I LOVE THIS PODCAST!!!!!

I have listened to all the episodes. And many of them twice. James does a great job of presenting his subjects and reviewing their entries. He brings a professor’s insight to each topic. Well done.

I LOVE DRAGONS DRAGONS DRAGONS!!!!🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲 YAY!!! I love your dragon episodes.

Elves are bad but your content is good little jerks annoying and so are you. Just joking haha.

I don’t know what it is but the way you word your sentences orrr the way you talk about things but you really sound like one of my friends that I know. I enjoy your podcasts and I think it’s pretty good! Keep up the good work!

James applies a mythological, folkloric, and anthropological approach to these monsters and I am here for it.

James' gentle deconstructions of classic D&D/OSR monsters is the perfect bitesize fix for your old school nostalgia jones. Each episode is a brief look at two to three monsters from classic D&D (and modern OSR) sourcebooks. The discussion focuses on the historical/legendary antecedents and practical applications in gameplay rather than a dry recitation of stats, applying modern sensibilities with a generous spirit that sheds new lignt on even the dumbest of monster entries.

James has a great voice and sense of humor. Hard to put into words how intelligent and well read this guy is. Only comparison that comes to mind is Myths and Legends. Many of the gaming podcasts have an overly lo fi vibe, but this is quite polished. Pretty great, thanks James, great idea and execution.

This is a great podcast and James really seems to hit the nail on the head in showcasing the things I love about old school monsters. I love when he talks about what's great about a particular monster or ways to use a monster in your campaign. His ideas are great and often spark ideas of my own. Awesome podcast, James! Thanks!

I’ve been listening from the beginning and I love this podcast. James seems like the kind of guy I’d want to talk monsters with and play games with. These great short episodes give a surface delve into the monsters and e longer deep dives are informative as well. Keep them coming!

If you like D&D, you should definitely listen to this podcast. Heck, you might even like this if you just want to hear some fun and interesting stuff about monsters. James shares the “history, mythology, and ecology” of every monster in the original AD&D Monster Manual, in short, fast-paced episodes that are around 10 minutes for an episode covering several monsters. I’ve learned a lot of interesting stuff, plus I enjoy James’ creative ideas for using monsters in games. Good stuff, and he will be continuing with Season 2 - the Fiend Folio! - next.

A gaming podcast should be about the game. Though this podcast is alphabetically covering the monsters in the 1977 AD&D Monster Manual, it has minimal game-related content. The podcaster seems like a nice enough guy, but even after listening to dozens of episodes, I can't tell if he has recently played AD&D, or if he was ever particularly experienced with the game. His knowledge of the rules -- on the rare occasions he mentions the rules -- is spotty. His interest in the strongest direct influence on the game -- the literary works Gary Gygax credits -- is minimal. You would never guess from listening to this podcast, e.g., that the displacer beast, intellect devourer, and spectre are direct lifts from well-known fantasy and SF works. He produces two episodes a week, and they seem hastily thrown together -- sometimes you could get more information from reading a Wikipedia article. Getting pronunciations right seems a part of due diligence in a spoken presentation, but the podcaster frequently expresses uncertainty or gives pronunciations that contradict widespread usage (e.g., "bulette"). Many of his comments are entirely subjective -- little more than "I like/dislike this monster." Many monsters are glossed over with no substantive comment at all: the varieties of dragons, for example. He seems far more knowledgeable about and interested in folklore, myth, and history than he is about AD&D. That'd be great for a podcast about folklore or myth. But this podcast is expressly devoted to the AD&D Monster Manual! It's frustrating to listen to a podcast nominally about a game ... which is mostly indifferent to the mechanics, history, and details of that game.

The only complaint I have is that I wish the episodes were longer.

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