A Must See for D&D Fans
When I first walked into the intimate River Room at Riverside Studios I was equally intrigued and apprehensive of the premise of the show. As I walked in I said to my friend “this is either going to be really good or really bad”. As a lifelong fan of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’m pleased to say that the show was engaging, fun and silly.
For the uninitiated, D&D is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game that combines improv and maths in service of telling a collaborative story. Over the last decade, there has been no shortage of shows where actors play the game, Dropout’s Dimension 20, Geek and Sundry’s Critical Role and the McElroy Brothers’ The Adventure Zone have literally millions of fans. The Dimension 20 team recently played a show at Madison Square Garden. Though the River Room is a far cry from MSG, it was clear that the actors were just as passionate about the game.
The It’s Your Role team, led by Dungeon Master Elliot Reeves-Giblin, are attempting to bring a fresh take to the saturated market of D&D Actual Play shows by involving a different audience member each month alongside a regular cast of actors (Ben Welford, Lydia McNulty, Max Jukes, Edward Shock). Each show is recorded and put up online for listeners to enjoy in podcast format.
The energy from the crowd was electric as Reeves-Giblin threw a giant inflatable dice into the crowd to determine which lucky audience member would be joining in on the story for the night (congratulations to Adam who stepped up wonderfully). For the crowd work averse, do not worry, it is entirely voluntary! From there the improvisers created an original story. Our show involved a Belgian Detective named Lady Gaga, a model train building dragon and an attempt at making the perfect curry. Humour is definitely prioritised over strict adherence to the rules and I can see some stalwart fans of the game taking umbridge with some of the calls made in the moment. There are several ways for the audience to get involved, suggesting humourous names for non player characters and being able to reverse or alter certain player character choices. It’s Your Role are able to achieve the unexpected, creating a new and original take on the D&D Actual Play format, and for this I commend them highly.
Accessibility to the game is prioritised, cast members would give brief explanations for actions where necessary and D&D 101 QR codes are placed on each table. As the shows continue it will be interesting to see if it will be possible to achieve real emotional stakes for the mainstay characters given the wild card nature of the show. The accessibility extends to the ticket price, which is kept to £10.
Whilst the nature of improv means that I cannot guarantee the quality of any given show, the mechanics of audience participation, the love of the game by audience and performers alike and the willingness to be silly mean that I’m certain that it’ll be a fun night for old and new fans of the game alike.