Top 10 Pathfinder Actual Play Shows
Editorial picks for tabletop listening
Looking to move beyond D&D, or already a giant Pathfinder nerd? Whether you’re into old-school Pathfinder 1e crunch or the cleaner tactical flow of Pathfinder 2e, there are a lot of excellent Pathfinder shows out there. This list rounds up 10 of the most talked-about and well-loved Pathfinder actual plays, with a mix of long-running classics, newer PF2e favorites, official adventure path campaigns, and shows that bring their own weird flavor to the table.
Image credit: Paizo
By Ted from APW
#1
The Glass Cannon Podcast
The Glass Cannon Podcast2 Fans
The Glass Cannon Networkfantasy, Pathfinder 1st Edition, Pathfinder 2nd Edition
GoodProbably the closest thing Pathfinder has to a flagship actual play. The original Glass Cannon Podcast became famous for its Pathfinder 1e Giantslayer campaign, and later moved into Pathfinder 2e with Gatewalkers. The appeal is pretty straightforward: it feels like a bunch of very funny, very sharp friends who can also turn a fight, death, or character choice into a genuinely memorable character moment. It’s rowdy, polished (eventually), and deeply Pathfinder-brained without feeling like homework. Paizo even welcomed the show as an official partner back in 2017.
#2
Find the Path Podcast
Find the Path is the easy recommendation when someone wants Pathfinder played with real care. Their 1e Mummy’s Mask campaign is a big part of their reputation, and Find the Path Presents brought Hell’s Rebels into Pathfinder 2e. The vibe is less “chaos gremlin improv circus” and more “excellent home table that knows the rules, knows the setting, and actually gives the story room to breathe.” It’s especially good for listeners who want Golarion to feel like a place, not just a backdrop for jokes. Find the Path is also an officially licensed Paizo partner.
#3
The Hideous Laughter Podcast
Hideous Laughter is one of the big Pathfinder names because it bridges both editions cleanly: Season 1 is a Pathfinder 1e run of Carrion Crown, and Season 2 moves to a Pathfinder 2e conversion of Skull & Shackles. That gives it two very different flavors: gothic horror in haunted Ustalav, then pirate trouble on the high seas. What makes it stick is that the table has a good “friends who know exactly how to push each other’s buttons” energy, and the campaigns have strong genre hooks without becoming too stiff about them.
#4
Tabletop Gold
Tabletop Gold is one of the best-known Pathfinder 2e actual plays for people who want the game itself to matter. Their Roots of Ruin campaign plays through Abomination Vaults, which is a great fit for PF2e because the system’s tactical combat and secret checks have a lot of room to shine. The show’s pitch is “[An a]ctual play that takes the rules seriously without taking itself too seriously,” and that’s the lane: crunchy enough for Pathfinder people, relaxed enough that you don’t feel like you’re listening to a rules seminar. They've also expanded into Starfinder 2e.
#5
Dice Will Roll
Dice Will Roll brings a very different Pathfinder flavor: loud, queer, chaotic, and extremely willing to go big. It has run multiple Pathfinder 2e campaigns, including a converted Kingmaker and Extinction Curse, and it tends to lean into the big emotional and ridiculous possibilities of the game rather than trying to sound like a traditional fantasy radio drama. It’s a good pick for someone who wants Pathfinder, but not a bunch of stern fantasy men intoning grim things in caves for 90 minutes.
#6
MNmaxed
MNmaxed is a strong Pathfinder 2e pick for listeners who want a table that moves, plays the game clearly, and doesn’t bury the fun under overproduction. Their catalog includes The Fall of Plaguestone, Extinction Curse, Blood Lords, and other PF2e campaigns, so it’s also useful if someone wants to hear multiple published adventures in the same general table style. The vibe is practical in a good way: funny, game-forward, and easy to follow, with enough system talk to help newer Pathfinder listeners understand what’s happening.
#7
Roll For Combat
Roll For Combat is an official Paizo actual play, which makes it especially relevant for Pathfinder discovery. Their Fall of Plaguestone run is a complete playthrough of one of the earliest Pathfinder 2e adventures, and their feeds also include other Paizo adventure content like Extinction Curse and Agents of Edgewatch. The show is a good fit for listeners who want something close to the published-adventure experience: clear stakes, lots of system visibility, and a table that treats Pathfinder as the main attraction rather than just the engine under the hood.
#8
Bestow Curse
Bestow Curse is a Pathfinder 2e conversion of Curse of the Crimson Throne, which is already a strong hook: Korvosa, conspiracies, civic collapse, and a city that keeps finding new ways to get worse. It comes from Hideous Laughter Productions, but it’s worth calling out separately because it scratches a slightly different itch than their flagship show. This is the one I’d point people to if they want urban intrigue, big consequences, and a campaign that feels like the party is stuck inside a political pressure cooker.
#9
Rotgrind
Rotgrind is the Pathfinder 2e actual play for people who want something grimy, weird, and a little unhinged. It’s set in Narrative Declaration’s homebrew world of Tyne, with the official description leaning hard into grimdark decay, danger, despair, and absurdity. The appeal is not “listen to us carefully demonstrate the beginner box.” It’s more like: here is a nasty broken world, here are some disasters with legs, let’s see how bad this gets. That gives it a more distinctive identity than a lot of standard adventure-path shows.
#10
Bad Heroes
Bad Heroes is a Pathfinder 1e actual play with a strong character-first identity. The pitch is one evil queen, three deadly curses, and four adventurers who are very much not clean-cut heroes. It’s a good inclusion because not every beloved Pathfinder show is an Adventure Path conversion or a rules-showcase podcast; this one is more about homebrew fantasy, messy character choices, comedy, and a slightly cursed found-family feeling. Roll20 described it as a Pathfinder 1e comedy-adventure show about unlucky adventurers hunting curses for the Queen of Vyer, which is honestly a pretty great one-sentence sell.
