Natural Six

Last updated

Natural Six
Natural Six Rendered FULL Logo.png
Genre
Based on Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition
Starring
Theme music composer
  • Alex Moukala
[1]
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes31
Production
Production locations London, England
Running timeApproximately 150–240 minutes per episode
Production company
  • Natural Six Ltd
DoubleJump
Original release
Network
Release2 April 2024 (2024-04-02) 
present
Related

Natural Six is an actual play series set in the fictional world of Reliquiae where six video game industry professionals play Dungeons & Dragons . New episodes premiere weekly on YouTube, with a weekly Action Surge post-show segment and a fortnightly Serving Cantrip Twitch hangout.

Contents

The series has also been performed live at PAX East [2] and MCM Comic Con London [3] after debuting at EGX 2023. [4]

History

In June 2023, the cast came together to discuss playing Dungeons & Dragons in a London pub and "five bottles of rosé later..." [5] [6] [7] decided they wanted to do so in front of a camera. Some of the group had met before, with the genesis of the idea to play having come when Alex Jordan and Ben Starr got to talking in the Side recording studio reception in London. Both were waiting to go into a booth and record for different video games. Alex recruited colleague Doug Cockle and Ben brought in Hollie Bennett, having met her a mutual friend's house-warming party, as well as Harry McEntire who had been recommended to him as a potential Dungeon Master by fellow actual play group Oxventure. [1]

In order to fund initial production the group announced a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter with a trailer on 9 October 2023. [8] The campaign officially ran from 16 October to 15 November 2023. It received 907 backers, who contributed £67,932, surpassing the initial goal of £50,000 funding the first 10 episodes, plus the addition of miniatures and the podcast version. [9] [10]

The campaign's launch day also featured a YouTube video where the cast rolled their characters. [11] On 27 October 2023, they followed up with a pre-recorded Session Zero. [12] As part of the pre-launch, the group hosted a live show at EGX on 13 October 2023, which served as a Session 0.5. [4]

Following the successful funding for the first 10 episodes a Natural Six Patreon has been introduced, with additional content available by subscription tier, as well as merchandise sales which debuted at MCM Comic Con x EGX 2024. [13] The first online merchanise drop sold out in half an hour. [14]

Production

Format

Episodes are recorded in-studio, with filming taking place one weekend a month, recording two story episodes and two Action Surge episodes per weekend. Natural Six typically stays one to two episodes ahead of the published story episodes. Filming, editing, and production are managed by the video production agency DoubleJump. [15]

Action Surge

In addition to story episodes, Natural Six also releases Action Surge, [16] available one week after the release of story episodes or immediately for Patreon members. Originally designed to help maintain a weekly content schedule—since the team could only film and fund two full story episodes per month—Action Surge was designed to be a companion to the main adventure. Action Surge episodes alternate weekly with story episodes and are available as both video and podcast versions.[ citation needed ]

World and story

Natural Six follows a story designed and written by the Dungeon Master Harry McEntire. [17] Initially conceived for a series of offline D&D sessions, the group turned it into an actual play series once McEntire shared his initial plans for the story.

Thousands of years ago, the Gods were locked in a divine war as the embodiments of good (The Virtuous), evil (The Vile), and order and chaos (The Wild) did battle. After millennia, The Virtuous were victorious and ushered in the Immortal Peace, consigning the memory of evil to history. Driven by a desire to use their divine power to create, rather than destroy, they called into existence Reliquiae, a great fertile crater surrounded on all sides by a ring of impassable mountains called The Allanites.

Once peace settled, each God also brought forth a mortal race to populate this new world, imbuing them with an essence of their own divinity. Mortality flourished; cities, towns, trade routes, and centres of magic and learning sprung up as the land fed its people and the Gods offered counsel.

Yet, even during peace, the mortal realm often falls short of perfection; feuds, thefts, murders, extortions, and all manner of other ills can be found throughout the land, despite its political and religious stability. From this, The Web was born.

The Web is an organization that offers protection and procurement, at a price. Originally founded in the city of Eskalond, The Web has grown in influence and scope, expanding rapidly to spread itself across the continent. It is known by many as the last refuge of the desperate. If a farmer owes a debt they cannot pay, if a family wishes to settle an age-old score, or a scholar longs to recover something lost long ago, they seek the silken embrace of The Web.

