Podcast Update Update

A quick followup to my most recent Podcast Update.

I've been listening to the Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast. After listening to three and a half episode so far, I expect that I'll probably go back and listen to the rest as time allows.

They feature a good mix of discussion of rules crunch and interviews with Pathfinder authors. They also make it very clear before straying into the realm of spoilers for players. This differentiation between the "companion" and "chronicles" sections of the podcast makes it possible for both players and GMs to make use of the podcast (players simply have to stop listening about half way through).

Definitely worth checking out for any Pathfinder players.

Podcast Update

Here's a rundown of what I'm listening to in terms of podcasts.

The Dice Tower: This podcast rapidly moved to the top of my list after I finally started listening to it. My favorite board gaming podcast with a nice mix of news, reviews, and interesting discussion. I will usually listen to the latest episode as soon as I know it's out.

Ludology: Part of the "Dice Tower Network" of podcasts, this is a relatively new podcast on the subject of board gaming theory. It's been quite interesting so far, even though I've not always agreed with the hosts' opinions.

Game On! with Cody & John: I tend to be more informed about what's going on in the world of board gaming than these guys, but they're still fun to listen to, as long as it's not the month of Gen Con.

The D6 Generation: This one has gone from the top of my list to barely hanging on at the bottom. I stopped listening for a few months, but recently caught back up to the point where I'm only a couple of episodes behind. While entertaining at times, I've found that my tastes in gaming do not align with any of the three hosts of the show, which makes it less useful to me than it might otherwise be. The hilarious parody of the McLaughlin Group that opens every show, combined with the occasional great interview, is what keeps me listening.

Narrative Control: It's a tough call, but I think this is probably at the top of my list for roleplaying podcasts. Lots of good ideas in a short format. It is put out in seasons, and is currently between seasons, but that just means it's a good time to catch up if you haven't listened to it before now.

Actual People, Actual Play: This is my favorite "actual play" podcast, largely because it doesn't actually record actual play. Instead, each episode opens with a summary of the session that was just played, and then has the participants discuss what worked and what didn't, both in the system they used and in their personal performances.

Fear The Boot: This is a roundtable discussion of different roleplaying topics. It has a good mix of gamers, although all of them come from a more traditional RPG background than most of the other roleplaying podcasts on this list, which tend more towards indie games. There is a good deal of discussion of whatever game they are playing at the moment, but the focus is usually on the topic of the episode, with their anecdotal experiences being used as examples.

2d6 Feet in a Random Direction: A great podcast when it comes out, but it's been a few months now since the last episode. The most balanced between indie and traditional RPG coverage of the podcasts I've listened to.

The Walking Eye: Another actual play podcast. I've listened to a handful of actual play podcasts that feature recorded sessions of play, and this is the only one I've found interesting enough to continue listening to. The actual play sessions are interspersed with interesting discussion episodes. There's also a comics cast mixed in the feed, but I don't listen to those.

The Voice of the Revolution: The PR podcast for Indie Press Revolution. I find it a decent news source, and their reviews and interviews are interesting.

World's End Radio: While it started as a podcast mostly about Games Workshop games, it's increasingly becoming more of a general miniatures gaming podcast. It also fills my "podcasts with an Australian accent" quota. These guys almost make me wish I was still into miniatures games, and are interesting enough that I listen to them even though I'm not.

Meeples & Miniatures: My most recent addition, I haven't come to a final judgment on this one yet, but am liking it so far. On the miniatures side he covers just about everything except Games Workshop.

Ninja vs. Pirates: I'm several episodes behind on this podcast, but it's a very interesting collection of interviews with game designers. Mostly RPG designers, but some board game designers as well.

An Open Letter to Podcasters II: Convention Coverage

I initially wrote this last year just after the convention season wrapped up, around the same time that I wrote my first Open Letter to Podcasters. I never posted it because I felt it was possibly too much of a rant, but with convention season ramping up again, I find myself once again becoming annoyed by the level of convention coverage, so I feel this is worth posting.

