Encounter Party
Warning : spoiler for Encounter Party ’s finale !
Summary
Encounter Partyfollows a group ofD&D - vogue adventurerspulled together by a strange twist of circumstances when a shared dream link their futures . As they correct out on a quest across Balder ’s Gate , they slowly learn to trust one another as they discover that each of their own motivations is connected to the expectant terror they are chasing . However , matter take a turn when it seems their nightmare may come genuine when a dreary secret is uncover about one of their own .
Encounter Partybegan as a Dungeons & Dragons podcast before becoming a television series on the Dungeon & Dragons FAST channel . Unlike most Actual Plays the cast ofEncounter Partystrived to make a story that feels like a fantasy TV show rather than a TTRPG game , in part due to their ability to lean into the drama or else of stepping away from it through inside laugh that break the tension . Encounter Partystars the original plaster cast from the podcast : Ned Donovan , Brian David Judkins , Sarah Babe , David Lee Huynh , Landree Fleming , and Andrew Krug , with the addition ofKhary Payton ( The Walking Dead ) .
Plenty of novels have taken inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons , with options ranging from the foundational Greyhawk adventure to Faerûn .
screen door Rantinterviewed the cast ofEncounter Party . They discuss how they wanted to go against classic D&D figure and break expectations with not only the storytelling but with the conclusion to have 2 Dungeon Masters for the finale . Payton shared how reactions to Tolohave bear on him and Judkins broke down the rushed preparation process for the time of year .
Encounter Party “Ended Up Scrambling” While Mapping Out The First Television Season’s Campaign
Judkins revealed that he only had six weeks to contrive out the campaign for the first season ofEncounter Party . He bring out how the cast helped him by giving him each of their characters ' backstories , which allowed him to weave element together , making the interconnect constituent of the chronicle experience natural as the time of year progressed .
Brian David Judkins : I had to write a second campaign . We had to start over about halfway through development for some rationality , and Wizard enunciate , " Hey , we need you to start over . " So , because we had such a short piece of writing clock time , I called all the cast and said , " Hey , I need help . " I guess I had six week .
We end up scrambling , and so that meant that everybody had to make novel characters , we went into a really , really short writing time , and I just called everyone and said , " Hey , look , I require help . I ca n’t go from scratch and if I go just on my own , we end up on rails and that ’s not bonnie , nor really what we ’re trying to do with this show . "
And so we did something that I care to do with Encounter Party , which is , I do n’t want to hear about game grease monkey , I do n’t desire to get a line about character class , I do n’t want to hear about Dungeons and Dragons . I want you to add me a character that live in a fancy scope . We ’ll figure out what your character class is , we ’ll figure out all that stuff later .
Just fetch me a person , from an acting viewpoint , bring me a character with an objective , with a turn style or an move style you think you ’d be capable to helm confidently . And then I was able to make full in about half the piece of writing work .
And so I was able to take all that stuff and nonsense , and then I had this idea of the futurity and the Medigus and what I desire to do with that , and then I just found a manner to weave all that clobber in . Landree read that she wanted to be somebody who was sort of on the Holman Hunt for her sister . And then I was like , " Great . Her babe got sucked in by this group . " And we had to do a little finagling with Ned and Andrew to make that connection there .
Six strangers share a prophetic dream that condemns two of them to death. As they chase down their impending demise, a dangerous question grows. Does fate change once you’ve seen it?
And the launch part were kind of develop off of David . So we constitute a elbow room to connect all this material . This was prior to Khary , so Khary was a late entrance . That ’s why he ’s kind of on the outside . But that writing honestly move to everyone else on this call except for me , because they helped just sort of make a very short composition schedule and make that efficient .
The end of the time of year revealed that one of the main character , Vinh , had been all in for the absolute majority of the season , setting up a major betrayal . This was even more big in how it was delivered , with Huynh joining Judkins behind the DM screen to co - Dungeon Master in the final episode , with him fully becoming an antagonist for the residue of the party ti fight against .
Brian David Judkins : We had was an opportunity to do something that I think has never been done before , which is something we need to forever be chasing . David and I found a fashion to not only make a twist , the perfidy is kind of one matter , but to duplicate DM the finale . We ’ve seen swap DMs , and we ’ve seen back and Forth , but I do n’t think we ’ve ever seen a double diabetes mellitus in that style . For the peril to jump as everyone is become quick for a six on one that suddenly becomes a five on two , the danger of that just escalates .
