Smosh Games, a YouTube channel recently reunited with its original creators, is dipping its toe into Dungeons and Dragons with a Smosh DnD campaign. The first episode of ‘Sword AF’ aired on July 5. Smosh founders Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox do not appear in the DnD campaign’s debut; instead, Smosh producer Damien Haas is Dungeon-Mastering for four players from the Smosh team.
Padilla and Hecox started Smosh as a comedy channel in 2005, and the channel was sold to Defy Media in 2011. With Padilla leaving in 2017 and Defy Media going into liquidation in 2018, the end of the last decade was turbulent for Smosh. Beyond D&D, Smosh made recent news on June 20 when Padilla and Hecox announced they were buying Smosh back from current owners Mythical Entertainment.
“You’ve asked for us to play D&D for quite a while, and we heard you”, says Damien Haas in Wednesday’s video (see below).
The campaign’s basic premise may touch a nerve for any millennials watching. Haas begins by explaining that, while the era of heroes has passed, the party were raised expecting to become heroes like those before them. Now an entire generation of would-be-adventurers is now searching for dwindling job opportunities.
Smosh’s D&D party is pretty heavy on spellcasting DnD classes, with a Cleric, Warlock, Wizard, and Druid introduced at the start. Nearly everyone has gone for one of the classic DnD races – but there’s also a Warforged 5e drinking at the table with the Elf, Goblin, and Halfling.
While Smosh fans have apparently been requesting a D&D series for some time, the channel has played the tabletop RPG before – last October, to be specific. DM Damien Haas and player Chanse McCrary were involved in both games.
While not under the supervision of Padilla and Hecox, Smosh was also playing some of the best board games in recent months. The channel is filled with videos featuring legacy board games like Betrayal Legacy and social deduction games like Secret Hitler. It seems ‘Smosh Games’ is a title that now staunchly includes the tabletop.
Looking to play some D&D of your own? Here’s all you need to know about how to play Dungeons and Dragons, as well as some DnD character creators that’ll help you roll up your next party member.