Just say "no" to convention coverage on your podcast.

Seriously, the amount of convention coverage on gaming podcasts is getting out of hand. It's gotten to the point where some podcasts will have extensive pre-coverage, coverage and post-coverage of the same convention. Since I listen to more than one gaming podcast, it often starts to all sound the same. Some gamers have poor hygiene habits at conventions, I get it. I don't need to hear about it every time a convention is coming up. If you really care about an issue like this, then write up an article on your show's website, mention the article when convention season comes around, and leave it at that.

Pre-convention coverage: this should consist of a blurb that lasts no more than a minute or two. This is especially true if you are starting this coverage early enough for it actually to matter to people who have to plan ahead (which is usually at least three months prior to an event).

Don't interview the convention organizer! It's very tempting to do so, but if you've heard one interview with a convention organizer you've heard them all. I don't care if they're running Gen Con or the mini-con at the FLGS, 90% of the interview will be identical, and the 10% that is different isn't worth slogging through the other 90%.

Instead, do an ad with the convention organizer that outlines the major draws of the con and mention a website where more info can be found. Keep it under a minute or two.

If your podcast is actually running events at a convention, then go ahead and discuss it some, but don't forget that you can always say "go to our website for more information."

Convention coverage: Do not go through a list of the games you played or the events you attended. I don't want to come off as too harsh, but even the people who actually care don't really care that much. Write it up on your blog, but keep it off the air. Do put interviews with convention guests and other persons of interest. Also, cover any news that was released, but do it briefly. If it was a major con, then that news was released to the internet at the same time you heard about it at the con so many of your listeners already know about it.

This is especially true about news from Gen Con. People that really care about news from there are going to be listening to the This Just In From Gen Con podcast. If you must present your own news, listen to that podcast first, and makes sure you aren't just repeating what they already said. If you don't want to spend time listening to that podcast, then ask yourself why your listeners would possibly want to listen to you do the same thing?

Post-Convention coverage: This should be non-existent. The only reason I should be hearing about a convention after you've done your convention coverage is because you got a lot of interviews and so there was more material than you could cram into your one convention coverage episode.

This advice applies to all conventions, but doubly so to Gen Con. At this point pretty much everyone that podcasts goes to Gen Con. I get it, it's a big deal, but it's gotten to the point where I may just stop listening to podcasts when Gen Con rolls around, because it's the same crap I've listened to over and over again since I've been listening to podcasts!

In this case I really do mean crap. Entire episodes dedicated to "how to attend Gen Con" that cover the exact same advice repeated every year. If you have to do it, do it once, then tell your listeners to go back and listen to that episode if they're planning on going to Gen Con and have never been before.

I'm not exaggerating here, the only podcasts I listen to that don't discuss Gen Con are ones from overseas, and even they usually feel compelled to mention it. It really gets annoying. Unless you live in Indianapolis, your Gen Con coverage should be limited to the advice I gave above for general convention coverage. Even then, the coverage could stand to be toned down a bit.

Of course, this doesn't apply if the only thing your podcast does is cover Gen Con, but This Just In From Gen Con has that covered.

So, think twice about giving a lot of time to convention coverage on your podcast, particularly if you've given coverage of the same convention in the past. At the least, consider making it a smaller segment of your cast.

An Open Letter to Podcasters Who Accept Sponsorships

Repetition is not your friend. A certain amount of repetition, particularly of a sponsor's motto or tag line, helps establish product identity in the minds of listeners, but there's a point at which this repetition becomes counter productive. You don't want your listeners to cringe when they hear the beginning of a commercial because they've already heard it a dozen times or more.

Some of you may have read an article about how advertisements that are annoying are actually more effective. This can be true for establishing name recognition for a new product or business, or for reinforcing it in an older product like laundry detergent where a customer has to make a purchase decision while looking at a wall full of similar products in a super market. Chances are if you're running a gaming podcast that your advertisers aren't selling products that you buy in the super market.

