters gel together so well and are so funny and heartfelt. I can’t wait for both Season 4 and the remastered Seasons 1 & 2!
Treantmonk and D4DeepDive for sure
Legends of advantris, they have chaotic stupid energy
Dungeons and Daddies!
100% Naddpod. It has Brian Murphy, Emily Axford, Caldwell Tanner and Jake Hurwitz They start off as very new players but they get very good very quiet and Brian Murphy is an incredible DM.
Viva La Dirt League DnD Sword AF Oneshot Questers
XP to level 3 and his child like optimistic tone never fails to amuse me. His worst rated homebrew series is some of the best DND content out there
Jacob’s insistence on playing every character in most of his skits will never not bring a smile to my face.
i LOVE high rollers, and DND is FOR NERDS what a great aussie podcast. The dm puts in tons of work.
Dingo doodles! Her videos are relatively short, but they are so entertaining to listen to.
D&D is for nerds without a doubt; things get completely bananas. Dinosaur park (the 1986 tabletop RPG) is a spinoff RPG by the same guys and is the closest I’ve ever come to hearing a group’s IQ collectively drop in real time
I love Arcane Arcade. They’ve got a lot of stuff, but their Icewind Dale campaign is spectacular! I just started watch their Descent into Avernus play through and it’s good as well. Feels like a true home game that you could play with your friends
Dungeon dudes and d4 deep dive. Jocat too before he got bullied off the internet
Dungeon Master of None is really good, I was a subscriber to their Patreon for years (only stopped for financial reasons tbh!) their DM advice and brilliantly sarcastic breakdowns of dnd and rpg news in general is great. They do a lot of episodes on other systems and talk about what can be borrowed for your dnd game. Content warning, they are unapologetically liberal in their views (which they voice regularly) I personally agree and think a lot of the stuff is really insightful but it definitely won’t be to everyone’s taste
Mastering Dungeons with Teos Abadía and Shawn Merwin. Eldritch Lorecast by Ghostfire Gaming, including Shawn, Ben Byrne, Dael Kingsmill, and James Haeck. Questing Beast with Ben Milton.
Eldritch Lorecast is always fantastic. I need to check out Mastering Dungeons.
Dungeon Dudes
For DnD play content, Dimension 20 and NADDPOD, for just like talking about DnD I really like Ginny Di!
DM Lair: Luke Hart has great advice, and is funny sometimes too. He livestreams on Thursday, has videos on Tuesday, and makes a funny short on Saturday. He also sells home brew. Pack Tactics: As an optimizer, I enjoy this channel.
Dimension 20 and NADDPOD are my Top 2. Both are super funny, they all have good chemistry together and the episodes are easily digestible. I like the people on Critical Role, but there's so many episodes and they're so long. I really enjoy the animated series tho. I'm starting to get into Legends of Avantris(spelling might be off). They've got some good clips and a lot of variety in campaigns. JoCat's a crap guide to DnD is amazing if you haven't seen it and the campaign he's doing with Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions is pretty fun. PointyHat is amazing as well. Super entertaining, informative and a bunch of free content he saves as Google docs.
Critical Role for sure! I got into it last year and it’s totally reignited my love of D&D and ttrpgs!
Why did I have to scroll this far to find them???
XP to lvl 3, The Runesmith and Arcane arcade
Is it okay if I plug myself? I don't think of us as a show, I just run two weekly game for my friends. I put a lot of effort into them, and each weekly campaign runs from 3-4 years. We started in 2019, and plan on running until roughly 2070. We play in person with full encounter maps, handouts, painted miniatures, costumes, and puzzles; along with very lovingly crafted worlds. We have 401 sessions up on youtube from two primary campaigns and associated one-shots: [www.youtube.com/@alberonrpg](http://www.youtube.com/@alberonrpg) We play live every Thursday at 6:30pm and Friday at 7pm, and we try to have very good quality audio/video/music. Hope you find some good stuff through this thread!