And so you ’re divvy up with the annoyance of the betrayal , the variety of wonder of the surprise , and suddenly everything get twice as dangerous . And to watch David just relish in that . He did what good DMs do , which is , we wish to say that players should n’t say , " Oh , this is what my character would do . " But DMs definitely get to say , " Well , this is what the scoundrel would do . " And to watch David vacate that friendly relationship for mistreat into the antagonist side , I call back is something that was very unequalled for this show and this music genre .
David Lee Huynh : I can also say , I recall the way that all of our stories and all of our narrative weave and move each other ’s plot onward , I ’m recollect about Tolo and Ulavina and how they ’re young characters out in the creation , they get this take crime syndicate and at the end of the season , it ’s ripped away from them . I ’m just so curious how that will impact their trajectory from here on .
Playing With Classic D&D Tropes And Expectations In Encounter Party
Babe made a compelling choice as a musician by having Ulavina grapple with the moral implications of kill someone . In the world of D&D. players often shoot down NPCs without too much thought , but Babe select to delve profoundly into research Ulavina ’s struggle and show how this choice transfer her moving forward .
Sarah Babe : First off , I unremarkably play direct up murder hobos . It does n’t matter what office play biz it is , I ’m unremarkably like stab first , take motion later . So this was a very big variety from what I am usually accustomed to . I wanted to make Ulavina more real . And that made me think , as a real someone , most people I know would be impact by that . I just want to show that Ulavina was , yes , a persona , but she was also a person and real people have real feeling about things that are traumatise because I ’ve never taken someone ’s life , but I ca n’t imagine it would be a fun time .
I just thought that was a very , again , like you were suppose , it ’s not something that ’s really explored in a lot of role - playing game , especially D&D because you just kill someone and it ’s fine . Brian and I made the very conscious determination to make her kind of a pacifist because she wanted to be a therapist and wanted to search into help all of these animals that she find and just doing good in the humans . Her version of doing good in the world was not killing people . So it was fun , and it was an pleasurable exercise to bring that to a super illusion world .
To kind of be like , " No , this is what happens . You are eliminating someone ’s life at the end of combat so you really need to intend about that . " I ’m sure at some breaker point we ’ll get into Ulavina ’s background a little bit more , but she has a very loving background . She has a very trusting a very , some would say inner , some would say sheltered , and it felt like the right-hand choice to make with Ulavina .
Donovan ’s character , Flik , face his own challenges as someone who would remember cursed target and take on the expletive from these valuable relics . He explained why it was important to keep Flik a Rogue instead of dabbling in Warlock as he hears the voice of one of the curses he took on in the past .
Ned Donovan : When we were verbalise about it , we bulge saying , " Well , what happens if he gets hired to transport a cuss item ? Well , what is that like ? " And so we started talking about the conditional relation of that , if that ’d work . We come up with this mind that maybe he launched with a scourge item and the first item had a representative and so that was , I think , where that whole thing come from . It was built around what if at the start , there ’s just a voice and it ’ll belike go aside because we ’ll get rid of the item , but we could have a fun meta narration with Brian and do fun things .
And then it became sort of the account as a whole was , " Well , what if Flik always has a voice ? " And then we debated like , " Well , does that make him a warlock ? " And we were like , " No , get ’s make it very specifically this very different problem than what 1/10th of D&D characters always go through , " which is a interpreter in their head . And so that ’s really where that came from is we get down at , " Well , Flik transports things , " and then it was , " Here ’s an interesting complication that could go with that problem . " And then it was , " Well , there ’s an easy way to do that , make him a warlock . "
And we decided that ’s not interesting or new . What is fresh is what if there ’s a articulation that the hearing just assumes is a warlock , if they play to obtain out it absolutely is not . That was , I consider , where that whole matter came from . And then in full term of the debasement , Brian and I started talk about , " Well , what are the consequences here ? " Flik has to be terrified of this thing and that holy terror ca n’t just be , " I hate that there ’s a creepy voice in my head . "
So we come up with a whole mechanic that Brian and I were chase of debasement , different stride , how that move Flik that we never really publicized , but if you go do mathematics on my dice , there ’s one guessing where I ramble really well , and Andrew looks and nods , and then I say a identification number , and it cut to Andrew and Andrew goes [ shocked and confused face ] . Because he saw what I roll and has no reason to understand why the numeral is severe .
Fleming revealed what surprise her about her character , Asher ’s arc , include her attractive force to the power that the enemies wielded . Flemming also share how the friendships that formed within the party get genuinely , which came as a surprise for Asher .
