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Looking for the start of online TTRPGs in Aotearoa New Zealand, and checking out a few of the longest running shows.

Some time in 2019 I decided to finally check out my friend’s Dungeons & Dragons podcast (I may have been looking for more after seeing Diceratops live at Bats Theatre in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington). It turned out that podcast was The Fate of Isen. Its crew of kiwi comedians had already been making actual play D&D for more than a year and were into the third chapter of their story. I was quickly hooked.

Fate of Isen continues as a powerhouse, its sixth chapter surging into the world-shattering conclusion the story has been building to for almost four years. I now have podcast subscriptions (and YouTube and Twitch feeds) full of more kiwi RPG content than I can reasonably keep up with.

2019 was a good time to join in, but it turns out kiwis have been making TTRPG shows online since ages ago. 

coat of arms style shield back with swords and the letters TMG
AJ Pickett’s The Mighty Gluestick

AJ Pickett’s YouTube channel is a a vast repository of mostly-D&D lore advice and gameplay. And it goes back all the way to 2013, kicking into gear with a 2014 live stream of a Heroes Unlimited game set in the universe of TV show The Tick.

In 2015, For Crits and Giggles was born, as DM Keiran Bennett convinced his friends their new campaign was going to be a podcast. It’s probably Aoteroa’s first actual play pod, and it’s a good start, with dry banter mixing in and out of a setting with a real sense of magic. “It’s not frequent, but it is long running,” Bennett told Diceratops’ Morgan Davie (in this conversation mostly about Bennett’s more recent efforts to get politicians together to play D&D on TV).

By 2017 more shows were appearing, again looking further than Dungeons & Dragons. Casual RP has mixed D&D campaigns with interludes in different systems and a Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle; Rycon Roleplays began with a playthrough of their own zombie survival game Z-Land; and Big Red Couch has been pulling ideas out of a hat and trying to turn them into runnable TTRPGs this whole time. Meanwhile, the first live show of what would become Dungeons & Comedians played to a sold-out theatre in Ōtautahi Christchurch. 

Since then, there have been heaps of new kiwi RPG shows: podcast, videos, streaming, and on stage; actual play, advice, and interviews; full-bore entertainment product, earnest gameplay, or a peek at  a bunch of mates around a table – and while the D&D revival has truly hit, there’s still plenty of interest in other systems. 

By 2020 it got so even the people from the TV had to pay attention, with reality show Survive the 80s (video may be geoblocked) playing Dungeons & Dragons (for more on this, see this Diceratops episode with DM Dallas Barnett). Then, in 2021, there was recognition (also noted in the paper) of four different stage shows based on D&D in Wellington’s Fringe Festival alone:

We’ll be back with some samplers of #kiwiRPG shows during the week. For now, go check out the sweet as selection on our shows page!

Cheers!

Lyndon and the #KiwiRPG crew

 

It begins: KiwiRPG Week!

The first ever #KiwiRPG Week has arrived! Tabletop RPG creatives from all over Aotearoa are busily sharpening their dice and honing their microphones in excited anticipation. Are you excited yet? Here’s why you should be:

  • SALE BUNDLES! Two huge bundles of Kiwi games at a bargain price, one on DriveThruRPG, the other on itch.io! 
  • EXCITING STREAMS! Eight live-play streams, some from studio tabletops, some played online, and some played live on stage in front of a live audience! 
  • NEW STUFF! Two new TTRPG releases during the week, with more announcements to come!
  • TOUR DE BLOG! Explore #KiwiRPG with a series of blog posts across the week showing off the well-known, the should-be-known, and the nearly-unknown of the local scene! 

And that’s not all:

  • MONSTER OF THE WEEK! If you’re a MOTW fan, you don’t want to miss the big announcement dropping on Wednesday! 
  • BIG BAD ONLINE! Global RPG phenomenon Big Bad Con Online is hosting a KiwiRPG panel during KiwiRPG week!
  • CHARITY PREVIEW! “The Cult of Keviine” is a lead-in to the amazing YES, AND 24 Hour Charity Livestream!

Make sure you don’t miss a moment! Check out the week’s schedule, which is being constantly updated as new things are added to the programme.

 

Monster of the Week: The Faces Of TolTeTotl

Here’s a great way to kick off the week: On Sunday night (NZST), a team of stars from around the #KiwiRPG podcasting and streaming scene will gather to play legendary Kiwi game Monster of the Week! 

When headless bodies start appearing on the outskirts of a rural NZ town, T.H.E.M. (Tasked with Hunting Extraterrestrials and Monsters) sends their top hunters to investigate this baffling string of deaths.

Watch the show on the Getting Dicey channel at twitch.tv/GettingDicey, at 7pm NZST on Sunday 1st May. That’s 8am if you’re in the UK! (It’s like 3am if you’re in the Eastern seaboard of the USA, so insomniacs welcome I guess?) 

 

Tell your friends and find us on the socials:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kiwirpg

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kiwi_RPG

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/kiwiRPG/ 

 

See you soon!

morgue and the #KiwiRPG crew

Kiwi games, for everywhere.

Aotearoa New Zealand is home to a thriving creative scene for tabletop roleplaying games. We’re pretty small, but we turn that into a strength by watching the rest of the world closely and supporting each other to learn fast, chase our ideas hard, and stay kind. 

 

close up of polyhedral dice. some are pink and some are sparkly
In the Southern Hemisphere, dice spin in the opposite direction. That’s a totally true dice fact. Photo: Vahid Qualls

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