Tabletop Season Four Day One: Fury of Dracula

Tabletop Season Four Day OneI’m probably not going to have the time or energy to do this for every day of production, but I do right now, so …

Today, we started production on season four of Tabletop. It feels strange to me, like I’ve been doing it forever, and like I just started it for the very first time. There’s a lot about last season that was a pretty big bummer for me, but all of those things were addressed and corrected in the off season, and if today is any indication, this will be the most fun I’ve had doing a season of the show since the first one.

We made a number of production and personnel changes, but the production change that’s most important to me is that we’re only doing one game a day for most of this season. We’ve always shot two games per day, and it felt like a race against time before we even got into the set to start shooting. A schedule that’s less aggressive means that we can play a couple of bigger, more complex games that take longer, and it also means that when we play a most games, we aren’t racing against the clock to start the next one like we’ve done in the past. I’m hopeful that by the time we get to the last few days of production, I’ll be as happy, focused, relaxed, and satisfied as I am right now, instead of the usual exhaustion and mental numbness.

But today? Today was awesome. I played Fury of Dracula (third edition) with Amy Okuda, Grant Imahara, and Ify Nwadiwe. We had so much fun! It was as intense as you’d want this game to be, and we played enough to probably make two dramatic and entertaining episodes. I know someone’s going to ask what roles we played, but I’m not going to say right now, because reasons.

Fury of Dracula was one of the games that helped make me a Gamer in the 80s, and it’s a game that I would have loved to play on the show. So when Fantasy Flight reprinted it and updated to this new edition, it was one of the first games I put on the list.

If you’re curious about it, and don’t want to wait months to see us play it, I highly recommend the Shut up and Sit Down How To Play video (which I watched myself, while I was learning this edition), because it’s informative and entertaining. For those of you wondering, we played with the advanced rules today.

Also, if you’re into Dracula and RPGs, you may like Dracula Unredacted, which is what happens when Night’s Black Agents and Dracula collide.

Dracula is not a novel. It’s the censored version of Bram Stoker’s after-action report of the failed British Intelligence attempt to recruit a vampire in 1894. Kenneth Hite and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan have restored the deleted sections, inserting annotations and clues left by three generations of MI6 analysts.

I mean, seriously. Even if you’re not going to play it, it’s a hell of an enjoyable read.

And since we’re talking vampires for a moment, some of my very favorite vampire movies, in no particular order:

  • Near Dark
  • The Lost Boys
  • Nosferatu
  • What We Do In The Shadows
  • Fright Night

I’m proud of the work we did today, and hopefully tonight I will actually sleep all night, instead of waking up again and again from panic attacks and nightmares like I have for the last week, while I was stressed as fuck about getting production off the ground, and could only think about the stuff that made me unhappy from last time. It’s good to have something positive and awesome to build on, so my brain will hopefully focus on that now.

36 thoughts on “Tabletop Season Four Day One: Fury of Dracula”

  1. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to hear that you’re having a great time doing these. After reading about last season, I was honestly worried it would put a bad taste in your mouth to continue. Have fun and play more games. =)

  2. Really looking forward to the next season. Also looking forward to season two of Titansgrave. And the next episode of TV Crimes. What can I say, I’m a huge fan of both you and Mikey. Keep up the good work!

  3. I’m incredibly happy to you feel much better this time around. You are why we watch so if you enjoy it, how can we not? Keep up the amazing work and hopefully catch some good sleep!

    1. I think legendary is planning to release in June, July, or August. I haven’t been given a date, yet.

  5. “Dracula is not a novel. It’s the censored version of Bram Stoker’s after-action report of the failed British Intelligence attempt to recruit a vampire in 1894. Kenneth Hite and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan have restored the deleted sections, inserting annotations and clues left by three generations of MI6 analysts.”

    Which sounds awesome – unless you’ve read Dracula, at which point it sounds like total bullshit nonsense, given that it’s a goddamn epistolary novel broken up over multiple characters diaries, letters, and newspaper clippings, none of which even posses the same narrative voice, POV, or style as the others (that is, it is always immediately obvious whose writings you are reading because the structure of the text is so distinct).

    In other words: it in no way resembles an ‘after-action’ with bits cut out; indeed, I can only assume that the authors have no understanding of the original work because I refuse to accept that any agent would burden any ‘action’ report with as much trivial, wandering digressions as John and Mina Harker do.

