Playing Dungeons & Dragons has been a hobby of mine for years, but I’ve never been a fan of listening to others play. For me, the fun of the game comes from making my own decisions and seeing those decisions play out, and I thought that listening or watching other players took away too much of the magic for me to enjoy it. I know that Critical Role is a worldwide phenomenon with thousands of fans, but after attempting to listen to it on multiple occasions I just had to come to the conclusion that D&D streams and podcasts just weren’t for me. This remained my opinion until I stumbled upon a little podcast called ‘The Adventure Zone’.
The McElroy brothers are a group of online content creators, with two being previous employees of the renowned gaming website Polygon and all three producing the award winning podcast MBMBAM, also know as ‘My Brother, My Brother and Me’. Composed of Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy, they share a sense of humour and timing that can only come from being siblings. They are hilarious in awkward and unique ways, and the content they produce is always a delight. Knowing this, I took my first steps into The Adventure Zone, a D&D podcast the McElroy Brothers created with their father Clint McElroy.
This podcast is, in my opinion, one of the greatest podcasts to ever exist. Never before have I enjoyed listening to a D&D adventure before, but the chemistry between this family of performers is so endearing that you cannot help but feel part of the gang. Justin, Travis and Clint are the players in the game, giving such life to their characters. The transition from awkward roleplaying awkwardness at the start of the campaign to fully three dimensional characters towards the end is astounding, and these three deserve huge amounts of credit for being such good players.
The real genius behind this whole project is Griffin, the youngest brother and Dungeon Master of the campaign. While he may come off as whimsical and strange, Griffin McElroy is hands down the finest Dungeon Master I have ever seen. When getting into this series, I thought it would be a good laugh that would help me pass the time on long drives. I did not expect the laughter to mingle so effortlessly with the tears and heartbreak that these comedic characters brought out in me. It is an emotional rollercoaster, but one that constantly has you enjoying yourself and delivering a wonderful ending to wrap the campaign in a beautiful bow.
I cannot recommend this podcast enough. I’m only giving the series a 4 star rating due to some of the experiments the group have tried over the years, leading to some episodes that are of a lower quality than the first series, but all are still enjoyable just to hear the banter between this hilarious family. A wonderful listen for D&D fans, Dungeon Masters looking for tips on how to master the craft and fantasy players alike, and one that I will be listening to again and again for many years to come.
