What Is Actual Play, and Who Gets to Decide?
WHAT MAKES AN ACTUAL PLAY? The fundamental problem that must be resolved before one can begin their thoughtful critique of actual play as an art form is definitional. What is an actual play? One could say, “any media where some group of people play tabletop games for an audience,” but as we ponder actual play as a topic worthy of criticism, this answer’s accuracy far outshines its usefulness. How does one work with a category so broad it includes both multi-million-dollar franchises and amateurs streaming their Zoom calls on Twitch? There’s a certain strangeness to it, honestly. Actual play is inescapably defined by Critical Role and Dimension 20 . Their dominance is such that hobbyist game masters are forced to confront “the Mercer Problem” at their home tables, and aspiring content creators measure their own success in degrees of separation from Brennan Lee Mulligan. Even highly produced and superbly cast projects like the By Night series and Bookshops of Arkham stare jea...