Hasbro is launching a free, ad-supported streaming TV channel full of new and classic Dungeons & Dragons programming through its subsidiary, eOne Entertainment. An announcement, made Thursday, details three all-new unscripted series that will premiere this summer. The as-yet-unnamed channel will be supplemented with reruns of the classic 1980s D&D animated series. No distributor was mentioned, but it should be available on smart TVs and other streaming devices.
The big winners here seem to be fans of dating party, a long-running D&D real-world game podcast co-founded by Brian David Judkins and Ned Donovan, which will headline the new channel. The troop’s first campaign took place in Ravnica, one of the many aircraft of Magic: The Gathering‘s multiverse, and concluded two years ago. The second campaign will add actor Khary Payton (The Walking Dead, general hospital) in the cast as well as a “video component,” according to a press release.
A second show, titled Faster, purple worm! Kill! Kill!, is described as “an improv comedy about classic Dungeons & Dragons gameplay”. It’s basically a comedic take on the funnel concept, where undernourished characters are run through a meat grinder and hilariously killed. Actor Matthew Lillard (Shout, Five nights at Freddy’s), one of the co-founders of Beadle & Grimm’s (licensee of D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast), is listed as a co-creator.
Finally, a cooking show based on the New York Times best-selling cookbook heroes party is also on file. Co-hosted by the chef Mike Haracz and actor Sujata Day (Insecure), it is described as “part talk show, part cooking contest”.
D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast has sponsored several live game series in the past, with mixed results. Critically acclaimed Rivals of Waterdeep, now in its 15th seasonwas sponsored by Wizards from 2018 to 2020. During this time, Dungeons & Dragons Presents: Party Invitation ran for 12 episodes on G4 before, and the newly resurrected television network itself, was shut down. With this new streaming channel, the Wizards team seems obviously uninterested. In fact, he made no mention of the project on any of his social media channels.
Plus, Hasbro and eOne aren’t the only ones looking to bring tabletop RPG content to major streaming services. Free League has partnered with AMC Networks to create a series based on The Walking Dead Universe Roleplaying Gamewhich will also debut in 2023.
