Have your D&D sessions canceled on you and now you’re feeling the adventure drought?
Trust me, I’ve been there.
I have here a curated list of amazing Youtube channels creating Dungeons & Dragons content for all of us nerds to enjoy!
10. Deerstalker Pictures
Picture featured is the video thumbnail of Deerstalker Picture's Battle of the Bards. Featuring Matthe Predny as Zephyr and Thomas Traugan as Antreus.
Ever had that dream of turning snippets of your Dungeons & Dragons adventure into live action masterpieces; complete with cosplay, sword fighting, and musical numbers? Look no further than Deerstalker Pictures. Staying true to their origin as a Cosplay channel, they've grown from doing short skits and convention highlights to full production series.
I first encountered them through their Battle of the Bards video (thumbnail featured above). It’s a hilarious video about two Bards duking it out in a tavern.There were disses, critical successes, and even a message about having an adventuring party to call friends is better than being the most popular guy in town. 1 For All, their D&D series, is a collection of fun scenes and anecdotes acted out by amazing actors.
The main cast include Thomas Traufan; who plays the party’s bard Antreus, Eva Devore; who plays the party’s barbarian Evandra, Alessia Medina; who plays the fire loving sorcerer Nixie, and last but not the least, Kendall Drury– who plays the exasperated Dungeon Master. Backed by a successful Kickstarter and a platoon of supporters on Youtube, I expect there’ll be more Adventuring goodness to come. Give their channel a visit! I guarantee you’ll have a fun time watching their chaotic antics.
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@deerstalkerpictures
My Binge Recommendation: Deerstalker Picture's 1 for All
9. WASD20
Picture featured is the video thumbnail for WASD20’s Map Drawing - 10 Most Useful Tools.
If you’re like me, at the beginning of your journey as a Dungeon Master, you’ve always had a fascination with Fantasy Maps and cartography. Maps are provided for published adventures of course, and yes, they are indeed beautiful. But what about the rest of us homebrew aficionados? Sure, there are useful sites online; special mention to donjon, you’ve saved my life quite a few times; but as with generators, you can never get it as pretty or as accurate as you’d like.
Enter Nate of WASD20.
Nate’s one of those pillars who doesn’t get as much attention as he should. At 278k subscribers, he’s released a ton of videos on Youtube talking about TTRPGs and fantasy map making. His videos include Dungeon Master tips and TTRPG reviews but the diamond in the sea of gold is his series teaching you how to draw a fantasy map by hand.
He’s a great guy to watch if you’ve ever been interested in making your own map for your adventures. I myself have been heavily inspired by him and have created a handful of maps since discovering so far. It’s definitely a unique hobby to pick up, and learning to make a map for your next campaign would be such a flex to your players. They’ll get hooked from that and definitely grow more invested in your campaign, trust me.
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@WASD20
My Binge Recommendation: WASD20's How to Draw a Fantasy Map
8. One Shot Questers
Picture featured is the video thumbnail of One Shot Quester’s Every Dungeons & Dragons Game Ever. Featuring exasperated DM and excited player.
If you’re in need of a quick laugh, or two, or a hundred, One Shot Quester’s the man for you. He started from Tiktok, creating hilarious short form skits poking fun at the stereotypical Adventuring party and creating memes out of every class. I must mention the Oath of Throwing It Back Paladin as well as the poor Wizard (who just died from 1d4 Pity damage), every time they get featured is a guaranteed laugh.
Now, he’s on Youtube, and experimenting on longer forms of content. He’s made a long compilation of short skits, hosted live streams of live actual play, and even made a short series of cooking videos around D&D inspired cookbooks!
What keeps me staying is their series of sit down videos with the ‘Wife’, where they delve into Reddit’s depts and read out D&D horror stories (and some funny ones). Each story ends with suggestions and comments to make sure you yourself would never have to experience said horror stories.
