Tag Archives: Dungeons and Dragons

RPG Actual Play News Roundup!

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A lot of cool things are happening in the actual play RPG scene these days.

For the uninitiated, actual play games (also known as liveplay games) are when a party of roleplaying game enthusiasts share their gameplay for viewers.

Some of them simply record a regular session around the table, while others create sets, graphics, and expend a fair bit of coin on their production values to enhance the viewing experience.

There are LOADS of podcasts and video series in the actual play RPG arena, and over the last few weeks, several of the heavy hitters in the genre have announced big projects.

So let’s do a roundup of actual play RPG news!

Dimension 20 + WWE

The comedy streaming service Dropout is the home of Dimension 20, one of the premiere liveplay games running today. Fresh off of selling 20,000 tickets for a show at Madison Square Garden, Dimension 20 recently announced a new campaign featuring their flagship Dungeonmaster Brennan Lee Mulligan. And his four players at the table are all WWE superstars!

Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, Bayley, and Chelsea Green will be tackling a gladiatorial arena in the time of ancient Greece in Titan Takedown, starting April 2nd!

It’s interesting that they’re using D&D rules instead of any pro wrestling RPG systems, but otherwise, I’m excited to see this campaign play out!

Critical Role 10th Anniversary

The top dogs in the RPG actual play scene are undoubtedly Critical Role, a self-proclaimed group of “nerdy-ass voice actors who sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons.”

They have a hit show on Amazon Prime, The Legend of Vox Machina, which is based on their original RPG campaign.

They just wrapped up their third multiyear campaign with a huge crossover event featuring the characters from all three campaigns. (The final episode lasted a whopping EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS.

They’re currently running a short follow-up game, Divergence.

Not only that, but there are big expectations for the announcement for their fourth campaign, which could feature their in-house RPG system, Daggerheart.

Ten years after their debut on Geek & Sundry, Critical Role is still shaping the actual play landscape.

Geek & Sundry

And speaking of Geek & Sundry, they recently announced a tabletop charity event featuring several top names in the actual play community.

Alongside Geek & Sundry’s own Felicia Day, Matt Mercer of Critical Role is returning to Geek & Sundry for this special one-shot event, and he is joined by Daredevil star (and RPG influencer) Deborah Ann Woll, Superman portrayer Brandon Routh, and comedian Reggie Watts. The game is being DMed by Bill Rehor of Beadle & Grimm’s, which not only produces topnotch specialty RPG products, but also created the D&D/improv comedy show Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!

This Pathfinder one-shot game, entitled Lost Odyssey: Godfall, will raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and their Extra Life program.

And it’s also advertising a unique opportunity for viewers to experience the game “firsthand” by using VR headsets to virtually sit at the table alongside the players!

I have no idea if the technology will back up the interactive promises made, but at the very least, this should be a very entertaining round of roleplaying for a very worthy cause!

Baldur’s Gate Liveplays at Conventions

One of the biggest success stories in RPG-inspired video games over the last few years was the 2023 release of Baldur’s Gate 3. Set in the Forgotten Realms D&D setting, the video game brought many new eyes to the world of Dungeons & Dragons, giving them a sampling of the worldbuilding and storytelling potential of traditional tabletop gaming.

But an unexpected and delightful spinoff of the game’s success has been the series of actual play games inspired by Baldur’s Gate 3 at major fan conventions.

The voice actors for some of the game’s most popular characters have been playing D&D for live audiences, and seeing the voice actors learn to love the game that inspired their video game roles has been a wonderful treat.

Astarion, Karlach, Lae’zel, and Wyll have all come to life for gamers and D&D fans alike as the actors themselves roll dice and take control of the story.

Did any of these projects grab your attention, fellow puzzler? What’s your favorite actual play group or campaign? Let us know in the comments below!

Book Review: The Gamesmaster by Flint Dille

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Welcome to PuzzCulture Book Reviews!

All of the books discussed and/or reviewed in PCBR articles are either directly or indirectly related to the world of puzzling, and hopefully you’ll find something to tickle your literary fancy in this entry or the entries to come.

Let’s get started!

The subject of today’s book review is The Gamesmaster by Flint Dille.

In the late 70s and early 80s, popular culture exploded as cartoons became vehicles to sell toys and the modern blockbuster continued to rise to prominence in cinemas after the successes of Jaws and Star Wars.

G.I. Joe and Transformers, two of the most iconic franchises from the 1980s, are still influential properties today, but one name that helped craft both franchises (and many others) is probably unfamiliar to you: Flint Dille.

