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Yes, actual plays are still quite the rage. I'd go so far as to say that's most of what's out there as far as RPG podcasts go these days, with general RPG discussion and news podcasts in decline both in terms of quantity and quality.
Cosmic Crit is a good place to look. They're a Starfinder actual play podcast going through the Dead Suns adventure path. Solid product. Some issues. Similar format to what you're liable to want, and they are a part of the Paizo community you may want to reach out for advice on how to get started, as well as a somewhat established voice that may even give you a shout out to help spread your name.
Also worth looking is the Campaign podcast and Shadow of the Cabal. These are two of the finest actual play podcasts I've ever listened to, and sterling example of, in the first case, how to build investment in character and interaction and create an amusing, entertaining show, and in the second, how to build drama, intrigue, and tone in an actual play format.
Rambling thoughts and advice!
Mic discipline and editing are very important. Shuffling papers, random ums, dice clatter, unnecessary rules discussions (though these are sometimes necessary). These need to be streamlined. Editing takes practice and effort, but it's super super important to getting a polished and listenable product. And when talking, remember you're making a radio program just as much as you're running a game. Address people by their proper name when speaking to them so we know who you're talking to. Narrate characters in third person so we know who's acting and their names get drilled in our heads. Cross-talk is of the devil; if you have cross-talk over something important, back up. Say the important thing again, so that you have a clean take for the editing. Be mindful of the confusion similar voices can cause in audio format. If your group is all similarly-voiced men, this can be a production problem. In-character accents can help for multiple reasons, so long as you can maintain them and keep them from being obnoxious.
Character is everything. The game needs colorful and identifiable characters executed in a restrained manner who sometimes make bad-but-interesting decisions and get us invested in the narrative.
Narration is everything. Combat is boring if it's all dice and rules. The mechanics need to be snappy, and the descriptions need to be energetic. Editing can help one of these, but if narration is weak and fights go long, there's nothing to really grab onto, and it just becomes rambling numbers that bleed together in the head until the listener loses track of who did what to whom for how many pickles and why anyone is rolling what for anything. We don't have the virtue of the sheets, dice, and minis in front of us. Likewise, keeping the game pacing moving is super important, and unfortunately generally requires an experienced GM with strong control of the table.
I'm pretty sure this idea is legal without explicitly asking Paizo, but it can't hurt to ask anyways. But on that note, keep in mind, the moment you start putting out this product, you become an ambassador of the hobby, and a form of free advertising for Pathfinder. Enthusiasm is a must. Negativity can get very caustic very fast. And it is in your best interests to be a commercial people want to listen to. Carrion Crown is seven years old. There probably aren't a lot of folks left trying to decide if they want it or not, and interest in the product can bring you a significant amount of listenership. Choosing any AP to play is a big investment. Getting through the first book of Dead Suns took Cosmic Crit about twenty one-and-a-half-to-two hour episodes, released over the course of about four months. At the rate they're going, the AP as a whole will take about two years to finish. My advice? Don't do Carrion Crown. Do War for the Crown. The not-even-brand-new-yet AP whose first book is scheduled to drop in February. It's more likely draw listener interest, as it's the new hotness and you'll have folks wondering if they should buy, or simply curious about a new thing, and you're WAY more likely to be able to land developer and staff interviews since it's an immediately relevant project to their interests and free, low-pressure advertising.
Release schedule! Whatever schedule you choose, it's super in your interests to stick to it, or you can start losing listener interest fast. It helps to build up a backlog of unreleased episodes. If you're doing weekly sessions and you can turn a four hour session into two one hour episodes' worth of content, that can give you a lot of wiggle room for hiatuses and holidays without interruptions to your release schedule.
I love actual play podcasts! I just got caught-up on Glass Cannon and I'm now working through Called Shots. I've tried a handful of others, but honestly most of them are pretty bad. Don't be one of the bad ones.
If you want to differentiate yourself, you could try doing a "Silent Dice" podcast where the actual mechanics get edited out, leaving the finished product that just has the flavor descriptions. It would be a serious challenge, but I think if you tried it you could really differentiate yourself from the dozens of other actual-play podcasts out there.
