What's a good podcast that I can listen to on a long drive?

[The Aboleth]

Hello, all!

I live in a city in which traffic is a nightmare and frequently turns a 20 minute commute into an hour long commute. Thankfully, we live in an age in which podcasts exist and can help make sitting in traffic a more bearable experience!

I discovered the Critical Role podcast a couple months ago and have been blazing through that, but lately I've been feeling a bit burnt out by the adventures of Vox Machina. They're a fun group and I enjoy the characters, but I feel like I need a break for a bit.

Other podcasts I listen to from time to time are The Fall of Rome (https://soundcloud.com/fallofromepodcast) if I'm in an intellectual or learning mood, and the Deadcast (https://deadspin.com/tag/deadcast) if I'm looking for more of a silly sports and political mash-up. However, the Deadcast doesn't always come out regularly and The Fall of Rome is, like I said, very mood-specific fare (it's brilliant, though, if you're interested in Roman history!).

Does the forum have any recommendations on podcasts I should check out? Anything is on the table, from other D&D podcasts to random pop culture stuff to your cousin's book review show that he or she is trying to get off the ground. Seriously, I'm open to anything that sounds fun, interesting, and/or informative!

[Friv]

You'll burn through most of them pretty quick, but I would recommend three of the Night Vale Presents suite of podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale: A small community radio station in a friendly little town with terrible things lurking behind every door. The Sheriff's Secret Police would like to remind you: If you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget.

Alice Isn't Dead: After her supposedly-dead wife appears in the background of a news reel, a woman takes to the road in search of her, narrating her life as a trucker and the strange and deadly things that she encounters. Only runs 10-episode seasons (two seasons so far), and is a much more serious take on the "spooky Americana" stuff than Night Vale, above.

Within The Wires: The first season takes the form of relaxation tapes issued at a mysterious, futuristic asylum, through which a story secretly develops. The second season takes the form of audio tapes at various art galleries in a future world, again with a personal story forming within them. Sort of a slow burn, but worth it.

[Joran]

I feel you. I live in the city with one of the worst commutes; I regularly take an hour and a half to get to work in gridlock.

I listen to a lot of NPR podcasts.

Trivia/game shows: Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me (current events jokes) and Ask Me Another(trivia and word games)

Science explained through story telling: Radiolab and Invisibilia

More story-telling: More Perfect (Supreme Court cases), Serial and S-Town.

Economics told in an accessible manner: Planet Money (I love this one)

History: Stuff You Missed in History Class.

I also listen to podcasts for shows/games I play or watch which may not be relevant to you.

[The Aboleth]

I also listen to podcasts for shows/games I play or watch which may not be relevant to you.

Please, by all means don't hold back; even if I've never played the game or watched the show I might still find it (and the podcast) interesting enough to check out.

Great suggestions so far, everyone! Keep 'em coming!

[Joran]

Please, by all means don't hold back; even if I've never played the game or watched the show I might still find it (and the podcast) interesting enough to check out.

Great suggestions so far, everyone! Keep 'em coming!

I listen to Decrypted from Ars Technica, which discusses and reviews random TV shows. So far they've done Seasons 1-2 of Mr. Robot, Season 2 of The Expanse, and Season 1 of Westworld.

I also listen to The Dive, which is a League of Legends podcast, with a large emphasis on the eSports scene.

I wouldn't listen to them unless you actually play/watch the stuff.

[Vogie]

I Listen to a LOT of podcasts. So here's a bunch:

RPGs: Godsfall, Drunks & Dragons, Cthulu & Friends, It's a Long Story

Comedy & Politics: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Smartest Man in the World, The Bugle, What Trump can Teach us about Con Law

Interviews: You Made It Weird, Triangulation, WTF

Completed Storytelling (Nonfiction) - Serial, S-town

Short Fiction - The Truth, Life After (Also called "The Message"), Myths & Legends, Fictional, The NoSleep podcast (horror stories), Levar Burton Reads,

Longform Fiction - Tanis, The Black Tapes, Wooden Overcoats, Within the Wires, Welcome To Night Vale, The Penumbra Podcast, Alice isn't Dead, Rover Red

