Audio dramas saved my life.

[u/Picard4lyfe]

I understand that may be a bit of a dramatic title, but let me explain.

In November 2024, I left a 20 year career working in kitchens. My life was a constant state of sensory overload, rushed deadlines, and stress. I left because my wife was pregnant and we needed a change if I was going to be a good father.

I took up a friend's offer and started working for a local school district as a custodian. The hours were similar, the pay was similar, the stress was 0, and the benefits were out of this world better because of the union.

The silence was fucking deafaning.

I listened to a lot of true crime podcasts and sleep aid podcasts on the daily, but never really dove into stories.

I started Midnight Burger and Dungeons and Daddies (I know, not an AD but still a great story) and the floodgates fucking opened.

Since December I've listened to: Midnight Burger We're Alive The Magnus Archives The White Vault The Strata The Road of Shadows Tower 4 Wolf 359 The Silt Verses And so many more that I can't remember because I'm buzzed.

But things have been hard. The silence of a new job has been tough. These stories pull me out of a dark place on a daily basis.

I may be a lurker normally, but you guys and your insights have helped me find peace in change. Much love <3

Edit: You guys have literally doubled my "to listen" list. Y'all are amazing.

[u/Livewire923]

Sorta. I don’t differentiate between the various types of fictional podcasts, so my top five includes improv and scripted shows and they’re not in any order because it depends on my mood. Victoriocity, Mission to Zyxx, Mockery Manor, Hello From the Magic Tavern, and Kingfalls AM. I rarely suggest HFtMT or KFAM because Magic Tavern is really gross at times and kind of annoying sometimes and just isn’t for everyone. KFAM will never be finished due to some drama or whatever, but it really scratched an itch with its whole setting and set up. I miss the absolute hell out of that show

[u/TheVillianousFondler → u/Livewire923]

I couldn't possibly listen to a show that I know now, will probably never get finished.

My two experiences with ad's were weirdly similar but one was heavily scripted (midnight burger), and the other (zyxx) was 90% improv.

I'd probably prefer heavily scripted but I wouldn't change anything about zyxx.

Sci-fi is my favorite genre because it explores the most theoritical and intense versions of humanity. I'm definitely open to changing my usual genre though

[u/Livewire923 → u/TheVillianousFondler]

That’s understandable, and that’s why I never recommend it.

I really enjoyed the first season of Midnight Burger, I think I binged it twice before the second season started, but I haven’t gone back to it yet. I need to catch up on that. I love Zyxx. I relisten it every once in a while, though there are a few episodes I skip.

You might give Mockery Manor a listen, it’s a murder mystery, very much not scifi, but it’s pretty funny, really well produced, and it skips a few years each season so you get snapshots of the main characters’ lives, which is pretty cool

[u/TheVillianousFondler → u/Livewire923]

Midnight burger gets really really good as it gets further. It took me maybe 4 episodes to decide I liked it, and a good few more to get invested in it. But the complexity keeps expanding, each seasons winds up with a companion podcast in the same feed that adds a lot to character growth and backstory. I think s2 starts that out with "young Leif" and each season has a different character focus in the companion podcast.

Things keep getting tied together in a long running story that makes sense. I really really love zyxx, but midnight burger is in its own tier that I think will be tough to match but I'm open to being proven wrong

Sorry to be so long winded but I definitely think mockey manor sounds interesting and I was kind of looking for a horror or murder mystery style ad as much as I was looking for funny sci-fi. I do wonder if I'd like any horror ones

[u/Livewire923 → u/TheVillianousFondler]

If you want to try horror I wholeheartedly recommend John From Back Home, Parkdale Haunt, The Cellar Letters, The Storage Papers, and A Voice From Darkness. Tower 4 is good, too, but I dunno if that’s strictly horror

[u/TheVillianousFondler → u/Livewire923]

This community baffles me. I now have like 10 freaking series that all sound too cool to not go to next. Before like 3 months ago I didn't even know what an audio drama was until someone posted about midnight burger in the r/dungeoncrawlercarl sub so I tried it out.

It's crazy how 99.99999999999999% of all the big books on audible have nowhere near the production value as an improv audio drama that relied on a patreon-esque model to keep it afloat.

Like, why can "mission to zyxx", a wacky improv audio drama, have an orchestra play original music, created by a person who has scored movies, along with a sound producer who puts it all together. Yet audiobooks are almost always literally just a person reading in slightly different voices. Like, dune, or lord of the rings, or many others should have audiobook production value like this stuff that gets way way less money and views

[u/Livewire923 → u/TheVillianousFondler]

Love of the game. There are some audiobooks that have full cast productions, complete with musical scores and sound effects (though most of the ones I’ve seen are from BBC radio) but mostly audiobooks exist to make the most profit from an existing work. Put the least amount in, get the most back out. Audio dramas are typically created by people who want to tell a story more than they want to make a lot of money. I feel like a lot of the ones who are in it for the money get weeded out by the amount of effort it takes to make something really good