VIDEO
hi everyone this is Dean d beyond I am
here with my friend Chris Lindsey and
we’re talking about adventures leave yep
so yeah tell me what this magical thing
adventures like is what new things do
you guys have in store certainly
adventurers League is the organized play
program for Dungeons & Dragons that
Wizards of the coast manages and I’m
responsible for it which is the coast so
and we have all kinds of DD events
around the world basically some of which
we directly get involved in like the one
here at origins right and our goal
really is just to make sure that people
can have the best play experience in
public possible right and how do you go
about doing that though
well you’re providing structure we do we
have a structure there’s a shared world
campaign so people can take their
character from game to game the game so
if they go from event to playing it home
to wherever to the store they can take
the same character and they can play and
they can continue to advance a character
and have a good time and meet new
friends and just be a part of their
community you know of gamers why is this
a passion of yours Wow
well D&D in general has been a passion
of mine since I was like 10 but
community the the feeling of being a
part of a much larger group has always
been extremely fulfilling for me and
super exciting and I love going to big
shows and seeing like seeing a DND
gaming event that you can’t get anywhere
else right so like here we’re gonna have
the red war epic and we’re gonna have
today and tomorrow we’re going on the DD
open and we have game elements built
into these games that you can’t get at
your home game you’re you need more than
like one table you need more than five
tables you need a whole bunch of tables
or people whether it be what are these
elements you’re talking about so like
with the epic today tables will be able
to help each other because technically
they’re all playing in the same
adventure right and it’s not that we
have a bunch of separate teams and
they’re all running the same adventure
that there’s interactivity between
tables right and there’s elements built
in like they can do things to help boost
the other table or give them a nice one
tables handling an aspect of an
adventure yeah other table is making
something else handling something else
and depending off this table succeeded
or failed exactly that will inform the
experience of someone next to you
exactly have a big haul of people
playing adventure exactly like 40 tables
of people playing one adventure right
then it’s basically live Marvel
Cinematic Universe exactly exactly what
it is right and and people were playing
at all tiers right so you’ll have
characters from levels 1 to 20 all
playing the same adventure but the
challenges that they have to interact
with are gonna be different depending on
where they meet that adventure attic
right that’s gonna form some new
friendships when you like jump into
something like that it does yeah yeah
absolutely and the logistical aspect of
actually managing all of that because
they’re in addition to having table
Dungeon Master’s we have to have
basically a bent dungeon masters who are
circulating and making sure that
everything is running smoothly as it’s
all kinda like interlocked together
right and someone’s gabbi’s designing
the stories to interlock yes nice so
yeah where is that coming from
we we have a cadre stable or how do you
want to call it of fantastic fan authors
and which actually are professional
authors for D&D yeah right and they put
together
these adventures under the guidance of
the adventurers like abdun team okay who
report directly to mean and they work to
build out the entire we start with like
a based storyline and and not line an
idea and then we just kind of work with
them to like flush out the whole thing
and then they just go crazy and they
build the adventure and the admins tie
it all together that’s so cool yeah
especially like if you are new to D&D
mm-hmm and you can just like jump into
like a convention like this or your
hobby shop and you’re just getting the
full experience in one day attack you’re
getting the whole thing and you can come
in and sometimes we’ll have like
billions that float from table to table
the table yeah right there’s nothing
like having you know you just you know
that that one Dungeon Master who’s all
they’re doing is they’re playing the
Dragon and the dragon comes flying in to
the table and then um buddy goes nuts I
get like Merle’s big a big miniature
Tiamat just going and Tiamat shows up
yeah yeah we had an epic last year where
one of the it was a lower level of it
but one of the floating monsters was
this casmi demon and rhudi Ruttenberg
from me Zarkana would go from table to
table and the cosmic demon has a drone
ability and he would speak to all the
players in the voice of Ben Stein
because he’s voice actor it was
hilarious
what uh what are there things that
you’re working on now that you would
like to expand is there like new
features or new Jesus just had a DD
summit and for the adventurers League
