D&D’s new actual play show borrows a clever horror mechanic from Dark Dice

On April 16, Dungeons & Dragons announced the debut of a new, official actual play show called Dungeon Masters. Featuring celebrities Neil Newbon, Devora Wilde, Christian Navarro, and Mayanna Berrin, and led by Dungeon Master Jasmine Bhullar, the show premiered its first two episodes on April 22, dropping the cast into the perilous mists of a Domain of Dread called Sithicus to showcase the contents of the upcoming Ravenloft: The Horrors Within book.

[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for Dungeon Masters episode 2]

After a chaotic prelude, Bhullar has the team spirited away to Sithicus, where they quickly learn how inhospitable the Domains can be. To convey the nerve-wracking effect that these dark realms have on their inhabitants, the DM introduces the party to a house rule that affects what is perhaps D&D’s most important resource: a long rest. As the characters settle down for their first night of sleep, Bhullar asks the players to roll a constitution saving throw. Newbon and Berrin’s characters, Professor Crem de la Crem and Wesley, fail and are hit with one level of exhaustion as a consequence. This cool little spin reminded me of one of the prominent features used in my favorite D&D podcast, Dark Dice.

Dark Dice is an award-winning show created by Fool & Scholar Productions, Travis Vengroff and K.A. Statz. It’s a Dungeons & Dragons adventure (later developed into a longer campaign) with strong horror undertones, featuring excellent sound production (including music performed by a live orchestra) and editing. Unlike other famous shows like Critical Role, the sessions behind Dark Dice are edited and condensed into one-hour-long episodes that focus on rhythm and tension. And did I mention that the legendary Jeff Goldblum is a guest star and recurring character?

Dark Dice’s first adventure, “Domain of the Nameless God,” introduced fans to the scary world of Tural created by Vengroff (who acts as the DM), ripe with monsters that wear human skin and collect teeth, and ancient gods that make Cthulhu look like a nice fellow. The most interesting feature in this adventure is that the main antagonist, a monster called the Silent One, haunts the party from the start. His purpose is to deny them a long rest, thus whittling the characters’ resources, not to mention their mental health. (“Domain of the Nameless God” includes rules for sanity that come into play whenever the characters witness something disturbing or go through a traumatic experience.) This mechanic is resolved through constitution saving throws, but the effects are slightly more complex than what is seen in Dungeon Masters.

In “Domain of the Nameless God,” when the party tries to take a long rest, the characters who stay awake to take watch have to roll a constitution saving throw, with the difficulty based on how much time has passed since they last slept. Failing means that the character(s) on watch fall asleep, allowing the Silent One, who is stalking the party, to enter the encampment and do a bunch of nasty things that I won’t spoil here. The main effect, however, is that the monster’s ambushes deprive the party of a long rest, thus making the following saving throws to stay awake even harder.

Image: James A. Cartwright/Fool & Scholar Productions

This is a brilliant mechanic that attacks D&D 5e character builds at their core. The current edition of the game (including the 5.5 revision) is based on resource management: Every class has powers or abilities (including spells) that recharge on a long rest, which also have the effect of fully restoring hit points. The frequency with which a DM allows their players to take a long rest is one of the most effective ways to manage the difficulty of an adventure or campaign, and Vengroff devised a delightfully cruel way to do so. You can find these rules by purchasing the adventure or the Dark Dice campaign setting Unnatural Horrors.

Bhullar took a much lighter approach in Dungeon Masters, but it still spices things up. Notably, she’s not using the 5.5e rules for exhaustion (where every level of this condition applies a cumulative minus two to all rolls), sticking with the 5e version instead. She also tied these checks to the presence of Sithicus’s darklord, Lord Soth, whose nightmares haunt whoever tries to sleep in his Domain. As anyone who played through Curse of Strahd knows, the darklords are the core of the demiplanes of the Ravenloft setting. Their presence and nature shape the Domain they are trapped in. Lord Soth will be familiar to Dragonlance fans, but his presence in Ravenloft is new for 5e (Sithicus was not featured in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft). I’m curious to see how the party fares against the might of a darklord when they confront Lord Soth in the next episode.

Dungeon Masters has the potential to be a very entertaining show in the expanding landscape of D&D actual plays. However, Dark Dice offers something truly unique: It’s hard to pull off a good horror story in a fantasy setting like Dungeons & Dragons, but Vengroff and his cast of players did an excellent job. The production values and sound design enhance immersion, while the house rules perfectly complement the themes of the setting. Even if you’re not into horror, limiting a party’s chances for a long rest is a great way to fix some of D&D 5e’s most glaring balance issues.

Dungeon Masters airs new episodes on YouTube on Wednesdays at 6:30 pm PT. Dark Dice is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.