Letters from the Secret D&D Live Show (feat. Sigil)
They had us in the first half, I’m not gonna lie.
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Dungeons & Dragons is celebrating its 50th anniversary at Gen Con with a series of events; some public, some private, and some—like the D&D Live AP in the Indiana Roof Ballroom—kept secret from just about everyone. Two rascals, however, managed to get in through the back door (the main elevator, past the semi-open bar, and through the nearly-full crowd) and found themselves just a few rows away from the action. The action in question included some of the best D&D performers in the world—Aabria Iyengar, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Anjali Bhimani—alongside two of the most popular D&D actors from Baldur’s Gate 3—Neil Newbon and Samantha Béart (Astarion and Karlach, respectively).
The show started in a place where many D&D games begin—in a tavern. Iyengar, as the DM, started the performance by giving two familiar characters—Astarion and Karlach—a chance to flirt their way through the Chill Touch Tavern puzzle. (The puzzle was just a bartender hoping to steer them down the right path.) Bhimani’s Miri Yannen, a gorgeous but secretive wizard, was hosting auditions for a party to join her on a quest to defeat a dragon that had been killing adventuring parties. Mulligan played Dorbin Kragstone, the cleric of Illmater, the god of “falling down the stairs many times,” who joined up with Astarion and Karlach as they fought their way through Yannen’s trial. After an extended bar brawl complete with a surprising amount of horny jokes and more than a few BG3 references, Yannen joined the party, and the four of them set out to defeat the murderous dragon.
The live actual play was initially catnip for two jaded rascals who cast an eye of skepticism over everything that Wizards of the Coast touches. But, after a positive first impression with the new and improved Player’s Handbook (review to come), we were open to the possibility that D&D might actually be… good? Between Rowan’s respect for the cast’s three actual players and Lin’s well-documented love of Baldur’s Gate 3, the first act of the AP delivered a plate of crow directly into their hands
And then the second act began.
