#chibi dnd

Oxventure

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Oxventure, my first and truest love. When I decided to really get into DnD, this was my first actual play show, and it managed to tickle me just right. It has definitely spilled over into my games, and I refuse to be ashamed of my house rule “if it worked in Oxventure, it can work here”, even when it meant a moonbeam blew up a drug lab.

Oxventure was started by video gaming channels Outside Xbox (OXBox) and Outside Xtra (OXtra). Two of the hosts of OXBox, Andy Farrant and Jane Douglas, and the two hosts of OXtra, Ellen Rose and Luke Westaway, got their colleague Johnny Chiodini, then of EuroGamer, to DM a one-off game for them back in 2017. Not much later, the OXs had acquired costumes, convinced the last OXBox host Mike Channell to join, and started doing live shows at cons. Johnny has since spent some time on the channel DiceBreaker (more about them later), and then moved on to their own independent projects. Luke has also left OXtra for his own projects. However, both are still heavily involved in Oxventure, which has gone from strength to strength.

The main series, The Oxventurer’s Guild, was retroactively rearranged into seasons when they changed from almost exclusively one-session adventurers (sometimes broadcast in multiple instalments but recorded in one) to extended storylines. They brought the adventures of the Guild to a close in 2024, but by that point had already spun off two side-series, Blades in the Dark and Deadlands, and announced a new DnD series, Wyrdwood. They also have a selection of special one-offs, One-Shot Wonders and DnD But…, plus several mini-series.

The Adventure Zone

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As far as I can tell, The Adventure Zone is one of, if not the, oldest actual play shows out there - it debuted several months before Critical Role started streaming. They began with 5e as it was launched; when they started, there was only the Starter Set, not even the Player’s Handbook. Over a decade later, it’s still going strong.

I found them because one of the team co-hosts Sawbones, another podcast I listen to. The team are all one family; Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy and their father Clint. They all have backgrounds in broadcasting and journalism, the boys were early into the podcast game with My Brother, My Brother and Me, and they’ve also done other podcasts. So their games are less technical, more jokey, and prioritise entertainment.

At time of writing, they are on their seventh main campaign, with numerous short series and one-shots, some of which attach to a campaign, some form their own series, and some are stand-alone.

DiceBreaker

DiceBreaker was a YouTube channel set up by Johnny Chiodini along with Michael “Wheels” Whelan and Alex Lolies in 2019. They were joined by Matt Jarvis, Alex Meehan and Sara Elsam. The channel was the home of all things tabletop, covering boardgames, trading card games, and TTRPG, or “pen-and-paper” role play games. Personally I’m only interested in the TTRPGs, though.

In 2020, Sara Elsam left, and then in 2021 Johnny left, and Lolies shortly after. Maddie Cullen and Olivia “Liv” Kennedy came on to take their places.

The parent company was acquired by IGN Entertainment in 2024, and DiceBreaker was shut down without public comment shortly after.

I miss DiceBreaker. Particularly the first two years; Liv and Maddie are great, but the chemistry just wasn’t the same. But I still loved it.

DiceBreaker’s stock in trade was to try a little bit of everything. While they tried extended serieses several times, most of their games were one-shots, often spread over two or three episodes. But their most endearing factor, for me, was a propensity for absolute chaos. They’re probably some of the games I revisit most

…damn I miss them.

Natural Six

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Four voice actors and two writer/producers, all veterans of the video game industry, went to the pub to chat DnD, and left the stars of a new show. They recorded an episode zero, played a zero-point-five at a EGX 2023, and started a kickstarter. They got funding for ten episodes, then launched a Patreon to keep going. It’s a really quite high production value show, too.

The DM is Harry McEntire, and the players Doug Cockle, Hollie Bennett, Ben Starr, Aoife Wilson, and Alex Jordan.

The way these guys play is a lot more like a home game; the episodes tend to be longer, and there’s a lot more emphasis on mechanics in certain places. But it’s not too crunchy, it’s still very narrative, and a very cohesive story too, even though it’s clear players are still making a lot of the choices. Currently, there is one campaign, with each episode proper followed by a an after-show called Action Surge.

Fool’s Gold/ Fool’s Gold Sands

A YouTuber called DingoDoodles decided to make an animatic of a particularly memorable incident in her DnD game involving karaoke and a tarrasque. The viewers wanted more, so she animated the next bit. And the next, and the next. She kept going.

Dingo, her DM and now husband Felix, and fellow player Avery have managed to build it up: merchandise such as plushies; a successful kickstarter for a setting book and plethora of accessories; converting the game into a graphic novel; and an actual play with an all-new adventure called Fool's Gold: Sands.

The original animated series is still ongoing; Dingo has said she's not interested in animating the portion of the campaign before the karaoke incident (other than brief flashbacks), but she fully intends to animate to the end of the campaign. And Sands continues with Felix DMing and Dingo and Avery playing. Both are reasonably chaotic (honestly, the way I like it), but Sands feels more cohesive. However, that might be more of a reflection on the difference between Dingo remembering and retelling a game from years ago, and a game happening right now in your ear. Could also indicate Felix has tightened up his worldbuilding over the years. Either is totally fair.

