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.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Realistically, digital is the only practical way to deliver content tied to something like this. It really comes down to how well a marketing vehicle (streamed content) fits a product (digital).

Two big reasons:

Production timelines make coordinating physical release and digital release really tough, especially for something episodic. With digital, you can work on content at the same pace as the show production, then release both sides (streaming, game content) at the same time. For physical, you'd need the content locked in 6 months before the show recorded. That's not really viable.

An online streamed show is much better at marketing digital content that you can buy while watching or immediately after. The loop is something like: watch the show, hit the buy button. Asking someone to watch a show then go to a store, or to buy something and wait at least a few days for it to show up, makes everything much more inefficient. You lose enough customers that the investment might start to look like a bad idea.

Also i would bet a crisp 20 that if the digital content sells well, it will get some sort of Annual or Best Of type product, with a physical option.

But yeah this sort of thing just wouldn't get made if it had to be physical in order to exist, id imagine.

 

[bedir than]

I don't want her to start thinking scripted roles by actors are the way to play.

Then you shouldn't worry about watching actual plays. Almost zero of them are highly edited and since most run over an hour it would be impossible to be scripted.

 

[Clint_L]

Well I do wonder if some of them think their careers have taken an odd turn.

I imagine that they are fricken thrilled for the cool job. Acting is a hustle!

 

[darjr]

I imagine that they are fricken thrilled for the cool job. Acting is a hustle!

Oh yea I bet.

 

[Clint_L]

Because on D&DB, you don't own it. You're renting space.

The amount of times I see a variation of this criticism from this forum. We get it: if you need physical ownership to feel secure, then a subscription service like DDB is not for you.

 

[Clint_L]

Good for you. I'm all for you enjoying yourself the way you want. That's not my choice.

I love having books that my kids can look at and say, "Pop, those are really cool. Can you play with us?" And that gives me an enormous sense of happiness.

I can't point them to D&DB and say, "look at this...computer." I mean, I could. But I don't want to.

Yeah, because that would be pretty weird. Fortunately, I suspect that your kids are aware that it is not the computer itself that is important, but rather what it allows you to access.

Thus, when I use DDB to introduce a new student to the game...like, say, YESTERDAY, I don't just point at a computer. Instead, I showed him the character quickbuilder and let him play around on it. He was immediately trying all kinds of combinations and soon came up with an Elvish druid that he seems very pleased about.

It's almost like things have changed since we were kids.

 

[Clint_L]

Because I don't watch strangers play D&D on the internet?

The other day, I was watching this thing called "television" and it was so stupid. Just a bunch of strangers pretending to be other people. Who would enjoy that?

 

[liteberer]

The amount of times I see a variation of this criticism from this forum. We get it: if you need physical ownership to feel secure, then a subscription service like DDB is not for you.

Exactly! I don't understand why people keep insisting that I'm doing it wrong. Why can't I just be happy?

 

[Clint_L]

Exactly! I don't understand why people keep insisting that I'm doing it wrong. Why can't I just be happy?

Sure. Except you chose to raise the issue. Why bring it up at all?

Edit: I have never read one thread on this forum of people arguing that you are wrong to prefer pen and paper and books. Absolutely people discuss why they prefer what they prefer, but mostly it's folks who like the new thing who get challenged.

It's frustrating to me because I can't ever take part in a discussion about DDB without a bunch of folks chiming in to tell us that we're doing D&D wrong. Same with the actual play critics. Why pop into a thread about an actual play show just to tell us that actual play shows suck?

 

[liteberer]

Yeah, because that would be pretty weird. Fortunately, I suspect that your kids are aware that it is not the computer itself that is important, but rather what it allows you to access.

Thus, when I use DDB to introduce a new student to the game...like, say, YESTERDAY, I don't just point at a computer. Instead, I showed him the character quickbuilder and let him play around on it. He was immediately trying all kinds of combinations and soon came up with an Elvish druid that he seems very pleased about.

It's almost like things have changed since we were kids.

I should mention that I have Roll20. We would play on Roll20 exclusively. I work from home. Which means, I would be on the computer all day in my garage and then, when it came time to play, I would retreat back into my garage to play. I realized I rather get together with my friends in person and share pizza, beer and laughs. So what if it took a little longer?