The Adventure Zone: a Podcast Review
Want to experience a different but interesting piece of media? This podcast might be for you!
Art by Abbey McGee
October 8, 2017
The Adventure Zone is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast started at the end of 2014, and finished its first arc as of August 2017. It was started by the three McElroy brothers and their father, first published onto the brothers’ podcast, My Brother My Brother and Me, but has since taken off in its own direction.
The podcast follows Magnus (Travis McElroy), Taako (Justin McElroy), and Merle (Clint McElroy), as they are led by dungeon master (DM) Griffin McElroy into a fictional fantasy world full of adventures and surprises at every turn. The Adventure Zone starts out as a humorous, lighthearted, family podcast with very little plot, as the family started out with little experience and learned as they played. As the podcast progresses however, DM Griffin develops a complex, thought out story-line, with realistic and wonderfully designed characters. These are heightened by the decisions and actions taken by the three heroes, most of which tend to be humor based.
The McElroys’ unique sense of humor twists Griffin’s world-building, such as changing a mercenary bodyguard into a man named Barry Bluejeans, and transforming an entire town’s population into different Tom Bodetts. The bond the family has for one another is often portrayed with each character, like with young Angus McDonald, who’s relationship with the main characters is often reminiscent of Griffin’s relationship with his older brothers.
The podcast is also representative of many groups. As a listening media, the designs of all the characters are up to interpretation, which many people use as an opportunity to represent various underrepresented races. There are also a variety of LGBT+ characters, including Taako, one of the main characters, who’s dating Kravitz, who works for actual Death.
One of the pullbacks to The Adventure Zone is an extension of one of its pros: its’ humor. None of the humor the McElroys use is offensive in any way, although they don’t hesitate on sporadic sexual or considerably inappropriate jokes. Not to mention, the boys don’t exactly have a censor when it comes to swears. Though this podcast can be incredible and thought out, at the end of the day, it’s also three brothers and their father playing Dungeons and Dragons, and thus many things are said which probably shouldn’t be under normal circumstances. This podcast is definitely more for older teenagers and young adults.
The Adventure Zone can be found at the brother’s host site MaximumFun, or on most podcast providers, such as Spotify or iTunes. Along with that, the McElroys’ original podcast, MBMBAM, can be found on the site.
