In Praise of Actual Plays
In Praise of Actual Plays
Listen to Other People Game
Matthew Orr
This article is part of the Indie Game Developer Network's blog series. The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the IGDN or its members.
I listen to a lot of podcasts, so perhaps it is unsurprising several of them are actual play shows. By “actual play” I mean a recorded session of a roleplaying game, the main point of which is for people who didn’t play in the game to listen to or watch for entertainment. I include everything from live broadcast events (on platforms like Twitch.tv), to archives of such live games (often on YouTube), to “live to tape” style audio-only podcasts, to podcasts with additional post-recording editing and sound design to heighten the drama of the play session. In this installment of my series about what I am liking in games right now, I’ll present some of the reasons I am drawn to listen to other people playing games.
Listen to Your Friends
Almost nothing gets me more excited to check out an actual play than a friend telling me they are part of it. “You? Playing that character? In that game? I have to hear that!” Bridgett Jeffries took the role of Keeper on The Old Ways Podcast, a long-running Call of Cthulhu show, to run a scenario she had written for the Regency setting. I had to hear how she was going to twist The Year Without a Summer into a cosmic horror happening. I was not disappointed in any way by that series of episodes. Graham Gentz played his game Under the Autumn Strangely on a Symphony Entertainment live stream not long ago. I know Graham, I’ve read the game, and I know how hard Symphony players go for the throat with their horror storytelling, so I knew it was a show I had to catch. It was an appointment viewing for me! I get a lot of joy from seeing what my friends are doing and I can talk about it with them afterwards. I like to be part of the huge efforts these folks are putting out into the world
Learn New Games
Sometimes, I use an actual play to learn about a game. I might just want to know what some hot new game is all about, or I may be learning the rules, or looking to understand how other people are making the game work at the table. Some years ago I listened to Misha Bushyager play Orun with a table on She’s a Super Geek. It’s a distant future sci-fi setting and I wanted to see how one of the creators wanted it to be played in terms of tone, and the D10 dice pool system. I remember this series well, in part because the table was more interested in goofing around with weird alien stuff than advancing the story. But I still got what I wanted from the listen. Another game I was very excited to learn about was Spire when Terrible Warriors played the game with Justin Ecock as Moderator. The way the cast rotated to pair up different characters in each episode created a lot of different ways to explore the setting. One thing I appreciate about Terrible Warriors is they usually do a great job of talking through everything they can do mechanically and why one particular choice makes sense narratively. Even though I am not at the table, I feel I can learn something about the rules from any game they play.
Enjoy the Show
It’s not all study. Of course, plenty of times I just want to be entertained. I don’t tend to like fiction podcasts. One of the most entertaining series I’ve listened to is the Whitesparrow series from Total Party Kill. There’s a wild chaotic energy to the recordings because it was recorded in the early days of stay-at-home orders in 2020 and many people who were not usually on the show were jumping in, sometimes to play Dungeons & Dragons for the first time. TPK is part of a huge network of shows, so most of the cast are people I also hear talk about movies, TV, comics, and books. To hear them all in a slightly unhinged state, trying new things, and having a lot of carefree fun makes for very enjoyable listening, for me at least. Even though I am not a big fan of 5e, TPK may be my favorite actual play because it’s all my para-social friends playing the game. Another of the most enjoyable series I’ve listened to is the Orbital Blues series on My First Dungeon. They make a very highly-produced show and I appreciated the massive value add of original music and all the sound design. It don’t come cheap, I know because I asked, but the quality shows in the work. The production is supporting a great cast playing a game I very much enjoy. Orbital Blues is, simply, a game of sad space cowboys. The way the players leaned into that central idea and made things almost always very sad for themselves was a wonderful thing to hear unfold. Again, if it was a story, that’s one thing, but hearing the players actively steer into the themes of the game is another level I appreciate as I hear it unfold.
Promote Yourself
Lastly, and briefly, I will mention two other shows where my own games have been played (that is true of some of the shows already mentioned as well). I like to have an actual play out there for all my games. It serves as promotion for a game’s crowdfunding period or release date. Perhaps more importantly, if you have an actual play out there on the Internet you can always point to it when people ask for one. How do you play this? Here’s a link. How do I do this part? Listen to this episode at this time stamp and I explain exactly how to do it. I’ve built a relationship with Rook & Rasp over the years, so being able to play Heckin’ Good Doggos on the channel was great. That show really presents all the things the game can do over its four episodes and I still point people to the first episode so they can see it played. In contrast, I was not involved at all in making the Never Going Home series from Critical Failsafe. The show’s creator, atwas, has become a friend and I ended up hiring them to contribute to Never Going Home after seeing their deep love for and understanding of the game on display in their series. Again, this series has become the go-to when someone asks to see the game in action.
I know watching videos of other people playing games or listening in via an audio recording is not for everyone. I am drawn to them as a format and I remain willing to listen and check out new ones as they appear or I learn about them. If you are one of those people who don’t “get” listening to other people play games, I hope this helped you understand why at least one person likes to listen. If you already listen to actual plays, I hope this post can provide you with some good recommendations.
This IGDN blog article is brought to you by Matthew Orr, Creative Director of Wet Ink Games. If you want to get in touch with the contributor they can be reached at wetinkmatt@gmail.com or visit their website at wetinkgames.com.