Rusty Quill Gaming

This was recommended to me when they were midway through their…I believe it was their fourth season. I regret that I have yet to actually start the main campaign, as a 150+ episodes backlog is rather daunting. What I have listened to, and very much enjoyed, is their wide variety of one-shot specials utilising a whole host of different systems, and quite often guests as well.

Following the conclusion of their long-running campaign, they decided to start a new project called Chapter and Multiverse. This was relatively short-lived. The RQ network is still going strong - you may have heard of their hit horror podcast The Magnus Archives - but they seem to have stopped gaming. Which is a pity. If they started up a new campaign, I would love to jump in at the start.

The GM for the original campaign was Alex Newell, and the players were Brynn Monroe, Ben Meredith, Lydia Nicholas, and James Ross, who left partway through the campaign, replaced by Helen Gould. The GM for Chapter and Multiverse was Maddy Searle, and the players Ahmed Aljabry, Lowri Ann Davies, Lydia Nicholas, and Pip Gladwin.

Rolling With Difficulty

A couple of veteran podcasters and DnD aficionados decided to try their hand at an actual play show, and it came out quite nicely. It explores the Planescape, but before the Planescape was brought to 5e, which to my mind means DM Austin did a pretty impressive job. They ran a campaign of five seasons, then started a second, currently in its second season.

This is a rather more technical game than most I listen to. While it’s very definitely set into episodes, it feels a lot more like a home game than something like TAZ, which plays to the audience. It’s also less chaotic - some chaos, but much more restrained - but where it shines is in the setting. Not only is there the Planescape world-between-worlds, they explore so many different worlds, many with their own rules governing them. Of course the characters are also well-crafted, with their own quirks and foibles, and the characters and the settings mesh very well together. And of course, the Weird Little Dudes, the ever-growing cast of companion creatures running around at ankle level.

Not all the cast members use full or real names, so bear with. They are Austin Funk, OSP Red, Sophia Ricciardi, Noir, and Wally.

Realms of Peril and Glory

Alas, so many podcasts means I haven’t quite got a grip on this one yet. They play a lot of different systems, shorter seasons that sometimes follow on from each other and sometimes don’t. They have guests often, including Johnny Chiodini from Oxventure and DiceBreaker. I will hopefully be able to write a better summary after I’ve familiarised myself with it; I’ve only listened to one short season so far, and it was very good.

I believe the main cast members are Zack Fortais-Gomm (who’s also Oxventure’s producer), James Barbarossa, Maddy Searle, Liz Campbell, Laura Girling, Naomi Clarke, and Pip Gladwin.

Critical Role

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This is the biggest name in actual plays, but also one I’ve been very wary of, due to being extremely lengthy and extremely dense. Which aren’t bad traits, but they are intimidating. They’re currently on their fourth campaign, which has more players than ever before, following three long and popular campaigns. There’s also a plentiful supply of shorts and one-shots.

The main cast are Matt Mercer, Laura Bailey, Luis Carazo, Robbie Daymond, Aabria Iyangar, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Whitney Moore, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Alex Ward, Travis Willingham, and Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Push the Roll with Ross Bryant

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I believe this is a spin-off from a different show called Ain’t Slayed Nobody, which is on the list for checking out at some point. It’s a full-improv actual play, meaning the GM has no plan and the players have no characters until they sit down and play. They’re playing Call of Cthulhu, with a few regulars and a guest each adventure – the adventures split into two or three parts. They choose the idea for each adventure by rolling to randomly select a title from a list suggested by the Ain’t Slayed patreons.

I really love this one, it just seems to hit just right for me. It’s weird, doesn’t always stick the landing perfectly, they’re all embracing the idea of making the wrong choices for the fun of it, and it’s just a riot.

The GM, or Keeper of Arcane Lore, is Ross Bryant, and regulars include Paula Deming, Scott Dorward, and the producer cuppycup.

Last Line. Rewind.

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This is a creation of some of the guys from Realms of Peril and Glory, and is a horror anthology. The conceit is to play a lengthy one-shot to sort of make a horror movie, so each season, Volume, is a collection of “Tapes” on a theme. They use different systems, and have a rather limited release.

Horror has never been my favourite, but I do find these intriguing and they really draw me in. I enjoy the why the worlds are shaped, the way the characters interact with them, and the synergy between everyone.

The GM is Fiona Howat, and the co-creators are Zack FG and Liz Campbell.

Puffin Forest

YouTuber Puffin Forest, Ben, has a wonderful range of bitesized animatics of notable characters or incidents, but he’s also done an absolutely brilliant retelling of an entire Curse of Strahd campaign he played in, another retelling of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and a handful of actual plays.

Ben’s illustrations are great, his breadth of game knowledge is impressive, but his storytelling is astounding. I remember awaiting eagerly each new instalment. He doesn’t seem to be doing much anymore, at least not publishing on YouTube, but what he’s given us is fabulous.

Reba Derps’ Chibi DnD

I'm not trying to throw shade on Reba Derps, she's got a lot more talent and a lot more gumption than me, but I highly doubt you'll ever see this channel on a recommended list. There's not a lot, Reba went silent quite a few years ago now, but it's fun, it's funny, and the illustrations are lovely.

Put simply, it's an animatic retelling what happened in a home game - not unlike the original Fool's Gold, but somewhat less dramatic. But games don't have to be overly dramatic to be fun. This was a series I found very early in my journey to loving DnD, and in reflection, I can see some really clever stuff that went on in that game.