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@OneShotQuesters
My Binge Recommendation: One Shot Quester's D&D Skits
7. XP to Level 3
Picture featured is the video thumbnail for XP to Level 3’s Fireball Solves Everything. Featuring Jacob as the wizard, wearing a long gray beard and hair, and a pointy hat.
Another hilarious channel is XP to Level 3. Specializing in skits poking fun at player and dungeon master stereotypes, his videos are punch after punch of funny one liners and a friend group of reappearing cast members having to deal with Jacob’s crazy ideas.
Along with the memes and Office-esque stares into the camera, he also creates long form videos made to inspire Dungeon Masters and players alike; video essays describing what to learn and emulate from well known players in the Dungeons & Dragons sphere. The icing on the cake, so to speak, is his affinity for satyre, and his ‘How to Play’ a D&D class series always makes me cackle everytime I come across it.
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@XPtoLevel3
My Binge Recommendation: XP to Level 3's How to Play
6. Matthew Colville
Picture features the one and only Matt Colville telling you, yes you, to host your own game and become a Dungeon Master already.
Different from all my previous suggestions, Matthew Colville is a genius in a haystack of comedians. His channel focuses more on teaching you how to host a game as a Dungeon Master. Interspersed with updates from his own published adventures and books, his channel is a well of information, especially for passionate Dungeon Masters.
Now, Matthew Colville is indeed not for the creative faint of heart, I’ve heard his ‘Tips on Running D&D’ described as hardcore before, but hey; Matthew Colville’s a hard core dude. He gives tips on how to create your own adventure setting, focusing on the writing, worldbuilding and the gameplay of it.
I myself enjoyed binging his videos, and ended up creating a whole fictional world for my players to goof around in. In my opinion, anyone who wants to host their own homebrew D&D campaign should watch his instructional videos at least once. You'll definitely learn a lot, and you might even be inspired to worldbuild your own fantasy book!
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@mcolville
My Binge Recommendation: Matthew Colville's Tips on Running D&D
5. Ginny Di
Picture featured is the video thumbnail of Ginny Di’s An Interview with my D&D Character, Aisling. Featuring Ginny cosplayed as her original character, Aisling.
Another Youtuber I’d like to recommend is Ginny Di. Where Matthew Colville was hardcore, Ginny Di is the mix of whimsy and cottage core some players might grow to love. Her background as a cosplayer has certainly helped in raising her social media influence. In fact, you’ve probably seen her cosplay as Jester once or twice. She’s even been featured in a Critical Role video, right alongside the real Jester Lavorre, Laura Bailey. I am certainly not jealous… (okay, maybe a little bit).
Her videos are very calming, and her whimsy would inspire even the edgiest of rogues. She gives out roleplaying tips for both player and dungeon master alike, as well as creating aesthetic videos about her own D&D characters that might inspire you on your next campaign. Her whole youtube channel is an aesthetic, whimsical masterpiece. You should definitely give her channel a try.
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@GinnyDi
My Binge Recommendation: Ginny's D&D Player Advice
4. Legends of Avantris
Picture featured is the video thumbnail of Legends of Avantris; Once Upon a Witchlight, Episode 25. Featuring the always laughing Mace and his character, Gideon Coal.
The first of my live, actual play Youtube channel recommendations is Legends of Avantris. Legend of Avantris is primarily a video podcast channel. Hours long streams on Twitch, filmed and processed and uploaded on Youtube for our very own enjoyment. Each of their seasons features a hilarious cast of players, a wonderful dungeon master, and an amazing run through of a published adventure with a twist.
I like their channel because of said twists. They take published adventures like Wild Beyond the Witchlight and Curse of Strahd, to name a few, and deliver the adventure through a different eye. Every session is jam packed with gut wrenching improv and hilarious roleplaying that’ll surely leave you cackling every time.
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@LegendsofAvantris
My Binge Recommendation: Legend of Avantris: Once Upon a Witchlight
3. Puffin Forest
Picture features the video thumbnail of Puffin Forest’s D&D Story: The W.O.R.S.T. Solutions.
