Girls Who Don’t DnD
Quick Info
Audio Quality: High-Quality Audio, Effects, Music. (Occasional fan-submitted recordings)
Vibes: Throne of Glass, Doctor Who, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Princess and the Pauper
Extras: Patreon rewards, Discord Community with Book Club, and more!
System: 5e DnD
Campaign/ Show Length: Long Term Campaign
Average Episode time: 1.5 Hours (varies a bit)
Uploads 1 episode a month.
Diversity: Majority Women
Platforms: Podcast, Audio Only.
Number of Episodes This Review is based on: 30+
** If you want the TLDR, scroll to the bottom of the post **
Why Girls Who Don’t DnD?
How often have you said to yourself, “Man, I wish I could experience that for the first time again?” While we can’t reset your brain, you can live vicariously through the Girls Who Don’t D&D podcast.
If you're looking for a podcast with relaxed gameplay, fantastic humor, great editing, and effects, you should read on to learn more. This wonderful adventure showcases the beautiful experience of watching three girls fall in love with Dungeons and Dragons (D&D).
Starting the Pod
The podcast starts with Cory, the Dungeon Master (DM), explaining that he has invited three girls, Indy, Alana, and Stacey, who have never played D&D, into his world of Kalee with premade characters. If you, the listener, haven’t played before, you’ll learn a lot just from listening. Cory purposely doesn’t edit out explanations of how to play. I’m confident my experience was better because I was still learning to play the game myself as I started listening.
Right from the start you will hear how much work Cory puts into editing and pre-recording. He recruits people to voice-act for non-player characters (NPCs) or to play out memories or scenes. Some additions are just for the listeners, giving us a little extra information about the lore of the world. This includes the origin of magical artifacts, gods, and sometimes an NPC’s perspective that the players don’t get to hear. It feels like listening to an audiobook and honestly, I think “booktok” would love Girls Who Don’t DnD.
We learn that the three player characters, Freya, Kaa'Riin, and Morrigan, have lost their memories and need to recover them. The story and the discovery of who the player characters are and what happened to them work in tandem with the players themselves learning the game in a beautiful way.
Power gamers and hardcore strategy? We don’t need that here. (Tosses book over shoulder). This group is made of story-tellers who usually choose to progress the narrative over strategy. At first, it's like watching Without A Recipe or the British Bake Off challenge where they have no clue what they are supposed to be making. This makes it all the more special when the players get more comfortable with the gameplay and more grounded in their characters.
About the Team
Cory, "(who owns all the books but hasn't read them)"* completely absorbs the chaos the girls bring to the table and somehow also keeps them immersed in the story. He holds onto the rules of D&D loosely, letting his players use their abilities in different and unique ways. You still get full epic fights with no pulled punches, yet they feel more cinematic than the usual D&D grind. Outside of combat, Cory introduces challenging puzzles and encounters that present more opportunities for his players to think outside the mechanics of the game.
I adore Alana, Indy, and Stacy. I have some difficulty with telling their voices apart, but I never felt like that took away from my enjoyment of the show. Over time they develop their characters and have different play styles. They all have so much personality and bring their own flavor to the table.
Indy, playing Freya the Rogue, has to be the most classic of first-time players, starting a little hack-and-slash happy, but eventually, she gets really into the strategy of the game. Freya is a cheeky scamp of a character and Indy leans naturally into the rogue class.
Alana, playing Morrigan the Sorcerer, is usually the most sensible of the group. She is a leader in a way. There is so much more I want to say but I can't think of anything that isn't a big spoiler. Playing a sorcerer for your first time playing D&D is never easy, but Cory was able to ease her into the role and she runs with it.
Stacey, playing Kaa'Riin the Bearbarian (Druid with some Barbarian), has some epic combat moments. She can change from one animal to another without reverting to humanoid form, which deviates from traditional Druid rules. This decision, as well as other tweaks of the rules, help the pacing of the overall production.
And sure, you're probably thinking their whole schtick is that they don't know D&D, so wouldn't it lose its charm after they get better? Absolutely not. Not even a little bit. This table is casual, silly, charming, and gripping. They make me feel like I am with my best friends playing our chaos gremlins together.
A special shout to Mia Stegner (https://www.miastegner.com/) who composed and performed the opening and closing songs. It’s the cherry on top of this podcast sunday.
*Referenced from the Podcast Description. https://www.girlswhodontdnd.com/
About the world
“There is a saying among the good people of Kalee, when you know what is right, do what is right, and then deliver it all into the endless sea” From Episode 1: Throw it Into the Sea, Aug 16, 2021.
Cory presents a world both complex and informed by the player's choices and features some of the more bizarre parts of typical High Fantasy settings.
There is just something so satisfying about learning the characters' backstories and how their stories are expertly baked in the many-layered cake that makes the world. Flavors include; wild magic, strange and whimsical characters, Evil Queens, “timey-wimey” stuff, super cute plans, snails, Gods, magic crystals, trapped souls, and Alan (the real star of the later episodes).
Extras
There are so many Patreon perks! You get behind-the-scenes talks, recipes from Indy, DMing tips, Lana's book reviews, and more! You can also join their Discord server where Cory is pretty active and they encourage community gaming and have a book club.
creating D&D Podcasts
TL;DR:
This podcast is about girls learning to play D&D using premade characters with amnesia. The girls learning to play parallels the story’s progression as they regain memories.
Reliving the experience of learning to play for the first time all over again.
Loosely follows the rules of 5e to keep the pacing up.
DM Cory recruits people to voice act for NPCs or to play out memories or scenes. Some additions are just for the listeners, giving us a little extra information about the lore of the world.
It's a little hard to tell the girls apart, but I don’t think it takes away from my enjoyment at all.
Wild magic, strange and whimsical characters, Evil Queens, “timey-wimey” stuff, super cute plans, snails, Gods, magic crystals, trapped souls, and Alan.
DM Cory presents a world both complex and informed by the player's choices and features some of the more bizarre parts of typical High Fantasy settings.
Special thanks to Artax of Who's Taking Watch for helping with editing!
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