On a roll

By Victoria Calabrese

On the 27th of February, the Tabletop Roleplaying industry celebrated a milestone with the release of the new animated series The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon Prime. The new series is based on the first season of the very successful Dungeons and Dragons YouTube series Critical Role. The show was created in March of 2015 and found massive success after that. The program’s premise is “Where nerdy ass voice actors sit around a table and play Dungeons and Dragons”.

Photo via Unsplash

After Critical Role’s success, the Tabletop roleplaying market saw considerable growth. In 2019 Dicebraker reported that 4.3 billion minutes of D&D gameplay were watched on the popular live streaming website Twitch, a 53% increase from the previous year. Dicebraker reported that 2019 marked the sixth year in a row that Dungeons and Dragons saw an increase in sales and players, growing by 65% in Europe alone.

This growth hasn’t stopped since then. In 2020 despite the pandemic, the game saw a 25% growth in sales.

Martin Oakly, branch manager at the Archway Role Play Haven, said: “The pandemic and the move online actually allowed me and others to play more. Because we had more time, and we could play with players all over the world.”

One benefit of the game was that he – and others – were able to reconnect with old friends. “I have started running weekly games with my childhood friends again. I never thought I would play with them again,” the 55-year-old said.

As a branch manager, he has also seen the rise of new players eager to play the game. “It’s been great to watch new players come in. We barely have space in our small branch anymore because so many young people want to come and try the game out.”

Sophie Wittington, a 27-year-old patron of the Roleplay Haven, shared that sentiment. “It’s crazy how many new people want to join every week. We genuinely care about outgrowing this space which can be frustrating but also really rewarding,” she said.

“It’s such a welcoming and warm environment where everyone is welcome, and I think it gives people the opportunity to express themselves in a safe environment.”

The Dungeons and Dragons community does suffer a little bit with male players gatekeeping the game from female players. Still, clubs and venues take care to remedy this by having strict rules about this. There is also a campaign that aims to address the issue of diversity called No More Damsels.

Overall the Tabletop roleplaying market is truly on a roll. The newly released Amazon show will most likely spike even more interest in the World of RPGs. Places like the Archway Roleplay have a space where new players can come in and explore the wondrous world of Dungeons and Dragons themselves. They are more than happy to open their doors to anyone who wants to try rolling the dice themselves.