Making it to third place in this list of recommendations is the amazing Puffin Forest. Different from all the other recommendations, he’s a channel that tells stories, through drawn scenes and animatics, about his past campaigns and general TTRPG experience. The way he narrates these chaotic scenarios will leave you chuckling, and the chaos from his experiences is just so relatable that even if you have no idea what’s going on, you’re rooting for him.
His humor is easy to get, and his drawing style is simple but engaging. The fact that he’s been playing Dungeons & Dragons for years is obvious with all his anecdotes, and his humble, down-to-earth attitude while narrating his experiences is just hilarious. He’s very entertaining, and his voice is nice to listen to, what more could you possibly want?
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@puffinforest
My Binge Recommendation: All Puffin Forest Animated Videos
2. Dimension 20
Picture features the original main cast of Dimension 20. Featuring Brennan Lee Mulligan as Dungeon Master in front and center, and the intrepid heroes, from left to right; Brian Murphy, Emily Axford, Zac Oyama, Ally Beardsley, Siobhan Thompson and Lou Wilson.
On the very honorable second place is Dimension 20. An amazing and creative channel spearheaded by their main Dungeon Master, the amazing Brennan Lee Mulligan. Grown popular from its very first D&D Campaign: Fantasy High, Dimension 20 continues to astound and amaze with each and every campaign they release.
From gambling obsessed space pirates to parts of your brain personified, each season is a new adventure and campaign setting. Featuring guests and collaborations with famous nerds like Matthew Mercer and John Green, familiar faces in the TTRPG realm like Ericka Ishii and Abria Iyengar; they even got Bob the Drag Queen, Monet X Change, Alaska Thunderfuck and Jujubee to roll dice and cheer at every Natural 20!
The whole discography of Dimension 20 is an amazing, bingeable, wonder. The only downside (read: it is a very small downside) is that aside from Fantasy High, and the first episode of the campaign,all of their other seasons are under a paywall. Only accessible to their Youtube channel members and subscribers of their app and website; Dropout.tv, you might think it’s such a waste. Let me tell you; joining their channel subscription is so worth it.
If you join their channel membership, specifically, the membership on their main channel; Dropout, you’ll be able to access all of Dimension 20’s past D&D series, full episodes of Um, Actually (another show for nerds), Game Changer, and all the other series created by College Humor, now rebranded as Dropout! Every cent is worth it if you join their Youtube membership, trust me.
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@dimension20show
My Binge Recommendation: Dimension 20: Fantasy High
1. Critical Role
Picture featured: Critical Role’s main cast of players. Featuring Matthew Mercer, at front and center as Dungeon Master, facing his players (from left to right); Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien and Taliesin Jaffe.
Topping this list at number one is, of course, the ever popular and favorite: Critical Role! A channel ‘where a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors sit around playing Dungeons & Dragons’. The epitome of all actual play Dungeons & Dragons. Started from a humble birthday one shot as a request from Liam to Matt, the group has now become the face of Dungeons & Dragons as a whole.
Jam packed with an amazing cast of actors, each episode is a marvel of roleplay, creativity, and wonder as the whole cast and crew sew together a wonderful world of fantasy. Originating from Twitch streams and Geek & Sundry, they now host their thousands of hours of gameplay under their own channel, Critical Role. They also make round table recap of gameplay (4-Sided Dive), collaborate with other Dungeon Masters (Exandria Unlimited) and feature guests from different parts of the entertainment industry.
The best thing is, they’ve released all of their games for free. Backed with a one-of-a-kind level of success on their Kickstarter, and a legion of millions of fans supporting them, you’ll never run out of things to watch. As long as you learn to be inspired by them, and not hold it as the standard of play for everyone (Matthew Mercer himself disapproves of the Mercer effect), Critical Role is a great way to enjoy D&D even if you’re not playing it yourself. Even better, you’ll definitely be inspired to host your own campaign.
Channel link: https://www.youtube.com/@criticalrole
My Binge Recommendation: Exandria Unlimited: Calamity
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