Over the last decade, excitement around Dungeons & Dragons has surpassed the popularity it once held in the 80s. From the opening scenes of Stranger Things to the animated series adaptation of Critical Role’s first campaign, D&D survived the ‘Satanic Panic’ and has reentered the pop culture zeitgeist with a vengeance, attracting the attention and passion of RPG players across the globe.
Now, alongside the rise of social media and accessible technology, D&D enthusiasts are creating content at an unimaginable rate: Actual Plays, live shows, homebrew expansions, and especially podcasts. Searching through the vast ocean of TTRPG content for a quality podcast could demand hours of your time, much of that spent listening to something you might not actually like. Fortunately, we’ve done the digging for you! These podcasts range from diamonds in the rough to big-budget productions, and aren’t ranked in any particular order, but all represent some of the best the D&D community has to offer.
This Game Is Cursed
In this D&D podcast, the players are the characters. Through a Jumanji-esque curse, four friends who sat down to play an old game of D&D found in a used bookstore are transported into the game's world, embodying the characters they chose initially. This Game is Cursed features players (and characters) Lana Köhn, Nate Perretta, Dionte Butler-Abney, and Phil Mills, and it is DM’d by Devon Chulick. This show is especially great for those new to D&D, as Chulick takes the time to introduce core D&D mechanics both to the players and the characters throughout the stories, and the players can use their real-world knowledge to inform their gameplay, making it even easier to understand. With a run time of only an hour and professional soundscapes, each episode of This Game is Cursed is enthralling in its own right.
Gals And Goblins
Hosted by GM, or ‘Goblin Master,’ Jared Voswinkel, and accompanied by the ‘Gals,’ Lilly Percifield, Maddy Lamb, Campbell Duffy, and Olivia Rose McCain, Gals and Goblins is first and foremost about fun storytelling. In a game like D&D that is particularly rules-heavy, Voswinkel excels at bending and adjusting the rules as necessary to facilitate the Gals' wild antics at Frogmont Adventuring Academy for Young Women. Not only is the show a refreshing femme-led project in a historically male-dominated field, but it’s also just plain fun!
Cast Party
Spanning two official campaigns and multiple side stories, this podcast has hundreds of hours of story to enjoy. The Cast Party main campaigns, DM’d or ‘directed’ by Colin McManus, are written to blur the lines between the game’s reality and our own. While the first campaign had actors warped into the realm of Myria, the current campaign has characters in the world of Icaria, played by Ryan McManus, Anna Brisbin, Nigel Deakin, Vince Perrino, Raquel Skellington, and Luis Carzano, who each have memories of a mysterious past life on Earth. This podcast offers D&D lovers a mind-bending, yet balanced, meta experience.
Panic Table
Yes, this list is of ‘D&D’ podcasts you should be listening to, but Panic Table’s productions are just too good to omit. Utilizing the indie horror sci-fi RPG ‘Mothership’ system, their most recent campaign ‘Unaccompanied Miners’ has players Uzunma Udeh, Chris Kenkelen, Kelly Grago, Anuar Saab, and GM Cameron Strittmatter, tell the story of three teenagers and an android as they attempt to solve mysteries and save the colonists of the far off world of ‘Lovers Rock.’ For listeners who want to be on the edge of their seats, Panic Table’s shows will get you biting your nails in the excitement and suspense.
Please Don't Kill Us!
The title of this podcast is a desperate plea to the all-powerful viewers, who have unique control over how this story will unravel for the players. Recorded and streamed live on YouTube, fans in the chat will often be provided a poll to make critical choices, voting for which path they want the narrative to follow. In PDKU’s current campaign, STRIXHAVEN, DM Isabel Pask has already allowed viewers to determine NPCs' attitude toward players and generally made the characters' lives at this magical university significantly more eventful. Notably, two cast members are no strangers to wild challenges, joining the podcast after their global run on The Amazing Race. If you’re interested in directly influencing the story you love, then tuning into PDKU live will give you that chance!
