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.

 

[Mort]

This brings up the question: is a railroad a "script"?

I would say no. Not in a railroad or a linear adventure.

The players aren't knowingly following a set path with the full knowledge of what their words/actions will lead to. Nor do the players generally know what the outcomes will be, as they would if they were following a script (that they could read to the end before adventure completion).

Now, if the players are replaying an adventure they've played before, taking the same actions, going to the same places and getting the same outcome as they had on a previous run through? Then, I think, you could argue things are scripted. But not sure why you'd do that though!

 

[Mournblade94]

So you're calling professional actors liars with zero evidence.

Yes I'm calling professional actors liars with zero evidence.

 

[AlViking]

Yes I'm calling professional actors liars with zero evidence.

So it's okay if I assume you're lying and just trolling?

 

[Mournblade94]

So it's okay if I assume you're lying and just trolling?

I literally don't care what you assume. I'm not interested in playing forum trap games in this day and age.

 

[WhatTheEyeSees]

My thoughts on the start of Campaign 4 are that while I generally don’t think most Actual Plays are scripted, I personally felt like this opening was a bit of an outlier. To me, it felt like a lot of the first few twists of the story might have been laid out quite heavily in an off camera Session 0, almost to the point where some moments felt pre-planned. I get the impression the goal was to quickly ramp up the stakes so both the cast and the audience would feel an immediate emotional connection to Thjazi Fang (I will keep it vague here to avoid spoilers), but for me it didn't quite land. It didn't feel like a story coming together through organic role play.

I don't think we will see many Actual Plays that follow the same approach that they took in Campaign 4, either future Critical Role productions, or this WotC production. I suspect if we had the internal data from Critical Role, it would show that some of the audience bounced off of it.

At the end of the day these are entertainment productions trying to capture the magic of gaming. I would expect the Actual Play format to keep evolving and getting better.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I believe Brennan and the cast all talked about their character backgrounds and were told something big was going to happen connecting them to each other and NPCs from their past. So yeah, it had what Sly Flourish refers to as a "strong start" that got everyone going.

The cast talked quite a bit after the first episode at how they were shocked at what happened -- they knew something would happen and it was tied to the backgrounds they had all worked out -- but the rest is improv.

I think the reason people think actual plays (meaning the ones with pro actors) are scripted is because there's not a lot of "uh, uh" and stalling on the parts of those playing, because they have special training to help them keep moving rather than freezing up, like most of us do.

 

[AlViking]

I assume many DMs talk to the players and work with them both to discuss background and how the group will form, what the campaign will be about, if a player has any specific goals for their character. That doesn't make it scripted.

 

[WhatTheEyeSees]

I assume many DMs talk to the players and work with them both to discuss background and how the group will form, what the campaign will be about, if a player has any specific goals for their character. That doesn't make it scripted.

For me, a good Actual Play let's the system breath through a little. I think the opening episodes of Age of Umbra did a good job of this. Even with shared backgrounds it was clear the story was developing from play: both role playing and the luck of the dice.

Hopefully the new WotC production showcases the system a bit, while also having a strong narrative.

 

[Incenjucar]

From what I've observed, Legends of Avantris clearly does a lot of pre-planning for character backgrounds, story beats, and character arcs, but they also regularly invent entire characters and quests from stutters, one-off jokes, and brief eccentricities shining through. This is also how a lot of normal games are run, where there's a broad set of expectations but the points between the dots can go wildly off the rails and take the story somewhere unexpected if it's too good to ignore. I expect that this is fairly common in the long-running actual play games, as you do want to make sure there is a minimum of juicy narrative to work with without constraining creativity.

 

[Maxperson]

5e was becoming successful before Critical Role, and has/had a reach FAR beyond Critical Role. Of my friends/a acquaintances who play 5e maybe 10% have even seen an episode let alone been influenced by it.

Critical Role is hugely popular and has certainly had an impact on 5e popularity, but it was FAR from the only impact and 5e would 100% still be around where it is without it.

I doubt it. You are only looking at people directly influenced by it. What needs to be considered is that there are not only huge numbers who were directly influenced by it, but even larger numbers influenced by people playing 5e because they were influenced by Critical Roll. And then more influenced by those people. Critical Rolls influence is like a snowball rolling downhill, but you're just looking at the initial snowball.

5e would absolutely be around and be successful without Critical Roll, but it wouldn't be where it is now without it. It wouldn't even be close. And that also doesn't account for those brought in by Stranger Things, Big Bang Theory, Ghosts, and more.