Do you even Adventure, Bro?

I know the title is awful, but I was trying to make a combination pun for my fan-girling of  the McElroy Brothers podcast, The Adventure Zone.

Obviously you can tell I'm going to get pulled into a podcast with "Adventure" in the name, or I'd be a bit of a hypocrite. But this podcast is really something different to anything else I've listened to before: Griffin, Travis, Justin and their dad Clint start playing Dungeons and Dragons, and make a podcast of their journey and progress through the game.

More like I listened to people play Dungeons and Dragons for a whole bunch of hours.

Whilst identifying a nerdy person, I have never been drawn to play Dungeons and Dragons myself, I didn't know anyone who played it and it didn't seem that enthralling to me. Unfortunately like a lot of games that permeate the popular culture membrane, D'n'D has gotten a lot of labelling as a game for dorky inactive people in their basements; while the truth is that a ton of people love it, even if the main market is very passionate, nerdy people. It surprised me how much it reminded me of games I used to plan out with my friends as children, and fed into my love of narration and storytelling.

I may have also been influenced by the D'n'D heavy plot in Stranger Things last year.

What drew me into this podcast is the sheer banter between the siblings and their dad which is hilarious, and the hook was the high quality narrative that Dungeon Master Griffin weaves in and out between quips and quarrels. Clearly a talent for entertainment and comedy runs in the family because all four of them are naturals at coming up with ridiculous scenarios and outrageous comebacks for their characters. Clint was a radio host in the past and shines as a master of crowd-pleasing whenever they do a live show. Justin's character Taako is so nonchalant at times and wickedly funny. Travis' Magnus is my favourite player character because if how much Travis loves and connects with this character. Magnus is supposed to be an attack-now-think-later warrior, but such genuine morals and backstory that I've been moved multiple times by the story and dialogue Travis has crafted for him. Finally Griffin is uber-talented, combining some banging tunes and post production with a incredibly detailed planned story including dozens of mini-arcs in an overarching master plan. He also has to do a lot of on-the-spot continuity checks, plot steering and even a bit of rewriting as the choices his family members make can seriously alter the path he is trying to lead them down. Griffin has the added trouble of coming up with tons of Non-Playable Character (NPC) voices, but has the pleasure of creating some truly fantastic foes and friend for the others: Angus, The Director, Killian, Noelle and Jenkins being some of my favourites. Oh also the theme song is just amazing.

Some adorable fan interpretations of Angus Mc Donald, boy detective. Artists from the top left clockwise are: larndraws, gullshriek, electricgale and megthebrennan.

Unfortunately for me, I've become obsessed with this podcast in a very short space of time and have splurged on hours of it over a three week period, only to find out that their wrapping up this storyline soon. Don't worry if you want to check it out yourself because they are continuing on with a new story line, and I'm sure they'll make reference back to the previous one (plus you can listen through the whole series online, it's not going anywhere). My problem is I've grown emotionally attached to these characters too quickly and now I have to say goodbye. It's like any fandom/series if you arrive late to the game: you've missed a lot of the build up and all the fan frenzy. Love me some nerdy plot conspiracy talks and trawling through fan-art. Maybe I'm getting upset a little too soon, because I'm thoroughly enjoying this listening experience. Never have I been this intensely into a podcast which may lead me down a good road (the McElroys themselves have oodles of podcasts each), and I haven't laughed so much in quite a while.

If anyone listens to The Adventure Zone, let me know who your favourite characters are, or what's your favourite part of the show. If you're not a listener but are curious, have a listen to the first three episodes, and you may be whisked away to a Land of Tomfoolery that you will enjoy.

Until the next adventure (zone?),

Aoife

P.S, If any of the McElroys read this ever, please use my name for an NPC, it's pronounced E-fa, I don't have Twitter so this is my only shot. Plus, Queen Aoife in mythology was a bad-ass witch who turned children into swans, the NPC writes itself really.