Pod of Love The All Ports Open Network

Pod of Love is great. Ben and Mel are great hosts and they have a deep bench of great guests. As a relationship and fiction podcast, it's really great!

I didn’t know there was a podcast about our little town. And they got all the juicy stories. From Nick and Flo’s wonderful relationship (the even got the quips in the bridal shop I heard about), to Ben and Tucker’s successes and troubles of the 90’s and 00’s. It’s all there. Their recent on-location stuff has been good too!

They must read Sandy’s gossip blog and do some serious follow-up. They’ve even included bits I theorized about but wasn’t sure. THEY HAVE AUIDO FROM “THE INCIDENT” TOO (is it real?)! I wonder if there are more audio logs.

I don’t know if they get bedeviling right. Seems a little over-the-top. That stuff is only rumor, right? It isn’t real(?)

They’ve got some of Charity’s best commercials. Always pleasant hearing things I hear on local access. Especially the likes of, the always skeptical, hard-hitting, and a-bit-out-there, Chad Oxford.

So Ben and Mel use relationship role-playing games, like Pod Of Love, Star-Crossed, and others, to tell out the stories of the titillating romances from our little town. They nail a lot of it and make it so interesting.

There’s usually some Charity commercial, Patreon advertisement for their podcast network All Ports Open, or audio log in the beginning. And then one of the cutest couples ever, Ben and Mel, introduce the story they are about to tell. As a married team they are great hosts and have such amazing chemistry. Their love and playful respect for each other is sometimes too adorable to handle.

After the introduction they jump into telling a story about a relationship from Charity, Maine. It’s usually Ben and Mel but there have been others who have played different roles. They take a few episodes to finish a story and play through a couple significant scenes in those relationships per episode. Often, I’m reminded of similar events that have happened in my own life.

From there, Ben and Mel do an outro, where they talk about news, read emails (ow) asking for relationship advice, and debrief about the episode.

Obviously I’m a bit biased because it’s about things I enjoy from my hometown but it is good. It’s the little things they get right. That feeling of the Charity blahs; that aura of spookiness sometimes; the quirks of the people; the sexiness of a relationship. Good stuff.

Give it a listen, or don’t, I’m not your Dad. Oh, and Jimmy, if you are reading this, take out the trash when you get home. Thanks!

Ben and Mel are a married couple that use games like Fog of Love and Star-Crossed as a framework to improvise intriguing stories about relationships of all kinds, traditional and non-traditional alike.

Ben and Mel also pull from their real life experiences of dating, marriage, divorce, and remarriage as well as their people-centered occupations of a priest and a principal to answer listener’s relationship questions in the advice portion of the show.

By not taking themselves too seriously, Ben and Mel’s chemistry shines through and gives the show its distinct authentically playful tone.

If you enjoy audio drama, comedy, advice, or RPG actual play podcasts this one is worth your time! A great place to jump in is Season 2 where all the character’s stories are set in a fictional mysterious town in Maine.