Spout Lore
Quick Info:
Audio: Great Quality, a few episodes vary but overall professional editing
Vibes: Over the Garden Wall, Centaurworld, Bee and Puppycat, Adventure Time, Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, A Knights Tale, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Extras: Patreon (includes exclusive live streams, bonus content, and a Patreon-only campaign called Mall Brats!), Discord, Merch, Events, Crossovers with Critshow
The number of Episodes Review is based on: 15
System: Powered by the Apocalypse (Dungeon World*)
Average Episode time: 1 hour
Accessibility Features: Content Warnings, Website with art and information.
Representation: BIPOC
Platforms: Audio Only, Podcast (Apple podcasts, Spotify)
Language: English
Rate of Release: 2 episodes a month.
Why this Podcast?
One of the siren calls of Tabletop Role-play Games (TTRPGs) is the collaborative creativity involved, and Spout Lore is an incredible example of collaboration. Imagine… you convince your comedian friends to do a podcast with you using some dice, and you decide to prep just a little (you’ll make it up as you go). That’s what you can expect from this delightful podcast.
With its comedic timing and absurdity, this podcast is like the writer's room for an adult cartoon. While listening, I could picture scenes in my head, like Adventure Time or Over the Garden Wall. You can expect dick jokes, poop jokes, heartwarming found family, magic… and did I mention dick jokes?
The entire team’s expert improv skills contribute so much to making this show stand out from other actual plays. Typically, we expect to have fleshed-out characters and strategic party builds from the start. With Spout Lore, worldbuilding details are improvised on the spot. This is especially present in the earlier episodes. Shawn, the Game Master (GM), often asks the players for ideas like, “who are you escorting to the festival”, “what is the festival,” and “what is their name?” The result is a story of three oblivious “heroes” who stumble their way in and out of trouble.
Starting The Pod
If you are looking for something to binge while you are on a road trip or just bored at work, this podcast is already 12 seasons deep and isn’t slowing down. Each season follows a different story arc, which varies in the number of episodes (between 15-30 episodes per season.) Season 3 is a great starting point, as this is where all the improvised world-building starts to come together and the players are much more comfortable with the format. If you want a bit of additional context going into Season 3, I recommend starting a little earlier, with Season 2, Episode 9, just before the major event that leads into Season 3.
If playing catchup is not something you’re interested in, you can always start with their new series, Mall Brats. Adbul explains that Mall Brats is “actually kind of the perfect starting point because there are only (9) episodes of it out now so it's like not as daunting of a task (as Spout Lore). It's like very low stakes and super chaotic and fun(… ) If someone is sort of a comedy fan that potentially isn't super into RPGs or indie RPGs and just wants to listen to a fun comedy game…” Mall Brats is a great introduction to the group.
About the Team
Shawn O’Hara is the Game Master (GM). He does an incredible job at taking any suggestions his players throw at him and weaving them into a cohesive story and world. If you decide to listen to the podcast from Season 1, you will be rewarded as you witness the lunacy he took and turned into a rich world, often from something as small as a throwaway joke.
Abdul Aziz plays Tachoma (Tuk) Dhaume, the musical barbarian. He is tan-skinned, large-thighed, and bald (by choice) with some abandonment issues. Tacoma was raised by a used cart dealer, who died when he was four. He then traveled, became a sword for hire, joined a band, had a few bad years, and returned to Barbarism.
Paul Oppers plays Vyng Vang Zoombah, the half-elf, half-human druid from the frozen plains. In this setting, druids have a tell that gives them away when they shapeshift, and Vyng’s is a set of gills. If you start the podcast in Season 3, Vyng will not be present until the last few episodes, because Paul took some time away from the podcast.
Jessica Tai plays Fat Billie, the 9-year-old halfling child thief. In this world, halflings age differently, especially visibly, so Tachoma and Vyng thought Billie was a 40-year-old man. Billie is an orphan who wasn’t accepted in any other halfling families and survived mostly by stealing. Eventually, he was kicked out of the village for… allegedly… burning a building down. There are many mysteries around Billie that we explore later in the campaign.
About the World
I asked Abdul, if this podcast was a TV series, who would be on the team? He said, without hesitation, Loren Bouchard. (Loren created classic cartoons like Home Videos, but is more recently known for Bob’s Burgers.)
According to their Wiki, “The set up for the podcast was created in part by the lore of Dungeon World, and by the Spout Lore cast. After an event called the Exodus saw all wizards leave this plane of reality to catastrophic effect, those left behind were forced to carry on in the wreckage of their now-dormant technologies…
The events of Spout Lore unfold 90 years after the Exodus in the Principalities, an alliance of neighboring states built on the infrastructure of the kingdom of Quiznos (pronounced Key-noss). The remnants of magic are scattered across the land, seeping through reality and bringing with it monsters, magical artifacts, and mysterious forces.
