Hasbro is launching a free, ad-supported streaming television channel full of new and classic Dungeons & Dragons programming through its subsidiary, eOne Entertainment. An announcement, made on Thursday, details three all-new, unscripted series set to premiere this summer. The as-yet unnamed channel will be supplemented with reruns of the classic 1980s D&D animated series. No distributors were named, but it’s expected to be available on smart TVs and other streaming devices.
The big winners here turn out to be fans of this Meeting party, a long-running D&D actual playback podcast co-founded by Brian David Judkins and Ned Donovan, will headline the new channel. The group’s first campaign took place in Ravnica, one of several aircraft Magic: The Gathering‘s multiverse, and closed two years ago. The second campaign will feature actor Khary Payton (The living Dead, General Hospital) to the cast and “a video component,” according to a press release.
A second show, called Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!, is described as “an improv comedy twist on classic Dungeons & Dragons gameplay.” It’s essentially a comedic take on the funnel concept, where underpowered characters are put through a meat grinder and killed in hilarious ways. Actor Matthew Lillard (scream, Five nights at Freddy’s), one of the co-founders of Beadle & Grimm’s (a licensee of D&D publishing company Wizards of the Coast), is listed as a co-creator.
Finally, a cooking show based on the New York Time best-selling cookbook Hero party is also on the receipt. Co-hosted by Chef Mike Haracz and actor Sujata Day (Insecure), it has been described as “part talk show, part cooking contest.”
D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast has sponsored several real life game series in the past, with mixed results. The critically acclaimed Rivals of Waterdeep, now in its 15th seasonwas sponsored by Wizards from 2018 through 2020. Meanwhile Dungeons & Dragons Presents: Party Invitation ran for 12 episodes on G4 before it, and the newly resurrected TV network itself, was shut down. With this new streaming channel, the Wizards team seems remarkably hands-off. In fact, it has not made any mention of the project on any of its social media channels.
Plus, Hasbro and eOne aren’t the only ones trying to bring tabletop RPG content to major streaming services. Free League is teaming up with AMC Networks to create a series based on Roleplay The Walking Dead Universewhich will also debut in 2023.