Honestly, I really think Rise of the Runelords would be a great AP to do. I just started running it and I was really hoping to find a podcast that did a good job with it so that I could borrow some of their characterizations and ideas. I tried listening to two RotRL podcasts but they were garbage. Sure, a lot of people have played it, but I would still listen to a good podcast even if I've already played the AP.
As others have mentioned, audio quality is vitally important. I listened to a podcast recently where I think they actually recorded inside a gaming store, so there was all this background noise. Really?? Couldn't get through the first episode. Obviously the bare minimum is a quiet space and a separate mic for each player, so you can edit out any extraneous noises.
Characters are what drive TTRPGs, so make sure that people do a bang-up job coming up with characters that are multi-faceted, interesting, and interact with the story in interesting ways. If you listen to Glass Cannon, try to get your players to emulate Joe. That man is a legend in my book! His characters are so real. Your goal with a podcast is not to advance the plot, your goal is to advance the characters' stories. Never forget that.
As others have mentioned, audio quality is vitally important. I listened to a podcast recently where I think they actually recorded inside a gaming store, so there was all this background noise. Really?? Couldn't get through the first episode. Obviously the bare minimum is a quiet space and a separate mic for each player, so you can edit out any extraneous noises.
Oh, God yes! A million times this!
No matter how good your content, if your audio quality is bad, it's unlistenable.
But also of vital importance is, don't start with bad audio quality and get better later. Unfortunately, you're going to have folks who go to your first episode, listen, hear the bad quality, and go away. I suggest doing a smaller campaign that you record, edit, and practice with, but don't release any time soon, then once you can get a decent product out, that's when you start the AP you're actually going to put out in podcast form.
You probably will not be able to maintain doing weekly 4-hour episodes. Stick with a size that you're comfortable with. Consistently releasing every week (no exceptions) will probably be important for your subscribership (if there's no new episode one week, some people may move onto another podcast and forget about you,) so don't overtax yourself. One 2-hour episode a week should be plenty, Glass Cannon only does a 1-hour episode every week.
I would suggest that before committing to a release schedule, you build yourself a bit of a reserve - try producing 4-5 episodes to the standard that you'd be happy releasing them as your finished product. That should give you a sense of how much time you need to commit, in terms of prep/play/editing, and that will probably inform what you want to commit to.
Everyone has given good advice. IMO, although I don’t agree with everything they do, The Glass Cannon really is the gold standard. They are telling a great story while actually playing the game. Too many podcasts are audio dramas masquerading as actual play. I would encourage you to play by the rules snd your die rolls.
I’ll just throw this out there. If you are doing it just for your group and your own enjoyment, go for it. If you are doing it in the hopes of garnering downloads and acquiring a fan base I would encourage some self examination of yourself and the group. You really need players and a GM who are dedicated and talented. Not every player has to be Daniel Day Lewis but you need people who can role play and tell a good story. You also must have a group who is willing to commit to the project. Nothing is worse than missing PCs or worse yet missing deadlines. Again I point to the GCP. They have run that thing like pros and look how well they’ve done with it.
Good luck with it. I hope you guys do a great cast.
Follow up question. How long is a good amount of time for a single "episode?" I know keeping a consistent schedule is important and releasing a full 4-hour session every week seems daunting especially for someone new to all of this. Would it be better to do a 4-hour episode every OTHER week or break a session down into two smaller sections and have a 2-hour episode's be released?
If that makes any sense.
Genrally an hour to two hours is good. But I will say, if you are recording a 4 hour session, then doing a good job editing, you're not going to get 4 hours of audio, or even close. Maybe more like 3.
Take into account the fact that you won't be able to game every week, because adult life, and your best bet would probably be to split sessions into two episodes each. During periods where you can consistently get together to game, you're building up your buffer. During periods where life or holidays interfere with gaming, you can keep your release schedule by drawing on your buffer. And there's no such thing as your buffer being too big.