Real Stories - Story Collider, The Moth, Storycorps, Ear Hustle, Criminal

Other Gaming: Drive to Work (Magic the Gathering Design), Trinity Force Podcast (League of Legends), Gamers With Jobs (various video & board games)

Media Deep dive: The Hosts (for Westworld & American Gods), Cast of Thrones

Other Money/Economics: Stacking Benjamin's, Investing in Real Estate with Clayton Morris, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Motley Fool Money, Marketplace, The Dave Ramsey Show

Explorations in to design and various interesting topics: Freakonomics, 99% Invisible, Planet Money, Radiolab, Invisibilia, The Allusionist, Imaginary Worlds, Tell Me Something I don't know, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Hidden Brain, Lexicon Valley, Flash Forward, Benjamin Walker's Theory Of Everything, How I built this, Lore, The Art of Manliness, Note To Self

I also listen to a bunch of TWiT network shows and various other orators and preachers.

[Hopeless]

Ideology of Madness have several, there's Funnybooks where they discuss comics, Knights of Reignsborough an eventually Savage world Supers game and they're reissuing their Star Trek Aegean sandbox in preparation for a game using the new Modiphilus Star Trek game.

Gamer's table has done Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, Conan and even d&d along with podcasts on various RPG subjects.

Was there anything specific you're interested in?

[The Aboleth]

Was there anything specific you're interested in?

I guess specifically, another D&D podcast would be good; Critical Role is great, but as I mentioned in the OP I've been feeling a bit burned out on it lately.

Beyond that specific request, any and all types of podcast suggestions are welcome! I like to listen to a bit of everything.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I strongly recommend the podcasts of Mike Duncan:
The History of Rome
Revolutions

GW

[The Aboleth]

I strongly recommend the podcasts of Mike Duncan:
The History of Rome
Revolutions

GW

Interesting! Have you heard Patrick Wyman's "The Fall of Rome" (I linked to it in the OP)? If so, how does it compare to Duncan's podcast?

[Chromascope3D]

If you like cartoons and cringing, I listen to Pan Pizza's Pizza Party Podcast. It's been a fairly small YouTube podcast, but recently it's been getting some higher profile guests like CH Greenblatt (creator of Chowder and Harvey Beaks), and most recently Ian Jones-Quarty (creator of OK K.O! Let's be Heroes!).

The Adventure Zone is a comedy D&D podcast, and has a fairly dedicated fanbase, and I know that that isn't a great sell, because just about everyone thinks that they can make a comedy D&D podcast, but this one is actually entertaining.

[Chives]

QWERPline for comedy, Welcome to Night Vale for horror. Be forewarned, Night Vale has about a 25 episode stretch where it's less of a horror show and more of an ensemble slice-of-life bit. Also, they do the conclusion to their biggest arc in front of a live audience so take of that what you will. Very good though. The story of You is particularly chilling.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Interesting! Have you heard Patrick Wyman's "The Fall of Rome" (I linked to it in the OP)? If so, how does it compare to Duncan's podcast?

Unfortunately I have not, so I cannot directly compare them, but I did indeed think of Duncan's podcast the moment you mentioned that one. To be clear, Duncan's runs the whole gamut from the kings to the fall of the Western Roman empire, so I would guess it will be in less detail than a podcast dedicated to the last 200-odd years of the same.

GW

[Eldan]

The History of Rome is really quite excellent, yes, though I took a break from it somewhere towards the end of the Republic, because I wanted something else than Roman history for a while. I'll certainly go back to it. It covers a lot of history, but it's also extraordinarily long, so it will take the time to occasionally do an entire episode on one person. On the other hand, even the bigger wars (Punic, Samnite) might only be two or three episodes.

[Vinyadan]

The Center for Security Studies of the Polytechnic of Zurich often does very in-depth podcasts and videos from events and conferences. I can't make examples here because it's all contemporary stuff and so it can be read as political, but there is no doubt that it is a way to learn new things.

