Happy Tuesday! We’re taking a different spin this week to look at two smaller podcasts in the actual play/TTRPG podcast space. While it’s easy to talk about the bigger shows like Critical Role, Dimension 20, and Transplanar RPG, there are dozens of smaller shows made by people of all sorts trying to tell stories that excite them. It’s a market that, at first glance, seems like it is regularly growing more and more saturated.

So how do creatives in this space thrive and distinguish themselves? That’s what today offers a parting glimpse at.

‘Five GMs in a Trenchcoat’ Go Full 80s With Latest Season

5 GMs in a Trenchcoat began its journey in 2023, according to co-host Kim Tsuyuki, when Adam Gonzales approached his fellow cast members (Tsuyuki, Tanlynn Morgan, Jesse Espinoza and former member Tanner Sherlock) with the proposal to create an actual play podcast, with the primary pitch of it being an opportunity to play more games and tell stories together. They recorded the first season around a kitchen table, and things have escalated since then. Sherlock departed the show in fall 2024 due to other demands on their life, leaving the show with only four GMs. They still call themselves 5 GMs, however.

The entire project “stemmed from our love of stories and narrative and also the fact that there's not a ton of people who look like each of us in the space that are making their own show,” Tsuyuki told TTRPG Insider, noting how cast is entirely made up of people of color.

The project was a significant endeavor for the original cast in the first place, since they were approaching it without theatre or sound engineering experience. Adam and Jesse had made a cryptid-themed podcast during the COVID-19 pandemic, but producing an AP is an entirely different project by itself.

The show’s framework operates on a rotating GM and story basis. Each of the players would GM a season and run a different system, whether it was Evil Hat’s FATE, the Marvel Multiverse RPG, or R. Talsorian’s Cyberpunk RED. Once the season was done, the GM would hand the reins to the next member for the next season.

When asked what distinguishes 5 GMs from other actual-play podcasts in the market, gonzales emphasized how each of the podcast members brings their own experiences and viewpoints to the story, which helps inform both the themes and decisions their characters make. He also noted that the long-time friendship and in-person chemistry are also something that has helped differentiate 5 GMs.

“We feel like a real table of friends, and when we have guests on, we'll have conversations after, and they'll just say how warm and welcome they felt and how it really felt like they were just playing a game, and it didn't feel much like recording a podcast,” gonzales added. He also wanted to make sure it was communicated to listeners that “just because we’re making this show, that you can also make a show.”

The show has a relatively small listener base, averaging around 60 listeners per episode. But it seems to have a noteworthy following on social media and works pretty closely with a lot of other AP creators within the space.

5 GMs hopes to step up its game with the upcoming season, titled FROM INSIDE THE TENT. The season will be built around Hunter Entertainment’s Kids on Bikes ruleset, GMed by gonzales, and is a “50-episode summer epic” focused on a cross-country journey set in the 1980s. Think Gravity Falls or Stranger Things when it comes to story vibes, with lots of cryptids and the like. It’s a fairly big vision for a small show.

The podcast season will feature more than 20 other AP performers as guests, including Transplanar RPG’s Connie Chang and Sea Thomas, Kobold Press’ Kendrick Smith, and several others.

That vision is further backed by the recently launched Kickstarter campaign in August, which is raising funds to compensate guests and develop original music for the show.

The new season is expected to premiere on Sept. 15, 2025.

Correction: Adam Gonzales started the show, not Tsuyuki. Also a minor spelling error

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Unrelated, but I will be making an appearance on the Chaotic Wholesome Table Talk show, hosted on their Twitch channel around 9 PM EST today! So if you want to hear me blather on about tabletop games, journalism, and the intertwining threads of both, feel free to join us!

Dodoborne Featured Daggerheart Before Daggerheart was Cool

One of the elements that I always find confusing is how some people can run longer campaigns while using playtest content. Playtesting is an integral part of TTRPG design, but there’s just something about running a game with a ruleset that could change at the tip of a hat that I personally struggle with. I suspect there are a lot more shows that do this, but this is the one that stood out to me.

That’s how I discovered Dodoborne, arguably one of the longest-running Daggerheart APs in the market.

Dodoborne is, like many podcasts, an AP podcast where four ‘friends’ came together to run a campaign. Initially launched by Rowan Collins, Joseph Diamatti, Annie Hawthorne, and their GM Isaac Allen Burns, the four individuals found each other through work connections and a shared love of TTRPGs. They played together for a time and then decided to start an actual play podcast.

What distinguished them from other ‘friends-with-a-podcast’ was the decision to begin a Daggerheart game during the beta.

The Daggerheart beta initially launched in March 2024, offering players an early look at the now-popular fantasy-themed TTRPG. The game went through several updates, adding new rules and mechanics to enhance the game and make it a more enjoyable experience for all involved. Burns launched the show in November 2024, around version 1.4 of the Daggerheart ruleset.

Like many shows, the trio began the podcast with minimal acting experience, and Diamatti had limited media editing experience.

The unique challenge was accommodating the specific changes in mechanics that might arise over time. Burns described himself to TTRPG Insider as a “narrative story and roleplay-oriented GM”, which meant that a lot of his planning for storytelling could be approached with a system-agnostic approach. But there were occasional system choices that they could accommodate and communicate as they ran sessions over time. For example, the armor mechanic in Daggerheart (where you use armor slots to limit damage or stress to a PC) changed names during sessions, so that may require slight adjustments on the player’s part.

But that focus on Daggerheart has been Dodoborne’s greatest weapon. They’re well-established in the market, and their short format allows them to show off the product without having to watch the multi-hour episodes of sagas like Age of Umbra.

The show recently launched its second season, which is built around the Five Banners Burning campaign frame in the original Daggerheart core rulebook. Thankfully, Burns found that he didn’t need to change much of how he ran the game post-release since he was never a combat-heavy GM. But he certainly benefited from having the “combat mechanics set in stone.”

The show saw a surge in the weeks and months after Daggerheart’s May release, when people were seeking more Daggerheart content that could help inform how they play. While Dodoborne is far from one of the biggest shows, it is reportedly among some of the bigger shows in the space, with over 7,000 listens in July. It is a surge driven by interest in Daggerheart itself rather than the players. Still, the performers seem convinced they can turn that fan base into a regular community of supporters. They’re also collaborating with the Talking Crit Discord server to serve a larger community.

The podcast remains a side project for the four friends, but they hope that it will help draw people into their online community and inspire others to play the game.

“Art does beget more art and community and kindness begets more community and kindness,” Collins added. “So the more people that we can get engaged with other people, the better.”

Thanks to the 5 GMs team and the Dodoborne team for sitting down to chat with us!

Actual Play is an area that I, as a reporter, am still looking to learn more about. But we also want to talk to more creators in the space. Have a show or a project you’re proud of? Please shoot me an email at [email protected]. I'd love to talk about your project.