It’s been over two years since I last delved into the dungeons and scaled the heights of distant mountains with Diceratops (D&D Live: The Bucket Fountain of Doom), in the BATS Studio space. D&D Live: Don’t Dream It’s Ogre kicks off on BATS Random stage at 10pm this night. It’s the first part of a connected story. Each Saturday night for the three weeks, in one hour, there will be an ‘epic struggle against the devious Dream Ogre’ (Morgan Davie) and his minion Snivellus (Steven Youngblood).

Despite the uncertainty of the the pandemic, the team of Morgan Davie (Dungeon Master), Steven Youngblood (Randy Dwarf), Jarrod Baker (Frun Grothilde), Thom Adams (Jackwick Gambleson), Julz Burgisser (Mascara Stormfire) and now joined by Wiremu Tuhiwai (Ford the Ranger) have continued their adventures ‘to dungeons deep and caverns old’ in the over 60 episodes of their podcast online now. Many of them were done in lockdown. As Steven Youngblood says before the play starts. “It’s great to have an audience again.”

It’s a safe but crowded house tonight. We’re all in the bubbles or groups we came with. It’s my first night at a show in months and I really appreciate the effort BATS have gone to make their space work in level 2 lockdown. Everything is relaxed and clearly organised.

Rather than having the full crew on board, this is elvish rogue Mascara Stormfire’s story, ably supported by Steven Youngblood (Randy the Dwarf) and Thom Adams (Jackwick Gambleson). Youngblood also takes the role of the Dream Ogre’s minion and the many monsters she and her companions have to overcome with wit, brute force and not a little outrageous nonsense. I love and appreciate the interplay between the two of them. It is a nice touch and if you’re here to see inspiring game play for your own Dungeon’s and Dragon’s games there’s lots to take home here.

There have been many developments over the many previous episodes, which I’ve not been following, but any worry about not being able to follow along quickly evaporates as we are updated on current earth-shaking events in their world.

D’Woods (light and sound) adds excellent touches to the story following the action and really adding to the sense of immersion and action at hand. 

All the players are inventive and play off each other with familiarity, yet still manage to surprise each other. If you’ve never seen live Dungeons and Dragons before, this is perfect for you. If you’ve seen the team before, or the other shows globally mixing it up with the Tunnels and Trolls, the next two shows promise more adventure, inspired puns and belly laughs.

“There’s a battle ahead
  Many battles are lost
  But you’ll never see the end of the road
  While you’re traveling with me”
        (‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ – Crowded House)

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