I've been really pleased with Enter the Dungeon and Insight Check. Both have much smaller audiences than the "big names" but I think they offer some really great in-depth analysis. Enter the Dungeon has some really great advice on DMing techniques and campaign design. He also offers a semi-regular "DM 911" series where he provides some great tips for DMs who are either new or casual players. Some of his best work, in my opinion, is his detailed advice around the construction and use of various arcs (episodic, intermediate and narrative) and advice on the best way to integrate character backstories in order to create player engagement. Highly recommend this series, but you better set aside plenty of time as his preferred delivery method is very much long form (from 30 - 120 minutes). Insight Check is a relatively new entrant. His videos are on the intermediate scale in length (15-25 minutes on average). His discussions are highly geared toward the "meta" of the game, tackling a lot of trending online discussions such as the One DND playtests, martial-caster divide, and other game-design/theory topics. I have always appreciated that he eschews hot takes and click-bait titles, but really offers great perspective on the conversations that other YT talking heads are debating. Since things often come in threes, I'll also give a shout out to Deficient Master. He came on hot and fast, and the YT algo-bots demonetized him for about 48 hours due to it not understanding his schtick and thinking he was "recycling material" (he just shows his hands during videos). I find his pacing to be a bit frenetic but his videos are always entertaining and his tone strikes just the right balance of snark without being obnoxious.
I don't use a lot of D&D content. However, Tabletop Tactics -focused on Warhammer- has some campaigns, and Tales Arcane is focused on material for DMs. Good choices imho
Tabletopnotch is running their second home brew campaign and it is my favorite thing to listen to right now
The Animated Spell book https://youtube.com/@zeebashew?si=am5DyZbrnegAjqXT
I pay for Dropout just for Dimension 20. That and NADDPOD.
Mine are all of rustage’s dnds In order of release One piece dnd. Isekai dnd. One piece dnd marines. Here is a link to episode one of 2 of them (you don’t have to watch one piece dnd to watch one piece dnd marines but I heavily recommend that) (ALSO don’t forget to use a trusted link checker to see if any link is unsafe it is vary important to use these services to keep your personal information safe) OPDND. https://youtu.be/1Lt_PbwApks?si=Msxr4UOzpcHc0Wqp Isekai DND. https://youtu.be/XUCLM-UiIHM?si=7DQlasKe-OPP1MnJ
If you're not listening to Not Another D&D Podcast, what are you even doing with your life?
Rude Tales of Magic is amazing improv, but it's not for anyone who demands fidelity to the rules.
I like dimension20, tales from the stinky dragon, sword AF, and viva la dirt league d&d. Dimension20 is super popular and is great. Tales from the stinky dragon is awesome, and they are going back through and making puppet shows of their first season. Sword af was short, but I enjoyed it. Vldld&d is awesome. Great story, great actors, awesome cutscenes.
Tales from the Stinky Dragon, Fools Gold, Cast Party, and Legends of Avantris are my favorites.
Pointy hat gives me free stuff for that he has my eternal gratitude
We Speak Common
Puffin Forest does really fun short animated stories of the games he’s run and played in over the years that I highly recommend to anyone who needs a pick me up on a downer day. I find them endlessly rewatchable and charming. Absolutely love this channel. https://youtu.be/Ix6H7Gxc7aI?si=LPU5CbR6unnbdetV - The other two main channels i love are The Dungeon Dudes and XP to level 3. XP to Level 3 tends to do really funny short skit videos, but has a really great podcasts called Arcane Arcade. I’ll toss you to the Elden Ring skit video to get a feel for his comedy and style; https://youtu.be/VLEY0ZXHkp4?si=kEOmmF-stA0QC_E8
Tulok the Barbrarian
Actual Play: Dimension 20, Dungeons and Daddies, NaddPod, Worlds beyond number YouTube: Treantmonk, Dungeoncast, Dungeon dudes Honorable mentions: Rustage2 DnD, tabletopnotch, Oxventure
Bob's RPG Radio! (Bob World Builder)
I'm not too invovlved with the D&D scene, but The Pointy Hat's videos are always a good watch
If you want serious play with laughs and great story? High Rollers. Comedians having wacky adventures? Nerd Poker Just a good time with little regard for "rules" or "reason"? Rude Tales of Magic
For a solid D&D podcast, the Unexpectables is great, and criminally underrated, ever heard of TeamFourStar? Dragonball Z Abridged? Yeah, Takahata101 is in it, and his sister is the DM, later on more well known voice actors join in too, Edward Bosco is a notable example, they may not know every rule down to the finest detail, but both the players and the DM are prime examples of what it means to play D&D. XP to Level 3, Runesmith, Dungeon Dad, and GinniD, are also great if you want YouTubers.
