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.

 

[Clint_L]

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 . . . .

I just had to have a word with our IT team, as DDB was suddenly being throttled. Fortunately, one of the IT team frequently joins our games so he sorted it right quick. I hope they don’t give you a hard time!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Are the Bg3 actors playing their characters again

No, the characters they are playing, and the art, is on the site. Newbon is a gnome reanimator. He has said he is trying to avoid being typecast as Asterion. All the PCs have subclasses from the new book.

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 accompanying DLC is “zombie clot encounter” so it will have to include the stat block (you won’t need VGR to use it). Of course there may not be any significant changes apart from the layout.

 

[GarrettKP]

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.

The first encounter packet they have for release next week calls out that it’s the Zombie Clot. And those packets have previews of the monsters in Horrors Within. So it’s save to assume that at least the clot got a reprint.

 

[Maxperson]

I don't think so, an example:

Spoiler

There was a whole scenario where there was a big fight and one of the PCs "died." But it was actually just setup for the character's actual background.

The scenario wasn't scripted but the DM and the players knew exactly what was happening and had a direction in mind - the beats were set.

The whole thing came off as for the benefit of the audience not the people at the table. Which links to what I was saying above

Brennan is much more narratively focused than Matt is, which alters the feel of the game. I like season 4, but not as much as I liked seasons 1-3.

 

[Maxperson]

the other players are not really an audience though, they are participants

They're both. They are all participating, yes, but they are also all coming up with things that the others don't know about in advance, which makes the others an audience for the one with the spotlight.

 

[Reynard]

Actual play is an idealized form of the hobby, especially when it is curated and edited. That doesn't make it bad entertainment, and doesn't even mean we can't learn something from it. But I think folks should not take it too seriously lest they take the wrong lessons from it. There's an analogy I would reach for, but Eric's Grandma would be cross.

 

[nyvinter]

While the audience is there, it's no longer live. It might look the same but since there's no real time chat and even knowing they're not live live make the audience influence smaller. Of course you can't shake it completely, but it's no longer the "filmed in front of a live audience" which makes it far easier to relax. Especially if it's edited like Dimension 20 or like this seems to be.

While Critical Role doesn't edit, I do think they act up to surprise the people in the room nowadays. That's where they get the immediate feedback with the live chat, social media, fan art, and all that being a month or three behind.

So in a way, prerecording makes it more like the home table than it being live on twitch/youtube.

 

[mamba]

They're both. They are all participating, yes, but they are also all coming up with things that the others don't know about in advance, which makes the others an audience for the one with the spotlight.

oh sure, my point was they are not merely an audience and describing them as such mischaracterizes them. Performers also do not just perform for the audience but to the benefit of the other performers, in that sense they are more like performers in that they are active, not passive

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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 would say Aabria is up there as is Jerry Holkins, but they both veer from the rules more and Holkins has only done the C Team.

 

[Mournblade94]

No, it objectively is not. WWE literally isnt wrestling. There isnt anything to learn about actual wrestling in "professional wrestling".

Actual plays are playing the game. They are more polished than your home game, that is the only difference.

Actual plays are scripted. The other difference between their game and my game besides production value is everyone knows how the encounters are going to end ahead of time so they are prepared for it. Just like WWE knows how the matches end. That's why I use it as an analogy. There is nothing "objective" about it not being scripted. Its just a way to use RPG's in a performing art. It is no different than Vox Machina except it is not animated. I used to watch the early shows of Critical Role to see if there was any sort of good tips for Gming. I couldn't find any because I couldn't even tell if they were making proper calls on rulings. It was all just a performance art, using D&D as a structure not actual rules. It changed the game from a game to a performing art. Like d20 tavern that my daughter and wife tried to get me to go to.