The market has become nearly saturated with actual-play podcasts, covering every genre imaginable from epic fantasy via Critical Role to John-Hughes-Meets-Fantasy from Fantasy High. There are homebrew games, pre-made campaigns, and even fundraiser games. But something which is unfortunately lacking is the niche that parents need the most: kid-friendly content produced at the highest quality for an adult audience. Enter I Cast Fireball, an podcast featuring complex characters, spectacular improve, and moving (and educational) character acting. Read on if you want to learn about the podcast that can teach your kids how to be better players by listening to their favorite game in a safe and ad-free environment.
What is I Cast Fireball?
I Cast Fireball is an ongoing D&D 5e actual-play podcast with 5 central actors. It is family friendly, ad-free, and an excellent example of the best parts of playing a game with your friends. The first season follows the Tyranny of Dragons adventure (with necessary adjustments based on story development). The second season (ongoing) is still D&D but is set in the Pathfinder adventure Skulls & Shackles, adjusted for 5e rules. The cast described the original intent as being a silly and fun pirate adventure, but just a few minutes into the show, the theme naturally grew more in-line with the characters they were playing, shifting tone to a more contemplative and thought-provoking story with a jaunty background to the world which makes their challenges and decisions feel that much more compelling.
Who are the Cast?
The first season (Tyranny of Dragons) features Thomas as the DM, Mickie as the Barbarian/Warlock Malamara, Jacob as the rogue Lancthalyn (Lance), and Ned the Druid/Cleric Fleeple. Joshua (Steak Attack!, The Titans of All’Terra) joins the cast as a Wizard named Ralph for a bit, too. In the second season, Thomas is still the DM, Mickie plays Lietenant Ignis the Fighter, Jacob plays Maximus the Ranger, Ned plays Ataraxia the Bard, and Joshua joins the cast as a full-time member playing the Wizard Buster. Each of the cast members brings something powerful and unique to the pod, through both expertise and content production.
Why Should You Listen?
- Production
- Story and Acting
- Game Play Clarity
- Healthy Role Models
- World-Class Improv
Production
I want to acknowledge the show’s spectacular production value, as it surpasses even many monetized podcasts both inside and outside the actual-play community. Mickie McMillan is an experienced theater production professional, with a history of technical, design, and management experience which rolled nicely into her role as editor of ICF. Early on, there was a more complicated editing process which eventually turned into the team giving Mickie full editorial control, and it’s some of the best audio I’ve ever had the pleasure to listen to. She is regularly referred to as an editorial wizard by her castmates, and is able to take even the messiest scenes and produce an intelligible dialog for the listener to follow.
Story and Acting
Importantly for any game podcast, the storytelling is spectacular. Thomas is an exemplary DM capable of rolling with the shenanigans of his players and weave them back into the adventure. The players themselves add to the story in their own ways, representing complex and interesting characters who feel almost as real as the actors. If nothing else, you know you’re going to get a spectacular listening experience. In fact, during the Council of Waterdeep episodes in season 1, I took notes for my home campaign to introduce new plothooks and options to my players because Thomas did so in such a compelling fashion, the players could reasonably have chosen nearly any course of action and still moved the story ahead.
When one looks to the gameplay of various podcasts, many fall heavily on one side or the other of the balance-beam of story vs. system, but this team seems to effortlessly walk that line. They regularly reference rules for clarity, while being willing to mildly bend them in the interest of story. They also have an improv-based dynamic which lends itself particularly well to natural and effortless storytelling. The story always moves on, and through the many episodes, I never felt like the story was floundering because the actors didn’t know how to move things along.