and we are getting ready to move into
season eight with the release of Dragon
heists and then later on dungeon of the
mad mage that’s gonna be an especially
challenging season for us because
instead of taking one adventure and
building a season around it we’re taking
both adventures and we’re linking the
whole thing together in one cohesive
story arc to support those adventures
for adventure sake
so we’re gonna have a two-book season
and and we are moving over to using the
checkpoint system in zathras guide to
everything for player rewards and
advancements so that’s gonna become a
new thing for the adventures in
community but we really feel like it’s
gonna streamline how you operate in how
people can like move from table to table
with those characters will make it much
easier for them to do that now Lisa’s
not here with us no yeah she had a
scheduling conflict yeah but tell me a
little bit about Lisa’s contributions so
lisa is one of our two Community
Managers her and Alan Patrick and Lisa
is really fantastic at rallying the
community behind behind D&D and she is
really basically the ultimate I don’t
want to say she’s the ultimate
cheerleader because that’s really
diminishing what she does but she she’s
like the you know she keeps everybody up
right and it’s Lisa’s job to be that
warm welcoming person for new folks as
they coming into the adventurers League
and she helps to kind of guide them into
the program and then direct them to
where they need the things they need so
that they can be involved yeah and she’s
fantastic at that how does someone get
involved the easiest way to give
especially for a new player yeah someone
who is just scared of like making that
leap to D&D uh-huh how do they get
involved well one way to get there’s a
number of ways to get involved one way
to get involved of course is to come to
a show like this right like where it is
yeah like origins right and that’s but
that’s kind of like sometimes it can be
a little bit daunting but we always try
and set up these introductory tables to
get people involved like in a very
gentle manner and we tell our dungeon
master say be nice with the new guy hey
folks we want them down you want them to
come back yeah right
another way is to go to your friendly
local gaming store and
and some of them will run adventurous
League events at their store for new and
existing players and and that can be
very fun and exciting
a third way is if you just want to get
involved with the ventures League if you
just want to start at home you could do
that you can get an adventure off the
Dungeon Master’s guilds and download it
and run it for your friends and and you
get the little documentation and you can
keep track of your experience and stuff
and it’s not complicated at all we try
to make it as easy as possible how big
is this community oh wow
they get last count we had somewhere
between eighty and a hundred thousand
followers on Facebook and by the way our
Facebook page for a DV Ventures league
is also a fantastic way to come in and
ask questions and get acclimated to the
community right there’s Lisa is there
and Alan Patrick is there and they’re
their sole mission is to basically guide
people into the community and help them
get comfortable with participating with
a much larger group yeah it’s really
important to like for people who are
like scared because they get this
question a lot like we were scared –
playing – indeed there is a network of
first off the community for DeeDee is
incredibly nice yes yes we would–we
wants you to play they want you to have
a positive experience and adventures
League is a big part of that yes we want
everybody to come we don’t care you know
it’s the all inclusive environment and
it’s absolutely a safe place to come in
and learn about D & B and to have a good
time and to be a part of a logic you’re
not gonna feel alienated no you should
never feel alienated
ya know we want everybody from all walks
of life from all belief speedos and
whatever to come in and join us we’re
within this fantastic hobby yeah if you
ever see this guy walking around the
show floor of any con just go over to
them and yeah I’m not even you know say
I say hi oh you got a little bit water
yeah cool
I like water is that water for em or
maybe
[Laughter]
now dams go yeah you’re heavily involved
with as well yeah I mean I’m the
business architecture the Dungeon
Master’s guilds and I I keep tabs on how
the guild is doing the health of the
guild as far as like number of new
authors coming in and new products going
up and I just kind of keep tabs on that
and I am always looking for new talents
and the DMS guild yeah oh the last
handful of authors that Wizards of the
coast has recruited to work on our own
products have come directly from my
recommendations from from authors that I
found in the beams guild and then I
brought them in and I’ve even got them
to work on adventurers League product so
they can get used to the idea of working
in a collaborative environment and then
some of them become guild adepts which
is a kind of an elite cadre of awesome
people who like to make things with
