Dungeon Masters is the perfect D&D show for curious nerds

A quarter of a century ago, I gathered around a table with my middle school friends and rolled a 20-sided die – the first of my Dungeons & Dragons gaming life. Rolling dice is easy, but understanding the litany of rules in tabletop role-playing games takes time to master. It would have been a lot easier if I could have just watched Dungeon Masters, a new YouTube show from D&D creators Wizards of the Coast – and it starts streaming today, April 22.

In recent years, online role-playing games like Critical Role and Dimension 20 have exploded in popularity. Viewers watch as Dungeon Masters guide players through adventures set in the Theater of the Mind, depicting what happens when heroes attempt great feats, suffer setbacks, and triumph over villains. It makes sense that Wizards of the Coast would want a piece of the success, especially since many of these shows use the rules of Dungeons & Dragons (by far the most popular tabletop role-playing system, although there are many others).

It’s smart for Wizards of the Coast to launch a show promoting its products (more on that later), but Dungeon Masters also goes out of its way to help newcomers. It’s hard to understand if you’re not a giant nerd like me who has watched and listened to other tabletop RPG shows and podcasts, which remove a lot of the slower dice rolling and rules explanations to get things done.

In contrast, Dungeon Masters caters to the new player, briefly explaining things like spells and conditions so people 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 was able to chat with the cast. If you’ve watched Critical Role or any other tabletop role-playing game, you know how an energetic performer can elevate the game and immerse viewers in fantasy play.

Dungeon Masters features a legendary cast 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 of this season of the series is Jasmine Bhullar (Dimension 20, DesiQuest).

Fans will be able to watch the first two episodes of this first season of Dungeon Masters via live streaming on the official Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channel at 6:30 p.m. PT on April 22, with additional episodes every Wednesday at the same time. Exhibition details hint at guest appearances, although 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 beginners (or those who need a refresher on the rules from time to time).

Dungeon Masters is the perfect D&D show for curious nerds

If you’ve ever watched a tabletop RPG show, you’ll recognize the show’s setup for Dungeon Masters, with the four players gathered around a table while the titular dungeon master sits aside above them, playing their multiple roles as narrator, world builder, and monster controller.

The first episode of Dungeon Masters opens with the characters introducing themselves – Newbon as the gnome inventor professor Artificer Crem, Wilde as his elf witch wife Zora, Navarro as the solemn half-vampire ranger Eloin, and Berrin as the graveyard cleric Wesley – before Bhullar throws them into disarray thanks to an assault by a powerful spellcaster. Soon, they are transported to a different realm, Ravenloft, one of Dungeons & Dragons’ most beloved settings for gothic and haunted adventures.

In fact, the series draws inspiration and uses new features from an upcoming D&D expansion book, Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, which releases on June 16. (Viewers can purchase a Play-Along Pack to download monsters and content featured in the episodes from the D&DBeyond online website to play with in their own games.) So, yes, it’s a bit of an advertisement for Wizards of the Coast’s next product, but that doesn’t make the game the actors are playing any less authentic or the drama any less unpredictable. It’s designed to show off what players will be able to do once they get their hands on the hardware, which is reflected in what I think is the flagship feature of Dungeon Masters: explaining what’s actually happening in the game with visual aids.

With most other tabletop role-playing games, the actors go through the typical process of seeing what happens: the player says what they want to do, the dungeon master says what type of dice roll to make, the player rolls, and the outcome is decided.

But Dungeon Masters goes even further, not only asking players to expound on rolls (what bonuses to add or subtract), but also displaying information on screen about what is being discussed. If it’s a spell, they’ll explain what it does. If it’s a throw, they show the score it needs to beat. If it’s a damaging fireball that hits part of the battlefield, they will present a circle on a map to indicate who is within its range: friend and foe.

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

“In most of the games I’ve played in D&D, we’ve always had someone who needed a little help with the rules. It creates a sense of togetherness and unity where you’re there to support each other,” Newbon said. “Where the story goes, no one knows, but it’s all about collaborative, cooperative storytelling. Even if you end up fighting, which you do.”

It also helps that the series moves more slowly when explaining new material that no one has seen before, Bhullar added — including the players, who learn more in real time with each episode.

The actors were careful not to spoil what happens to their characters and what awaits viewers over the course of the series, but I couldn’t help but ask a signature CNET question: Which gadget would each of their characters want, and which one should they never get their hands on?

“A camera to capture memories,” Navarro said of his half-vampire ranger, Eloin.

“I guess a scanner that lets you know who’s a zombie or not, that could be a thermal reader,” Berrin said of his cleric Wesley, perhaps hinting at what’s in store for him. “Don’t give her a thermal reader! She knows who the undead are, she’ll put them back in the ground.”

“I think Zora probably shouldn’t have access to a phone with dating apps on it. I think that would be a huge mistake, or maybe a really good time,” Wilde coyly said of his wizard.

“I think Crem would like an MRI machine. He probably shouldn’t get his hands on an MRI machine,” Newbon said. (Good luck reading that one.)

What the cast hopes viewers take away from Dungeon Masters is that they watch and want to have that experience with their own friends. People are nervous about telling stories, Newbon said, but the point of doing it is to have fun — it’s not supposed to be hard work.

“Yes, there may be a lot of preparation [dungeon masters] do it, but it’s all in the spirit of fun,” Newbon said. “So if they’re having fun, they can be a…”

“Dungeon Master!” Wilde said at the right time.