Welcome to The Rule of Cool, The podcast that tries to (not very well) endorse the fact that you don't need to be a stereotypical nerd to play Dungeons and Dragons! Join us as we dive into the world of D&D and geek culture with a fresh perspective, offering bite-sized episodes under 45 minutes. Whether you're a seasoned adventurer or just getting started, each episode gives you a fun mix of game insights, nostalgic moments, and a celebration of the game that brings us together week after week! Tune in weekly or binge them all in one go or write to us on welcome2rocpodcast@gmail.com
What’s the correct speed for an audiobook? Apparently 1.38x. Obviously.
After a completely necessary detour through Audible addictions, Raymond E. Feist, Dungeon Crawler Carl and Chris’s increasingly unhinged new campaign, Chris and James finally get around to some actual D&D.
This week we’re diving into the 2025 Unearthed Arcana playtest and putting the Arcana Domain Cleric and Arcane Archer through the Slaytest. Is the Arcana Cleric secretly a wizard wearing a holy symbol? Should the Arcane Archer have been a Ranger all along? And just how filthy is Tenacious Spell?
Plus, this week’s Rule of the Week tackles boring D&D travel by giving every adventurer a proper travelling role, because “everyone roll Survival” stopped being interesting several editions ago.
Two subclasses enter. Rock Hard Ratings await. And somehow we talked about audiobooks for far too long.
7 Oct 2026
Rule of Cool Season 2 EP18 - Arcana Expectations
Before Chris and James crack open Arcana Unleashed, they're putting their expectations on the table.
After five episodes wandering through Ravenloft, the boys have some thoughts about what they want from the next generation of D&D books, and plenty about what they don't want. More species? More subclasses? Even more spells? Useful low-level magic items? And, most importantly, can we please have content that doesn't require the DM to finish writing the bloody book?
There's also a look at Encore, D&D Beyond's new Drops, the ever-growing cost of playing "official" D&D, whether the game is drowning in character options, and why imagination shouldn't come with quite so many microtransactions.
Plus, Chris and James descend into an unnecessarily passionate argument about flanking, barbarian hit points, homebrew rules and whether sometimes the best solution to D&D's rules is simply to ignore them.
We haven't read Arcana Unleashed yet. But that certainly isn't going to stop us judging it.
23 Sept 2026
Rule of Cool Season 2 EP17 - Forced Rebellion
This fortnight, Chris and James ask some dangerous questions: is D&D actually better online? Can solo D&D ever match sitting around a table? And, perhaps most terrifyingly, are we ready to let AI sit behind the DM screen?
James recounts a chaotic Level 8 one-shot where his carefully planned support Wizard discovers the biggest threat isn't the monsters, it's his own party. We also debut Will It D&D?, throwing everything from Terminator and Mad Max to John Wick, Pirates and Scooby-Doo into the fantasy blender to see what survives.
Finally, our Rule of Cool tackles DM burnout with a simple player-led recap trick that might actually make your campaign better.
Wizards are growers, AI keeps making the room colder, and apparently guns are where James draws the line.
Welcome back to the Rule of Cool. 🎲
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Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 37 / 100
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Quality
62
Social presence
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YouTube
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Engagement
32
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