Wizards of the Coast launches official Dungeons & Dragons Actual Play show

Wizards of the Coast is getting back into the Actual Play game. Today, Wizards announced via Variety that they are launching a new Actual Play show called Dungeon Masters, starring Jasmine Bhullar as the Dungeon Master along with players Mayanna Berrin, Christian Navarro, Neil Newbon and Devora Wilde. Wilde and Newbon are veterans of Baldur's Gate 3, a smash hit for the Dungeons & Dragons IP. However, both actors will be playing new characters and not their Baldur's Gate 3 characters.

Of note is that the show will feature "official, unreleased D&D content" which will be put up for sale on D&D Beyond following every episode. The first arc takes place in Ravenloft and will feature content from Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. New episodes will be released weekly on YouTube, starting on April 22nd.

Wizards of the Coast previously produced several official D&D Actual Play series, including Dice, Camera, Action and Force Grey. Dice, Camera, Action was their flagship D&D program for years until it unceremoniously ended due to a scandal involving two of its players.

 

[Belen]

I do not get it. I watched 20 minutes of an actual play show once. It is so utterly boring.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Oh, I did not think of the idea that it wasn't live. I thought most streams were live. (I don't watch any of them live, and usually only indulge clip shows and specific moments.)

I don't think high-end actual plays tend to be live any more. Recording them in advance allows them to have higher production values, with sound effects, lighting cues, comfort breaks, etc. I think only Critical Role does stuff live of the big actual plays nowadays.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I do not get it. I watched 20 minutes of an actual play show once. It is so utterly boring.

I ate Little Caesars once but didn't swear off pizza as a category.

And, hey, some people actually like Little Caesars. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Reynard]

I do not get it. I watched 20 minutes of an actual play show once. It is so utterly boring.

They aren't for everyone. I tend to really enjoy Critical Role as an adjunct to the Vox Machina cartoon -- I will go back and watch table moments of big events in the cartoon. I also enjoy clip shows.

But our individual preferences do not define the medium, and we should not look askance at those that enjoy the form.

 

[Belen]

I ate Little Caesars once but didn't swear off pizza as a category.

And, hey, some people actually like Little Caesars. Different strokes for different folks.

I just do not see the appeal of people watching rather than doing. I feel the same about sports, reality TV, and other things.

It is a culture I do not understand. This is the same for short form stuff. I do not get it.

The longer form stuff, at least, does not kill attention span or cause dopamine addiction.

I wanted to give it a chance. Maybe it is better watched in a group where you can interact and critique it live.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I just do not see the appeal of people watching rather than doing. I feel the same about sports, reality TV, and other things.

It is a culture I do not understand. This is the same for short form stuff. I do not get it.

The longer form stuff, at least, does not kill attention span or cause dopamine addiction.

I wanted to give it a chance. Maybe it is better watched in a group where you can interact and critique it live.

If you don't understand what people get out of watching sports, even if it's not necessarily for you, it may be difficult for you to grok any sort of spectator experience generally.

Which is good news for you, because that's a lot of tickets you're never going to have to pay for.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I started off with actual plays shortly before the pandemic, listening to The Adventure Zone as a podcast while I was walking, driving or doing the dishes, and later added more such podcasts (Dimension 20, Nerd Poker, Not Another D&D Podcast) as an adjunct to audio drama podcasts (The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Dead Pilot Society, etc.) that I was already enjoying.

I now listen to a lot more actual plays as podcasts, but actually sitting down to watch them is rare, and is mostly reserved for Dimension 20 or the occasional Critical Role one shot.

I don't really engage with the larger fandom around any of them, so I'm not in it for the collective experience. For me, they're just entertainment (my choices are heavily weighted towards professional actors and comedians), along with helping with rules mastery in some cases (Brennan Lee Mulligan and Matt Mercer mostly), or checking out new games I am unlikely to play in the near term (Play to Find Out, Glass Cannon Network, etc.).

But as Mike Shea recently said on his show, RPGs is not a singular hobby, but a large umbrella for lots of smaller sub-hobbies. I don't engage with miniatures painting and am kind of an anti-collector, selling off whatever I'm unlikely to use in the future. Not being interested in actual plays is just not being into one particular sub-hobby in the RPG space.

I'm reasonably sure this new series is coming out of Hasbro's marketing budget and it'll almost certainly be effective at engaging the larger actual play audience and helping launch new D&D products across their season format. If this format doesn't work for you, I'm sure the marketing department has something else in mind to snare you, too.

 

[Belen]

If you don't understand what people get out of watching sports, even if it's not necessarily for you, it may be difficult for you to grok any sort of spectator experience generally.

Which is good news for you, because that's a lot of tickets you're never going to have to pay for.

I do not do concerts either.

I can do sports if a group activity and I loved to play before my body started falling apart.

It may be an odd hang up but the one I watched put me to sleep and I am a fan of Deborah Ann Woll.

 

[AlViking]

I just do not see the appeal of people watching rather than doing. I feel the same about sports, reality TV, and other things.

It is a culture I do not understand. This is the same for short form stuff. I do not get it.

The longer form stuff, at least, does not kill attention span or cause dopamine addiction.

I wanted to give it a chance. Maybe it is better watched in a group where you can interact and critique it live.

Right with you on sports and the vast majority of reality TV (I did have a soft spot for Forged in Steel).

I also don't think I'd ever just sit down and watch any streaming show but if I'm doing something else like exercising or some honey-do yardwork? I've listened to some for various reasons. I'm always interested in how other people run their games or play their characters. While I don't care for the streams that are obviously comedy-show-wannabes with what feels like prescripted moments (or setups just for the joke), there are times I found myself laughing out loud listening to shows like CR. A little odd when I do it when riding my bike down a trail but that's okay.

But I get that it's not for everyone.

 

[MockingBird]

Actual plays remind me of old timey radio broadcast shows, but you can see the actors. Kinda one of those full circle vibes. Exception being a game played instead of a script written.