There are a number of secret organizations that seek to harness these powers. Some wish to see magic returned to the world, some wish it locked away forever, and some want it for themselves.”
Once listeners are deep into Season 3, they will be fully immersed in the richness of the world that Shawn pieced together.
Mall Brats
Once upon a time, way back before TikTok, young people would go to the mall, just to hang out… and commit crimes and push questionable candies... all while working for a mysterious patron, right? Mall Brats is a spin-off show set in the same world as Spout Lore, 40 years after the events of the Exodus, and 50 years before the events of Spout Lore, under the Fable and Folly Network. Abdul explains, “We think of a lot of things in cartoon form because we grew up as kids in the 90s and the 80s.” Since this series is primarily about heists and kids committing crimes in a mega-mall, they chose to run it with Blades in the Dark TTRPG rules system but later switched to a more rules-lite version. Shawn’s DM style mostly uses the rules as a scaffold on which to facilitate the story.
I want to preface that, while the setup for this series will sound very grim, it’s presented in a fun, lighthearted way. It is everything you’ll love about Spout Lore, but this time it’s with a rag-tag gang of orphan kids called the Cool Treat Kids. The story takes place in a mega mall that is so large that families often forget to pick up their kids, resulting in a community of orphans that has grown within it. (This was set up in Season 2 of Sprout Lore.)
Fenton, played by Abdul Aziz, takes the role of the slide, or a con artist. He specifically manifests his alter egos as two kids in a trenchcoat to carry out his cons. Fenton’s dad was a used scarecrow salesman, and his mom was really into her turtle figurines. He’s Chunk from the Goonies, meaning he has all the heart and loyalty, and is a total weirdo. Just wait till you hear his vampire fanfiction.
Franklin Stein, played by Paul, takes the role of the cutter. He is the bottom half of Fenton’s two kids in a trench coat. He moved around a lot as a foster kid in military families, where he learned to fight. Despite his rough exterior, his heart longs for the art of dance.
Clover Ivy Fern, played by Jessica, is the leech of the group and an amateur bagpiper (this will be important later). Clover is everything I love about the awkward, 12-year-old girl experience: she’s sassy, crushing on the bad boys, and a part-time mad scientist. She is the one who creates the (totally legal) candies that the group sells.
Previously a Patreon exclusive, Mall Brats is now released as its own podcast, fully edited and remastered. If you feel the expansive Spout Lore series is too daunting, this is a great way to introduce yourself to the team. Season 1 of Mall Brats finishes with 31 episodes and continues into Season 2, all of which are available now to Patreon subscribers.
Extras
Since Spout Lore has been well established since its premier episode in October of 2017, they have some cute merch available featuring the art of Jessica Tai. You can buy some laser-engraved wood pieces like bookmarks, pins, and coasters. They also have a store on Redbubble for wearables, stickers, prints, and pins.
The Discord is an active and friendly community, and the cast will pop in now and then to answer questions.
Since they have re-premiered on the Fable and Folley network, you can listen to their episodes ad-free, with the exception of a promo for another Fable and Folley podcast at the end of each episode. In August, the Spout Lore team joined the Critshow crew in a 6 episode crossover show.
I asked Adbul what the future holds for the main Spout Lore campaign, and he mentioned that they have been teasing that the end of the story is in sight.
“But we do have a plan for the show after Spout Lore… it's Buffy meets Home Videos where we're kids in high school and nobody knows that magic is real except we know that magic is real. We're in a small town and I think the most concrete thing that we've come up with is that our version of Giles and Buffy is a washed-up former chosen one who's like the coach (…) and we just always call him coach and he's a failed paladin essentially who's just forced to kind of mentor us.”
Make sure to follow them on your preferred platform to find out when the new campaign starts!
TLDR
Spout Lore is a comedic actual-play TTRPG podcast using the Powered by the Apocalypse system
The podcast has a comedic style reminiscent of adult cartoons, with elements of fantasy and adventure. You can expect dick jokes, poop jokes, heartwarming found family, magic… and did I mention dick jokes?
Currently 12 seasons deep, with each season following a different story arc (between 15-30 episodes per season.)
If playing catchup is not something you’re interested in, you can always start with their new series, Mall Brats. Part of the Fable and Folly Network.
After an event called the Exodus saw all wizards leave this plane of reality to catastrophic effect, those left behind were forced to carry on in the wreckage of their now-dormant technologies…
The main Spout Lore campaign is approaching its conclusion, with plans for a new campaign in the future inspired by shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Podcast (Apple podcasts, Spotify) https://linktr.ee/spoutlorestudios
*One of the creators of Dungeon World has distanced themselves from the TTRPG industry and is mentioned. Please be aware of this if you decide to look into this system.
