For those who find getting into Dungeons and Dragons intimidating there are a lot of great options to try before you buy into the game. When I was a kid just starting out, you had to find someone to teach you or put up a flyer in a game store and hoped someone saw it. Now there are starter sets, actual plays, touring theatrical experiences and more that allow people who have never played a chance to experience the thrill of a natural 20 and the chill of running out of hit points.
I saw Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty Sided Tavern during its New York run earlier this year and really enjoyed the energy between the performers and the audience. Now the show is touring nationally giving even more people a chance to experience the game in a new way. I spoke with the director and one of the producers of the show before it begins its Chicago leg from August 12th through September 28th, 2025.
“Junior year of high school I played D&D for the first time in Nate Johnson’s basement,” said Matthew Fell, director of Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty Sided Tavern. “We assembled ourselves for a very short lived campaign where we mocked and ridiculed our DM until he rage quit and left the basement. The five of us just belittled him endlessly and it was bad vibes. I had one ill-fated session. Then that same group of guys got back together after we had graduated college back in Madison [Wisconsin]
and started again. That campaign spurred on for three years. We played in every time zone in the United States on Skype and then every Christmas we would all come back to Madison to play an [in-person] session. It was a great way to keep in touch with my high school friends.”
“When the [Dimension 20] people went out for the Madison Square Garden tour,” said Anjali Bhimani, actor, writer and co-producer of Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty Sided Tavern, “Neil Newbon was doing the show at the time. I got to see it then. But even before that, once Aabria [Iyengar] and Erika [Ishii], two of my dearest people, went in, I really wanted to go see it and I really wanted to be a part of it.”
Improv shows ask for audience suggestions but this show uses American Idol phone voting to have the audience select characters and storyline moments for the performers. In addition, the performers also have to make dice rolls to succeed or fail at everything from attacking a troll to fast talking a city guard. It makes for a chaotic, energetic and experimental evening of theater.
“I don’t know what I expected when I came and saw it,” said Bhimani. “It was so innovative, it was so different. The thing that got me the most hooked on it was how inclusive it was in the very essence of the word. I don’t think of inclusion as ‘DEI’ I think of inclusion as being included. It means eight year old Anjali is at the table with a bunch of people that don’t look like her but it doesn’t matter because a halfling can kill a red dragon in this game. You are the audience being included with a chance to tell this story whether you know how to play the game or not.”
Just like any true D&D campaign, the players don’t sit idly by and let the rules determine everything. Every Dungeon Master tweaks, experiments and otherwise alters their game to find their style better. This production is no different with some small changes from the New York run during the tour.
“They are largely changes to do with expediency,” said Fell. “ keeping the momentum of the show and driving forward. I wanted to give the performers more time to be expressive and expand their acting moments. In order to do that we had to trim other elements of the show. It’s a distillation.”
“At the beginning of the show,” said Bhimani, “in order to include people who have no idea as to what Dungeons & Dragons ever is, there is a certain amount of explanation that we are able to do in a very creative way. What Michael and the team have done for the tour is condense that and simplify so there is more time for improv and the explanation is more direct. It’s more in less time.”
The show has a broad appeal for fans of the game as well as people who wouldn’t know a critical roll from a Critical Role. While fans who know the game will enjoy the inside jokes and sympathize when the performers roll horribly, people new to the game don’t have to worry about previous knowledge. The show often lets fans of the game share their passion with the people in their lives who understand how much they love it even if they’ll never play.
“The parents who bring in their kids,” said Fell. “They tell me their kid is obsessed with this stuff but they don’t know anything. But then you talk with them after and they understand it now. Or my partner loves this and I never knew why. It’s that moment of revelation.”
“I was completely blown away when I first saw it when I saw how universal it was,” said Bhimani. “It’s sort of like coming to a D&D themed party. You don’t have to be dressed up in cosplay. You don’t have to know any of those things. All you have to do is be there for a good time and let the energy of the people in the room take you with them.”
The Chicago dates kick off a national tour for Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty Sided Tavern that currently runs through 2026. It includes dates for Boston Massachusetts, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Greensboro North Carolina, San Diego California, Los Angeles California, West Lafayette Indiana and Charlotte North Carolina. Fans can check the website for ticket availability and any special guest performers in specific cities.
