Dragon FAQ

## What is Dragon Friends?

Dragon Friends is a monthly improvised comedy show and bi-weekly podcast in which a group of comedians and novice role-players play through campaigns in Dungeons & Dragons.

## Comedy show AND podcast? How?

During each season, *Dragon Friends* shows are performed monthly in Sydney, Australia, originally at the Giant Dwarf Theatre, now at The Comedy Store. Each live show is divided into two sessions (with an interval in between), with each session released as a podcast episode two weeks apart. The live show schedule has had to move around a bit to accomodate COVID-19 restrictions; the best place to find out when they're on is the *Dragon Friends* website.

They also stream secondary games online via Twitch. The original Twitch game was the Stream of Annihilation on the official Dungeons & Dragons Twitch channel, using a combination of pre-recorded sessions and live broadcasts with chat interaction. These days the *Dragon Friends* have their own Twitch channel. Since 2019 they have streamed two seasons of *Beef Babes*, a spin-off adventure in the Dragon Friends universe featuring Freezo and a new cast of characters, before switching to the more mystery-of-the-week format of *The Gribbits Detective Agency*, streamed on Wednesday nights at 7:30 PM AEST (+10 UTC).

Currently they have monthly streams of Ben's OneShot Writing Stream, where the cast writes a one-shot adventure per stream.

## Do I need to know D&D to listen to Dragon Friends?

Nope! The D&D rules are kept very unintrusive, and the majority of humor is based on the setting and characters rather than the game system being used. You can understand and enjoy all of the show without knowing anything about D&D, other than what you'll learn by listening.

## What makes this different from other D&D podcasts?

*Dragon Friends* is a D&D themed comedy show, not an actual play podcast, although the gameplay and banter are mostly improvised. The players are professional comedians performing in front of an audience, which gives the sessions a unique humor and energy. The game rules and settings are designed to emphasize this and create a fast-moving storytelling experience. There's ongoing background music played on the spot, originally by Benny Davis, now by Tom Cardy (there have been other musical guests as well). And alcohol may also be involved.

## What game system do the Dragon Friends play?

*Dungeons & Dragons* 5th Edition, but with some changes and adaptations. In the Star Wars Special, they played *Edge Of The Empire*, and the  Harry Potter Special uses the first edition of the fan-made *Hogwarts Adventures* system. Although Season 3 is themed on the cyberpunk setting of *Shadowrun* and Season 5 is themed around *Call Of Cthulhu*, the rules used are still those of D&D 5E.

## What changes are made to the game system?

Note that this section is most definitely for D&D nerds, and you don't need to understand any of this to listen to the podcast!

Most of the changes made are to reduce on-camera (or on-microphone) bookkeeping and maintain the fast pace of the sessions.

* Character advancement is milestone-based (i.e. there’s no tracking of experience points, the characters gain a level at points in the story determined by Dave).
* Initiative values are taken from a pre-generated list rather than rolled at the time of combat.
* HP of enemies is reduced to avoid repetitive combats.
* The effects of skill checks, especially social ones, are deliberately exaggerated and DCs are lower.

## What adventures are they playing?

Usually original adventures written by Dave Harmon with Ben Jenkins.

In Season 2 they play a variant of the *Ravenloft* 2nd edition module adapted by Dave Harmon. Although there is an "official" adaptation of this module for 5th edition, *Curse Of Strahd*, it is not used in this season.

In Season 3 they play an original adventure based on the setting of the *Shadowrun* RPG.

In Season 4 they play an original adventure featuring travel between worlds, incorporating science fiction tropes and partially inspired by the *Spelljammer* setting for 2nd Edition *Advanced Dungeons & Dragons*.

In Season 5 they play an original adventure forming a sequel to seasons one, two and four, using elements drawn from the roleplaying game *Call Of Cthulhu*.

In Season 6, Season 7 and Season 8, they play an original adventure forming a direct sequel to the previous season. Season 6 takes up a resistance plot and explores more of Waterdeep and the Sword Coast, whilst season 7 explores time travel, alternate timelines and the ancient empire of Old Netheril. Season 8 has the party travel back to present day, becoming part of history as they go.

In the Stream of Annihilation they play the official module *Tomb Of Annihilation* with some minor alterations up to the Tomb itself.

The Gribbits Detective Agency is an original episodic adventure based on the module of the same name. This is the only series where the DM's rotate between players of the group.

The one-shot specials use different systems. For example, in the Star Wars Special they play the *Edge of the Empire* Beginner's Set adventure *Escape from Mos Shuuta*, using the rules and pre-generated characters from that set.

In the Christmas specials, they play a variety of scenarios drawing inspiration from Christmas traditions and films. These are written and DM'd by Edan Lacey and Simon Greiner.

## What does (X) D&D term mean?

Most of the time, you can understand the story without needing to know the occasional bits of D&D jargon that are used in the episodes. But for a quick glossary, see Dungeons & Dragons. They also have a few unique terms of their own, notably the “Maths Twenty”.