There's a point at which repetitive advertising actually starts to have a negative effect. Either it actively causes customers to associate "don't like" with your sponsor, or else they simply stop listening to the podcast due to the repetition (perhaps as a contributing rather than a primary factor), at which point they hear neither you nor your sponsors.

So what's too much repetition? For starters, if you simply read or ad-lib a short script you're probably OK. The natural variation in tone between readings can help to mitigate the negative aspects of repetition, even if the words are exactly the same. This assumes that it is truly a short script. Under fifteen seconds is ideal, over thirty is generally unacceptable. If you want to run an infomercial for your sponsor do it once, not every episode.

If you pre-record your ads then for the sake of both your listeners and your sponsors change them every once in a while! How often you do so can vary, but one hard and fast rule is that if a date is mentioned in the ad, and it's past that date, then you should change the ad! That's the most obvious subset of a larger rule: if the ad is inaccurate, then change the ad!

Two examples from podcasts that will remain nameless:

1) An advertisement for a piece of software that was to undergo an update in a few months began running on a podcast. That same ad was still running a year after the updates had been made, but the ad still referred to those updates in the future tense.

2) An advertisement for a podcast that aired for quite some time on another podcast. It mentioned the hosts of the show. The ad was still running well over a year after one of the hosts had left the show and been replaced.

In the latter case the ad was created by the sponsor, so it may have been the case that they asked for a new spot and never received it, but they may have simply never bothered to ask.

Here's another rule of thumb: if you're mocking your own ads, then it's probably time to change them. Doubly so if you're mocking them on the show!

A tip for those who like pre-recording their ads: If you really want to pre-record your ads, and don't want to have to come back and change them very often, then record more than one at a time. Record two or three for one sponsor and then alternate them between shows. Having to listen to the same ad every second or third episode is far more tolerable than every episode. If you podcast frequently, once a week or more, then consider not just rotating ads, but rotating sponsors. Of course, you need multiple sponsors for this to work, and it has to be a part of whatever contract you have with your sponsors, but it can be extremely effective at reducing the negative effects of repetition.

So where do I get off offering this advice? Mostly just as an interested consumer, but I do actually have some limited experience writing ad copy for radio professionally, and received some equally limited education on the subject back in my college days. Take that for what it's worth.

I also want to say that I realize that podcasters do this for the love of their hobby and of podcasting, and that for the most part it costs them money out of their own pocket to do it, even with sponsors. I appreciate their efforts. I offer this advice both with the hope of making their shows better and to help their sponsors get better value for their sponsorship.

Podcasts 2010

My podcast lineup has changed quite a bit since I last blogged about it. Only three of the podcasts I was listening to back then are still on my list: The D6 Generation, World's End Radio, and This Week In Wargaming.

The D6 Generation is still one of the top podcasts on my list. Although for a podcast that proclaims "no hate" they sure seem to have a lot of hate for some things. Their constant put-downs of Agricola are wearing a bit thin, as was the irrational hatred of Avatar, and even the rational hatred towards Twilight. I know they're trying to be funny, but it's one of the few cases where their patented "not too horrible" humor really is pretty horrible.

Mini-rant aside, it's still a great podcast with tons of good information and humor in every episode that covers a wide variety of games.

World's End Radio is my token GW podcast, but still pretty high on my list. The combination of Australian accents and some coverage of non-GW games keeps this one on my list. They really do put on a good show.

This Week In Wargaming isn't quite so high on my list, but is one I still listen to. The original host, Troy McCauley, had to leave the podcast, and I'm still getting used to the new host, Ken Whitehurst. I loved Ken's segment on music for gaming that was part of the D6 Generation, but his style of delivery isn't quite to my taste for a full podcast.