Healthy Role Models
Every table has conflict. Evil characters, differing opinions, and strong personalities all come into play even when you’re playing with your closest friends. For kids in particular, this can be difficult to navigate. But the cast of ICF do this so gracefully that I, as a mental health educator, could give very few notes to their characters about healthy and respectful behavior. In a recent episode, Ignis punches Max because he inadvertently insults her. Lance and Mickie, as actors, handle this gracefully in that episode, but the next episode was truly impressive. Max, having clearly touched a nerve, returns to Ignis once she has had a chance to calm down. Instead of any number of problematic responses Max could have had to being punched in the face, Max expresses a heartfelt desire to do better by Ignis, and to make sure that he’s able to be a better crewmate to her in the future. I cannot stress enough how I much I wish every fantasy-loving kid in the world could listen to this podcast to learn conflict resolution at all levels.
World-Class Improv
The original cast of ICF met in their college theater department. Thomas, Ned, and Jacob were part of an improv troupe, and Mickie was a sound designer for their production of Mary Stewart. Because of their long experience doing improv together, they are able to perform some of the best spontaneous storytelling I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. I’ve even gone back a number of times to listen to part of the story again because the acting was so compelling and interesting I just wanted to listen to it again.
The actors are so in-tune with each other that not only are they able to stay in character to tell the story through their characters’ viewpoint, but they are able to portray each others’ characters. In the latest season, Jacob delivers a eulogy through Max, as if it were written by Ataraxia (Ned’s character) who was necessarily absent for that scene. When we discussed that scene over a video call, Joshua called out that scene in particular as being completely improvised, but it was so well done that other actors at the table thought that Ned had written the eulogy for Jacob to read, when Jacob was actually improving the entire scene. It also happened to be one of the most touching fantasy eulogies I’ve ever had the privilege to experience.
What Makes ICF Special?
The best part of ICF is the natural chemistry and storytelling prowess of the group. I reached out to request an interview with a cast member and was delighted to have the opportunity to interview them as a group. The following summaries explore what each of the actors brings to the podcast, what their lives are like, and what ICF is to them from their personal perspective. Click on their names below for each bio.
The dad, Dungeon Master and human-wrangling Thomas is the brains behind the screen. He is also the game peddler who introduced Ned, Mickie, and Jacob to the TTRPG world through his Pathfinder games in years past. Though the podcast is the first time they all played at the same table, they each learned to play with Thomas, and their group rapport reflects that unity. Thomas works as a data scientist, but shared that he started ICF because he “wanted to actually finish a campaign”, which most DMs (and players) can relate to. He got his wish, as they are now on their second campaign, and their growing audience is a reflection of his ongoing excellence as an arbiter of rules and bringer of fun to the game.
Thomas truly captures the audience with his evocative descriptions, deft narratives, and subtle exposition that find a harmonious balance between telling the players about the world and bringing them into it. When talking about why he continues to produce ICF with the cast, he shared that he has a fundamental belief in the value of storytelling. The art of storytelling is one which has persisted and remained valuable for thousands of years. He finds it satisfying to tell a story, spread a message, and fulfill the inner yearning for story that everyone has, and it has kept him motivated to continue indefinitely, with no plans of wrapping the show up in the foreseeable future.
Mickie is a theater professional and full-time mom. She is “110% in control” of the editorial process, which speaks to her own natural talent for storytelling. We have all heard podcasts or played at tables where the players make a chaotic mess of things, but that never comes through thanks to Mickie’s keen eye for detail, and talent for timing, sound effects, and narrative. She is able to expertly weave even disjoined conversations into a comfortable and natural listening experience. She added that keeping a game going long-term is a challenge for anyone, nodding enthusiastically to the quip “the highest CR monster is the calendar,” and expressed gratitude that the production of ICF helps them prioritize spending time together and keeping the game going.
Mickie also appears on bonus episodes with Jacob and Ned to discuss the nuances of the game. My favorite detail about Mickie as a player is that her character Ignis has an evil alignment, but it can be best described as evil-interesting, bucking the played-out trope of the evil-stupid thief who sabotages the game, instead bringing in different perspectives, and unique insights into character development through her portrayals. She’s the kind of player who writes dozens of pages of backstory to help her ground her characters and make them more real. This creative dedication shines through, and makes for some of the most interesting female characters I’ve seen at a table.
