Not Another D&D Podcast Is a Nat 20

HeadGum

Growing up, Dungeons & Dragons was a game that I had no knowledge of. Coming from a small town in the Bible Belt, I knew no one that played it. I always found it fascinating: a game that is built on dice and imagination. Even in the 1990s, I didn’t really understand why I kept hearing about this game that is so simple. Fast-forward to today and I’m currently in my first D&D campaign! It’s been a learning curve for me to learn the mechanics, and trying to not awkwardly role-play.

What has really helped me along is the Not Another D&D Podcast (NADDPOD). It’s wildly popular podcast featuring a wonderful cast: the Dungeon Master (Brian Murphy), Hardwon Surefoot (Jake Hurwitz), Beverly Toegold V (Caldwell Tanner), and Moonshine Cybin (Emily Axford). Before listening to this podcast, I didn’t have much of a template of how D&D worked. If you are a beginner or a veteran, this podcast will be magical.

There is great chemistry between all the members of the podcast. Obviously, it helps that they are very familiar with D&D, but it’s very clear that they are having fun. Something that many podcasts seem to be lacking is interest in the topic the hosts are discussing. Each host embodies their characters and really leans into the role-playing. The DM creates interesting NPCs by using different voices, and being descriptive in every situation. Everyone works together to create this vibrant, highly enjoyable world.

Something else is editing. NADDPOD has seamless audio starting from episode one. There is banter, like in every podcast, between the hosts, but the conversation never derails. It’s so exciting when hosts don’t insert their talking points and don’t allow the conversation to grow dull. Too many times I have listened to hosts thinking that everyone wants to hear all their opinions, and it just sours so easily.

Music is used throughout the podcast. Not just music, but background noise. There will be distant chatter when they are in a tavern, or a fire crackling while they are resting between encounters. Just those details mean a lot to me, as a listener, because they are effectively creating an experience.

I feel you will need a little bit of background on D&D before you listen to this. If you don’t have any interest at all, it may be a miss for you. There is some hand-holding on what all the terms mean during each episode, but when it comes to the basics, they don’t spend time explaining everything. Honestly, I think that’s what helps this podcast so much is that they expect just a little bit of knowledge, and it doesn’t bog down the episodes.

Not Another D&D Podcast has been around for a couple of years already, but it’s worth your time to start from the beginning. Even though I don’t have much experience with D&D, I was easily sucked into the world of Bahumia and actually cared about what happened to these characters. There is a reason why this podcast is so popular, and it’s because of the huge amount of work that is put into it. I guarantee you will fall in love with these characters. Well, Moonshine at the very least.