Aabria Iyengar | |
---|---|
Occupation(s) | Actress, Game master, (former) chief marketing officer |
Years active | 2018-present |
Known for | Exandria Unlimited , Dimension 20 , Worlds Beyond Number |
Aabria Iyengar is an American web series actress known primarily for tabletop role-playing game anthologies, streams and podcasts. She was the Dungeon Master (DM) for the first season of Exandria Unlimited . Iyengar has been both a player and a Game Master for multiple seasons of Dimension 20 and a guest DM on The Adventure Zone .
Iyengar is the former Chief Marketing Officer for the dice-maker Dice Envy. [1] [2] [3] [ better source needed ]
Iyengar appeared as both a player and as the Dungeon Master (DM) in multiple actual play podcasts between 2018 and 2020 on the Happy Jack's RPG Network. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Iyengar was originally a guest player, acting as Laura Bennett, in the actual play web series Kollok: 1991 on the Hyper RPG Twitch channel before joining the main cast in the second season in 2019. [10] In 2022, Iyengar reprised her role in the sequel set 30 years after the first show – Kollok was broadcast on AMC Networks' FearHQ Twitch channel. [11] [12] Iyengar has been part of the main cast, playing as Koseh, for Into the Mother Lands since 2020. [2] [13]
In 2021, Iyengar was the DM for two actual play anthology web series – Misfits and Magic , the tenth season of Dimension 20 , and the first season of Exandria Unlimited, a Critical Role spin-off. [14] [15] [16] She was the first Critical Role DM after Matthew Mercer. [17] Chase Carter, for Dicebreaker , stated that "both appearances were hits within their respective fandoms, leading many to clamor for more Iyengar". [13] Iyengar also performed as a guest DM on The Adventure Zone , with the McElroy Brothers as players, in 2021. [1] [18] Christian Hoffer of ComicBook.com highlighted that "Iyengar has quickly built a reputation and fanbase due to her fantastic storytelling and rapport with players". [1] Carter commented that "Iyengar is quickly becoming a household name in the realm of tabletop actual play. [...] Her fame has been a welcome change for many who are glad to see a Black woman garnering so much respect and excitement in what has been a predominantly white endeavor within a historically white hobby". [13] Iyengar gave the Storytime keynote at the 2021 PAX Unplugged. [19]
In August 2022, Iyengar appeared as gamemaster on Dimension 20: A Court of Fey & Flowers, a combination of Dungeons & Dragons and the Jane Austen-inspired game Good Society . [20] She also joined the cast of the Vampire: The Masquerade web series NY by Night , playing as Margot "Fuego" Walker. Em Friedman, for Polygon in 2022, commented that Iyengar's actual play credits now "span nearly the entire industry" with her By Night debut. [21]
In January 2023, it was announced that Iyengar, alongside Erika Ishii, Lou Wilson, and Brennan Lee Mulligan, would star in the creator-owned actual play podcast Worlds Beyond Number ; the show premiered in March 2023 and ranked in Patreon's top twenty accounts within a month. [22] [23] [24] [25] Also in March 2023, Iyengar joined the third campaign of Critical Role as a guest star playing as gnome cleric Deanna. [26] In April 2023, WizKids announced a new miniature boxed set of Exandria Unlimited characters including a figurine of Iyengar. [27] In November 2023, Iyengar joined Candela Obscura as the third chapter's game master. [28] [29]
Iyengar attended the University of Iowa where she was a member of the volleyball team. [30]
Iyengar first played Dungeons & Dragons in 2015 or 2016 [31] when she was invited to her now husband's board game group and was given a cleric character sheet to play. [32] Wired highlighted that "Iyengar was often the only woman or person of color at the table, and she faced a lot of other players questioning her knowledge of the game, as well as more overt harassment. As a GM, she now works to ensure her players don’t have to face those same challenges. [...] With the increased visibility of actual play games, [...] Iyengar has increasingly been able to tailor her playing experience to what she wanted it to be for both herself and her audience". [33]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018–2020 | Happy Jacks RPG | Revelations | Thaïs Guillory | Main role; 10 episodes | [5] |
