Dungeons And Dragons is becoming a theatrical experience. The success of actual plays like Critical Role and Dimension 20 have spurred other ways to play the game. One of the most unusual ways is through the ongoing show Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty Sided Tavern currently playing at Stage 42 in New York City.
Recently, I got a chance to see the show while I was in New York City. I also was able to speak to Neil Newbon, one of the featured performers. Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty Sided Tavern has featured performers primarily famous in the actual play sphere.
In Newbon’s case, he’s become famous in the actual play sphere because of his connection with another facet of D&D’s big pop culture push. He’s the voice actor behind Astarion, the vampire rogue companion in the smash hit video game Baldur’s Gate 3. He’s thrilled to be part of the production which combines interactive technology and comedic improvisation into a kind of experimental theater.
“It’s a mishmash between watching a show, playing D&D and a wrestling match with a background of the theater,” said Newbon. “It’s deliberately audience participation. It’s deliberately another adventure in the story of the game. It’s a brilliant idea. D&D is all about shared storytelling. It’s a genius idea and a natural evolution.”
There are five performers on stage: The Dungeon Master tells the story while the Tavern Keeper keeps the rules in mind and the performers on track (with the occasional witty aside). The party member characters, the Warrior, Spellcaster and Scoundrel, are the ones who drive the story forward.
The performers often solicit suggestions from the audience for names and other classic improv moves. But the show also uses the audience members’ phones as a way to determine the direction of the story. Sometimes it’s through audience votes and other times it’s through button-mashing quicktime events.
“That’s the joy of it,” said Newbon. This is a one time thing. You can’t see this again. It’s going to be a completely different show tomorrow and you’re going to have a completely different energy coming into it. Like all great theatre, when you see that one version of the play it’s one and done. Which is why it’s so valuable.”
The energy at the show I attended was rowdy and charged with Rocky Horror Picture Show bawdiness. Many of the suggestions leaned into Baldur’s Gate references as well as characters from other actual plays. The actors took it all in stride, even introducing a romance plot element that can be a rare find in regular D&D games.
“There’s at least five or six things that I can recall instantly from the last twenty or thirty years of playing D&D that happened in a game with friends where you still have an opinion or remember it,” said Newbon. “We all have a finite amount of time on this planet. That’s the point of great art and fun experiences like this. It’s a memory that you can call back to if you’re having a bad day to make yourself laugh a little bit.”
Newbon’s been playing role playing games for years so he knew what he was getting into. He’s played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons, but also shared a love for games like Warhammer, Vampire: The Masquerade and Paranoia. His background as a fan helped him get his most famous role.
“Somebody mentioned there was an interesting high fantasy audition,” said Newbon. “I asked my agents at Lip Service, who are great, to get in touch. I worked with one of the directors, he knew me anyway. They sent out the packet with 20 different races. They called them ‘devilkin’ and I said ‘that’s a tiefling’ or ‘that’s a drow’. I quickly worked out that it was going to be Icewind Dale 3 or Baldur’s Gate 3.”
I found Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty Sided Tavern to be a lot of fun. It’s D&D recast as a party game that expands the highs and lows of the story beyond the half a dozen people usually at the table. Never in my life did I think I would hear a crowd cheer rolling a natural 20 like it was a three pointer from the home team.
Neil Newbon is in the role of the Spellcaster through February 4th. Aabria Iyengar takes over the role of the Spellcaster from February 13th through 18th before becoming the show’s first guest Dungeon Master from February 24th through March 11th.
