Publisher: DnD Beyond

Dungeon Master: Brennan Mulligan

Players:

B. Dave Walters and his daughters, Lexi and Kahlan Walters

Adam Bradford and his son, Luke Bradford

Kelly Knox and her daughter, Maddy Knox

Since the popularization of live Dungeon & Dragon playthroughs by Matt Mercer and the Critical Role crew, there has been a collection of other live streams following the trend. The triple threat of improv-acting, storytelling, and board gaming makes for good viewing, especially for those who play tabletop RPGs themselves. There’s a glut of live stream material out there. Most of which star adults, many of them voice actors, comedians, and even authors who are veterans of TTRPGs. Roll In The Family offers up something of a new formula. Gone is the adult content, gone is the streamlined knowledge of every rule concerning underwater combat, climb speeds, and Bless effects on Echo Knights, replaced with newness and innocence to the game.

Now, I’ve been playing a lot of D&D since the stay-at-home order went down in Washington State. That’s been spurred on by my interest in the podcast Not Another D&D Podcast which is hilarious, but certainly for mature audiences. I was intrigued to hear of a live stream that featured children guided by their D&D veteran parents and an awesome DM.

Brennan Mulligan is able. He is great at storytelling and voices, but he’s even better at showcasing each player. While all the parents don’t need encouragement to engage authentically in the roleplay of the game, some of the kids need a small nudge. This is where Mulligan shines. He turns the character Demora’s dinner, into an eating contest. He widens his eyes and shouts, “Oooh man!” when Trinity rolls a nat20 attack roll. It’s clear that the kids are the focus of this campaign and Mulligan does a great job of making them all feel special as the narrative progresses.

The plot of the first episode is standard for the first session. The real fun of the episode is watching how the players learn and interact with the events at hand. It doesn’t bother me that there are some silent moments after a young/new player asks, “Which die to I roll?” because that’s how I started, not that long ago–and I’m in my 30s.

This stream came about as a benefit for COVID-19 relief via the Direct Relief organization and as the stream rolls along, comments and donation amounts scroll on the screen. It’s as heartening as the session is heartwarming.

If you’re looking for a family-story time event, Roll In The Family is an awesome escape for people of all ages. I think it’s better for the fact that kids can see how others their age play and learn, and hopefully, it will inspire more young people to engage in the Theater-of-the-Mind that D&D promotes.

New episodes air on Twitch every Thursday at 3 pm PT. I, for one, look forward to seeing how the players grow throughout the campaign, as I’m sure they will.

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