Jacob is a dad, a player of mysterious and dangerous characters, and the host of Meet and Geek, ICF’s podcast-within-a-podcast which introduces players to the people who play Dungeons and Dragons, and gives listeners a chance to learn more about the cast. The transparency, modesty, and humility modelled in these bonus episodes demonstrate the kindness we all wish our kids would find at (and bring to) the table, helping to highlight their role as exceptional role models on the podcast. Jacob works as an assistant principal, a vital part in the educational system that serves his community.
While talking about the value of ICF to him personally, he shared that he finds it hard to make time for fun as an adult and parent. He also pointed out the value he gets out of playing with his friends: “It gives us an opportunity to practice listening. So much of the world is ‘say what you want, take my opinion or leave it.’ I have to listen to the other players to be able to be effective.” He also shared that he enjoys building on each others’ characters through their improvisational style, as listening sets each player up to help each other tell their stories. Jacob also joked that the show was sure to do “six seasons and a movie”, referencing the iconic scene from Community, stating that he was invested in continuing the podcast as long as everyone is still enjoying themselves.
Ned is the only non-parent on the team, and is your quintessential forever-DM, so he jumped at the chance to play one of his signature “weird little guys” in a long-term campaign. Ned is also responsible for Crunch Squad, episodes which dig into the meat of character creation and utility. Ned is a professional graphic and visual designer who brings his creative mind to the table for every session. His encyclopedic knowledge of D&D 5e is a boon to both players and listeners of ICF, as he is able to offer clarity in even niche and bizarre situations. As a player, Ned is particularly gifted at seeing threads, picking them up, and fleshing out the world through exploration and curiosity. Some of the funniest moments in ICF come about because Ned as a player sees things and yes-ands everything in front of him.
When discussing the value of ICF to him as a player, Ned shared that he spends a lot of times in different systems for his other games (including ICF’s sister podcast Improv Tabletop), and when he finds an interesting system or rule in another game, the group is willing to include those things to increase the fun at the table. The Fate die, originally introduced by Ned from the Blades in the Dark’s “disclaim decision making” philosophy, has become so central to the groups gameplay that the concepts of chance and fate riegn supreme in their new sea-faring campaign. Ned shared that letting the die relieve the pressure of creative burden allows him to participate more fluidly in the game instead of being stuck trying to make a decision.
Long-time actual-play podcaster Joshua is a parent and award-winning professional podcast editor who participated in the OG actual-play Sneak Attack! before launching his own story via The Titans of All’Terra. Though the Titan pod has had some hiccoughs, he did share that they’ve just finished recording the series finale, so their many long-term fans who have stuck with them through countless disruptions are going to finally get the full story they’ve waited for for so long.
Originally slated to appear for three episodes as a guest in ICF’s first season, Joshua kept returning for “just one more” session until he’d recorded a significant story arc over 7 episodes. Unfortunately, the character Ralph was (as Joshua describes him) “not a character to stay”, and his tenure ended after 7 episodes. The chemistry in those recordings left a mark on both Joshua and the ICF podcast, leading to him joining the group as a full-time cast member for their second season. Joshua shared that he often feels like he’s working hard to “keep up,” but each of his castmates spoke to his natural storytelling, strong improv skills, and sense of humor which make him a natural fit.
The most compelling part of ICF as an actual-play podcast is the natural and effortless kindness, compassion, and love shared mutually around the table. The chemistry as actors is unmistakable, but the skill of friends at the table being able to be true to both themselves as people and to their characters is something most DMs wish they could see more of at the table. Every one of them is invested in making a good story, keeping it accessible to families, and taking care of their fans along the way.
TL;DR
I Cast Fireball is an ad-free and family-friendly actual-play D&D 5e podcast which features some of the kindest people in media today. Each member of the team brings years of experience in their field to the table, making the show a master-class of good storytelling for all ages. You can find them on the podcatcher of your choice, and you can follow them on Patreon, social media, and more through their Linktree. Now go listen and share with your kids, already!