other awesome people and put them up on
the DMS guild and then other folks like
you know James intro caso and will Doyle
coming in and working on our products
and Lisa Tran yeah we’ll go on and work
on ya actual D&D pottery because we’re
making you’ve shown you have the job
yeah absolutely so yeah it’s like minor
leagues so the DMS guild is a great
place it’s a creative community at DMS
guild calm right where you can go in and
you can make a product and you can put
it up there for yourself you can make a
few dollars on it and and really to me
though the most valuable thing you can
get from that is the feedback of your
peers and and other fans and creators
who purchase your products and get a
chance to engage with that in their game
what’s your advice when it comes to
standing out as a storyteller
that’s an excellent question really the
most important serving to audiences one
you need to make a deemed skilled
product that looks interesting to a DM
to run yeah but it also has to be fun
for the play exactly exactly so we have
a lot of a lot of fans buying the
hardcover content that was just creating
the event the adventures that we have
like Tomb of annihilation and then the
upcoming I’m sure the upcoming dragon
heist adventure what are you bragging
eyes
and what we really look for is authors
that can take that content and then
understand the game well enough that
they can see oh if I were running this I
would also have this other side quest
thing right and and it would help flesh
out this aspect to the adventure that I
really enjoy them I personally enjoy and
then they can take that idea that kernel
or what they would run and they can turn
it into a published adventure but they
can put up on the DMS guild and then
other people will see that and they’ll
be like oh I haven’t thought about the
adventure that way so I can get this
thing and I can add it in I can see how
it just pleasures out there’s one
section of the adventure really nicely
by those people who contribute really
rather than doing it for themselves they
really are basically adding to the whole
community of gamers who are trying to
experience that story together right and
that’s people who can do that really
well I think
are more likely to get our attention
than other folks how did you get
involved in DMD like well this year gate
of entry because the world is very
different it is you are doing so much
work to try to get people to join D&D
yes great for D&D that’s to be coming
from a place I was I was drugged kicking
and screaming into my first D&D game by
my little brother yeah because he and
his friends wanted to play D&D II and
III wanted nothing to do with them
because that’s how you are when you’re
like you know 11 yeah yeah yeah right
but they kinda finally convinced me to
come and play with them and six months
later I was the only one still wanted to
play and so I had to go I had to go find
convince your little brother to play you
can play anymore yeah he started it
I’m like seriously the cool part is is
that same little brother now who’s only
really a year younger than I am but he
he is he is playing D&D
again and he is teaching his children to
play D&D he just started in the last
couple of months I’m so proud of him
those multi-turret you know yeah those
multi generations yeah it’s awesome to
see my nephews and nieces and stuff get
excited about the same things that we
got excited about when we were kids
what slew how long have you been that
Wizards I’ve been that Wizards as a
full-time employee since 2003 but I was
a contractor for a couple years before
that so over 15 years what has this been
like for you go from you know running
this game for your little brothers yeah
your little brother and his friends yeah
to wanting more I mean suddenly you are
now a steward of Dean B it’s absolutely
surreal sometimes sometimes I have to
like you know punch myself so I mean I
would recommend a pinch ya punch you
know I’m a heavy sleeper yeah
so to realize that I get to basically be
like you know the front man to like you
know cheer on people it’s almost like
being a pudgy David Lee Roth right
inhaling next thing that’s right you’ve
got it right here but ya know it’s it’s
it’s awesome when I started at Wizards I
was actually in the game support and
that was actually really valuable I did
that for seven years I started off as a
rep and I eventually worked into
becoming a manager there but that type
of a position constant contact with
other fans like daily like hundreds of
contacts every day on the phone and
email and chat and all this things and
that really helped me to formulate like
a really strong idea of what it is like
that i and all the other fans want yeah
now right and so much comes from that
yeah like even a lot of Dungeon Master’s
playing games first and I were like this
is what I would do differently
absolutely I see you’ve learned a lot so
you learn a tremendous amount and then
playing in organized play starting with
the RPG a and then transitioning into
Dungeons and Dragons aventuras League
which is what basically that became one
