I love the variety of systems, stories, and characters that Essential NPCs brings. It's got a great rotating cast who is always a lot of fun, and always has fresh ideas!

These guys have a great base of rotating cast members and each arc feels like the perfect exploration of a system. They do a great job of giving you a sense of game their playing. This is one of my favorites every week.

I'm so happy every week when this podcast pops up in my feed. And they really do put out an hourlong episode every week! The GMs are knowledgable, the players are fun and usually very good actors, and Words With The GM and PostGame Chatter segments are great ways to learn about all the games they play. Thanks guys!

I hunted around after TAZ Balance, and I settled on Essential NPCs so hard I became a Patreon supporter. Story comes first here — everyone embodies their character and looks for ways to support the narrative, and if they talk a lot about dice rolls and mechanics during play that seems to be mostly edited out to limit distraction. However, next episode the pre-game chatter dives behind the scenes to explore how and why the GM made the scenes work. Addie is so super as GM that I’ve been working through only her series, but I’ll give the other guys a chance soon! I also keep getting charmed by new players as they join the table — apparently Chicago gaming stores must be full of voice actors who do improv comedy. Thanks for sharing this delightful podcast!

I started listening to this pod off of a random recommendation online. It was the 2nd series where they play Shadowrun, which I was just trying to run with my home table. The cast had great chemistry, and the GM was confident and always seemed to be having a great time. I’ve been listening since. Great crew, super cute, and I always learn a little in each opening segment where they talk about gaming before the episode.

It is rare to find short story campaigns in a podcast. You either get long running games, or one shots. Essential NPCs introduces the story, fleshes it out, and wraps up the main plot in 20 episodes. Then they move on to a different game (or come back to a previously run game) for the next season. A good place to experience a few different game systems, as well as awesome story.

In addition to fantastic editing and sound quality, the cast does an amazing job of actually playing the current season's game system and portraying compelling characters. They don't focus on trying to be funnier than each other (which is fine, but sometimes distracting) and they strongly support each other's role playing moments. Honestly, this may be my current actual play podcast.

Characterization in this is so much fun. The cast stick to their voices and character traits and listening to this makes any workday or mundane task so much more fun!

Each episode opens with a cute musical bumper that sets the tone for the show, then quickly transition to intro banter. The banter includes game critiques, dming tips, and general fun from previous sessions. DM Addie is very proficient at running her table of players, who are strong actor-styled players. This is a decently produced, thoughtful, and entertaining new podcast. Can't wait for more to come.