Godkiller: Balance
This podcast uses the titular ‘Godkiller’ system, developed by Transplanar’s Connie Chang, instead of D&D to bring viewers to the Cradle, a world left in the aftermath of a Divine War, littered with the corpses of felled Gods. Although designed to be a ‘duet’ game, with only two players, one GM and one Godkiller, Godkiller: Balance has GM Em Carlson leading dual Godkillers, Gina Susanna and Jannes Wessels, in this sequel to the previous campaign, Godkiller: Oblivion. Notably, Godkiller: Balance stars big names in the TTRPG space as guest stars voicing Gods and important NPCs: Brennan Lee Mulligan, Aabria Iyengar, and Matt Mercer are only some of the TTRPG legends who appear to add their signature legendary flourishes into the campaign.
Roleplay Relay
Starting as a marathon charity stream in 2023, the initial success of the first Roleplay Relay inspired founders Clarus and Nerdy to expand it into a larger project. Having raised money for causes including Cap for Kids and Doctors Without Borders, they most recently partnered with Critical Role’s Darrington Press to collect over $24,000 in contributions to provide relief for victims of the Los Angeles fires. To encourage donations, viewers of the livestreams can help or hinder the players as they play through a classic high-fantasy D&D adventure, granting advantage, naming NPCs, summoning monsters, and at the highest levels, forcing a draw from the Deck of Many Things. Supporting podcasts like Roleplay Relay is special because it’s great players with a great story, raising money for a great cause.
Unprepared Casters
Unlike many TTRPG podcasts that can have campaigns that stretch to hundreds of episodes in length, Unprepared Casters formats their Actual Plays in the form of ‘arcs,’ or shorter, less-than-10-episode stories with new characters, new players, and new plot to enjoy. This way, there isn’t a backlog of thousands of hours of contextual content needed to understand the latest episodes. Hosts Haley Whipjack and Amelia Som (co-authors of the character concept book “Before the Tavern” alongside Gus Rachels) use the format to explore many different settings, genres, and game systems and feature an ever-expanding list of talented TTRPG players. Their current arc is Som’s “The Quest Wing,” a play on ‘The West Wing,’ that challenges players in roles as a King’s courtiers with the only thing more deadly than a Tarrasque, bureaucracy.
Three Black Halflings
Started by the ‘Halflings’ Liv Kennedy, Jeremy Cobb, and Jasper W Cartwright during the pandemic summer of 2020, this podcast has evolved into an organization that is dedicated to promoting inclusivity and challenging outdated norms in the TTRPG space. While the core podcast continues producing episodes today, discussing TTRPG news, addressing hot topics, and featuring talented guest stars, 3 Black Halflings (3BH) also hosts several Actual Play campaigns. Outlaws & Obelisks, Tales of Wagadu, and City of the Black Rose are all excellent campaigns that put the guidance offered in the primary podcast into practice. 3BH is not only a community that demonstrates that everyone can roll the dice, but produces engaging, high-quality content to prove it.
Not Another D&D Podcast
Not Another D&D Podcast, often shortened to ‘NADDPod,’ is the largest podcast on this list, having the highest production value, biggest names, and widest audience by far. DM Brian Murphy is accompanied by professional TTRPG players Emily Axford, Caldwell Tanner, and Jake Hurwitz in a vibrant and whimsical variety of settings and stories throughout Murphy’s original universe. Lovers of Dropout’s ‘Dimension 20’ will recognize some names, but Intrepid Hero fans and new listeners alike have yet to see how great this show can get, both on the podcast and on stage, when NADDPod goes on tour. Their current campaign is called ‘Skaldova,’ DM’d by Hurwitz, which follows three outcasts on the long and arduous road to redemption.
There's Something For Everyone
If there’s one thing this list aimed to prove, it’s that there is enough D&D (and TTRPG in general) content out there for anyone to find the kind of story they want to hear. Whether you want to be a part of the narrative, learn how to run the game, or listen to professionals having fun as they weave expertly told stories together, there is no shortage of D&D podcasts that offer the experience you seek. Each podcast has dozens, and some hundreds, of hours of TTRPG perfection waiting for you to enjoy, so now you can spend your time with the shows you’ll love, not trying to find them in the first place.
Finn Halpern is a Chicago-based writer, passionate about TTRPGs, nerd culture, and the art of storytelling.
