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.

 

[Bravesteel25]

I think it’s a mood thing as it’s a Ravenloft setting?

I think this is probably accurate. It wouldn’t do to have promotional images of the cast cutting it up and then be like, “Join us in the realm of dread known as Ravenloft!”

 

[nyvinter]

And I think the calling the players of live streams for "cast members" came from Titansgrave and is even used for games run by non-professional voice actors. So not a recent thing and it's a medium jargon by now.

 

[Clint_L]

Know what else Crfitical Role call themselves? "A bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors who sit around playing Dungeons and Dragons."

 

[Clint_L]

I do think there is a discussion to had, not about whether all these people are faking it and lying - that's just a conspiracy theory - but about the degree of railroading imposed by published adventures or, in home games, pre-prepared story arcs. I tend to stay away from hewing too closely to published adventures, especially from WotC, because they do tend to offer only a few possible outcomes , success or failure to foil the Big Bad, and success is basically assumed. But this is not an actual play show issue, it's more of a sandbox vs. railroad issue, which is a discussion we've had many times (I'm more of a sandbox guy). If you look at the first season of Critical Role, it's pretty sandboxy. The thrid season, much less so.

 

[Mort]

I do think there is a discussion to had, not about whether all these people are faking it and lying - that's just a conspiracy theory - but about the degree of railroading imposed by published adventures or, in home games, pre-prepared story arcs. I tend to stay away from hewing too closely to published adventures, especially from WotC, because they do tend to offer only a few possible outcomes , success or failure to foil the Big Bad, and success is basically assumed. But this is not an actual play show issue, it's more of a sandbox vs. railroad issue, which is a discussion we've had many times (I'm more of a sandbox guy). If you look at the first season of Critical Role, it's pretty sandboxy. The thrid season, much less so.

For the first season, at least, it seems to be a pretty classic Wide-narrow-Wide etc. approach. As in, the group gets lots of choices on direction, but then when those choices are made - it's a pretty narrow decision funnel until the arc is mostly over, then the choices expand again, then narrow etc. I find it's a good way to run (and one reason I recommend season 1 to new DMs).

Seems in the WoTC livestream, their going with a bunch of prepared mini scenarios? Looks to be a series of connected one shots?

 

[Mournblade94]

No what else Crfitical Role call themselves? "A bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors who sit around playing Dungeons and Dragons."

Players?

 

[saviirkad]

I do think there is a discussion to had, not about whether all these people are faking it and lying - that's just a conspiracy theory - but about the degree of railroading imposed by published adventures or, in home games, pre-prepared story arcs. I tend to stay away from hewing too closely to published adventures, especially from WotC, because they do tend to offer only a few possible outcomes , success or failure to foil the Big Bad, and success is basically assumed. But this is not an actual play show issue, it's more of a sandbox vs. railroad issue, which is a discussion we've had many times (I'm more of a sandbox guy). If you look at the first season of Critical Role, it's pretty sandboxy. The thrid season, much less so.

Ultimately it's just a preference thing. Which type of game you like to run or play in more. Most of the more well-known actual plays tend to be more railroad than sandbox, but I think that has mostly to do with many of them being actors and storyteller types. That I have seen anyway, that's a field that grows every year and I can't watch or listen to them all.

You can see with Critical Role that shift from a sandbox start to railroad end (using these terms extremely loosely).

Campaign one starts off as more sandboxy and it sounds like the pre-stream game was all sandbox, but there's rails added, well, conveniently at the episode mark that many fans suggest one should start at. Campaign two starts more sandboxy as well until the players latch onto a storyline and ride it all the way through. Campaign three has a very, very short sandbox period, but was designed from the start (I'm assuming) to be the capstone to a trilogy.

Campaign four has Brennan at the helm, who comes from Dimension 20 that has little to no sandbox play. His Worlds Beyond Number campaign does show that he can do sandbox, but that's with three players rather than three tables tackling the same story.

 

[AlViking]

Ultimately it's just a preference thing. Which type of game you like to run or play in more. Most of the more well-known actual plays tend to be more railroad than sandbox, but I think that has mostly to do with many of them being actors and storyteller types. That I have seen anyway, that's a field that grows every year and I can't watch or listen to them all.

You can see with Critical Role that shift from a sandbox start to railroad end (using these terms extremely loosely).

Campaign one starts off as more sandboxy and it sounds like the pre-stream game was all sandbox, but there's rails added, well, conveniently at the episode mark that many fans suggest one should start at. Campaign two starts more sandboxy as well until the players latch onto a storyline and ride it all the way through. Campaign three has a very, very short sandbox period, but was designed from the start (I'm assuming) to be the capstone to a trilogy.

Campaign four has Brennan at the helm, who comes from Dimension 20 that has little to no sandbox play. His Worlds Beyond Number campaign does show that he can do sandbox, but that's with three players rather than three tables tackling the same story.

Because campaign 4 is juggling multiple groups it seems like it would be incredibly hard to use the sandbox approach. Maybe some people can do it, but as you said his other streams have been more linear.

 

[Clint_L]

Players?

You understand what the word "playing" means, yes?

 

[wicked cool]

Matt has said many times that the group has missed out on many things and he’s had to scrap preplanned encounters.