5 Favourites: Podcasts

Podcasts have been a staple for me for years. Since I was in my second year of university I can remember having a love for them and I have fond memories of escaping from my life into other worlds during long cold walks to my part time job. They’re pretty brilliant. And with the internet so readily available and data cheaper than ever, you can find all sorts of podcasts, about all kinds of things at various production values. Today I thought I’d share some of my favourites with you!

As usual, I don’t claim these as the best podcasts. I don’t even claim that they are my absolute favourites. They’re just some pretty great ones that I picked out. A small caveat here, my definition of podcast is going to be pretty broad here. I really mean any serial, audio only media. This could include things like audio dramas and weekly web-radio shows. But, without further ado, here we have:

Critical Hit

Critical Hit is where it all started for me. I was in my second year of university and I was feeling pretty rubbish in general. It wasn’t a great time in my life. But I had finally managed to do something I’d always wanted to do and that was play Dungeons and Dragons. I’d picked up the 4th Edition Red Box and got my friends to play and it was awesome. So much fun. But it wasn’t enough. I wanted more. More to do with DnD. More time spent playing. Or at least in that world. So I googled it. And one of the things that came up was the Critical Hit Podcast. Revelation!

Critical Hit is a real play podcast which begins with the game master, Rodrigo Lopez, introducing the game to the host, Stephen Schleicher, who plays an Eladrin wizard just graduating from wizarding university. What follows is literally hundreds of hours of world building, real honest character progression, dnd game explanation and friendly banter. They cover combat pretty explicitly and thats great. I learnt how to play DnD long before I got to practice much. But what I come back for is the story and the characters and the people. The group is wonderful and friendly. Rodrigo weaves this utterly mind boggling story through difficult moral choices and moments of light hearted fun, all the way through to haunting and painful moments. I won’t spoil any of it. But if you’re at all interested in DnD, give it a try.

Decoder Ring Theatre

I discovered Decoder Ring Theatre through Critical Hit. One of the episodes CH has is a mail bag and on one such episode, the players were asked to list some favourite podcasts of theirs. Decoder Ring Theatre was mentioned, so I checked it out. And I am so glad I did. Created by Gregg Taylor, Decoder Ring Theatre is the host of two main series’. The lead series is The Red Panda; a show done in the style of a villain of the week type super hero show that follows the hero of the same name and his spunky sidekick The Flying Squirrel. Together they fight various forces sources of strife based on the time period, which ranges from the 30’s era depression on through World War II, mixed in with a little bit of magic, mystery and mayhem. This series is good fun, but it is not where my heart lies in DRT. That belongs to Black Jack Justice.

Black Jack Justice is a detective series following partners: Jack Justice and Trixie Dixon, girl detective. Set post-war in “the big bad city”, the series takes the form of a case log narrated by the two main characters. The cases range from murder mysteries, to jewel heists and moral ambiguity is abound. The mysteries are fun and the host of side characters that you come to know is a bundle of joy in itself. But it’s the slow progression of the detective duo that really grabs me. They develop, as people do. Not with endless virtues but with flaws and the changing of tiny habits. You learn to love their catch phrases. The little details that make them them. Some of the stories are small and a little silly. Some have a harsher tone. But I’ve enjoyed listening to them all for years.

Edict Zero

I honestly have no idea how I found it, but I am so glad that I did. Edict Zero is a beautiful podcast. That might sound like an odd way to describe a podcast, particularly when I tell you that it’s a sci fi special investigation audio drama, in the same vein as the X-Files. But my gosh is Edict Zero a beautiful podcast. The attention to detail is amazing. I have listenes to the whole series through multiple times, and every time I connect a new dot or understand the foreshadowing a little better. I have no idea how the story is planned but there seems to be reasons for everything and they’re revealed organically. Existential themes are everywhere and I think the use of the sounds to convey sequences without any conversation is excellent. Like critical hit, the story builds episode after the episode. It’s a little slower, designed for intrigue and steady progression; but it has it’s fair share of action too. I look forward to every episode, which are largely released on an “as soon as we can” schedule. If you love detail, mystery and paranormal style investigation, Edict Zero is well worth a listen.

The Once and Future Nerd

The Once and Future Nerd is another staple of mine. But I didn’t take to it quite as quickly as the other podcasts in my list. Another audio drama, I found The Once and Future Nerd after having finished a run of Critical Hit. I wanted a new Dungeons and Dragons podcast to listen to, but I was interested more in the story than the DnD. Google delivered again with TOAFN. It is not a Dungeons and Dragons podcast though. What it is is a high fantasy audio drama set in its own world, with its own takes on some of the classic fantasy races. It follows the journey of a group of children thrown together into an unknown realm, as they discover themselves and confront their inner demons.

When I discovered it the series had just started, and I listened not knowing what to expect. It hit some of the tropes hard and I wasn’t sure about how the characters treated each other. I ended up stopping for a while. But it remained in the back of my head for months afterwards. There was something enticing about the ways fantasy realm and the mysterious prophecy that geys introduced. So I tried it again a little later. What a great decision. It turns out that the things that I was worried about are actually deliberately worrying and get used as ways to explore societal issues with the fantasy world as a metaphor. I really enjoy the tough questions and character perspectives explored in the series and, to add to that, the moments of tension are even greater because of the realisation that the situations are somewhat analagous to real world issues. I think it’s well done and I really enjoy it.

Geek History Lesson

Geek History Lesson is relatively new to my podcast portfolio but it’s one that I’m really  enjoying. A part of the Major Spoilers podcast network set up by the previously mentioned Stephen Schleicher, Geek History lesson is a show which runs through the backstory and histoy of various pop culture characters organisations. It’s hosted by Jason Inman and Ashley Victoria-Robinson, and the main source of characters is from comic books. This is where I think the series does it’s best work, as the hosts are really knowledgeable and clearly excited to tell you about the wonderful world of whoever they’re looking into that week. Ever wanted to know about X-23? Spiderwoman? Psylocke? There are full episodes devoted to these characters and more; covering publication history, fictional history, recommendations, interviews and more. They cover other pop culture such as TV shows like Game of Thrones as well, but I haven’t listened to much of it. The show is an excellent way to cover large swathes of the, sometimes confusing, world of comics and it’s totally free! Give it a try if it sounds interesting.

Special Mention: Sega Mixerdrive

Though Sega Mixerdrive didn’t make my top 5, it will always have a special place in my heart. A part of the Radio Sega family and hosted live by Rexy, a fairly well known remixer and musician, Sega Mixerdrive showcases great remixes of Sega game tunes. I really like the show. It helped me through my degree and I still listen to the archive today. If you’re into videogame music, give it a try!

Well, there you have it! As I said before. These aren’t all my favourites. There really are a wonderful amount of podcasts out there. These are just the ones I couldn’t not put up there. I didn’t even get to mention Welcome to Nightvale! Whatever subject interests you, throw it into google, chuck the word podcast on the end and see where it takes you. The world of radio is born again in the podcast.

Let me know your favourite podcasts in the comments! Or send me an email!