I really hate to criticize something like this in an amateur podcaster, but he has a rather monotone style of delivery that I sometimes find difficult to pick out of the background noise when I'm listening to the podcast, to the point where my mind will wander and I'll suddenly be thinking "wait, what did he just say?" I'm hoping that either he'll grow into a slightly more dynamic style of presentation as he gains experience, or else that I'll get more used to his delivery, because the content of the show is still excellent. I'm not suggesting that he try to be more dynamic, I just hope that he grows more comfortable with the medium that he'll become more relaxed and his delivery will develop naturally. Once again, I hate to even bring it up, but it is a major factor why the podcast is not higher on my list.

Now for the ones I've added since last year: First up is The Dice Tower. This is one of the bigger board gaming podcasts and has been around for quite some time. It probably should have been one of the first podcasts I listened to, and I'm not sure why it wasn't, but now it's up there at the top of my list, vying with the D6 Generation to be the first I listen to when new episodes are up.

The hosts have a good presentation (the co-host, Eric Summerer is actually a professional voice actor), and while Tom Vasel once had a reputation for loving every game he ever played, as time has gone by he's become more critical, which I think makes his reviews even more useful than they used to be.

Fear the Boot is a general RPG podcast that has been entertaining to listen to as I get back into roleplaying. It's not at the top of my list, but the group has a nice dynamic.

Actual People, Actual Play is another RPG podcast, but where Fear the Boot is more about theory, Actual People, Actual Play is about recaps of gaming sessions. This is more entertaining than I originally thought it would be, and actually more useful for me given that the games they've been playing are mostly ones I want to run or play. I started listening because their first game was Burning Empires, but I'm still interested even though that campaign ended. I'm currently several episodes behind because I thought I was subscribed when I wasn't, but I'll be catching up with it as soon as I'm able.

One more primarily board gaming podcast I'm listening to is Game On! with Cody & John. This one is borderline for me. The hosts are entertaining, but I know more about the games they talk about than they do. Admittedly, they don't pretend to be experts, their pitch is that they're just normal gamers. The problem is that I don't really get that much out of listening to them. This one is likely to be one of the first ones I let get behind if I get less time to listen to podcasts.

Ninja vs. Pirates is a somewhat unique podcast in that it's all about game design, and each episode is an interview with a game designer. While some episodes are more interesting than others, there are a lot of interesting interviews that have been done.

Voice of the Revolution is the "house" podcast for Indie Press Revolution. I'm giving it a try right now, but haven't decided yet if it will stick around on my list. For what is essentially an infomercial, it's interesting and leans far more heavily on the information than it does on the commercial.

Finally, there's 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction. This one is the most sporadic of the podcasts I listen to, but is always interesting and entertaining when it comes out. One of the hosts of the podcast is associated with Endgame, a game store in Oakland that I used to go to occasionally. I probably met him at some point, but I never got to know those guys that well. Both hosts seem to have a lot of friends in the industry, or at least the West Coast gaming scene, and a lot of them seem to make their way onto the podcasts.

That's pretty much it for now. I fully expect this list of podcasts to continue to evolve over time. As it does I plan on continuing to post about it in the hopes that maybe someone else will discover a podcast that they like from the ones I mention.

Podcast Update

It's been a while since I updated my list of podcasts that I listen to. There haven't been too many big changes, although my order of preference has changed a bit.

The biggest change is that The Order 66 Podcast is pretty much off my rotation. I'm still subscribed, but I haven't listened to an episode in ages. I'm around 20 episodes behind at this point, with no real intention to catch up. It's not that the podcast stopped being good, it's just that I can't see myself playing the game anytime in the foreseeable future, whereas I am doing a lot of miniatures gaming, so I'm more interested in podcasts covering that. I still recommend it to anyone with an interest in the Star Wars Saga edition RPG, and even possibly to someone with just a general interest in either RPGs or Star Wars.

The other big change is that Dice Like Thunder has now become my favorite 40K specific podcast, ahead of 40K Radio. Part of this is that I simply think the guys at DLT have a better grasp of the game. Part of it is that the guys at 40K Radio are really adamant that they are doing "internet radio" and are really pushing the live show aspect.

