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.

 

[Selas]

I dismissed no one, but it seems several, more than a few have dismissed my right to an opinion, while few responded to my points about the show, others like yourself have tried to tell me I like Soth to much or am invested in a story I like too much. Seems exactly like telling me the opinion I am approved to have by others.

But you have on multiple instances when people have pointed out changes that you don't agree with. No one is telling you that your opinion is wrong, or that you need to abide of an approved opinion by us. We are telling you that the TTRPG community doesn't put as much stock in a unified canon like a book community does, because TTRPGs by their very nature allow players to have their own canon within an established setting. It's why WotC refers to home games as part of their multiverse even if they break canon (like for example: Curse of Strahdanya, where Strahd is female, and doesn't quite follows Curse of Strahd)

 

[SothFan]

Now who is being dismissive.

And my blank stare at you over this admission has nothing to do with me looking down on you for not playing D&D; I just want you to understand that you are on a D&D forum full of people who play TTRPGs and interact with them in that way.

I am dismissing nobody. From what I have seen of Critical Role, Dungeon Masters, Dimension 20, and a few others, the game is improv theater with some combat rules to argue over added in. It mirrors what I saw at a local book store. You are welcome to do that. I am not interested in it. So I can not address players from any point of understanding or frame of reference of the game but what I know of it. Yes, this is primarily a site for many of such games, but when I asked "an app" the best place online to discuss this show I was offered 2, and have no interest in the nonsense that is Reddit so came here.

Maybe people in this discussion could focus on addressing those who watch these game video as audiences rather than players of the game.

I have ttied reading to learn a bit in a few other discussion here about the game. Maybe others could meet me, a viewer and novel fan, in the middle? Address me not as a player, but as what I am.

 

[Selas]

We can meet ya in the middle, but that's a two way street. You also have to accept that in the ttrpg community...canon is flexible, not rigid, linear or set in stone like in novels, and up to what a Dungeon Master says is for his/her campaign story. The DM sets the story elements, the pace and the lore, which may or may not coincide with the official canon established by WotC or books, and may be influenced by the players actions at the table. Nothing produced by ttrpg players are considered official canon, unless WotC puts a stamp of approval. Novel continuities are mostly kept separate from the TTRPG, and WotC takes from them what they believe is relevant to their campaign setting or adventure.

From what I have seen of Critical Role, Dungeon Masters, Dimension 20, and a few others, the game is improv theater with some combat rules to argue over added in.

That is a common misconception brought out by the fact that most of those shows are done by professional actors or comedians that started them originally as a home campaign (Critical Role), or as competition (Dimension 20, Dungeon Masters).
DnD itself originally started as a Tabletop Miniature Wargame system with some roleplay elements, the latter which has evolved over the years with newer editions of the game and has been heavily popularized by these shows, to the point nowadays new folks to the game think it's that way.

Ultimately, this show and it's story are separate from either the novels or the campaign book, though it draws inspiration from both. They may play fast and loose with the canon and it's fine because its it's own thing. If you approach it from that point of view, you may be able to accept some of the changes in the show. However, this still doesn't change that officially, WotC is bringing back Soth and Sithicus to Ravenloft to satisfy the TTRPG community that wanted both back.

 

[Mort]

I am dismissing nobody. From what I have seen of Critical Role, Dungeon Masters, Dimension 20, and a few others, the game is improv theater with some combat rules to argue over added in.

Role-playing plays a decent part, especially in these actual plays, but they are still playing a game. They're not arguing over combat rules, the rules are used to adjudicate the results of the combat. If there is significant argument, something is wrong, especially in an actual play - where the DM and players should know better!

Further, there are rules for the other pillars of the game too - exploration and social interaction. The DM here is definitely using them - having the players roll investigation, persuasion etc.

The point is, because this is a gaming forum, people here will be viewing the stuff that happens from a gaming perspective. How difficult are the encounters? How well are the players using their abilities versus just trying to bs their way through (something that should be difficult if the encounters are set up correctly). It's a different way to watch than just to see the players as riffing off each other and the DM.

It mirrors what I saw at a local book store. You are welcome to do that. I am not interested in it. So I can not address players from any point of understanding or frame of reference of the game but what I know of it. Yes, this is primarily a site for many of such games, but when I asked "an app" the best place online to discuss this show I was offered 2, and have no interest in the nonsense that is Reddit so came here.

Maybe people in this discussion could focus on addressing those who watch these game video as audiences rather than players of the game.

Sure, but that's missing a really big element of the actual play. As importantly, you don't seem to actually like the production as a viewer?

And they're certainly not sticking to canon. A nono in most scripted media, but commonplace and expected in a home game (which this is acting as)

I have ttied reading to learn a bit in a few other discussion here about the game. Maybe others could meet me, a viewer and novel fan, in the middle? Address me not as a player, but as what I am.

Again sure, but that's going to ignore critical context for this particular program. For example, depending on how much leeway the players have, they may very well upend some of the things you consider important in the novels, because that kind of thing happens in the game.

 

[Byrd]

I am dismissing nobody. From what I have seen of Critical Role, Dungeon Masters, Dimension 20, and a few others, the game is improv theater with some combat rules to argue over added in. It mirrors what I saw at a local book store. You are welcome to do that.

Thank you.

I am not interested in it.

A valid reaction,
RPG's aren't for everyone.
(It took the combined effort of two of my friends to convince me that D&D was not Satanic; which is what I was taught as a child.)

So I can not address players from any point of understanding or frame of reference of the game but what I know of it. Yes, this is primarily a site for many of such games,

Indeed it is.
I started visiting this site for news about the third edition of D&D in 1999.
(D&D is in its fifth edition now.)

but when I asked "an app" the best place online to discuss this show I was offered 2, and have no interest in the nonsense that is Reddit so came here.

Maybe people in this discussion could focus on addressing those who watch these game video as audiences rather than players of the game.

With respect, the audience of this thread is mostly players of RPG's.
Since you have a different perspective...are there aspects of the recorded play session, that if changed, would make the game more appealing to you?

I have ttied reading to learn a bit in a few other discussion here about the game.

The Dragonlance series of game modules might be of interest to you. DL 1-12, I think.

Maybe others could meet me, a viewer and novel fan, in the middle? Address me not as a player, but as what I am.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

is flexible, not rigid, linear or set in stone like in novels

Frankly, this is also a misrepresentation of novels, which are often deliberately ambiguous, full of double meanings, unreliable narrators and left to the reader to interpret.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The Dragonlance series of game modules might be of interest to you. DL 1-12, I think.

The modules can also go in a different direction to the novels. What if Tanis is killed by the dragon in DL1? Raistlin doesn't take the black robes, etc?

 

[Byrd]

The modules can also go in a different direction to the novels. What if Tanis is killed by the dragon in DL1? Raistlin doesn't take the black robes, etc?

it seemed like a logical starting point to help SothFan understand the mindset of a gamer, what the DM is doing...and a bit of insight into canon at the table...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

it seemed like a logical starting point to help SothFan understand the mindset of a gamer, what the DM is doing...and a bit of insight into canon at the table...

I think they consider the existence of the game an affront to the novels.

 

[Byrd]

I think they consider the existence of the game an affront to the novels.

...and may not know who wrote DL 1.