Sam Riegel is best known for his work as a cast member on hit D&D show Critical Role. The voice actor is also well known for roles including Dontello in 2003’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and as Phoenix Wright in the Ace Attorney games. He’s also the Dungeon Master for Wildemount Wildlings, a short actual play Critical Role show set in a fantasy summer camp. We caught up with him to find out more.
How would you pitch Wildemount Wildlings to an Antarctic explorer who’s never seen D&D?
First, I’d say, come in, get out of the cold! Next I’d ask, what century are they from? Cos is this gonna require me explaining what computers are first…? But to answer your question – I’d say it’s a silly and sweet coming-of-age story about four down-on-their-luck would-be adventurers at a summer camp who are learning how to control their powers and be confident in themselves!
This game is inspired by a home game you ran for your kids. What similarities between the two games surprised you?
It’s amazing what out-of-the-box decisions the kids make in our home game. They’re always surprising me with the strange ways they tackle encounters. And I gotta say – even though we have adults playing kids in this miniseries, they really did some weird stuff. Especially Aleks – he captured the off-the-wall thinking of a kid brain. In the best possible way.
How much of your DM-ing is planning, and how much is pure chaos?
I plan a lot! Probably too much! But that’s what I need to do to feel confident enough to throw it all in the trash and let chaos reign. If I have three different plans, then I’m OK with a fourth way that I’m not ready for, cos I know I have backup plans galore.
In the past you said you wanted to play a brain in a jar, will we see that any time soon?
That’s my eternal backup character. Just a powerful wizard brain in a jar. Other people have to carry me around and feed me and stuff. It would be the perfect lazy man character. Maybe campaign four…
What was the process for picking the players? It’s an interesting collection of folk.
Marisha and Ashley were first on the list cos they talked about visiting the camp at the end of the Bells Hells campaign. And Brennan was an easy choice because of his extensive summer camp background. For the others – they’re just folks I’ve been dying to play with! My sister is brilliant and I’ve been searching for a way to get her on our channel. And Libe and Aleks are such talented voice actors, I knew they would shine.
Was it your idea to ask your sister to play, or did they ask? How did that conversation go?
Eden had never played D&D before, so I invited her and her family over to play at my house the week before we shot. Not only did she love it, but her son took to it with such excitement that he is now part of two campaigns!
How mindful of the lore did you have to be with this one?
Lore schmore! My main goal was to establish this camp as a platform for folks to run home games. It’s perfect for family or kid-centered campaigns and so I wanted to flesh it out for folks to be inspired.
If you were creating your own Scout organisation, what would be its first rule?
Wilde Out is a pretty great principle. Be a kid. Be wild. Be different. Rules are made to be broken.
What’s the best bit of advice you have for younger D&D Players?
Young players are sometimes scared of failure – they keep asking to reroll dice or bend the rules to succeed. So I’d advise them to embrace the failure. It’s a group game. If you fail, it’s a gift to your fellow players – now you’ve created a new problem they get to solve! Failure is the best gift to a table.
What’s next on your list of dream projects?
I’d love to run a serious campaign with intrigue and darkness and pathos and heartache. But I’ll probably just run a Fart Campaign or something instead.
You can find out more about Critical Role‘s show on Beacon.TV, and you can catch up with Wildemount Wildlings via Beacon.TV or YouTube.
