I Wish I Had This Official D&D Show When I Started Rolling Dice 25 Years Ago

A quarter of a century ago, I gathered around a table with my middle school friends and made a 20-sided dice roll -- my first in a lifetime of Dungeons & Dragons games. Rolling dice is easy, but figuring out the litany of rules in tabletop roleplaying games takes time to master. It would have been a lot easier if I could've just watched Dungeon Masters, a new YouTube show made by the creators of D&D, Wizards of the Coast. 

In recent years, online tabletop RPG shows like Critical Role and Dimension 20 have exploded in popularity. Viewers tune in to watch dungeon masters lead players on adventures happening in the theater of the mind, describing what happens when heroes attempt great feats, suffer setbacks and triumph over villains. It makes sense that Wizards of the Coast would want in on the success, especially since many of these shows use Dungeons & Dragons' rules (by far the most popular tabletop RPG system, though there are many others).

It's shrewd for Wizards of the Coast to start a show promoting its products (more on this later), but Dungeon Masters also goes out of its way to help newcomers. It's hard to catch if you're not a giant nerd like me who has watched and listened to other tabletop RPG shows and podcasts, which edit out a lot of the slower dice rolls and rules explanations to keep things moving. 

In contrast, Dungeon Masters looks out for the new player, briefly explaining things like spells and conditions so folks watching at home can understand the rules behind the rolls.

I saw the first episode of Dungeon Masters at a media screening at the Universal Studios offices in Los Angeles, after which I got to chat with the cast. If you've watched Critical Role or any other tabletop RPG shows, you know how an energetic performer can elevate the game and immerse viewers in make-believe. 

Dungeon Masters has a storied ensemble of actors from TV shows, video games and other tabletop RPG series. The four players include Neil Newbon (Astarion in Baldur's Gate III), Devora Wilde (Lae'zel in Baldur's Gate III), Christian Navarro (Tony Padilla in 13 Reasons Why, Critical Role) and Mayanna Berrin (Janelle / Coupé in Dispatch, StoryQuest). The titular dungeon master for this season of the show is Jasmine Bhullar (Dimension 20, DesiQuest).

Fans will be able to watch the first two episodes of this first season of Dungeon Masters streaming live on the official Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channel at 6:30 p.m. PT on April 22, with additional episodes coming every Wednesday at the same time. Show details hint at guest appearances, though we'll all just have to watch to find out who they might be.

What I saw in the first episode was familiar to a D&D veteran, but promising in what it offers for newbies (or those who need refreshers on the rules every now and again). 

Dungeon Masters is the perfect D&D show for the nerd-curious

If you've watched a tabletop RPG show before, you'll recognize the show setup for Dungeon Masters, with the four players gathered around a table while the titular dungeon master sits at a remove above them, playing their multi-role as narrator, worldbuilder and monster-controller. 

Dungeon Masters' first episode opens up with the characters introducing themselves -- Newbon as professor inventor Artificer gnome Crem, Wilde as his elven sorceress wife Zora, Navarro as solemn half-vampire ranger Eloin and Berrin as cleric of the graveyard Wesley -- before Bhullar tosses them into disarray through an assault by a powerful spellcaster. Before long, they are warped into a different realm, Ravenloft, one of Dungeons & Dragons' most beloved settings for haunted, gothic adventures.

In fact, the show is inspired by and uses never-before-seen features from an upcoming D&D expansion book, Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, which will be released on June 16. (Viewers can buy a tie-in Play-Along Pack to download monsters and content featured in episodes on the online D&DBeyond website to play with in their own games.) So, yes, it's a bit of a commercial for Wizards of the Coast's next product, but that doesn't make the game the cast is playing any less authentic or the drama any less unpredictable. It's built to show what players will be able to do once they get their hands on the materials, reflected in what I believe to be Dungeon Masters' standout feature: explaining what's actually going on in the game with visual aids.

With most other tabletop RPG shows, the cast goes through the typical process of seeing what happens: the player says what they want to do, the dungeon master says which kind of dice roll to make, the player rolls and the outcome is decided. 

But Dungeon Masters goes a step further, not just having players expound on the rolls (which bonuses to add or subtract) but also displaying info on-screen about what's being discussed. If it's a spell, they'll explain what it does. If it's a roll, they show the score it needs to beat. If it's a damaging fireball that hits a swath of the battlefield, they'll present a circle on a map to show who's in its range -- both friends and foes. 

That fits the spirit of D&D, Newbon said during my interview with the cast. The dungeon master is there to help guide the story and explain the rules, which brings everyone at the table closer together.

"Most of the games I've ever played in D&D, we've always had somebody who needed a bit of help with the rules. It creates a sense of ensemble and togetherness that you're there to support each other," Newbon said. "Where the story goes, nobody knows, but it's all about collaborative, cooperative storytelling. Even if you end up fighting each other, which happens."

It's also helpful for the show to move more slowly when explaining new material that nobody has seen before, Bhullar added -- including the players, who are learning about it in real time each episode. 

The cast was careful not to spoil what happens to their characters and what's in store for viewers over the course of the show, but I couldn't resist prying with a signature CNET question: which gadget would each of their characters want, and which must they never get their hands on?

"A camera to capture memories," Navarro said about his half-vampire ranger, Eloin.

"I guess a scanner that lets you know who's a zombie or not, it might be a heat reader," Berrin said about her cleric Wesley, perhaps hinting at what's in store. "Don't give her a heat reader! She knows who's undead, she'll put them back in the ground."

"I think Zora probably shouldn't be allowed access to a phone that has any dating apps, I think that would be a huge mistake, or possibly a really good time," Wilde coyly said about her sorcerer. 

"I think Crem would like an MRI device. He probably shouldn't get his hands on an MRI device," Newbon said. (Good luck reading into that one.)

What the cast hopes that viewers take from Dungeon Masters is that they watch and want to have that experience with their own friends. People get nervous about putting on stories, Newbon said, but the point of doing that is to have fun -- it's not supposed to be all hard work.

"Yeah, there might be a lot of preparation that [dungeon masters] do, but it's all in the spirit of fun," Newbon said. "So if they have fun, they can be a…"

"Dungeon Master!" Wilde said on cue.