WotC New D&D Stream Replaces Dice, Camera, Action!

The official D&D streaming campaign Dice, Camera, Action!, run by WotC's Chris Perkins, ended somewhat ignominiously earlier this year. WotC has just announced its replacement -- "DnDPresents", featuring some of the same cast.

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According to the official Twitter account Chris Perkins returns as DM for a new show, DnD Presents, featuring. Anna Prosser, Nathan Sharp, Mica Burton, and ShadyPenguinn. More information will be revealed at PAX Unplugged next week.

WotC confirmed "We are excited for you to experience the new show, but that means [Dice, Camera, Action!] will not be returning. We congratulate the cast on 141 episodes of wonderful storytelling."

Chris Perkins added "I will have thoughts to share about DCA at some point, but for now I’ll just say how much I love the whole DCA cast, in particular Anna Prosser, Nathan Sharp, Jared Knabenbauer, and Holly Conrad. We are a family, and their happiness matters to me."

 

[iserith]

Did you watch any of Critical Role? There were a ton of impactful things that happen/happened in their streams.

I've watched some. It's just too slow for me and I find the accents they put on cringy. The DM does some stuff I don't like as well, particularly in the area of being too long-winded and describing what the characters think and do.

Also check out MCDM - they have a bunch things with stakes happening in their games' streams.

If you mean Matt Colville, I've watched a couple of his games and didn't care for them. Players are a bit too sedentary and the group seems to get sidetracked a lot. Of the ones I've watched anyway.

 

[iserith]

I wonder how much of that is because "threat of death" and TPKs are not something that translate well to long-term investment of a streamed game series. It's odd to me that even these big-name DMs don't really take a lot of the advice out there of "how to set stakes that matter, even if death isn't one of the possible outcomes."

You may well be right here.

Notably, I did find several of the Stream of Many Eyes games fun because PCs were dying left and right. I could care less about watching 80 hours of Floofypants the Halfling Bard seducing a hag, running errands for said hag, then breaking up with said hag in an hour-long Skill Challenge that is mostly just the DM calling for Perception checks to stall for time.

Man, I totally agree. It's like pacing is just not a consideration in most of these streams that I've seen. There's a running joke in Discord where I am only capable of tuning into the stream when the group is in the middle of ordering breakfast, doing a ponderous puzzle, or interviewing yet another quirky, cagey NPC.

 

[thealmightyn]

Most of the streams that I've watched are more about the character development, social encounters, exploration, etc., somewhat following along the concept of equal spotlight on each of the three pillars. If you're a gamer who's much more interested in the combat aspect of the game (which is fair) then most of the streams are going to seem much too long-winded.

I personally like the way a lot of streaming players develop out their characters. That is a huge part of the draw for me, but it's not really any more important than combat (love seeing how different DMs design their maps).

 

[Charlaquin]

You may well be right here.

Man, I totally agree. It's like pacing is just not a consideration in most of these streams that I've seen. There's a running joke in Discord where I am only capable of tuning into the stream when the group is in the middle of ordering breakfast, doing a ponderous puzzle, or interviewing yet another quirky, cagey NPC.

I think it has a lot to do with streams being D&D as performance art, rather than D&D as game. I’ve noticed that these campaigns tend to have a lot more acting than your typical D&D session, and a lot less narrating over large swaths of downtime. In actual play, the players are participants, they’re there to make decisions and take action, so it is good policy to focus on that. In a stream though, the players are performers. They’re there to entertain the audience, who are passive viewers.

 

[iserith]

Most of the streams that I've watched are more about the character development, social encounters, exploration, etc., somewhat following along the concept of equal spotlight on each of the three pillars. If you're a gamer who's much more interested in the combat aspect of the game (which is fair) then most of the streams are going to seem much too long-winded.

I personally like the way a lot of streaming players develop out their characters. That is a huge part of the draw for me, but it's not really any more important than combat (love seeing how different DMs design their maps).

My concern is chiefly around scenes with stakes - something the PCs can win or lose, something they're trying to achieve - that don't drag on forever. That might be in any of the three pillars. In a game like mine, exposition will be dealt with quickly and then it's on to combat, exploration, and social interaction challenges. The PC-to-PC interaction will happen in the context of those scenes. You won't find us spending, say, 45 minutes of a session shopping. Or ordering breakfast in a tavern while pontificating on backstories, which some of these streams seem to focus on almost to the exclusion of anything else.