The Gamesmaster chronicles what Dille calls “The Geek ’80s” — aka his animation and pop culture heyday — exploring the birth, growth, and tumultuous developments behind the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons as well as the animated shows G.I. Joe, Transformers, Inhumanoids, and the Star Wars cartoons Droids and Ewoks.

This almost feels like a nonfiction companion book to the novel Ready Player One, since so much ’80s pop culture is explored in Dille’s stories. He gives us glimpses into the writers’ rooms of various animated shows (both the most influential and the sadly forgotten), providing what feels like an outsider’s view of Hollywood. It’s the equivalent of a fan getting a deep look behind the scenes.

But the game fans in the readership will get the most out of his journey through the offices of TSR, detailing the steady rise of D&D‘s reach and influence, as well as the incredibly turbulent interpersonal struggles amongst the writers and innovators who helped shape it. Dille generously shouts-out the contributions of fellow creators, but also shares the flip side of success, highlighting the bad luck that followed many of his friends on the TSR side of things.

And at a time where D&D itself is questioning Gary Gygax’s role and somewhat problematic legacy in the wake of the game’s 50th anniversary, Dille offers valuable insight into those crucial, formative years.

Although Dille’s not the most focused or artful storyteller — this feels more like a rambly series of conversations than a traditional autobiography — he is an immensely charming and likable narrator, happily sharing credit, admitting missteps, and celebrating the legacies he played an influential role in crafting.

The Gamesmaster offers a key piece in the often patchy, unreliable history of Dungeons & Dragons, whilst still embracing the nerdy energy that brought roleplaying, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and other celebrated franchises to prominence during the 1980s.

Minotaurs Don’t Make Sense?

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When you think of mazes, there’s probably no figure more iconic than the legendary minotaur.

The Bull of Minos — the direct translation of “minotaur” — called an elaborate labyrinth on the island of Crete home. This labyrinth, built by Daedalus, was said to be inescapable.

Even if you’re not a fan of Greek mythology, you probably know the basics of the story. Unsolvable maze. Half-man, half-bull. It’s all pretty simple.

So you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon not one, but TWO different videos talking smack about one of my favorite mythical creatures!

The first one discussed the intelligence of the minotaur:

Now, a very simple misconception lay at the heart of this video. The speaker is conflating two different definitions of labyrinth.

The first is the traditional idea of an elaborate maze full of intricate passageways, blind alleys, and torturous complexity.

The second refers to labyrinth gardens, which are designed to be walked slowly, meditatively, and take you on a journey through a series of paths and concentric circles, but one that can be easily navigated or escaped. None of the trickery or challenge of a traditional labyrinth.

So when the above video claims that a minotaur would have to be pretty stupid to fail to escape the labyrinth, they’ve got the wrong labyrinth in mind.

This brings us to the second video of the day, which discusses how minotaurs have been adapted for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game:

The speaker claims that D&D’s minotaurs don’t make sense, since they “can never get lost in a maze and will always find a way out.”

So, I went to verify what he said.

He referred specifically to the 5th edition version of the minotaur, so I checked both the 5th edition Monster Manual and the Monsters of the Multiverse sourcebook released later.

In the MM, all I find is this: “the minotaur can perfectly recall any path it has traveled.”

So what? There are a LOT of paths in a labyrinth, and remembering which ones you’ve walked doesn’t necessarily make you better at finding your way out.

Plus, how long is a path? How is the start or end of a path defined? Maybe our life is one LONNNNNG path, and he’s gotta recall ALL of it?!

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

This ability is restated in the Monsters of the Multiverse book as “you always know which direction is north”. That’s it. Cool. That’s great for navigation, but also not terribly helpful when it comes to solving mazes.

So I’m not really sure where he’s getting the whole “effortlessly defeats mazes” thing. I mean, the original Minotaur never bested the labyrinth. He was killed by Theseus there.

But, for the sake of thoroughness, I grabbed my 3rd edition Monster Manual off the shelf to see what it had to say about minotaurs.

The book states that minotaurs can’t ever become lost and are “immune to maze spells” (which banish someone to an extradimensional labyrinth).

“Can’t ever become lost” is incredibly open to interpretation. Does it always know the way out of a place? Or does it always know WHERE it is in a vague sense? There’s a big difference between knowing where the exit of a labyrinth is and simply knowing you’re in a labyrinth.

Like, if I know I’m in New York City, does that mean I have any idea where I’m going? Not necessarily.

Image courtesy of Do You Maze.

