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.

 

[SothFan]

Human civilization got by without tabletop games for all but 50 years.

Royal Game Of Ur | Play online

One of the oldest games in the world

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The Royal Game of Ur provides a fascinating glimpse into ancient Mesopotamian culture

Not to mention hundreds of other games lasting centuries: chess, shoji, reversi, dice, etc.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

In most D&D lore, certainly in 5th edition, Bahamut (The Platinum Dragon, king of the good dragons) and Paladine from Dragonlance are the same deity ( See Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, Gods and Religion).

Educated people in the realms (ones familiar with different worlds, etc.) would certainly know the two are the same.

This I don’t think would be known to just educated people, literally only the most knowledgeable sages would know.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

The importance varies table to table, from nothing at all to all-relevant.


What do you mean by hide it? I wouldn't consider it hidden at all.


It is part of the main game.


In the case of Bahamut/Paladine, Takhisis/Tiamat, as far as I know it's because the names of each, and the settings they're in, predate the various connections that have been devised between them. And the connection only exists, well, when it exists.


Depends on the story being told. Most books are focusing on the settings as self-contained worlds, the connections going either unmentioned or they don't exist.

If I recall correctly Paladine and Takhisis were created and based on the Platinum Dragon and Chromatic Dragon before the draft of the 1e monster manual that gave them the names Bahamut and Tiamat.

 

[billd91]

If I recall correctly Paladine and Takhisis were created and based on the Platinum Dragon and Chromatic Dragon before the draft of the 1e monster manual that gave them the names Bahamut and Tiamat.

That would suggest Dragonlance, or at least the Krynn setting was under development before the 1977 publication date for the Monster Manual. That contrasts with the narrative that Tracy and Laura Hickman started developing DL on the drive to interview at TSR in the early 1980s.

 

[SothFan]

That would suggest Dragonlance, or at least the Krynn setting was under development before the 1977 publication date for the Monster Manual. That contrasts with the narrative that Tracy and Laura Hickman started developing DL on the drive to interview at TSR in the early 1980s.

So another retcon?

Also, this is Episode 5, week 4; were there no more of those play packets?

 

[billd91]

So another retcon?

What retcon? I just think someone may be misremembering when the principle gods of Krynn were developed by the authors.

 

[Echohawk]

Also, this is Episode 5, week 4; were there no more of those play packets?

The Ravenloft Play-Along Pack had the Dullahan added to the encounters this week.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

What retcon? I just think someone may be misremembering when the principle gods of Krynn were developed by the authors.

Yes it’s this. Just me getting some details wrong I thought I heard.

 

[DarkCrisis]

So another retcon?

Also, this is Episode 5, week 4; were there no more of those play packets?

I love that when 5E DL came out and WotC was all "DL Bahamut and Tiamat are the same as all the other worlds versions! Same gods!" And Margaret Weiss came out and said "No, they aren't."

I'm going to go with the creators of the world instead of WotCs half-assed attempt at Dragonlance. Man, was that adventure a stinker.

 

[plecostomus]

I like that Lividity is played as cunning and confident, not cowardly. I personally don't care too much for the scared weasel Rogue archetype.

Lividity is also a fitting character for the Ravenloft setting. They all are. One of my friends said, "It doesn't feel right calling them protagonists". She later amended this to, "it doesn't feel right calling them heroes". My response to her was, "They sure are people living their lives and doing stuff".

What this group gets right is that character actions- Eloin killing the doctor for example- are grounded in the character. Actions don't happen just because they can, and actions get considered through the lens of the character. This is hard. It's a skill you have to build. But these players have lots of experience, so they can model what is possible.

Also shout-out to Crem asking his wife for permission to investigate the dragon puppet. What a perfect encapsulation of his character- and it made me laugh!