Dragon Heist | Dungeon Master | Main role: 12 episodes | [6] | ||
The Autumn People | Khairyn Antwi | Main role; 14 episodes | [7] | ||
Monsoon | The Arcane / Science Pantheon / Child of A.I. | Main role; 9 episodes | [8] | ||
Idolon Academy | Tendai Collier aka "Eye" | Main role; 16 episodes | [9] | ||
2019–2022 | Kollok | 1991 | Laura Bennett | Guest role in season 1; main cast in season 2 | [10] |
Main cast Sequel set 30 years after Kollok: 1991; sometimes billed as season 3 | [11] [12] | ||||
2019–2020 | Saving Throw | Urban Shadows RPG | Game master | One-shot | [34] |
Frozen & Dragons | Elsa | One-shot | [35] | ||
Mysterium: Hidden Signs | Esme | Limited series; 3 episodes | [36] | ||
Ghosts of Saltmarsh | Dungeon Master | Limited series; 3 episode prequel to Pirates of Salt Bay | [37] | ||
Pirates of Salt Bay | Dungeon Master | Main cast; 40 episodes | [38] [39] | ||
RPG Exploration Society | Amaka, Sonny | Episode: "Shadow of the Demon Lord", Episode: "Alien RPG" | [40] [41] | ||
2019 | Wildcards | East Texas University | Renee Billings | Episode: "The Seekers of Danger" | [42] |
2020–2021 | New Pantheon | Demigods | Megan, Demigod of Ares | Main cast; 19 episodes | [43] [44] |
Academia | Helen Silva, Divinity Thoth | Episode: "S1E6" | [45] | ||
Tales from Salt Bay | Engine Heart | Ticky-Nicky Prizebot | Limited series; 2 episodes | [46] | |
Good Society | Rosaline Wildingham | Limited series; 4 episodes | [47] [48] | ||
Monsterhearts 2 | Hester Blake | Limited series; 2 episodes | [49] | ||
Roll20 Presents | Lost Mine of Phandelver | Witkha | Main cast; 14 episodes Sponsored by Wizards of the Coast to promote the Starter Set on Roll20 | [50] | |
Rime of the Frostmaiden | Bursa | Main cast; 13 episodes Sponsored by Wizards of the Coast to promote the Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden module on Roll20 | [51] | ||
2020–2022 | Into the Mother Lands | Koseh | Main cast | [52] [2] | |
2020–2023 | Dimension 20 | Pirates of Leviathan | Myrtle | Main cast; 6 episodes | [53] [54] |
Misfits and Magic | Game Master | Main cast; 4 episodes Also appeared in the Misfits & Magic Holiday Special | [55] [56] | ||
The Seven | Antiope Jones | Main cast; 10 episodes | [57] | ||
A Court of Fey and Flowers | Game Master | Main cast; 10 episodes | [58] [59] | ||
The Ravening War | Karna Solara | Main cast; 6 episodes | [60] | ||
Burrow's End | Game Master | Main cast; 10 episodes | [61] [62] | ||
Failed Save | Campaign 1 | Fess / Zhirryn | Guest role in season 1; main cast in seasons 2-3; 31 episodes | [63] | |
Campaign 2 | Chi | Main cast; 30 episodes Also appeared in vignette mini-episodes and spin-off one-shots | [63] | ||
Fantasy TGIFridays | Chi | Limited series; 3 episodes | [64] | ||
2021–2022 | Exandria Unlimited | Dungeon Master | Main cast; 8 episodes | [2] [17] | |
Kymal | Dungeon Master | Main cast; 2 episodes Continuation of the first season | [65] [66] | ||
Calamity | Laerryn Coramar-Seelie | Main cast; 4 episodes | [67] [68] | ||
2021 | The Adventure Zone | The Zone of Adventure: Imbalance | Dungeon Master | Limited series; 3 episodes | [1] [18] |
Gods of Metal: Ragnarock | Val Cano | One-shot | [69] | ||
Total Puppet Khaos | Neve | Season 2 main cast; 3 episodes | [70] | ||
A Very Pet Adventure | Hygge | Main cast; 13 episodes | [71] | ||
2022 | NY by Night | Margot "Fuego" Walker | Main cast; 8 episodes | [21] [72] | |
The Borros Saga: Banesbreak | Prythiv | Main cast; 12 episodes | [73] [74] | ||
Dark Souls: The Roleplaying Game | Maerwyn | One-shot | [75] | ||
Crypteens: A Cryptid Demigods Adventure | Game Master | One-shot | [76] | ||
Ten Candles: Devil in the Details | Blythe Freeman | One-shot | [77] | ||
Ms. Pixel's Fantastical Circus: Call of Cthulhu | Lenore Reilly | One-shot | [78] [79] | ||
D&D Chaos | Dungeon Master | Main cast; 3 episodes Roll20 series using the Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos module | [80] | ||