I'm going to diverge into a rant for a bit here. I'm very firmly of the opinion that one of the biggest advantages of podcasting is the ability to listen to it when I want to, not when the producers of the show decide to make it. Scheduling a time to stop everything and go listen to some guys make a podcast feels very pre-VCR to me, and I have little to no interest in doing so. Of course, I can still listen to the recorded episodes of 40K Radio, but as they aim more and more of their programming towards live call-ins, and other audience participation elements, I feel more and more left out. The Order 66 also suffers a bit from this, but to a lesser degree. It's all starting to feel very cliquish from my perspective. I'm sure that's more an issue with me than the show, but it's still an issue that has me enjoying the show a bit less.

On the other hand, DLT is very much a podcast, and a good one. As the disclaimer goes at the beginning of their show "there are certainly things with which you will vehemently disagree," but it's still both informative and entertaining. It's also one of the few podcasts which I have liked enough to go back and listen to old episodes of, something I'm still in the process of doing. One disclaimer about recommending it though is that they're currently undergoing a rather big change in that the founder of the podcast has moved to California (it's based out of Chicago), and rather than trying to do it over Skype, they are switching to an alternating cast format where the guys in Chicago do one episode, and the next is done by the founder and some friends of his new to the podcast. It's too early to tell if this is going to work out over the long run, but it seems to be going well so far.

As good as DLT is, World's End Radio is still the podcast I look forward to the most, followed closely by the D6 Generation. I've already gone over both of those in prior posts.

Podhammer is back, sort of, but it's been a bit sporadic lately. It's common knowledge among his listeners that the host has been through quite a lot lately, and presumably still has major issues to deal with aside from podcasting. For those interested, his earlier hiatus was a result of his wife filing for divorce, and since then he also lost his job. He has found new work since then, but it's quite possible that the work is more demanding on his time than his old job was (pure speculation on my part). I'm hoping that he works things out and gets back to podcasting, as I enjoy the show despite not currently playing the game it covers.

This Week in Wargaming has also been very sporadic, with both the hosts having various difficulties going on that limited their ability to do a podcast to the point that the co-host had to quit entirely. It would be more accurately titled This Month in Wargaming at the moment, but Troy McCauley has announced his intention to get things back on track. We'll see. My wallet has enjoyed the respite, but I'll still be happy if this one gets back on a regular schedule.

I'm still listening to 40K Warcasting, although it is firmly in third place on my list of 40K only podcasts. I'm not sure if I can finger exactly why that's the case. I feel that the DLT crew is the most knowledgeable about the game, but the 40K Warcasting crew is probably at least as knowledgeable as the 40K Radio crew. It may simply be that 40K radio comes out more often.

That's pretty much my list right now. I've been sampling a few other podcasts, but that's on hold for now as I catch up on back episodes of Dice Like Thunder. I'm sure that in a few months my list will have changed again, if only because the shows have. That's the nature of podcasting.

Podcast Update

Although I no longer have the long commute I used to have to take my wife to work, I continue to listen to podcasts on a regular basis, mostly while working on miniatures. World's End Radio has now become my favorite podcast, moving ahead of the Order 66 largely because I'm more actively interested in the games covered by World's End than I am in the Star Wars Saga Edition RPG covered by Order 66. In fact, I'm way behind on Order 66, because of that.

My second favorite is now the d6 Generation. It's a good general gaming podcast. Also on my regular listening list is 40K Radio, which has recently undergone a bit of a shakeup in its cast which I think is turning out to be an improvement, and This Week In Wargaming. TWiW is the most expensive podcast I listen to. Its weekly coverage of new products being released in miniatures gaming, largely from the smaller publishers, has already caused me to spend at least a couple of hundred dollars I wouldn't have otherwise spent.

