Thursday, August 29, 2024

#RPGaDay2024 - Day 29 - Awesome Podcasts

Day 29 of #RPGaDay2024, and we continue to deviate a bit.  What started as "Awesome Apps" needed to change, if for no other reason than I don't even eat appetizers at the gaming table!  

All kidding aside, there are few programs I use for gaming, other than the Voice Recorder and ChatGPT.

From "Awesome Apps" we move to "Awesome Podcasts."

I recently purged by Podcasts list of dozens of episodes I just will never around to listening.  

But what do I listen to?  

In reverse order.

Happy Jack's RPG Podcast:   One of the grand-daddy's of RPG podcasts, there's been a steady decline in quality over the years.  (And no, it started occurring before Kimi's ascension to the throne).  I think its a combination of the inevitable content over the years, and a letter and listener dominated discussion, which has made me turn episodes off halfway.  If not for occasional letters from my friends, the wisely named EricFromNJ, I would have deleted the subscription months ago.

Miskatonic University Podcast:  I started in the teens with this one, and through many changes of hosts and content, they recently reached episode 300.  Keeper Bridgett and Keeper Dave are top-notch, but sometimes there's been a stretch of episode that have content, but just feel empty to me.  

Nerd's RPG Variety Cast:   Jason's and a lot of his guest are very quirky, and some of his listeners that call in are quirkier, but I enjoy the RPG discussion.  

The Vintage RPG Podcast: I love Stu Horvath and John McGuire's review of items not only vintage, but recent Indy games and Kickstarters.  

Lair of Secrets:  I started following because Host Ken is part of the same Mepcon-related gaming circles.  Along with co-host Dave, it's simply a fun discussion of each others gaming and geek-related personal lives.  I've enjoyed the Actual Plays immensly.  

Fear the Boot:  The true grand-daddy of RPG Podcasts, I'm just disappointed  (and fully understand) in the sporadic episodes. I'm really grooving on the Tungsten GM episodes, where the panel riffs on different ideas for a topic. 

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff:  The true Gold Standard of RPG podcast.  It may be formulaic, some weeks are total "house organ" episodes for all the games they've designed/written, and Catstronauts ad is getting to me, but a so-called "bad" episode of KARTAS is above average compared to most other podcasts' great episodes.  My Friday mornings can not start with an hour of Robin Laws and Kenneth Hite.

And it's NOT #1 !   That goes to:  

Pink Fohawk:   This Shadowrun Actual Play is exactly what I want from my Actual Plays.  To be honest, it's what Neoscum could have been if they took their meds... but not all of them.   I actively root for John and Tina, be it crazy cults, improv nights, or even actual runs, and I may have stolen some plot elements for my own games.

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