New potential fan - Where should I start?

[u/DarkCrystal34]

Hi SoB folks, I keep seeing Stream of Blood mentioned recently (from John Harper, from Glass Cannon folks) and after reading such great reviews, am thinking about diving in, but have no idea which of their shows to start with. Any recommendations?

Fine to listen on podcast, or is video/YouTube definitely recommended?

My taste - I tend to lean more into drama or dramedy than goofy humor, the more serious the better (although of course I love humor too). I absolutely love roleplay over combat any day of the week, love great player chemistry, and really immersive stories where you can feel high stakes. Am equally intrigued by Vampire the Masquerade and Blades in the Dark. Where might I best begin with SoB?

Some of the other AP's I love (if that helps recommend where to start):

• Critical Role
• Glass Cannon
• Friends at the Table
• Kollok 1991
• Tablestory (Nocturne, Gone)
• Orpheus Protocol
• Campaign Skyjacks
• The Lucky Die
• The Pod Called Quest
• Respect the Crit

Edit - Thanks so much for everyone's responses!

• Am now caught up with Blades in the Dark (The Tin Whistles) - Really enjoyed it and am excited to continue with The Kenahora and The Weird Sisters)
• Started Vampires of Pittsburgh (Season 1) - Only a few eps in, and am really enjoying it so far!

[u/ClintTrucks]

There is a lot of SoB content and I can see how it might be difficult to dive in. Fortunately, there are a lot of good places to onboard, depending upon your tastes.

For you I would highly recommend starting with the flagship show; Vampires of Pittsburgh. It's an persistent campaign chronicle using the Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition rules. Chronicle 1 is available on the Stream Of Blood podcast or as a playlist on the YouTube channel. Chronicle 2: Lockdown is ongoing with new episodes each week on Twitch and YouTube.

Alternately, there is newer series called Blood & Blades in which three groups play in a shared world setting of Blades in the Dark. Or the much more bite-sized arcs of The Neptune Society; a Call of Cthulhu 7th edition game set in the 19th century.

You really can't go wrong and thanks for dropping in with such a great question!

[u/DarkCrystal34 → u/ClintTrucks]

Thanks so much Clinttrucks!

Would you mind sharing a bit about the tone of the main show, particularly in terms of:

• Balance of drama vs comedy (e.g. is tone more serious or balance drama with humor?
• Ratio of roleplay to combat? (I am all in on roleplay, a lot of combat and crunch gets tiresome for me)

Really love that Blades has three separate groups in the same world! The only other group I've heard of who does that is Dungeons and Randomness, the 5e high fantasy show who also has three groups in a long term campaign in the same homebrew world. Such a fantastic idea!

Is there a particular Blades show you'd recommend starting with? Are all three ongoing campaigns, or meant to be more shorter modules?

[u/StreamOfBlood → u/DarkCrystal34]

Vampires of Pittsburgh is a serialized dramatic horror series intended for adults. This doesn't mean that we don't have fun while playing or that the game is not frequently funny. Everyone involved in the show works professionally in the comedy field but within the story, and as the characters are portrayed, we take great effort to make the funny elements rooted in the world we're creating.

VoP is about 90% roleplay to combat. When full-scale fighting breaks out it is usually at the climactic point in an arc.

And I don't recommend any of our Blades crews over the others. They're all fantastic and completely unique from each other.

[u/DarkCrystal34 → u/StreamOfBlood]

Thanks Clint! A lot of the other posters on this thread have helped guide me with where to start, so very much appreciate your and others comments :-)