Sadly, Podhammer is not on my list anymore. It would be, but for undisclosed personal reasons Jeff Carroll, the host, has had to put it on indefinite hiatus. I hope he's able to bring it back eventually. About the same time Podhammer went on hiatus, 40K Warcasting returned. This is a good supplemental podcast if you don't already get your fill of 40K coverage from 40K Radio, or a replacement if you prefer a more laid back style to the sometimes "flamboyant" approach of the guys at 40K Radio. I like both, especially since they both do codex overviews, and it's just that many more opinions from guys who regularly play the game. I've found that the consensus opinion often varies dramatically between gaming groups, so it's good to compare and contrast.

I've been dablling with some other podcasts as well, but don't want to discuss them until I've had a chance to listen to more than an episode or two.

Podcast Update

I want to mention two more podcasts that I've added to my subscribed list on iTunes.

The first is another really good Games Workshop related podcast: World's End Radio. I hesitated to try this one at first because I was already listening to Podhammer, and I figured that met my "Warhammer podcast from Australia" quota. I was wrong.

World's End Radio is now tied with the Order 66 for my favorite podcast, and is the only other podcast besides Order 66 that I have gone back and listened to from the beginning (or at least everything that's on iTunes, I haven't listened to episode 1 yet).

Unlike Podhammer and 40K Radio, World's End Radio is a general Games Workshop podcast covering both 40K and Fantasy, as well as The Lord of the Rings and Specialist Games like Battlefleet Gothic and Blood Bowl. They also have plans to cover Warhammer Historical products like Ancient Battles in the future.

The production quality is high, and the two hosts seem to know what they're talking about. They are both former GW employees, and are very active in their local gaming community going so far as to organize and run tournaments.

The second podcast that I've added is the d6 Generation. This is a general gaming podcast covering everything that the three hosts are in to, including miniatures, board games, and even the ocaisional video game. I've only listened to a couple of episodes so far, but that was enough to add it to my subscribed list.

More Podcast Follow Up

I've added This Week In Wargaming to my list of subscribed shows. Don't listen to this podcast if you like miniatures wargaming and value your wallet as it tends to review a lot of cool new stuff which you'll then want to buy.

My reservations about Podhammer appear to have been misplaced. I still think the anniversary episode was crap, but everything I've listened to since then has been pretty good. I went ahead and joined the Inner Circle as part of the package deal with the 40K Radio Freebootaz. I think that for $20 for both of them it was a little pricey but still worth it, but it's not quite worth $15 for each yet unless you just want to support them because you like them. As they continue to add content to the members only section the value will increase.

I caught up with the Order 66 podcast, and I stand by my earlier rave review. Even though I still don't play the Star Wars RPG, it remains my favorite podcast.

The Instance has fallen off my list simply because I'm not playing WoW at the moment. I'll probably return to it when I return to WoW.

40K Warcasting hasn't updated since I subscribed to it, but that's the nature of podcasting. These hobby casts are the result of just one or two people's efforts, and can easily be derailed or delayed for a variety of reasons. I hope that the guy behind it can eventually find the time to return to it.

I've been trying out some new casts since I'm starting to run out of things to listen to now that I'm caught up with the Order 66. I'll probably talk more about some of those in the future after I have listened to a few episodes.

Podcast Follow-Up

I mentioned in my blog on podcasts that I was thinking of subscribing to two more podcasts, but that I had only listened to one episode of each of them. I've now listened to a bit more of each and wanted to comment on them.

The first is the Order 66 podcast. This one is a winner. At first I could do without their humor segments, but they've grown on me, and there is the occasional real gem among them. Plus, they are usually short enough that it's no big deal if they fall flat. Not only have I decided to subscribe to the podcast, but it's the first one for which I've decided to go back and listen to all the old episodes from the beginning. So far I've listened to over a dozen episodes, and I have to say that if you have any interest in the Star Wars Saga Edition RPG then I would highly recommend you try out this podcast.

