The Adventure Zone
Is this the best podcast ever made? Nope, but it’s got something, maybe inexplicable
My brother told me this is “the best podcast ever made.” Bold claim. When I asked him what it was about and he told me it was a family playing Dungeons & Dragons together, I told him there was no way but promised I would give it a listen.
I listened to 69 one hour each (at least) episodes- the entire first campaign. That is major dedication to keeping my promise, especially if you consider that I’ve never played D&D. I love games and stories and I’m geeky to a fair degree so it didn’t seem like too far of a stretch. My brother told me that knowledge of D&D wasn’t necessary, the podcast was funny and the storytelling was remarkable.
I have to admit, The Adventure Zone has its funny moments. The characters and the people behind them are lovable. I even got invested in a few of the subplots but I can confirm that I was indeed correct. There is no way this is the best podcast ever.
Spending hours listening to men roll dice and play a game made me hyper-aware of the time as it passed by. I felt like I was investing a ridiculous amount of time into their gameplay. D&D seems fun, maybe I should stop listening to them play it and try it myself. And, while the story was sometimes compelling, I felt that I would rather have read it in a book or listened to a pure storytelling podcast for its delivery.
This just wasn’t the podcast for me. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it. But, I will confess, in the end it got me and I even shed a few tears saying goodbye to these characters I spent so much time getting to know and following in their adventures. In that respect, the podcast succeeded in getting my emotional attachment but whether that was from excellence or just incidental to the amount of time spent listening is still to be determined.