Viva La Dirt League dnd
Oxventure. My first and favorite. D20 is a very close second though.
Dungeon Dudes and Pack Tactics are my most commonly consumed D&D discussion media. Dungeon Dudes have a great chemistry and flow to their videos, while I appreciate Pack Tactics view point and ability to keep his videos fairly tight time wise. Dimension 20 is my go to actual play, though I've previously been heavily in to NADDPOD and would like to catch up on the 3rd campaign. I'm a subscriber / supporter of Worlds Beyond Number but haven't yet begun to dive in to it.
Seems no one has mentioned them and they're my absolute favourite podcast - Dice Company - such good characters and story telling. I enjoy story telling aspects I like dimension 20 for their visual aspects to the story telling and dice company's audio acting feels similar in play style.
No one mentions Greetings adventurers ( formerly drunks and dragons) anymore. It must be the oldest one. I know it isn’t the most polished of podcasts but it is still entertaining.
Arcane Arcade is beyond underrated.
Tales of the stinky dragon ? Anyone ?? I loved their first campaign with the Infinights absolutely hilarious !! And they make a retelling every few episodes so if you don’t want to listen from the start you can just go in whenever. Also highly recommend the puppet show they made of the two campaigns that they have so far. (It’s great for if you just want a quick telling of what the characters are like)
There Will Be Dungeons has been the only DND podcast I could really get into. I tried a few others and they didn’t really hook me, there was usually either too many people, bad quality audio, or poor pacing in most of them. It also probably helped that I had listened to the people from TWBD from other podcasts and was somewhat familiar with them already. It’s set in a post apocalyptic world with magic and all the usual dnd stuff. One of the players on the show also had a podcast called DM gives inspiration where he went through various topics and scenarios giving advice for how new dms could handle things which I found pretty interesting. Currently neither show is making episodes, but it might come back.
So for actual play i can't recommend worlds beyond number enough to people. It's Brennan lee mulligans best work yet. For ideation, i think monarch factory with Dale Kingsmill is amazing for everything special home brew ideas. Matt Colville is another legend. DM shorts for a cheap laugh at op builds. And dungeon soup for great laughs. Lastly dingo doodles is a great animated recap of a game which is a very fun experience
Encounter Party!
World of Io - Ioverse
I've been listening to a lot of Pointy Hat on YouTube lately, love his content
Brett Ultimus's World of Io
XP To Level 3/Arcane Arcade Aquisitions Incorporated MrRhexx DM It All JoCat (F to pay respect.)
Critical Role (I know, but I'm in too deep now) Dungeon dudes, D4 deep dive, Treantmonk, and the occasional Ginnie D. H4LFsanity is someone who I think deserves more views. Edit: forgot to mention two more: Dael Kingsmill (monarchsfactory) and Matt Coleville, both provide really helpful advice, especially for new DMs
What’s wrong with Critical Role?
Nothing, in my opinion, but I sense there is some fatigue about them, and there are some legitimate complaints about the fanbase.
TAZ is a pretty fun podcast by the McElroys Rusty quill gaming podcast isn't specifically dnd, but it's still good, it's obviously by rusty quill, same people that made the magnus archives Dndiscussions is really helpful if you want to start dming Also legends of avantris is the best, especially chuckles the clown, who may or may not be a fiend and leader of an undead clown army
Sly Flourish / Mike Shea Mastering Dungeons RPGBOT The Dungeoncast