Two episodes in particular have been my favorites so far. The first featured an interview with a GM and one of his players that was inspired by the player complaining about bad GMing on the part of the GM in the podcast forum. It was entertaining listening to both sides of the story as well as just listening to them outline the progress of their campaign, which sounds like a fun one overall, even if I do think the GM made a few mistakes. The second was a two hour long special featuring the only full time dev on the Star Wars RPG at WotC, Rodney Thompson. Lots of good rules clarifications and insight into the development process.

The other podcast is Podhammer, the Warhammer Fantasy podcast. I'm still on the fence with this one. The first one I listened to was a very good analysis of the Lizardman army. The second one I listened to was the one year anniversary episode that featured a bunch of drunk guys talking crap for an hour. It was bad. They finally put on something decent when they played back a pre-recorded interview, but I'm lucky I even got that far. The third one wasn't as good as the first, but was far better than the second, and from comments made by the podcasters themselves is apparently a more typical episode. If that's the case, it's probably worth listening to except for one more thing.

The one other problem I have with Podhammer, is that they've decided to make some of their content premium content available only to members of a Podhammer club that costs $15 a year to join. Now, I don't have a problem with these guys trying to cover the costs of producing the show and maintaining the website, or even making a few bucks on top of that. But this show is already borderline, and it sounds like some of the segments I'd be most interested in are being moved to the premium side of the content. Aside from the cost, this means I'd have to actually go to their site and download the content, which is an annoyance as I generally just get my podcasts updated automatically through iTunes.

I may end up doing it anyways, because they are doing a package deal this month with 40K radio that has a similar program that I've been thinking of joining just to support the guys putting out a good podcast, but I just haven't decided yet.

They're both worth checking out if you play the related games, and I'd argue that Order 66 is probably worth checking out if you've just thought about playing the Star Wars Saga Edition RPG.

Podcast Goodness

I'm using my new iPhone a lot. Not as a phone though. Instead, I'm using it far more often as an iPod and a pocket computer. My most common activities are checking email and listening to podcasts.

I've found myself with about eight hours each week behind the wheel taking my wife to work, so listening to podcasts has helped me to keep my sanity when she's not in the car.

I started with some World of Warcraft podcasts, with my favorite being The Instance. These guys seem to know what they're doing while still acknowledging the existence of casual players, and it's an entertaining listen, although it's fallen off the top of my list since I entered the post 70 blues.

After listening to some WoW podcasts, I decided to branch out into some podcasts for my other hobbies. Specifically, I started checking out some D&D/D20 podcasts and some Warhammer podcasts. My favorites right now are Radio Free Hommlet for D&D and 40k Radio for Warhammer 40K. I'm also interested in RFH's sister Star Wars Saga Edition podcast Order 66, and the Warhammer Fantasy Podcast Podhammer, but I've only listened to one episode of each of those so far.

I'm also going to add 40k Warcasting to my list. They do complete army book breakdowns, and their recent Eldar breakdown was impressive, even if it did miss a few points I've gotten from other sources. Also, one of the guys appears to be a retailer, which adds some extra insight into an area I have some interest in. Unfortunately, their posting is a bit more sporadic than the other podcasts I've mentioned.

An honorable mention goes to the Penny Arcade/PvP/WotC D&D play sessions featuring Tycho and Gabe from Penny Arcade and Scott Kurtz from PvP running through portions of Keep on the Shadowfell. A couple of guys from WotC serve as DMs (the first session has Chris Perkins, and James Wyatt takes over for the second session). Tycho and Kurtz are veteran RPGers, and Gabe is a longtime video game geek, but new to RPGs. All three of them are new to 4th edition, so the dynamics are interesting. Listening to them play really made me want to play myself. You can tell they were having a blast despite having some of the crappiest luck with the dice ever in the second session. You can currently find them here, but the WotC site still pretty much sucks, so who knows how long that link will work. There are eight episodes and the guys added a couple of pieces of artwork to each episode featuring memorable quotes or scenes from the episode.