program became the other right and you’d
eat your damning for new players at
conventions all the time and you always
have something that you can learn from
somebody at the table even if it’s like
what not to do right sorry
and I did that for four years for hours
at Wizards and it was all I didn’t
realize the time I was just engaging in
my hobby but really I was training
myself yeah
so 2:12 no one no one working at Wizards
right now was like I know where I’m
going to go yeah I can become rich and
famous
yeah well anyways it was all like
everyone came at it with love yeah
absolutely that’s the impression of the
entire team I’ve met yeah and we’re like
a big boy
right there’s like you know there’s 30
or less of us right over there yeah and
and we fight and and we you know but but
it’s all like roommates
yeah that’s fight but we we fight and
then we work together we get things done
and at the end of the day we make really
really awesome products and every
conversation we have is out of that that
love yeah yeah
it shows especially when I see you guys
damn yeah to see these guys running
games very often I get to see them run
games like Jeremy Crawford and Mike
morels and you and then you see like oh
my god these people are the biggest fans
of D&D yeah yeah and so that’s like
really spirit like that makes me really
happy because you guys are all so
genuine about your love of it and when
you are doing it when you’re playing it
when you are running games that explodes
out of absolutely amazing absolutely hey
look forward to one growing above this
fall right season two I’m one rung above
the drung in water deep I want a big I
want to be the tall strong one rung
above yeah it’s gonna be hey I can’t
wait that ocher got the Barbarian
growing yeah so instead of being like
three feet tall you’re four feet tall
yeah nice three and a half three in a
hurry in the quarter yeah I tell
everyone I mean Maxie I’m a three in the
quarter
yeah I’m not kind of a big run yeah I’m
a big be wrong thank you so much for
being drunks by the way yeah because
that was a fight yeah that was that was
it that wasn’t the one house Dean D
group that did not one crime and in
being I got a golden ticket monster when
we were making bolos and that was my
bowl that was my golden ticket monster
so we we put it in the book wait wait
so everyone gets a golden ticket monster
no matter how terrible you can like
incident we did with that one so when we
were doing Volos we were going through
this elaborate number of meetings that
Mike put together and by the way we
could turn anything into a game yeah the
whole thing into a game where we’re
selecting monsters and we’re you know
checkmarks and voting them off the
island and so
right on it’s all a big whiteboard and
at the very very very very very very
very end we all got during that process
anyways we all got one monster that we
could give a golden ticket to and it
didn’t matter how much people that like
did not want that monster in the book
you write that monster and there were
there were harsh words between but and
gazes of a challenge between myself and
another person named Chris whose last
day might rhyme with Arkans about the
grunge but but Richard witness to the
rescue so I gave them my golden ticket
and then Richard sat down and he concept
art like a madman the groung and he did
such a fantastic job he really helped me
I just love throwing them my people
because they are like the cute oh look
you frog yeah and then it all goes wrong
yeah they’re way worse than Ewoks yeah
oh yeah we’re terrifying
I love that we need more cute monsters
on there fit on the face yes and then
horror underneath all absolutely yeah
should never know you never feel safe in
the jungle spots things I didn’t ask you
about adventures League Indians guild
what you want to impart to the audience
right now since we’re live really just I
don’t have anything specific other than
just get involved you know reach out to
us come to our Facebook page you know
and and don’t afraid yeah yeah if you
want to see somebody play D&D watch a
good stream online critical role there’s
me as Arkana right and all these people
out there that are playing fantastic
Dungeons and Dragons and it’s not
complicated or hardware a friendly
welcoming group and we really want
everybody who has that drive to engage
to engage and if you were a fan of
watching DD live streams yes you are a
fan of D&D yes also a member of the DD
community absolutely I grew up reading
the books I lived in the middle nowhere
and all I did was read the Monster
Manual a thousand times yeah it was part
of the community absolutely yeah if
you’re just watching and you’re engaging
you’re in that chat room and talking
about the cool stuff that’s happening I
gaming sorry that you like D&D you are
artim you are one of us all right I
think that’s a good that’s a good
message message stand up yes we feel we
feel very passionately about please do
Engler topic all right
that wraps up with our interview with
mr. Chris Lindsey hey thank you for all
your wisdom your knowledge