After 50 years, Dungeons & Dragons is taking on a whole new stage

Dungeons & Dragons or table role playing games in general are no longer seen as just a kind of board game with strange dice. These days, embodying your role is as important an aspect of the whole experience as rolling dice and boxing kites. Pen & Paper is a reminder often almost reminiscent of a private round of improvisational theater.

Now D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast is taking another big step in this direction as it celebrates the role-playing game's 50th anniversary the first official play in the Forgotten Realms produced. A play may be misleading. It's more of an interactive stage show called The Twenty Sided Tavern.

The first promo image shows how you can imagine the new show.

This is The Twenty Sided Tavern

The Twenty Sided Tavern is a project that has already been launched independently of Dungeons & Dragons and can boast successful performances in Chicago or Pittsburgh. But now an official collaboration with Wizards of the Coast has been announced to present the first official D&D show.

The show is described as experiential entertainment and consists of five actors who embody up to 30 different characters can. Exactly which characters appear, what challenge they face and how the story unfolds can be determined not only by the Dungeomaster during the live show but also by the audience. To do this, they vote on their smartphone using an app called Gamiotics.

This is to guarantee that no two shows are the same. Every viewer will experience something different when attending the event. Guests should even be brought onto the stage, where they have to overcome small challenges. This video of a performance in Chicago shows how you can imagine this:

Link to YouTube content

The whole thing seems to be much wilder and more interactive than the live shows of well-known D&D streamers such as Critical Role, who have also already filled huge halls with their campaigns. Here, however, there was less physical action on the stages, the actors sat in their places as if in a stream and played out the planned adventure.

For now the show will only in the USA and only takes place Off-Broadway in New York. Tickets will be available for exclusive pre-sale from February 29th and will be available for public sale from March 4th. The first preview performance will take place on April 19, 2024. The regular program officially begins on May 5, 2024.