My current favourite gaming podcast is actually for a game I have yet to play, Numenera. Numenera: The Signal is a brilliant example of making a piece of media useful both in and out of game. Each roughly twenty minute episode focuses on some aspect of the Ninth World, the setting for Numenera. It includes rumours, encounter ideas, NPCs, and so on, and is definitely a boon to any GM running a Numenera campaign. But even better, the podcast is recorded as if it were a pirate radio signal just barely managing to get through on whatever receiving device you are next to. And it’s narrated by Vaux, an Informed Jack who Tells Tales, which gives the GM a shadowy NPC to populate their game world, and a piece of media they can play during sessions to heighten immersion.

Full disclosure, Numenera: The Signal is the brainchild of my friend and fellow gamer, Scott C. Bourgeois. But I’d think The Signal was a brilliant podcast even if it weren’t created by my friend! (Did I get that right, Scott, your hand-writing is awful.) But seriously, even if you don’t yet play Numenera, you should give the podcast a listen. I know it’s got me thinking of ways to use different media in my games.

Honourable mention go to Fear the Boot, which is the podcast I’ve listened to the longest. I could listen to those guys argue about games all day (and have).