 

[iserith]

I think it has a lot to do with streams being D&D as performance art, rather than D&D as game. I’ve noticed that these campaigns tend to have a lot more acting than your typical D&D session, and a lot less narrating over large swaths of downtime. In actual play, the players are participants, they’re there to make decisions and take action, so it is good policy to focus on that. In a stream though, the players are performers. They’re there to entertain the audience, who are passive viewers.

For many of these streams that I've seen on Twitch, they're not even doing that. We had a discussion recently among fellow DMs regarding streams and the question was raised as to how these producers were thinking about their product. Were they thinking "This is how we play, warts and all, and you're free to watch if you like it." Or is it more "We're going to make something exciting to watch to draw the most viewers." And to be clear, I'm not necessarily talking about streams with big viewership. For many of the streams we've watched, it seems to be the former. I'm not sure what the strategy is there.

 

[SMHWorlds]

Did you watch any of Critical Role? There were a ton of impactful things that happen/happened in their streams.

Also check out MCDM - they have a bunch things with stakes happening in their games' streams.

I do like The Chain and the other stuff MCDM has done, though even their level of nonsense is almost too much for me. I think Critical Role had some great moments, but they also have a lot of nonsense time that has made season 2 unwatchable for me. But that is me, I certainly do not want to discourage folks from watching CR or The Chain or any other stream.

My biggest issue is meta talk and table talk. Most streams just spend too much time not focusing on the game. That is what I am there for. If you want to mess around for 30 minutes before hand, fine, do that, but if your game is 7 to 9, then that is how long I want to see you getting going by 7:15 at the latest. The few streams I have been on generally have done a great job of that. And trust me I know how tempting it can be to swerve off the path of the game lol.

 

[Charlaquin]

For many of these streams that I've seen on Twitch, they're not even doing that. We had a discussion recently among fellow DMs regarding streams and the question was raised as to how these producers were thinking about their product. Were they thinking "This is how we play, warts and all, and you're free to watch if you like it." Or is it more "We're going to make something exciting to watch to draw the most viewers." And to be clear, I'm not necessarily talking about streams with big viewership. For many of the streams we've watched, it seems to be the former. I'm not sure what the strategy is there.

Oh, gotcha. Yeah, a lot of smaller streams pretty much just record and post their games. I was thinking of the bigger, more produced ones like CR and DCA.

 

[Oofta]

I think it has a lot to do with streams being D&D as performance art, rather than D&D as game. I’ve noticed that these campaigns tend to have a lot more acting than your typical D&D session, and a lot less narrating over large swaths of downtime. In actual play, the players are participants, they’re there to make decisions and take action, so it is good policy to focus on that. In a stream though, the players are performers. They’re there to entertain the audience, who are passive viewers.

Well, for Critical Role, the group started out as a home campaign, not as something to be streamed. No clue how close it is to the game they played before they started broadcasting it but supposedly they didn't change much.

As far as combat to RP/exploration I think that varies a lot by group. With my current group, the time spent in combat is only slightly more than CR's time for most sessions. We regularly do 6 hour sessions with a break to eat and we maybe get in a couple of fights a lot of days.

The group enjoys it so I've just adjusted my expectations and plan accordingly.

 

[Aaron L]

I think it has a lot to do with streams being D&D as performance art, rather than D&D as game. I’ve noticed that these campaigns tend to have a lot more acting than your typical D&D session, and a lot less narrating over large swaths of downtime. In actual play, the players are participants, they’re there to make decisions and take action, so it is good policy to focus on that. In a stream though, the players are performers. They’re there to entertain the audience, who are passive viewers.

This is why I just haven't been able to watch any streamed D&D games: the "performing" is just annoying to me, and every stream I've ever tried to watch has seemed to be nothing but literally hours of drawn out character interactions with meaningless NPCs like cooks and janitors, pointless interactions with NPCs who have nothing to do with the plot and will never be seen again. And far too much of it mixed with a lot of derailing "funny" buffoonery from players who seem to treat the whole game as nothing but a big joke, giving their characters stupid names and annoying personalities... that kind of stuff would ruin a game for me and honestly drive me to quit, and I have no desire to watch someome else play it either. I love jokes and humor during a game, but treating the game itself as a joke makes me genuinely angry when I'm trying to play.

The only streamed D&D game I ever actually enjoyed watching was Stephen Colbert's charity game session; he was the only one I ever watched who treated the game like the actual D&D players I've ever played with. That one was a joy to watch, while all the others have been like watching someone scrape their fingernails across a chalkboard.