[Delicious Taffy]

I will never, ever stop recommending SleepyCast to people. If you're not familiar, it features a decent-sized cast of cartoonists from around the world, most of them getting their start online. Run times are usually around 75-90 minutes, but some are as short as 20 and some are around 2 hours. Conversation topics are usually at least hinted at in the episode titles, but they have a tendency to ramble and go off on wild tangents.

[wombat31]

I like the incomparable network pod casts. Total party kill is a d and d podcast. I also like the main show, the incomparable. Game night is surprising good. Unjustly maligned is awesome. The havee a wide range of pod casts to suit any taste

[McMurderface]

The Adventure Zone is a comedy D&D podcast, and has a fairly dedicated fanbase, and I know that that isn't a great sell, because just about everyone thinks that they can make a comedy D&D podcast, but this one is actually entertaining.

I've got to double down on TAZ because it's my favorite podcast. It starts out being very jokey and genuinely funny, but eventually it turns into an incredible story with some truly entertaining PCs and NPCs.

That being said, I'd recommend any podcast from the McElroy suite of podcasts, with My Brother, My Brother, and Me standing out as exceptional.

[solidork]

The Campaign Podcast is easily my favorite RPG podcast. It's Star Wars, features improv comedians and is well edited. You will laugh, possibly until you cry.

[Corlindale]

I strongly recommend The Glass Cannon Podcast. It's an ongoing Actual Play Pathfinder podcast and the only one of its kind that has been able to hold my attention for a significant length of time. They have an extremely steady release schedule with one episode every week, the most recent being #125. Countless hours of entertainment and strikes a good balance between humour and story.

I also enjoy Hello Internet! It's basically just two guystalking about various stuff, but it's surprisingly fun to listen to. They also have a ton of episodes out currently.

[Kaytara]

You'll burn through most of them pretty quick, but I would recommend three of the Night Vale Presents suite of podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale: A small community radio station in a friendly little town with terrible things lurking behind every door. The Sheriff's Secret Police would like to remind you: If you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget.

Alice Isn't Dead: After her supposedly-dead wife appears in the background of a news reel, a woman takes to the road in search of her, narrating her life as a trucker and the strange and deadly things that she encounters. Only runs 10-episode seasons (two seasons so far), and is a much more serious take on the "spooky Americana" stuff than Night Vale, above.

Within The Wires: The first season takes the form of relaxation tapes issued at a mysterious, futuristic asylum, through which a story secretly develops. The second season takes the form of audio tapes at various art galleries in a future world, again with a personal story forming within them. Sort of a slow burn, but worth it.

Seconding WTNV, and I have out the rest... dang.

[ViciousMockery]

self-plug: Vicious Mockery is new, but as far as we've seen no other DnD podcast compares in terms of editing, SFX & original music. Four hour sessions are chopped into three 20-minute episodes. If you're curious, just listen to the last 3 minutes of Episode 21.

[Astral Avenger]

I'm about to go on a 20 hour road trip, any free podcast apps better than Google play music I should be aware of?

I'm not the OP, but thanks for all the suggestions everyone

[Vogie]

I'm about to go on a 20 hour road trip, any free podcast apps better than Google play music I should be aware of?

I'm not the OP, but thanks for all the suggestions everyone

I'm a huge fan of BeyondPod, myself. I paid the for premium so it can download podcasts automatically at night, but that's not required for when you're just grabbing stuff for a single trip. It also comes (came? I've had it for a while) with a 7 day free trial of the premium when you first download it... but as I said before, you won't need it for a one-shot.

[Friv]

I use Podcast Addict pretty exclusively. It has a few memory issues with the newer Android models, which is kind of annoying, but generally it works great for tracking, subscribing, auto-downloading when you're on wifi (but make sure to tell it not to auto-download when you're on mobile data!) and organizing playlists.

[Zale]

I am rather fond of "Games From Folktales", which is a podcast centered around history, literature and the Ars Magica tabletop game.

It's one of my favorite immediate listening podcasts, because it covers interesting topics and has typically short 10-20 minute episodes, which makes it easy to fit into my day.

One of my personal favorites was "Gods can’t see you in roleplaying games", which was about how Ancient Egyptian deities aren't omniscient and can be tricked or confused- this is in fact related to the old 'weighing your heart on the scale' trope. People sold spells and the like that could fool the gods and fix the scales in your favor.

