For me it is more about the length of each episode. Two hours is the max and that is only because I am listening to them in podcast form. I have really enjoyed long campaigns, like Glass Canon Podcast's first campaign, but it can be daunting to get into a campaign with so much content. Whatever the length of the campaign, the first episode has to really grab me and the subsequent episodes need to keep my on the hook to get me to the point where I'm invested in the campaign and willing to overlook episodes that fall flat.
There are very few live-play campaigns that I have listed to every or even most of the episodes. It isn't so much that I quit them, but there is so much content to choose from that unless I'm actually exited to listen to a new (or another existing) episode, it is really easy to ignore them and listen to something else. Usually, I just find that I haven't listened to any new episodes for a couple of months and I remove it from my subscription in Pocket Casts.
Some recommendations, based on my personal preferences, are:
1. If you are recording it as streamed/recorded video, make sure that it works well in an audio-only format. I don't have time to sit down and watch hours of actual play. Other than Acquisitions Incorporated's PAX shows, I only listed to them. If I feel like I'm missing out on a lot by not seeing what is going on, I'll likely lose interest. I would think that more people listen to live play pod casts than watch streaming and youtube of them, but I have no idea. I might be out of touch. Still, a LOT of people prefer the podcast format and you'll be giving up on a sizeable potential audience by ignoring their needs and preferences.
2. Invest in good equipment and training to properly mike, mix, and edit. Godsfall was a revelation the first time I listened to it. I don't think all podcasts have to have that level of production, but as more and more live play podcasts have become more professional, I find I have a lot less tolerance for poor recordings.
3. Focus on and lean into the fact that this is a game. I want the at-table game experience to come through, otherwise I can just listed to a scripted audio show or improvisational story-telling show. There are different ways to do this and it can be hard to balance. I like some discussion of rules but I don't want to listen to long arguments of expositions any more than I like long rules-lawyering arguments when I play. Godfall had some interesting conventions, especially in the early episodes of the first campaign, where when the DM would make a ruling at the table, a ding or buzz sound effect would be added to indicate whether his ruling was correct per the rules or not. When he got it wrong, he would have a quick outtake explaining his mistake in the correct rule. It may sound boring or disruptive, but the editing was done so well, I felt that it really added to the experience. Glass Canon Podcast is another one that handles this well but they just work it into their banter. Some times they would have an outake or they would have "Nerdage" segment. The good-natured adversarial relationship between the DM and the players, their knowledge of the rules, and their humor made even rules disputes fun to listen to. I think all of this is even more important for non-DnD games. If it is a lesser-known rules system, I want to have some understanding of the rules being used. Part of the fun of a live play podcast is learning a new system.
4. Determine what style of live-play game show it is, but mix it up. Are you going for campy humor? Drama? Horror? Some live-plays jump all over the place. Others lean too heavily into one aspect and become tiresome. I find this a pitfall of many that focus on humor. For example, at first I really liked Dragon Friends. They had an innovative format with two DMs and live musicians with all the players being skilled comedy improv actors. But I quickly found it to be tiresome and just couldn't get invested in the characters or story. On the horror side, I at first liked Dark Dice, but it also got old fast for me.
For what its worth, here are the actual play podcasts that I have listened to for more than just a few episodes:
- Glass Canon Podcast. Their first campaign of their flagship podcast is the gold standard for me. I listened to every episode of this campaign that spanned years (they ran the entire Rise of the Runelords campaign using Pathfinder 1e rules). But I never got into any of their other campaigns for more than a few episodes.
- Not Another D&D Podcast. Perhaps the best comedy campaign. But their are meaningful, dramatic moments as well. I've only listened to their first campaign all the way through. Their other story lines never kept me hooked. But I keep it on my playlist for their Dice Court episodes.
- Godsfall. Impressive production values and I really like the world and story. But after the first season I started getting luke warm on the story. Then a poorly run Kickstarter the creator basically quit on and ghosted his backers, basically turned me off on that creator.
- Critical Role. I listened to a lot of the first campaign, but the episodes are just too long. I backed and will continue to watch their Amazon animated series, but I just don't have any interest investing the time into following their live play.
- Dark Dice. I know I finished the first season and I think I finished the second. But I just got tired of the unrelenting grim-dark setting.
- Acquisitions Incorporated. Besides the PAX game I listened to all of their original podcast episodes. The original group of players was magic, even if the production values sucked. I still watch all of the PAX games, but I don't bother following any of the other related live plays (e.g., the "C Team").
- Dice, Camera, Action! I watched the entire Curse of Strahd live play. But I never got into any of their subsequent campaigns. I really like the original group of players and love Chris Perkins as a DM. It is too bad that the controversy over the actions of one of the players broke up that group.
I've sampled episodes from a number of other live-play podcasts, but rarely listen to more that one or two episodes.
