The Bards of Aratai

A deadly new potion, capable of destroying the city is brewing.

A cunning and vicious shape-changer is testing it on innocent captives, preparing to unleash it on the city.

It's up to three singing, dancing (and ukulele playing?!?) bards to save the lives of a million people.

Might be a good time to leave the city...

The Bards of Aratai is a soon-to-be-released fantasy show by New Zealand based Dungeons & Dragons channel, Dice Legenz. It is a fast moving, action packed YouTube series consisting of 12 episodes, each of them 20–30min long.

The captivating trio of bards at the heart of the story are Kalahari Belle (Monique Clementson - Rent, The Feed, Something Rotten) a glamor bard who conceals her beauty behind sunglasses lest her gaze literally breaks hearts; Zozo Cadence (Reylene-Rose Hilaga - Dungeons & Comedians) a ukulele brandishing disguise expert; and Evelyn Havoc (Krystal O’Gorman - Dungeons & Comedians) who likes smashing things.

Dice Legenz has completed the principal filming of the series and is soon to launch a Kickstarter to fund its post-production elements. The Bards of Aratai Kickstarter offers backers a campaign setting book with everything a D&D group needs to create their own Bards of Aratai style games, plus ways to directly connect with the cast.

The first episode throws the audience right into the action with the three bards in pursuit of a slippery messenger carrying the deadly potions. From there, the mystery and adventure take us on a captivating journey through Dice Legenz' unique setting—the grand walled city of Aratai. We visit seedy underground taverns, glittering mansions, and cozy taverns.

Dice Legenz is a group of television and stage professionals from New Zealand. They began streaming Dungeons & Dragons adventures two and a half years ago on Twitch, and moved into the top 1% of D&D channels on that platform within the first 9 months. Given their growing and passionate audience on Twitch, until now Dice Legenz has not focused much attention on creating content for YouTube.

"We're keen to connect with audiences on YouTube, but not a lot of people head there to watch three-hour actual play videos, unless perhaps it's Critical Role," says Vahid Qualls, the producer and DM of The Bards of Aratai. "So, we've created a show that's much more digestible for a YouTube audience: twenty to thirty minutes of pure fun and action, with tight editing, immersive music and sound and a sprinkling of visual effects for when spells pop off."

Head to the Bards of Aratai Kickstarter page now to check out the fun range of rewards that will be offered to backers. And click the "Notify me" button while you're there.