D&D General Joe Manganiello's D&D Campaign Includes a Game of Thrones Creator & Vince Vaughn

The entertainment magazine Variety has joined the long list of mainstream publications who have published articles about D&D in recent years. They take a look at Joe Manganiello's home game, which includes Vince Vaughn, plus the guitarist from Rage Against the Machine, and one one of the Game of Thrones creators!

Inside Joe Manganiello’s Epic Dungeons & Dragons Campaign

Go inside Joe Manganiello's Hollywood Dungeons & Dragons campaign, which includes Vince Vaughn, Tom Morello, The Big Show and more.

variety.com

 

[Todd Roybark]

If a bunch of similarly placed, prominent, and powerful people got together in the drawing room regularly for brandy and cigars, we would look sideways at it. The article itself points out how it is social bonding, the creation of a community... a community of influential men with no women in it is not a good look these days.

I think this is entirely a valid concern for D&D designers. How much or little the personal tables of the designers of D&D reflect diversity, is going to be telling of what cultural inputs the game is receiving at the level of design.

This is an article about a D&D group that formed like many groups do: acquaintances from children carpool groups, friends from the same background (Chicago for Morello and Vaughn), someone bringing their buddy over, etc.

Beyond being famous, what design or business control does this group have over D&D?

The group’s target of appeal, is more towards the ‘rounding error’ of D&D demographics, 40+ year olds.

I also want to point out the article was clearly written at least 3 months or so ago, and just now released.

If 6-7 people are huddled in (probably a spacious room) in Joe’s house, in contravention of local municipal guidelines regarding social distancing, then that is truly alarming.

 

[Mistwell]

You can't get in someone's grill if they don't even know you exist.

And, I'm afraid that this isn't "just his home table" - insofar as "just a home table" is not worth an article in Variety. Your table wouldn't make for such an article, and neither would mine. This is a table of celebrities. Nearly a dozen named players, and three folks who do ancillary things for the game (like paint minis) - all men.

No it's just his home table. He is a human being with ordinary hobbies, and this is his home game. It's not being played for the media. The media covered it, but this is just his normal home game, and pretty normal for that area of LA - the neighborhood he lives in, that group is very normal. Some of his friends are celebrities but actually most of that table ISN'T celebrities, at least by the definition used here in Los Angeles where he lives.

If a bunch of similarly placed, prominent, and powerful people got together in the drawing room regularly for brandy and cigars, we would look sideways at it.

These are not "powerful people" for this region. They are not movers and shakers in society - just on a D&D board. These are ordinary people from the Entertainment Industry, which out here in Los Angeles is a perfectly normal industry. Entertainment is just a product this region specialized in and a very large segment of the city is devoted to it.

For us HERE they seem like they are powerful - but they really are not. Nothing happening in that room will impact important things for our society.

 

[Umbran]

No Umbran, it's just his home table. He is a human being with ordinary hobbies, and this is his home game.

Not if it is in Variety with his consent, it isn't. He's choosing to make it a public display of it, and that display has meaning to people. That is open to critique.

You want what you do at home not open to criticism? Don't actively publicize it.

 

[Mistwell]

Not if it is in Variety with his consent, it isn't. He's choosing to make it a public display of it, and that display has meaning to people. That is open to critique.

You want what you do at home not open to criticism? Don't actively publicize it.

He has to change his home game because Variety wanted to cover it (and very likely were covering it as a two-fer to cover his wife that day)? No he doesn't. Sure it's open to critique, I just am critiquing your critique because I think it's vacuous.

I also doubt he "actively" sought publicity for the game. I'd bet you Variety just asked - again, probably because they were already covering his wife that day.

 

[Dire Bare]

Not if it is in Variety with his consent, it isn't. He's choosing to make it a public display of it, and that display has meaning to people. That is open to critique.

You want what you do at home not open to criticism? Don't actively publicize it.

Publicizing something is different than having an article written about your activities. Did Joe actively seek out this publicity from Variety? Or did a Variety writer contact Joe about covering what's going on in his home group? Different scenarios, different purposes.

The above article is not publicity. At all.

It's like when the local news covers something cool a teacher is doing for their students during the pandemic closure. Is that teacher engaging in publicity? No.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Maybe the article on Sofia Vergara's 4e table was in Vogue... And Variety and Vogue didn't want to engage in an edition war out there in the public...

 

[Dire Bare]

No it's just his home table. He is a human being with ordinary hobbies, and this is his home game. It's not being played for the media. The media covered it, but this is just his normal home game, and pretty normal for that area of LA - the neighborhood he lives in, that group is very normal. Some of his friends are celebrities but actually most of that table ISN'T celebrities, at least by the definition used here in Los Angeles where he lives.

These are not "powerful people" for this region. They are not movers and shakers in society - just on a D&D board. These are ordinary people from the Entertainment Industry, which out here in Los Angeles is a perfectly normal industry. Entertainment is just a product this region specialized in and a very large segment of the city is devoted to it.

For us HERE they seem like they are powerful - but they really are not. Nothing happening in that room will impact important things for our society.

Celebrity, of course, is relative. I didn't know who the video game designer was, but I'm sure League of Legends players do. Some folks in this thread didn't know who Tom Morello was and must not be Rage Against the Machine fans (what!?!?!). But with the possible exception of Joe's brother, they are all celebrities and successful within their fields.

And, while this isn't a cabal of Hollywood elites plotting evil behind closed doors . . . many of the folks at that table DO have a degree of influence in their respective fields. Probably the most "power" is held by D.B. Weiss (GoT showrunner), but even then, it's pretty limited in application.

If everyone in the room was a Hollywood producer . . . well hell, even then I wouldn't be overly concerned about back-room deals over the D&D table.

The concerns about representation, publicity, back-room deals possibly going on over Joe's home D&D game . . . I just can't roll my eyes hard enough.

 

[haakon1]

I looked at who is playing what characters. My respect goes to the old schoolers: the Art & Arcana guy with a Half-Orc Barbarian, and Vince Vaughn with a Human (yes!) Sorcerer. OK, those classes weren’t in 1e, but close enough.

D.B. Weiss had a fairly Old School character ... Elf something ... but you know, GoT, so ... “what d’ya know, Weiss, you fell in a trap. Roll 2d6 for damage, and a save v. Tetanus“. “Aww, again?”

 

[Dire Bare]

He has to change his home game because Variety wanted to cover it (and very likely were covering it as a two-fer to cover his wife that day)? No he doesn't. Sure it's open to critique, I just am critiquing your critique because I think it's vacuous.

I also doubt he "actively" sought publicity for the game. I'd bet you Variety just asked - again, probably because they were already covering his wife that day.

I don't think the Variety coverage was likely a "two-fer" or side bonus of covering Sofia Vergara. D&D used to be something to keep quiet about, in Hollywood and for us non-celebs too. But it is growing in visibility and popularity, and people are interested in it.

This article gets us D&D nerds all excited . . . "Look at all the famous D&D players!" . . . but it really isn't written (solely) for us.

Sofia Vergara is a very talented actress and certainly deserves the media coverage she gets . . . but the interest in Joe's home D&D game is enough by itself to warrant Variety running an article.

 

[Iry]

Joe didn't choose some of his players for "networking reasons", he found them through networking . . . meaning, he met them through his friends.

While they were friends of friends, Joe makes it clear that several of them would not have been invited except for who they are.