So, where does this leave us?

Well, in short, it tells me that people don’t necessarily know what a labyrinth is or what it means to have the skills of a minotaur.

After all, do we know if the original Minotaur ever really wanted to leave? He got regular deliveries of food, and was otherwise left to his own devices.

Doesn’t sound so bad, really. Anyone know a labyrinth that’s hiring right now?

So I received a box in the mail the other day.

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It seemed like your average Amazon box.

But then I looked a little closer.

Okay. It says it’s definitely not a mimic. That’s good enough for me.

But maybe I should examine the rest of the box.

More eyes. And a mouth. And a warning to roll for Initiative.

Clearly nothing to worry about. Let’s open it up!

Yup, I was right, nothing to worry about! There are even cookies lurking under the packaging paper!

Oh, hey, there’s a note:

YOU ATTEMPT TO RETRIEVE THE COOKIES BY REACHING DOWN THE GULLET OF A PARTICULARLY OBVIOUS MIMIC. BECAUSE, WELL… COOKIES!

And you know what? The note was right. I grabbed those cookies like Gollum going after the One Ring.

At least if the mimic eats me, I’ll go out doing what I love. Eating cookies.

*various munching noises*

Sorry. Cookies.

Hey, wait, I didn’t get eaten by the mimic. What gives?

Oh, another note! Let’s see what it says:

YOU RETRIEVE THE COOKIES. THE MIMIC CLEARS ITS THROAT. YOU’VE SAVED IT FROM CHOKING. IT’S GRATEFUL. ITS FORM CHANGES. YOU NOTICE A FALSE BOTTOM TO THE BOX.

And you know what? This note was right too! There was a false bottom.

I pulled it up and discovered a beautiful wooden box.

It also had a note attached:

BEYOND THE SUGARY GUTS OF THE MIMIC LIES… THE LAIR OF THE DUNGEON MASTER.

YOU HAVE MASTERED IT. IT REVEALS ITS TREASURES TO YOU.

I couldn’t resist. I’d gone this far, risked life and limb for the greatest treasure of all — cookies — and discovered another reward.

I opened the box…

Allow me to explain, fellow puzzlers.

I am a man of many puzzly pursuits, and roleplaying games stand very high on that list. I’ve been running RPG games like Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars RPG, Dread, GURPS, See You Space Cowboy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, and many others over the years.

Although I have had the pleasure of being a player in a few games, for the vast majority of that time, I’ve been running the games for others. Be it as a Storyteller, a Dungeon Master, or any of the other terms used to describe game masters for roleplaying systems, running an RPG is one of my favorite things in the world to do.

I get to tell stories with my friends, build a world with them, surprise them with plot twists and villainous plans, and watch them solve puzzles, unravel conspiracies, and defeat great evils with only their wits and some dice rolls.

It’s the best.

I’m currently the Dungeon Master for several campaigns, one of which features some of my lovely coworkers. And they decided to surprise me this holiday season with a small treasure trove of delights, including a notebook, stickers, dice, and a very lovely card.

And one of them went the extra mile to not only package this wonderful gift up with cookies and careful packaging, but to include a small quest for me as well.

Beware of the mimic, people!

Would I brave the potential danger of a mimic for cookies?

As you can see, the answer is yes. Obviously.

I am incredibly lucky to have friends and players like this, and I’m equally blown away by the kindness and whimsy involved in this present. And I simply couldn’t resist sharing the story with all of you.

It’s amazing what people can do with a marker, some construction paper, and a boatload of creativity.

The PuzzleNationer’s Guide to The Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible

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“Cleopatra is dead,” begins the voiceover narration of the trailer for The Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible. “Distant empires struggle for world domination, while the people in the middle kingdoms wait for the coming of a so-called Messiah.” So go the events of the first century A.D. Fast-forward to the twenty-first century A.D., and Cleopatra is still dead, but we also have the internet, and with it, Kickstarter crowdfunding.

As of this writing, the Kickstarter for The Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible has raised over $47,000 from more than 880 backers, massively exceeding its original $5,500 goal. And that’s with a February 5th deadline—there’s plenty of time left for that pot of gold to overflow even more. An ambitious project of Red Panda Publishing, the Guide sets the events of the Bible alongside non-biblically documented events, and in the midst of all of this, invites players to create their own characters and stories as they would in any other Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The project creators note that this sort of collaborative, choose-your-own adventure storytelling is itself biblical, explaining:

“Each time Jesus tells his gathered listeners about the prodigal son or the good Samaritan, he is creating a scenario that challenges the listener not only to reflect, but to respond. Just look at how many of these parables end with a question like ‘what would you do next?’”

