Dungeons & Dragons launched its own FAST channel the week of November 13th, 2023. The channel is primarily accessible in the US through Amazone Freevee and Plex streaming. When it launched, there were three original programs launched as part of the channel.
Heroes’ Feast prepares recipes with guests with the twist that the dishes are themed to the various recipes in the best-selling cookbook inspried by D&D’s fantasy worlds. Faster Purple Worm, Kill, Kill is a fast paced comedy show featuring Matthew Lillard and his Beadle & Grimm’s team running celebrity players through meat grinder dungeons for big laughs and epic deaths. Encounter Party takes the cast from the long running actual play podcast and puts them in a show that boils down the fun of watching other people play Dungeons & Dragons to an entertaining bite size format.
How did Khary Payton end up as the only person on all three shows?
“Man, I live ten minutes away,” quipped Payton.
Payton is perhaps best known for his role on AMC’s The Walking Dead as King Ezekiel, the leader of the Kingdom. He’s also the voice of many animated characters such as Cyborg across multiple DC Comics animated shows and Aqualad on Young Justice. When he got the call about joining D&D Adventures
“I had been on Walking Dead for six, seven years,” said Payton, “going back and forth from Atlanta. If I wanted to pop home, you’d have to quarantine so it would be this three week process. My duaghter was so tired of me being gone. She said ‘Daddy, whatever your next job, you can’t leave town.’ I said okay, not known how I was going to make that promise stick. The next two jobs I got were local. Encounter Party shot literally ten minutes from my house.”
Payton’s colleagues in the voice acting world helped bring him to thee world of actual play. He guest starred in the Mighty Nein campaign and starred in their Deadlands campaign, UnDeadwood. These roles gave Payton a chance to play games that he was familiar with growing up but never got a chance to experience.
“I’m doing a lot of video game motion capture and I’m being very physical in that job,” said Payton. “Along side the creative outlet that started with Critical Role and became Encounter Party, I feel like I am having this incredible volcano explode creatively and careerwise. It’s been a really cool journey to find myself.”
The growing genre of actual play entertainment puls away the curtain of mystery that enshrouded D&D and other tabletop RPGs for years. Playing these games puts people in touch with their emotions in unexpected ways. Though Payton suggests these connections aren’t as rare as they might seem.
“This entire county will stop on Sunday evening and watch a bunch of grown men chase a ball around,” said Payton when we had this interview the week before the Super Bowl. “As if it is life and death. All we’re doing is sitting there and watching. Someone made up a bunch of rules. arbitrary rules that have no place in reality. All this is is we’re watching people do what we love.”
D&D Adventures is available on Amazon Freevee and Plex. Heroes’ Feast airs new episodes Mondays & Wednesdays at 9 PM Eastern & Pacific. Encounter Party airs new episodes Tuesdays & Fridays at 9 PM Eastern & Pacific, and Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! airs new episodes Thursdays & Saturdays at 9 PM Eastern & Pacific.