  6. I’m glad you were able to make the necessary changes to better enjoy the production of the show. We love the program and hope you continue to find it enjoyable and stimulating for years to come. My wife and I appreciate learning about all the games you feature and now own several of them as well. Thanks and good luck on the seasons to come!

  7. Keeping my fingers crossed for more days like this for you. I know TableTop is a lot of work for all involved, but you guys deserve for it to be enjoyable and rewarding while filming, not just after the fact when we can tell you how awesome it was and see the impact it has. (Yay Grant, Amy and Ify).

    PS. I will treasure my new Wil Wheaton dice forever!

  8. I assume you mean the classic Fright Night from 1985 and not the David Tennant version. I like the Tennant one but the original is a lot better.

      1. Nice call on Near Dark, BTW.
        Underrated vamp film.
        And is it possible to make a movie that Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton wouldn’t be great in…?

  11. I was always a bit concerned about you when you seemed to be too tired to be fully enjoying the games. Hearing about a more relaxed schedule makes me even more excited for the next season!!

  13. Yeah!!! So glad there’s a new season of TableTop in production! It’s not only a pleasure to have been on previous seasons, but it’s also a blast to watch!!! <3

  17. I could watch Tabletop all day every day all year long. It’s that gods damn good! I recommend your show to everyone. Do whatever you have to do to keep the episodes coming until either you or I drop dead. Please 😉

  20. I am so looking forward to the new season. And it is my hope that the “picking on Wil” has stopped. It is not amusing and it does not help people like me who really want to learn the game.

  21. You mentioned The Lost Boys as one of your favorite vampire movies. What’s it like seeing the Corey on screen as a Edgar Frog compared to the Corey you knew from Stand By Me?

  22. Hi Wil,

    Really looking forward to the new season. I’m so glad you’ve got things set up to make it more enjoyable for you.

    A couple of things:

    Is Legendary fully finding the show now? I was looking for a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign for season 4 so I could give you some money and could only find season 3. Probably would have been too late to donate for season 4 anyways but it seemed odd there was no campaign.
    I love the selection of the guests you have had on the show – the personal interactions and asides really add a lot to the entertainment value. I’m sure the guest list is fixed by now for season 4, but for future seasons some new guests that would be cool would be Phil and Kaja Foglio (What’s New With Phil and Dixie/Girl Genius/Munchkin Steampunk) and Rich Burlew (Order of the Stick). Really great senses of humor and lots of involvement in the gaming/RPG community. I don’t know if they’ve been considered already but just throwing the names out there.

  23. So glad to hear that your schedule is allowing for one game per day this year. As you said at the time, there are a few points in previous seasons where you were just so tired that your own enjoyment of the game was being hurt. I hope you enjoy every second of every day this time round.

    Plus, may I say I wholly approve of each and every game that you’ve chosen for season 4! 🙂

  24. I have always loved Great Uncle Bram’s book and now I have to read the unredacted version! Also, I agree with your choice of vampire movies and would like to add that Near Dark has the most amazing soundtrack by Tangerine Dream!

  25. I have to make a plea for What We Do in the Shadows. I think, the best movie of last year…

    1. You are absolutely correct, it was an inexcusable oversight on my part. I’ve updated the post to reflect this.

  26. NBA/Gumshoe (or even ToC) game would be a must for a season 5 I think….

  27. I’m so excited for this new season!

    Speaking of Fantasy Flight, if you ever make it Minneapolis you should check out their event center. HUGE library of games.

  28. I’m trying to get a lady friend of mine into boardgames and saw that Andy weir will be participating. She’s a huge fan of his and was hoping we could watch it together to get her started on the board game bandwagon. Any idea when that episode might air?

  29. Any update on what date Season 4 Episode 1 will start? I’m hoping soon, since it’s almost July…!

    1. I think that Legendary pushed us back to sometime in July or August, and we’ll be on Alpha, as far as I know.

      1. Thanks for the update!

        I also wanted to thank you for inspiring this 45+ year old woman to literally “Play more games.” I loved board games as a child, but grew to love other things as well, and board games became a pastime of my childhood. But after seeing Table Top, (which my husband referred me to), I decided to venture into social media about a year ago, and found a local weekly board game group. I have met some wonderful people, but more importantly, playing board games has enabled my 18 yr. old son with autism to connect with me, and others in the game group like never before. The group welcomed him, and accepted him, and now we both look forward to our weekly game night. This mother will forever be grateful to you and Tabletop!

Comments are closed.

Related Posts

Recent Posts