I’ll be the first to say I would rather watch paint dry, while undergoing multiple root canals, before I’d watch a group of people roleplay online. Call me old school but I come from a generation where we actually do things (say play games for example) as opposed to parking our asses on a couch, phones inches from our faces, watching other folks doing stuff. I won’t rag too much about it; if that’s your bag of tricks so be it but I find it mind-numbingly dull, especially since most of the pseudo-celebs they roll out for these things are a whole lot less entertaining than they think they are.
Yet you might want to tune into this afternoon’s live stream from Meltdown Comics as some announcements regarding upcoming Dungeons & Dragons storylines and products should be coming our way. Granted, the payoff may not be worth the pain of sitting through D-listers playing D&D but you can find out starting today at 4pm with a preshow at 2:30pm PST.
The announcement:
Meltdown Comics is a hotbed for both veteran and emerging comedy talent in Los Angeles and we’re bringing an eclectic group of people together to play Dungeons & Dragons and one-up each other’s storytelling chops.
On June 1 starting with a pre-show at 2:30pm PT, we’ll stream D&D Live from Meltdown to unveil the new fall storyline for Dungeons & Dragons, and we’ll introduce a brand new cast of characters and the details for their new weekly D&D series produced by and airing on Nerdist and Geek & Sundry this Summer.
You might recognize some of these folks:
- Actor, singer, rapper-extraordinaire, Utkarsh Ambudkar (The Mindy Project, Pitch Perfect), will be drawing on his many talents as he plays a wise-cracking scoundrel human rogue.
- Ashley Johnson, known for her roles on NBC’s Blindspot and Geek & Sundry’s Critical Role, will take on a new persona as a half-orc cleric.
- Comedian and writer Shelby Fero (Key & Peele) will be playing a dwarf fighter with a floating shield and a crippling fear of heights.
- Brian Posehn (The Sarah Silverman Program) is a long-time D&D player who hosts his own D&D games on the Nerd Poker podcast but he won’t tell us what character he is playing in the Meltdown game.
- Jonah Ray, host of The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail on Comedy Central, Hidden America and the new MST3K is playing a wise old monk who has a fishing metaphor for every occasion.
- Matthew Mercer, leader of Critical Role, will be keeping this crew reined in as the Dungeon Master, running the adventure he developed with Chris Perkins (principal story designer of D&D).
- More special guests yet to be revealed!
More details about the adventuring party and the weekly series will be revealed June 1st at D&D Live from Meltdown.
Alison Haislip (G4, ABC’s Battlebots) will serve as host for D&D Live from Meltdown, unveiling new D&D products and corralling the shenanigans on stage including interviews with Chris Perkins, Mike Mearls, Cryptic Studio’s Rob Overmeyer (executive producer of Neverwinter MMORPG) and other D&D creators.