Even if you're not a fan of, or even know much about, Ars Magica, I still think the podcast is a good listen.

[Zevox]

I've got to double down on TAZ because it's my favorite podcast. It starts out being very jokey and genuinely funny, but eventually it turns into an incredible story with some truly entertaining PCs and NPCs.

That being said, I'd recommend any podcast from the McElroy suite of podcasts, with My Brother, My Brother, and Me standing out as exceptional.

I'll third that. The Adventure Zone was the first podcast I listened to, on a recommendation from a friend at work, and it's still my favorite. I think you could definitely compare its first arc to how things went with OotS, in fact: starting off just with them screwing around having fun playing the game (the first episode was literally a one-off thing they did during a week off from their first comedy podcast, the above-mentioned My Brother, My Brother, and Me), using the starter adventure for 5E even, but after a couple of episodes they skip straight to the end of that starter adventure early so that they can transition into doing their own thing and it turns into a more serious (but still very comedy-oriented) story. The sheer creativity of some of it, particularly out of the GM, was fantastic, and it just never stopped being a lot of fun to listen to all the way up through the ending.

Two caveats: one, they sometimes play fast and loose with the rules of D&D, because their focus is mostly on making an entertaining podcast, not playing the game in the strictly-speaking "correct" fashion. So if you're the sort who might be bothered by that, well, be aware of it, though I'd still recommend giving it a try. And two, it actually won't be a D&D podcast specifically going forward, as with their first big storyline done they're trying out other tabletop RPGs for their next ones. Still, that first storyline is D&D and is quite large, so well worth checking out even if you only want D&D.

Beyond that, I've mainly been listening to other podcasts on the network that one's a part of. My Brother, My Brother, and Me is certainly a good one as far as pure comedy goes, but I think my favorite outside of TAZ so far has actually been Oh No Ross and Carrie!, which is one where a couple of very science-minded individuals investigate fringe religious groups, supposed paranormal activity or abilities, products that make hard-to-credit claims about what they can do for you, or the like. It's both funny and often fascinating.

[Gettles]

Since you were talking about dnd plays I'll give you my favorite from that genre.


Friends at the Table is a tabletop RPG podcast hosted by Austin Walker (from Waypoint, formerly of Giant Bomb). First off, they have never played a D&D game on the show so if that is important to you, be warned. Unlike Critical Roll where the entire show is one campaign from the start, FatT is broken into "seasons" where after they feel that they have reached an end point for what they are doing(or at least a satisfying enough cliffhanger that they can leave it alone for a few months when they plan to return to the game) they change to different games, settings, genres, and how the players are grouped together.

If you check it out, be warned that there are some major sound issues on the first few episodes and it might be recommended to skip the first season (Seasons of Heiron, a fantasy games played with Dungeon World, there primary setting that they revisit in season 3) and start out with either Season 2(Counter/Weight a cyberpunk space opera run using mech-noir and later The Sprawl) or Marielda (a short, very distant prequel to the Heiron seasons played with Blades in the Dark.)

[chainer1216]

Im gonna have to fourth The Adventure Zone and My Brother, My Brother, and Me.

Love me them McElroys

[rooster707]

I’d also suggest a few others from Maximum Fun - mainly Story Break, where Freddie Wong, Matt Arnold and Will Campos from RocketJump have an hour to turn some idea into a pitch for a movie. It’s a lot of fun, plus as a non-writer it’s interesting to get an insight into their creative process. And every now and then they come up with something absolutely brilliant. I’d suggest checking out the Jar Jar Binks episode, or the more recent Heaven Heist, if you want to give the show a try.

There’s also Bubble, which is a half hour sci-fi/comedy sort of thing. It’s decent most of the time, nothing amazing so far but I like the setting and characters and I feel like it has potential. I believe it’s between seasons right now.

If you like video games, I’d also suggest Abject Suffering, which is about half an hour long and nominally about terrible video games. In practice, it’s about terrible video games and also just whatever else the hosts end up talking about. Personally I find it pretty entertaining, but I think it depends a lot on whether or not you like listening to these people talk.