The Encounter Table is a D&D real play podcast about four unfortunate individuals, taken from the real world by an evil game shop owning wizard and thrown into his own twisted game of Dungeons and Dragons. They need to find a way to achieve their only goal, which is to get back home.
Their linktree[1]
has redirects to anywhere the podcast is available. It currently has 26 episodes published, was created in 2022, and features Michael Otto as the Dungeon Master and Brandon Hall, Luke Godfrey, Joe LaJoice, and Jordyn Maka as the players.
THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS PRESENT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
The Encounter Table contains examples of:
- Anyone Can Die: Due to the nature of the podcast, any of the characters can die, including and especially the main characters. This is a consistent fear, particularly during combat. It's not helped by the fact that Preston, specifically, has nearly died during fights multiple times.
- Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Just about every interaction the B Team has with Tony, Dex's patron who happens to be an interdimensional goat. This is especially true for Clarissa, who actually gossips with him every so often.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: The first episode of the podcast, "Jumanji-&-D", introduces the four main characters by having them slowly meet each other one by one in the mall. It starts with Dex, who meets Scott when he steals something from the shop Scott works at. When Scott pursues him to get the item back, Dex runs into Clarissa and steals her drink. Clarissa begins to chase after him as well, and they all end up in an old game shop together, where they meet Preston. The game shop owner then sends the four of them into the world of D&D where they meet and talk properly.
- Like a Duck Takes to Water: Scott and Dex have used their knowledge of video games to get a grasp on events or to make plans on numerous occasions. All of the characters also pull from their own experiences with tabletop games, media, history, and other such things from their world to aid them, such as when they figured out that Topher and Janine were from Earth after the duo mentioned Princess Diana.
- Somber Backstory Revelation: Almost every character's backstory reveal up to this point.
- Scott's comes in ep 3, "F is For Friends", when he explains that he was crying during the night because he was worried about his mom and trying to get ahold of her because his stepdad is abusive.
- The Breakfast Plot: The characters stick together and begin to bond solely because they're stuck in this D&D world together with no quick way out.