You might have a question of your own: What exactly is all that money for? The funds are intended to go toward the production and publication of a hardcover, vividly illustrated campaign guide compatible with “5E,” shorthand for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons rulebook. The differences between the various editions of the game might seem opaque if you’re not well-versed in tabletop gaming, but as one blog post puts it, “5E is not just the most approachable edition of D&D ever, it’s also one of the most approachable RPGs ever made,” meaning that it’s simple for new players to grasp the game’s mechanics and dive right in.

While others have imagined biblical D&D, the Guide goes far far beyond imagination.

The same post argues, however, that 5E is not so appealing for GMs, or Game Masters—typically known as Dungeon Masters in the context of Dungeons & Dragons. This is because rather than being granted a ton of artistic license as they run the show, “The GMs are just there to execute the game. Particularly, to execute published, prewritten games. And to allow the players to show off their creative visions during those published, prewritten games.” The Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible is one such game. At 350 pages, the Guide will be replete with relevant maps, NPCs, monsters, and all other information necessary to produce a fully fleshed-out story, as long as your character doesn’t exceed level 10. For the uninitiated: characters level up as they go on adventures, eventually maxing out at level 20; a thorough explanation of character levels can be found here.

The Kickstarter FAQ page promises simultaneous fealty to the Bible’s text and incorporation of the game aspects players love—“dungeon crawls, mysteries, romance, monsters, etc.” High-level supporters of the book have also been promised a related Spell Cards deck and world map poster.

Now here’s the part that makes this truly a new source of adventure rather than a rehash of a narrative with which many are intimately familiar: the majority of the campaign takes place in 26 A.D., a period in Jesus’ life that the Bible does not cover. The Guide’s creators explain that this choice is meant to give players freedom and flexibility to build their own narratives within the campaign without conflicting with the Bible’s own narrative arc.

The Simpsons and Flanders children sit down to a game of Good Samaritan.

According to a Reddit comment by the creators, the Guide was first born out of a personal desire to play in a biblical setting, with no plans for a wider release. However, the Christian response, particularly from youth groups and Bible study groups that play 5E, pushed Red Panda Publishing to expand their vision. This is the publishing group’s first major project, though the game designers have independently published a few board games.

The year is 2022. We have the internet, we have Kickstarter, we have Dungeons & Dragons, Cleopatra is dead, and The Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible is scheduled to ship out to Kickstarter supporters this coming August.

In the meantime, treat yourself to some delightful deals on puzzles. You can find them on the Home Screen for Daily POP Crosswords and Daily POP Word Search! Check them out!

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Assemble the Party!

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Long-time readers of the blog have no doubt noticed one of the recurring themes in blog posts over the years: everything is better with puzzles in it.

Mysteries, adventures, historical accounts… all of them have been enhanced in one way or another by the inclusion of a puzzly element to the topic.

And romantic gestures are no different. For years now, we’ve shared stories where moments of puzzle romance brought people closer together. Sometimes it’s a custom Monopoly board, other times it’s a puzzle-fueled proposal organized by our friends at Penny Dell Puzzles.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for this sort of thing.

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So when I stumbled across this story about a super-creative way for Dungeons & Dragons fans to announce their engagement, I knew I had to share it.

If you’re not familiar with the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, it’s a cooperative storytelling game. One of the major elements that makes it so fun is assembling your party — the group of friends and adventurers who journey together throughout the game, engaging in imaginary acts of derring-do.

And anyone who has planned to get married knows that there is also a party to assemble for that particular endeavor… a wedding party.

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So one couple reached out to their fellow D&D players and asked them to join the wedding party in truly apropos D&D fashion: with custom minis and dice for the occasion.

Each player/invitee even had their role in the wedding party inscribed in the base of their personalized miniature figure:

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It’s a delightfully unique and nerdy way to include close friends from a beloved pastime in a huge milestone in their lives, and it brings me joy just to see the photos everyone has shared.

Yes, the future bride and groom got minis of their own… to use as wedding cake toppers.

toppers

You can check out more details of this wonderful story here. Here’s hoping that the party — in both real life and the dice-filled realm of their favorite tabletop game — continue to share such marvelous adventures in the years to come.

Do you have any favorite puzzly tales of romance, fellow PuzzleNationers? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

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Treat yourself to some delightful deals on puzzles. You can find them on the Home Screen for Daily POP Crosswords and Daily POP Word Search! Check them out!

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