2023 | Worlds Beyond Number | The Children's Adventure | The Wizard | Main cast Patreon exclusive prequel podcast for The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One | [23] [24] |
The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One | Main cast | [23] [24] | |||
Salt & Serpent | Dis | Main cast; 4 episodes | [81] [82] | ||
Pixel Circus Pride One-Shot | Tricia | One-shot | [83] | ||
Barbies For Better Pay | 1996 Happy Holidays Barbie | One-shot | [84] | ||
Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! | Guest role; 2 episodes | [85] | |||
2023–2024 | Critical Role | Campaign Three | Deanna Leimert, Dungeon Master | Guest role; 9 episodes | [26] [86] |
Candela Obscura | Chapter 3: "The Circle of Tide & Bone" | Game Master | Main cast; 3 episodes | [28] |
Year | Title | Role | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | Starfield | Crowd voices | [87] |
Role-playing games (RPGs) have developed specialized terminology. This includes both terminology used within RPGs to describe in-game concepts and terminology used to describe RPGs. Role-playing games also have specialized slang and jargon associated with them.
Geek & Sundry is a commercial YouTube and Twitch channel and multimedia production company. It was launched on April 2, 2012, by actress Felicia Day with Kim Evey and Sheri Bryant as part of YouTube's 100 million dollar original channel initiative. In June 2012, Forbes suggested that "if successful, it could help blaze a trail for the future of network television." In 2014, Geek & Sundry was acquired by Legendary Entertainment. The company is primarily known for their launch of the D&D show Critical Role, which aired on their channels from 2015–19.
Critical Role is an American web series in which a group of professional voice actors plays Dungeons & Dragons. The show started streaming partway through the cast's first campaign in March 2015. Campaign one ended in October 2017 after 115 episodes, and campaign two started in January 2018 and ended in June 2021 after 141 episodes. A number of one-shots were aired in the hiatus between the two campaigns. After campaign two was completed, the spin-off limited series Exandria Unlimited aired from June 2021 to August 2021. The third campaign premiered on October 21, 2021.
Explorer's Guide to Wildemount is a sourcebook that details the continent of Wildemount from the Critical Role campaign setting for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Matthew Mercer, creator of the setting, said the book is "meant to be both [...] for fans of Critical Role" and "for people who have never watched an episode. It's an entirely new setting to set an entire campaign or more in". It was published by Wizards of the Coast and released on March 17, 2020.
Critical Role Productions, LLC is a multimedia production company incorporated in 2015 by the members of the creator-owned streaming show Critical Role. The first two shows from the company, Critical Role and Talks Machina, originally premiered on Geek & Sundry. The company moved to their own studio space in 2018, and began putting out new shows on their own Twitch and YouTube channels. A split from Legendary Digital Networks was completed in early 2019, at which point Critical Role Productions took over production responsibility and since then has continued to launch new shows independently.
Dimension 20 is a tabletop role-playing game show produced by Dropout, and generally hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show's regular Dungeon Master. Most of the games use Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. Long seasons, featuring a core cast of players in seventeen or more episodes, are interspersed with shorter side quests, featuring a rotating cast in ten or fewer episodes.
Brennan Lee Mulligan is an American comedian, actor, writer, and gamemaster. He has worked with CollegeHumor as a sketch writer and performer, and as gamemaster for their actual play web series, Dimension 20. He also wrote the superhero webcomic Strong Female Protagonist alongside artist Molly Ostertag.
Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting is a sourcebook that details the continent of Tal'Dorei from the Critical Role campaign setting for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was published by Green Ronin Publishing and released on August 17, 2017; however, it is not considered "official" Dungeons & Dragons material. A revised edition, titled Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, was published by Darrington Press and released on January 18, 2022.
Critical Role, an American web series in which a group of professional voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons, has spawned many related products, including books, comics and an animated series, which are produced by Critical Role Productions. Various third-party, licensed works have also been released since Critical Role began in 2015.
Erika Ishii is an American voice actor and host. She is best known as the voice of video game characters such as Valkyrie in Apex Legends, as well as her appearances in actual play web series including L.A. by Night and Dimension 20.
Actual play, also called live play, is a genre of podcast or web show in which people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual play often encompasses in-character interactions between players, storytelling from the gamemaster, and out-of-character engagements such as dice rolls and discussion of game mechanics. The genre emerged in the early 2000s and became more popular throughout the decade, particularly with the 2015 debut of Critical Role, an actual play webseries featuring professional voice actors.
The third campaign of the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role premiered on October 21, 2021; it is set after the conclusion of the second campaign and Exandria Unlimited. The series stars Marisha Ray, Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Liam O'Brien, Taliesin Jaffe, and Sam Riegel as the players with Matthew Mercer as the Dungeon Master. Campaign three airs each Thursday at 7 p.m. PT on Critical Role Productions' Twitch and YouTube channels except for the last Thursday of each month.
Exandria Unlimited (ExU) is an American actual play anthology web series where the cast plays Dungeons & Dragons using the fifth edition ruleset. It is set in the Exandria campaign setting and is a spin-off of the web series Critical Role.
Lou Wilson is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his work as a writer and his roles on actual play anthology web series Dimension 20 and the creator-owned podcast Worlds Beyond Number. He is also known for being the on-air announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live! and his roles on American Vandal, The King of Staten Island, and The Guest Book.
Honey Heist is a tabletop role-playing game by Grant Howitt about bears in disguise stealing honey from a honey convention. The mechanics are based on Lasers & Feelings by John Harper. Honey Heist has featured in 3 episodes of Critical Role,one episode of Dungeons and Daddies, and a special episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon. It has been a top seller on Itch.io's physical games section since 2017 and inspired new designers to make their own games. It also has a popular response on the Tabletop RPGs subreddit.
Good Society is a tabletop role-playing game based upon the Regency era novels of Jane Austen. A live action role-playing game version is also available. Good Society was created by the two-woman Australian game design team Storybrewers, consisting of lead writer Hayley Gordon and graphic designer Vee Hendro. In addition to role-playing, the game mechanics include spreading rumors and writing letters. It can be played with or without a gamemaster.
Darrington Press is the tabletop game imprint for Critical Role Productions which launched in October 2020. It is led by Ivan Van Norman with Matthew Mercer as the creative advisor. The publishing label primarily produces board and card games along with role-playing games. It won two ENNIE Awards in 2022 – "Fan Award for Best Publisher" and "Best Setting Gold Award" for Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn.
Candela Obscura is the name of both an American actual play web series and a tabletop role-playing game system.
Misfits and Magic is the tenth season of Dimension 20, an actual play tabletop role-playing game show. It was aired from June 30, 2021 to July 21, 2021 on Dropout with two specials released in December 2021 and August 2022. Inspired by Harry Potter, the show features Aabria Iyengar as the game master and Erika Ishii, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Danielle Radford, and Lou Wilson as Americans who are invited to a Hogwarts-like school to study magic. However, the show also deviates from and criticizes the source material for perceived bigotry, making modifications to some aspects of the material and highlighting the absurdity in other aspects. In addition, Misfits and Magic sought to rebut Harry Potter's lack of diversity in its central casting, making its own cast and characters majority-black. The season was reviewed favorably.
As proof, we bring you dice sets featuring a font made from the handwriting of our former CMO, Aabria Iyengar
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