Article by Christopher Cruz
It’s not just video games that dominate the digital airwaves on platforms like Twitch — there’s a huge contingent of viewers who yearn for the old days of pen and paper, with tabletop RPGs making a huge splash virtually in the last few years. In fact, once-niche games like Dungeons & Dragons (which turns 50 this year) have taken on new life in the age of livestreaming, and more popular than ever.
Leading the charge are “actual plays,” podcasts or web shows that feature groups of players creating narratives from their imaginations, without the aid of flashy video game visuals, and their popularity has led to a tabletop resurgence whose audience is now more inclusive and diverse. Spanning the genre mainstays, officially licensed extensions of existing franchises, and even homebrew titles people are making themselves, it’s one of the most unexpectedly engrossing ways to lose yourself online.
But how can watching folks roll dice and making up a story out of thin air be so engaging? Like anything online, it begins with the personalities. With known super geeks Vin Diesel, Joe Manganiello, and Wil Wheaton pushing their favorite hobbies in interviews and YouTube appearances for years, alongside the rise of content creators whose fans hang captive for hours on end, it was only a matter of time before tabletop games took hold of mainstream attention. Most groups in the space, like some of the ones featured below, are comprised of beloved figures of nerdom, from voice actors who dominate the anime and video spaces, to comedians who kill on socials, but what makes actual plays so addictive to watch boils down to what has always made them work. It’s about community.
For those who play, the appeal of games like Dungeons & Dragons has long been sitting down with a group of friends week after week just shooting the shit. It’s a shared experience, limited only by imagination, where people can work together (or against each other) to create worlds and stories that reflect their own desires. It’s a ritual. And nothing describes the rise of livestreaming itself than ritualistic viewing. Think of it as an ongoing audio book that’s written in real time, narrated by a handful of professional friends just having a good time. It’s all the joys of TTRPG without having to manage the rules…
I really want to support this as much as possible because it has been announced that JoCat will be leaving YouTube after finishing the last open projects. There were people hateful enough to harass him, his friends and family outside of YouTube, where he lives. I can’t blame him in the slightest for taking these steps.
JoCat - GM
Feltheleb as a Bugbear Barbarian named Buck Baccarat
PoiBoiPNG as an Aarakocra Ranger named Fritz
Runesmith as a Kobold Rogue named Wurd
Red OSP as a Shifter Druid named Laira
Welcome one and all to the Lustrous Expanse, where magic and monsters, taverns and tarrasques, and yes, even dungeons and dragons are reality. Today I bring a tale off such wonders where a small group of outstanding individuals use their might, their swiftness, their wits, and perhaps even their cunning, to achieve amazing feats.
Welcome to the Heart of Elynthi
The year is 253 and to the north east coast lies a kingdom like none else on the continent.
Elynthi!
Home of the Life Tree, Quarencia, the massive natural structure for, as far as history knows, has brought fertility to the land around it, invigorating the plants and animals of the vast locations it’s roots can reach, and even enhancing the magic and health of the people lucky enough to live under its canopy.
For 300 years, the people of Elynthi have kept it safe from two major threats. The first being that of ‘The Blot’: a unique weather phenomenon named for its oily black liquid form that seems to have a mind of its own, using the carcasses of long dead creatures and broken down structures as its frame. The origins of ‘The Blot’ are unknown as is much else of its nature, but what IS known is that it acts on instinct alone, and, like any dangerous storm, it can be tempered. The second threat to Quarencia that of time itself, for every 10 years the tree is to be given a tribute via five powerful relics to keep its roots alive and healthy. For 15 years, without such feeding, the tree will wilt and die and Elynthi robbed of its splendor. The upkeep of Quarencia has become, not only the duty, but also a tradition called The Draconic Pilgrimmage where five dragons, the individuals that are the kingdom’s most powerful beings, are to bestow their relics, their ‘hearts’, to a traveling band of adventurers in order to bring them all to the Life Tree, Quarencia. A tradition of which it’s beginnings have been tasked to the humble province of Satya where the final bout of a tournament to determine who will be tasked with the quest to feed the life tree takes place.
JoCat is also the creator of a fairly famous video series known as A Crap Guide to D&D covering the game with a sarcastic, but sincere, perspective that found broad appeal. In the episode for and about Dungeon Mastering, many voice cameos are from folks in the live play TTRPG space.
16:24 MM:“Hey, it’s alright JoCrap, there’s no need to get so hostile. If you just take a moment to talk to the players, I’m sure we can all-”
Jocat:“Nobody cares, Matt Mercer!” (slaps Matt’s maps (bonus tongue twister!))
<3 JoCat