The best actual game of 2024 includes Transplanar RPG, The All Night Society and more
For the past two years, I’ve been doing roundups of what I consider the most interesting actual plays of the year, from new tricks from established shows to shows that don’t use Dungeons & Dragons to highlights of the best moments in actual play with predictions about the trends that would dominate the year (why yes, I was right about this being a year about gods!).
But this year I want to do something different: I want to think about the best real plays for different types of audiences. To that end, I’ve rounded up some of the new shows and arcs that my friends and family haven’t stopped talking about. In some cases these are real plays that aren’t to my taste, but I do see their strengths. At a time when actual play urgently needs to reach beyond its core audience, such thoughtful, audience-conscious innovation is desperately needed.
So consider this your actual guide to gaming gift giving for 2024.
For audio fiction nerds: Gutter, My First Dungeon, and The All Night Society
Audio-only podcasts have always been at the forefront of production innovation because, unlike their livestream counterparts, there is always a need for editing. Following the success of Worlds above number‘In the sensitively produced sonic landscape, more and more shows are upping their game in response. The show’s producer, Taylor Moore, won’t stop singing its praises Ditcha new real play Delta Green/Cthulhu from the makers of the real play Shadowrun NeoScum: “It’s exactly the kind of show I WISH with every fiber of my being I could make.” The horror-comedy podcast is the kind that continues to tease players (sometimes to a distracting degree), but those who love the kind of imagined post-apocalyptic United States you see in shows like HyperRPGs Kollok or the world building of Middle will find a similar setup in these first two episodes.
Moore also recently signed Brian Flaherty from the band My first dungeon as an audio producer for recent one-shots, and his confidence was justified. My first dungeon has made a name for itself with limited, carefully designed seasons using a variety of indie games, including some created by team members. (Disclosure: I have appeared on both My first dungeon and its sister series, Speaking of the table.)
Both My first dungeon And Queen’s Court Games‘Basically vampire game The Night Society were high on the scoreboard for the Audio Fiction WKwith many distinctions between them. The Night Society also leans towards the audio fiction style of production, with an insistent audio score, though relatively subdued in its palette. While you’ll sometimes wish the audio mix was a little less intrusive, the atmosphere is generally quieter, softer, and less flashy, keeping the gameplay at the forefront of the audience’s attention.
For your favorite gender studies graduate student: Godkiller
This year I organized the first Big Bad Academy, a symposium that meets during the Tabletop Convention Big bad con. We combined early-career researchers working at the cutting edge of game studies with practitioners from different parts of the tabletop field. Doctoral students EA Wilcox and Adriana Burton spoke lovingly and with great care and detail about the work of Connie Chang, known for his work as a leader Transplanara dark fantasy anthology series that weaves together different systems to tell stories in a “non-colonial, anti-Orientalist multiverse.” This year Chang’s duet performance Godkiller (out on Ashcan, with an upcoming release on Evil Hat Games) has inspired a stream of actual plays, including Chang’s own first-ever studio miniseries, Godkiller: Last hopepre-recorded and edited with thoughtful post-production touches. The show made the first front page of Twitch upon its debut and attracted a steady, if modest, audience for the remainder of its run.
Godkiller is essentially operatic style playing, in keeping with the rest of Transplanar’s commitment to passionate intensity. Transplanar often reminiscent of 19th-century theater’s penchant for melodrama, designed to move the emotions through performances that could reach all the way to the cheap seats. Godkiller is more refined and quietly intense, but freed from the constraint of external playing styles. The effect now is black box theater: experimental, full of ideas and decidedly polarizing. Like abstract art or molecular gastronomy, Godkiller is not for everyone, but for those it touched, it is indelible.
For your child (or inner child): Re-Slayer’s Take
Finally, over a year ago I noticed that one of the trends I was anticipating this year was shows for kids. Even before this year several dozen performances fell under the label ‘family friendly’ – and I had listened to them all. For most, “family friendly” means the literal participation of children, or the removal of elements like profanity or R-rated content (although violence is usually fine!). Very little actual play has been produced that has considered the ways in which children and families listen to stories.
And it’s not surprising that Critical Role’s Sam Riegel, who has a long career in children’s animation, would be in favor of the company’s first all-ages podcast, Taking the Re-Slayers. The show combines the team’s work Hero Club featuring a stable of real stage performers known as guests on Critical Role, as well as cameos from the company’s founders and a range of famous nerd celebrities like Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd. This isn’t Critical Role’s signature long structure, which includes every dice roll and player response. Instead, players have been instructed to speak in the third person, which helps clarify the action for younger (or easily distracted!) listeners. This will feel like a loss to some, but there is certainly an audience for brevity, such as the Crucial role shortened series has also been revealed. Post-production effects have been added and only key roles are included. This is pedagogical actual play, which explains how a spell functions as it is cast, as well as the abilities of the major classes.
My niece (6 years old) and nephew (9 years old) are obsessed. When I sent the first episode to them to get their perspective, I wasn’t sure how it would go. The two had no experience actually playing, although they do have some experience with modified versions of D&D and other TTRPGs. But their attention spans are short and audio fiction isn’t always the easiest to sell to any age. Imagine my surprise and delight when I received a video call from my niece excitedly describing the events of the first few episodes, and their love for Idrin (Jasper William Cartwright) and Heera (Jasmine Bhullar). This was the latest proof that actual gaming can indeed innovate to captivate new audiences. While it’s not the version of Exandria I’ll be spending my time on, I’m glad it’s attracting a new audience by meeting them where they are.
This is just one example of the different types of play pushing the form in different directions and trying to captivate new audiences. By definition, no real game can appeal to everyone, nor should it. As a critic, my job is to focus on what the goals of a real play are, and whether they are achieved.
But I’m curious to hear your thoughts: what are the great plays you’ve come across this past year, and what makes them worth listening to?