Those who wish to avail themselves of The Web's services can pay in gold or time. Many of the debts of those paying "the time price" pledge years of their life or even subsequent generations of their family.

The story starts by following the stories of five heroes as they begin their mission.

Cast and characters

Natural Six is formed of six principal cast members—one Dungeon Master and five player characters [18]

               - Previously known as Endellion Rinnan

Episodes

Campaign One
EpisodeTitleOriginal Release Date
0Session Zero27 October 2023
0.5Session 0.5 Live from EGX 3 November 2023
1The Gods Are Real2 April 2024
2The Shadow Will Flood16 April 2024
3Oathbreaker30 April 2024
4The Newly Dead14 May 2024
5The Girl in the Cell28 May 2024
6Hot Heads and Fast Words11 June 2024
7The Spider and The Flies25 June 2024
8The Bodies and the Book9 July 2024
9The Prisoner in the Attic23 July 2024
10The Kindness of Strangers6 August 2024
11Trials of the Brothers20 August 2024
12Flies in the Ointment3 September 2024
13The God Killers17 September 2024
14Secrets for Sale1 October 2024
15Blood, Wine, and Moonlight15 October 2024
16Politics and Poker Faces29 October 2024
17A Date with Death12 November 2024
18A Toast to Trouble26 November 2024
19Scales of Justice10 December 2024
Christmas SpecialCritical Failures, Chaos, and Cocktails24 December 2024
20The Sting of Suspicion7 January 2025
21The Sanctum21 January 2025
22Son of the Treespeaker4 February 2025
23A Leap into the Unknown18 February 2025
24City of Shadows4 March 2025
25Blood of the Kobold18 March 2025
26The Rift Below1 April 2025
27Croak and Dagger15 April 2025
28Burning Shadows29 April 2025
29The Midnight Moon13 May 2025
30The Bard and the Bowed27 May 2025
31The Hand You're Dealt10 June 2025

References

  1. 1 2 Pelliccio, Meg (26 October 2023). "Natural Six Is The Perfect Entrypoint For Those New To Watching Others Play Dungeons & Dragons". TheGamer.
  2. Greene, Jules Chin (10 May 2025). "The first Natural Six US live show at PAX East was like watching The Beatles debut on Ed Sullivan". Popverse.
  3. "Natural Six Return to MCM for For May Show". 28 March 2025.
  4. 1 2 Phillips, Tom (9 October 2023). "The Witcher's Doug Cockle and FF16's Ben Starr are launching a D&D campaign". Eurogamer.
  5. Hobbs, Alexandra (31 October 2023). "Interview: Ben Starr On Natural Six, Fearless Play, & Wizardly Whims". GINX TV.
  6. Brown, Andy (25 October 2023). "Natural Six is a Dungeons & Dragons campaign series with some very famous voices". NME.
  7. Sawyer, Will (27 October 2023). "Why this D&D actual play series featuring the voices of Geralt and FF16's Clive is going to be the next big thing". GamesRadar.
  8. Jarvis, Matt (9 October 2023). "Baldur's Gate 3, Final Fantasy 16 and The Witcher actors party up for D&D actual play series Natural Six". Dicebreaker.
  9. Russell, Mollie. "DnD: How the videogame stars of Natural Six found success by failing on purpose". Wargamer.
  10. McKeand, Kirk (28 January 2025). "Ben Starr's Final Fantasy journey, through jokes and tragedy". ESPN.
  11. "Natural Six - Rolling our Characters". 16 October 2023 via YouTube.
  12. "Natural Six | Session Zero | D&D 5e". 27 October 2023 via YouTube.
  13. Pelliccio, Meg (19 October 2024). "Natural Six's Journey From EGX 2023 To MCM Comic Con x EGX 2024". TheGamer.
  14. Russell, Mollie (7 June 2025). "The meteoric rise of the professional Dungeons and Dragons DM". Wargamer.
  15. McLain, Elizabeth (6 December 2024). "Open the Gates Gaming - Midpoint Pecha Kucha presentation".
  16. Grimm, Anna (17 January 2025). "Why 'Natural Six' Is The Newest 'D&D' Show You Should Be Watching". Culture Slate.
  17. "Natural Six | Welcome to Reliquae". Doras.to.
  18. "Why 'Natural Six' Is The Newest 'D&D' Show You Should Be Watching". Artificial Twenty. 6 April 2024.