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.

 

[Juomari Veren]

Excited for this, mostly because it means they will be releasing a new obstetric every week from the books. Confirmed the Zombie Clot from Van Richtens is coming back, which will surely not make anyone upset at all…

I mean just because Jasmine put the Zombie Clot mini down doesn't mean that it's meant to be the Zombie Clot, nor that the statblock was necessarily updated for Horrors Within. The stats from Van Richten's hold up well enough (for the Clot; YMMV on other ones) so it could also just be her using the older stats for some cross compatability with the editions.

 

[Dire Bare]

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. I always have the core books of the latest edition in paper. My son (4 years old) calls the monster manual simply "the monster book". I also kept some of the early books I started gaming with, as they are precious to me. But the million of splatbooks and source books have gone the way of the dodo ...

Yup. In the 90s, I had an enormous bookshelf of RPG books . . . today I have a much smaller, curated selection of my favorite books, beautifully illustrated books, and much-used books. All the splat in my life is now digital.

I run an afterschool D&D Club . . . the kids prefer the ease of D&D Beyond for character creation, but also for exploring their character options. Sadly, our school IT department makes it very difficult to actually use D&D Beyond on the school's wifi . . . .

 

[wicked cool]

Are the Bg3 actors playing their characters again?

It’s funny wotc is promoting this a ton in YouTube and Facebook etc but they promoted something like this before and it died before being released?

Also I recognize the 2 Bg3 and the critical role guests but has the 5th made an appearance? Is this a first time dm?

 

[Bravesteel25]

Are the Bg3 actors playing their characters again?

It’s funny wotc is promoting this a ton in YouTube and Facebook etc but they promoted something like this before and it died before being released?

Also I recognize the 2 Bg3 and the critical role guests but has the 5th made an appearance? Is this a first time dm?

I believe the announcement says that they are playing completely new characters.

What did WotC promote that died previously?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The "during game" was completely planned between Brennan and Alex. Brennan made Alex playing a hollow one conditional on him getting killed during the game. Sure, no loss of agency, because it was absolutely agreed upon, but it seemed completely for the benefit of the audience.

You are misrepresenting it pretty badly. Brennan didnt "make" Alex play a hollow one, but i think that part may be a typo on your part. Did you mean "allow"?

Beyond that, Brennan suggested it and Alex thought the idea was cool, so they collaborated on making it possible, literal with the explicit undwerstanding that Alex might just lose the character completely. And that nesrlg happened, had the group not worked together to make the final roll be what it needed to be.

Nothing about that is in any way counter to playing dnd. Non of it is something that would never happen in a home game. I have seen similar things play out in home games.

It wasnt foe the benefit of the audience, it was to the benefit of the story and the players at the table.

Hell some people always want something cool like "i died and came back" to happen in play rsther than in background notes, with dice rolls that can fail, so that it is earned to some degree.

I wasn't implying, I was flatly stating that, in my opinion, they're not playing, they are performing

Gross.

which, for me, kills the game night vibe. And expressing my hope that the new actual play does not come across like this

Clearly we disagree, and that's fine.

No, it isnt fine, because "i am insulting people" and "dont do that" isnt a disagreement, it is one purpose behavior quite poorly and another asking them to behave better.

I've been in games where a player discussed some aspect of their character arc with the DM and the DM made it happen. The player may not have known the exact specifics, but there was an agreement that some variation of X would happen. It's not limited to streams and whether or not anyone wants it in their game is a personal choice.

Exactly. When that played out, it literally reminded me of moments from my and others home games. Just acted better with better pacing and set dressing, because i don't have the same acting skills and production crew to build sets and terrain.

It would be completely nonsensical to begrudge them those advantages.

 

[wicked cool]

I believe the announcement says that they are playing completely new characters.

What did WotC promote that died previously?

Encounter party was hyped and really doesn’t have an audience

 

[Bravesteel25]

Encounter party was hyped and really doesn’t have an audience

That’s not a WotC production though, is it?

 

[wicked cool]

That’s not a WotC production though, is it?

I believe it is. Bottom left of their website says it is. It had a bug advertising blitz and some Hollywood talent and it’s still going (I think)
The problem (my opinion) is with live streaming d&d is how good the 2 dm’s are. I’m sorry but Brennan and Matt are just so much better than anyone else I’ve watched
They are great at improv, know their worlds , know the rules as well as the creators and have personality . I can’t think of any flaw.
They are the equivalent of watching Jordan/gretzy/nicholson Ruth etc in their prime and going with sports if you are used to the best soccer and then you watch say second tier soccer it’s not as good
That’s the problem (maybe with this)

 

[Zaukrie]

This is the most ENWorld thread ever.

 

[Bravesteel25]

I believe it is. Bottom left of their website says it is. It had a bug advertising blitz and some Hollywood talent and it’s still going (I think)
The problem (my opinion) is with live streaming d&d is how good the 2 dm’s are. I’m sorry but Brennan and Matt are just so much better than anyone else I’ve watched
They are great at improv, know their worlds , know the rules as well as the creators and have personality . I can’t think of any flaw.
They are the equivalent of watching Jordan/gretzy/nicholson Ruth etc in their prime and going with sports if you are used to the best soccer and then you watch say second tier soccer it’s not as good
That’s the problem (maybe with this)

I still don’t think it was a specifically WotC ran production. It looks like there was some coordination to bring it to the D&D Adventures channel, but that’s it. I think that’s where the “After three successful seasons, the show was redesigned for television in collaboration with eOne and Wizards of the Coast,” blurb comes into play.

Regardless, I actually gave it a shot this evening and I can’t say I was impressed and I’m usually pretty easy to please with this kind of stuff. I watched the first episode and it felt artificial and rushed.

I guess the biggest takeaway from that is that I hope this Dungeon Masters show gives the group and pacing room to breathe instead of being at the mercy of the marketing department, but I think I already know the answer to that.

Regardless, I’m going to be optimistic. They could hit gold with another “Acquisitions Incorporated” type of tone and style, but starting in Ravenloft doesn’t give me high hopes for that.