Fun for new and experienced role-players alike.
Sasha Ellen’s Character Building Experience is a fun hour for new and experienced role-playing gamers. Based loosely on Dungeons-and-Dragons-style comedic roleplaying, in each performance there are 3 comedians who encounter a scenario set by Sasha, the games master who is resplendent in a sequinned cape. In essence, they decide an action for their character and then a 20-sided dice is rolled. High numbers lead to a good outcome for the characters, low numbers lead to a bad outcome. Although, squishy socks appear to be a factor regardless.
Prior to getting stuck into the adventure, we had a bit of crowd work from Sasha, which was useful to gauge the experience of the audience but did feel a bit removed from the story. Although Sasha has a lovely way with the audience, it might have been a bit more in-keeping with the rest of the show to spend a bit more time with the panel, how they knew each other, and some character back-story. There were also two cameras recording the show, and I’m not sure the reason for this was explained (if previous recordings are available online I’d love to see them!)
Tonight’s characters were Crispin Beige – a gluten-intolerant town crier, with a trumpet for a weapon; Adele Cliff’s Test-tube Ian – a scientist wizard who doesn’t believe in magic; and Aaron Simmonds’ Wheel McGee – a wizard who is keen on accessibility. Each character has their own skills and magical spells, to attempt to use to their advantage, and the players have to improvise and adapt as the game progressed. Sasha was an excellent games master, even when teased about her character accents, and had a pleasing rapport with her panel, and a gift for story-telling. The panel complemented each other well, with some playful bantering between Adele and Aaron adding comic asides, but it was sometimes difficult to hear exactly what was said in these circumstances.
We were swept along in what transpired to be a vampire adventure – inside Dracula’s castle (or Big D, as he was called), and with many butter-related shenanigans, flour-blindness, cursed peasants, a handy lift, a conga line, and efficient use of poison darts, the evil was defeated.
Impressively, the adventure was wrapped up in perfect timing – this is unusual in role-playing games where tangents can easily spiral out of control, or leave an ending hanging. There was no such danger here, and speaks to Sasha’s expertise and experience in stage-craft as well as role-playing games, to deliver this fun and satisfying hour.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/character-building-experience