Landree Fleming : I think that there was a lot of surprisal for me surrounding the attraction of the hereafter . I think that I did n’t expect there to be a reaction from Asher in terms of , " Oh , this variety of power is very attractive to me . " Asher , she ’s the kid spring up up that did n’t get played with on the playground because she was really smart and did n’t roll in the hay how to connect to other people . I call up so much of her identity , for many reasons , was about gain ground power and cognition , because that ’s how she could kind of control the unruly around her . So I recall that was really surprising for me .
Additionally , I conceive what was also really surprising was the friendships that she did end up making . I recollect deeply down she lie with that she ’s not passing sympathetic , and I intend to have those bit create and watching Tolo have these beautiful , magical moments that just exhale from his psyche , watching that and getting to relish that experience with him and feeling like Ulavina was a little sister and admiring the intelligence of Dryddian and all these things . I remember what was so surprising is that she became part of a team .
Khary Payton Explains How It Feels To See Fans React Positively To His Character Tolo
Ina past audience withScreen RantPaytonexplained how his son revolutionize him to create Tolo . Now that the time of year has ended , he shared how it has felt to see sports fan react to this character , especially those who have apportion why this character is so crucial to them and their roll in the hay I .
Khary Payton : I ’ve scream so many times at how mass palpate about Tolo , the reactions I did n’t look , and the reactions I hoped for . It ’s been tremendous , gratifying , and play . All I want to do is wrap my child in a beast that could be protective , permit him know that he could live his life with a tone of security .
What the character was about is that by being seen , I ’m able to give him a sure fortification that being see and consume people see as a human and seeing as a soul give them a certain protection because understanding play a certain auspices . It ’s been awing .
This whole experience has been so ridiculously wondrous as far as the creative outlet , the story that we ’re telling on so many levels has been just an incredible experience . I ’m both activated and worried about where we go next because I want this to live on , and I finger like this boat is getting pushed off towards the new world and all there is , is horizon .
We ’re like , " Here we go . Where are we going ? We ’re going somewhere , I just do n’t have it away . " I ’m excited and terrified all at once because the thing is that the masses who want to see this are last to see this .
Krug break down how Dryddian deals with his going by go on his pursuance and discover new people to associate with . Krug also explain how he handles the improvisation , which is something he let in can be difficult , but he battle this by craft rich , inscrutable traditional knowledge for his characters and the world they last in .
Andrew Krug : Isolating himself is not how he ’s belong to resolve loss , and it is something that he feels like he has to solve . It ’s not something that just wash over you that give out away , it ’s something that he has to meet head on somehow . He gets sort of cast adrift get hold his way through a world that he has never been in before , and it ’s only with the aid of this find out kinsperson that he ’s able to find his room frontward towards some sorting of conclusion . t ’s only by betroth with this group that he ’s able to forge a path forward in a world that is not his own .
Hopefully , we get a footling closer to that resolution in time of year two . I think Dryddian , we suffer more scenes from him than just about anyone else for sentence . I do this grand storytime bullsh - t where I total up with something that I have painstakingly written and then monologue about , and it does nothing to move the plot forrad .
So the mystery of having these off - the - handlock improv second is that they ’re not off - the - handcuff . I do an absurd amount of writing for each of these because I ’m not good at improv . I can , " Yes , and , " stuff , but the contingent are the things that make the story sing , and I ’ve got to get those down somewhere .
It made me really nervous doing this on television camera . We have done three seasons of a podcast where I have this nice , commodious laptop in front of me the entire metre , and so I can refer to my giant life history , my 120 page of lore . I could n’t do any of that for this . I had to get all of this down , interiorise it , and then in the consequence , do this stuff . I
About Encounter Party
Seven actors play Dungeons & Dragons to make an improvised high - phantasy adventure story . Over the course of twenty - two serialise episodes , Dungeon Master and co - executive producer Brian David Judkins and six talented player , include Khary Payton and co - executive manufacturer Ned Donovan , guide their characters from the high ocean to the severe street of Baldur ’s Gate , and into the very jaw of destiny .
The first time of year ofEncounter Partyis on theDungeons & Dragons Adventureschannel on Amazon Freevee and Plex .
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Cast
Six strangers portion out a prophetic dreaming that condemn two of them to death . As they dog down their impending dying , a serious question grows . Does fate alteration once you ’ve seen it ?
