The Evil GM – Actual Play Podcasts, Thoughts?

Do you listen to actual play podcasts that float around on the web? Do you find listening to other game masters weave a story and see how the players react? Maybe you steal ideas from the GM for your games, maybe you don’t. 

Being a person who hosts podcasts and has done actual play podcasts in the past, I try to accommodate to the listener. Listeners drive the show, give you your feedback, your ratings and the reason you do it, so why not cater to them?
When I say cater to them, I mean I do the following:
  1. Give them audio quality – Meaning, I do not plunk a crappy recorder down in the middle of the table. I don’t know about you, but for me, I hate that. I enjoy actual plays where everyone is mic’d well as if almost it was an actual podcast. All players on Skype, or something like Team Speak.
  2. Gather up a group of people that are outspoken, not afraid to be recorded – There is nothing worse (or boring) then listening to something where you get one worded answers or someone that just isn’t into it.
  3. The story is entertaining – Face it, you can have a great cast and super quality audio, but if your story for the campaign sucks, no one will be into it.
  4. Make it crazy – Something I noticed when doing actual play, people love when things just get really wacky or crazy.
  5. Website – always have a website with character profiles, journals and whatever else you can think of. Why? it gives the listener something to look at while they are waiting for the next cast to come out. The more you have, the more you can hook people.
What do you think? Do you enjoy actual plays? Why style do you like?

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