Acquisitions Incorporated (or AI) was another podcast I found early on. It has the benefit of having Chris Perkins as the DM. Perkins is one of the story developers and editors at Wizards of the Coast (the company that publishes D&D). The cast also includes some very funny players from the worlds of web comics, game reviews, and entertainment at large. This leads to games that are almost always extremely entertaining.
| Show Name | Format | URL | Frequency | PCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acquisitions Incorporated | Audio and Video | http://www.acq-inc.com/portfolio?sort=asc | Irregular | PC-PG L |
| Comments | ||||
d6 Rating
History
AI also started in 2008 as a one-off game between friends at different companies in the Seattle area. Chris Perkins, the DM, is a story designer and writer for Wizards of the Coast, and he has written a number of the story lines for the 5e hardback adventures that have been published. Jerry Hulkins and Mike Krahulik are the minds behind Penny Arcade, which is a pop culture site and a very popular web comic that has spawned several annual conferences around the country. The Penny Arcade guys are joined by Scott Kurtz, the cartoonist behind Table Titans, and a rotating cast of celebrities from TV stars to novelists to game show hosts (Wil Wheaton from ST-TNG and novelist Patrick Rothfuss are two players that have had long character arcs).
Setting
The AI game is set in the Forgotten Realms, which is a long-time setting published by D&D since the days of 2nd Edition. The game sometimes encounters tangents of published D&D 5e content, such as the Death Curse at the heart of Tomb of Annihilation. But the story is one that DM Chris Perkins has created specifically for these characters to play in, and any resemblance to your table's experience when going through published games is purely unintentional.
Network
This podcast is produced by Penny Arcade, which is the organization behind the popular seasonal PAX conferences held around the country.
My Take
Chris Perkins is a master DM who is always challenged by the nonsensical and inane choices his players make. But instead of worrying about how they will "break" his game, Perkins improvises wonderfully, allowing the story to spin off in whatever direction the crazy suggestion of his players feel like exploring now. I try to steal from Perkins, but my best attempts are ham-fisted imitations at best. Still, some of the things I have learned from his style have brought smiles to the faces of my players, so I consider it worthwhile.
The episodes of the podcast are tagged explicit and for good reason. They use enough crude humor so that it becomes borderline tedious at times. That mostly occurs during the early episodes. As they go further into the story there is still the presence of crude humor and foul language, but it seems to work more in service of the story than distracting from the game.