To preface: Dungeons and Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game where the outcomes of actions are determined by dice rolls and the skill of the individual characters. The players may or may not have an idea about the campaign they will be playing, and therefore a great amount of trust is put into the Dungeon Master (DM) to set the scene and build the world around them as they play. Dungeons and Dragons (DND) is largely improvisational, which means the campaign can lead to a number of unsavoury places due to role-playing techniques. However, this is not the case for DND Live: When Dwarves Cry.

As the players become settled at their table to the left of the stage, the DM gives them an opportunity to introduce their characters by describing how they would appear in an 80s music video. The following hilarity not only confirms how well the players know their carefully crafted characters, but how well they can immerse themselves into the role. What makes DND so difficult is that your character is faced with any number of unexpected encounters; it takes a truly skilled player to never break character and know exactly how their character would react in that situation.  

Within the introduction, these players prove their improvisational talents and their abilities as actors. They also are very comfortable with each other and have great chemistry, in and out of character. This allows the audience to settle into the start of the game easier, and to form deeper connections with the cast.

And now they’re ready to play. Frun, a spell-casting half-orc, Randy, an axe-wielding dwarf, and Ford, the ranger, have set off on their journey.  The DM expertly explains the world around them, no details left behind, and the players ready themselves.

The dwarven character, Randy, is the first to speak up as he begins to sing ‘99 Bottles of Beer’. The audience erupts into laughter, as the other players show their characters’ reactions to the insufferable tune. Quickly their characters reveal the plot hook of the mini-campaign: the city they’ve travelled to shows no sign of life other than distant weeping beyond the closed gate. Frun and Ford sense something behind them and they turn, presented with a rocky, purple, wolf-like creature.

This is where the players really show their comedic talent, as their characters jump into battle. Ford describes how he does intricate, mid-air flips and spins – much to the joy of the applauding audience. Frun aides in the battle, doing, as Ford describes, as ‘less cool’ stunts. All the while, Randy is still oblivious to the situation. When the dwarf finally becomes aware, his plan to get the monster to charge him at the gate, thus breaking the gate down, quickly fails with an unlucky dice roll. (The dwarf continues to be plagued by unfortunate rolls the entire game).

As the fight encounter comes to an end, all characters safe from impending doom, they finally enter the city through a now open gate. Randy is greeted by the sobbing dwarf, Mandy (a cousin), who dramatically requests his help in finding the creature causing havoc in the dwarven paradise… a purple banana? And here we see the first use of the infinite kitten supply Randy has access to, when he tries to calm the distraught family member down with the help of a furry friend.

Mandy leads them to the city center, consoled by the kitten, where they find a festival in full swing. Frun is immediately singled out by a group of children, who believe him to be the “Holiday Half-Orc!”. This leads to Frun exclaiming, “Oh this is gonna be racist…” to the audience’s laughter. A few holiday shenanigans later (and many more of the infinite kittens released to the children) the party encounters the ‘big bad’ of the campaign: Randy’s mother-in-law to his deceased wife.

The mother-in-law runs a group of (boomer) dwarves who hate to see the modern generation of dwarves engaging in holidays and, gasp, pre-marital consensual sex! During the final fight it is revealed that she is possessed by a demon who took advantage of the grief-stricken mother in her most vulnerable moment: losing her daughter. In a dramatic confrontation, she and Randy share their true feelings, though she is inconsolable about the death of her child. He pulls out a final kitten for her and the demon leaves her body. She and Randy have made amends but not before the mother is fatally injured by the demon who possessed her. In her final moments, she tells her son-in-law, “I feel better because you remind me of her.” And with that, the show ends.

A purple banana, infinite kittens on the loose and one demonic possession later, the show is over. It ends on a rather sombre note, with the second act of the show revolving around the death of Randy’s wife and making atonement. Her death is an incredibly touching moment, for both the players and to the audience.

So overall?

The live game was undeniably incredible! Truly well thought out and lovingly crafted by committed actors and players who unabashedly love the game. The dungeon master knew exactly what he was doing, and knew how to react to his players’ actions. He played a variety of characters, each with different voices, speech patterns and posture. He was extremely capable of immersing both his players and the audience into the fantasy world and knew exactly how to make moments more comedic, or more heartfelt and emotional.

As for the players, they all knew their characters, inside and out. Randy the Dwarf stole the show from the get-go by singing his little beer song, and by pulling kittens out whenever the moment presented itself. That’s not to say the other characters Frun and Ford were not absolutely charming as well. Frun was prickly towards characters, made clear by his constant charisma rolls, though was a total badass in the final fight. Ford was, unfortunately, lost in the shadows during the latter half of the show, though when he did steal the spotlight he managed to be effortlessly hysterical and brought so much positive energy to the table. 

While the set was minimalistic, only two separate tables facing the audience, the atmosphere was well done. The sound and lighting tech was attentive to listen for key words said by the players so he could play the accurate sound effect. For example, a few times in the show Ford shot his bow which meant the tech played the sound of an arrow whizzing past. This allowed for deeper immersion for the audience, as in key scenes you felt like part of the world. The lighting changed as the settings changed, as well. While the characters stood, drenched in the downpour of purple rain, the lighting shifted to a deep, royal purple to match the fantasy world’s atmosphere.

The show was able to reach the perfect balance between comedic, light-hearted fun while also addressing serious topics like grief and loss of loved ones. While the audience may have assumed Randy the Dwarf adventured for the excitement of the journey, the truth is truly much deeper than that, proven by his admission that he doesn’t have a home to return to, his home is dead. The moments where the characters softened and allowed themselves to be seen by the audience fully were what made the show truly magnificent.

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