Talking Death Roll Show, Camp Rend, Horror, And Indie Production With Frankie and KP

Death Roll Show is a new indie TTRPG Actual Play with a focus on taking different horror styles and adapting them into short anthology adventures. On October 11th the first season of Death Roll Show: Camp Rend will be released. To talk about Camp Rend, indie TTRPG creations, and how to get your own start in the space I sat down with the Creator, Executive Producer, and DM for Camp Rend, Frankie Nicks, as well as Producer and performer, KP.

As always I like to start at the beginning so I asked Nicks how the premise for Death Roll Show originated. Nicks explained that a friend of his owns a production company that focuses on creating "B-movie horror type special effects and gore" Nicks explained that he's been attempting to get his friend to do a project with him but "he just has never been interested. He's not big into TTRPG or D&D. I think he played a couple of times in High School when I dragged him along. Every time I pitched it he didn't get it, I ended up finally getting him to watch Dropout enough to where he got interested and he really appreciated how Dropout as a company was structured with lots of employee involvement and profit sharing and so then I was able to show him Dimension 20, show him how successful those things were so to get the company involved I pitched 'we could do something horror related'"

Nicks explained that he had always had a love of horror growing up "Obviously Friday the 13th and all that stuff, but I was more into the weird kinda stuff like catseye that always had little stories. That's where I got the anthology idea because I also wanted to pitch it in a way that would be smart commercially." Nicks rallied off the benefits of keeping it small in the TTRPG space, it would need just a single location, minimal set work, and they could shoot all four episodes in a day.

Camp Rend is a slasher season that will focus on a group of campers and their camp counselors as if something is attacking them. Referencing back to his last answer about creating something easily definable Nicks explained "we chose this genre specifically because not only a love for everything of the 80s and the past, but being on a short budget we could use a VHS filter in editing to hide production"

Nicks took me behind the production curtain a bit explaining that there was a lot of planning that went into making sure they could create as high a production end product knowing that they didn't have the budget to have 6 Production Assistants on hand-checking every single shot.

As I heard from both Nicks and KP it was clear to see not just how much passion they had for the project, but also how much respect they had for all of the work each other and the entire production crew and cast had put into creating Camp Rend. Each was constantly trying to follow up from the other making corrections to ensure each got the credit they were due.

The Future For Death Roll Show

Nicks also spoke about his aspirations for what a second season and beyond would look like. Writing for Camp Rend began only six month ago, knowing that these productions can be small and turned around on a tight schedule.

"What I'm glad about the team is we're all very positive and looking toward the horizon in what we want to do. We have ideas for a Sci-Fi one, a very cult-like/witchy vibe one almost Blair Witch Project style." KP explained to me "Not only in terms of storyline wise but also in terms of how can it be manifested on-screen in a unique way."

KP teased that they already have three or four ideas for ways they could introduce interesting mechanics, such as the Jenga Block tower, to other settings to create distinct experiences. 

Camp Rend Is A Unique D&D-Hybrid Experience

Camp Rend uses Dungeons & Dragons as its base, each of the characters are built to level 5 using the D&D rules, but there's an added twist that the Jenga Block tower system from Dread is implemented to assist with ever-increasing stakes.

"The biggest [mechanic] you can see from our trailer is using the Jenga Tower" KP explained "Using that as a system to elevate the stress and impact of decisions that are being made. D&D and all of these games players are typically very powerful and it's very easy to lose that sense of dread. We wanted to bring that back into the show and ensure that as players and characters we felt the fear that came from being in the situation."

Nicks explained "I was trying to find a way to increase the stakes. I tried a couple of different things first, I tried some test games borrowing adversity tokens from Kids on Bikes, trying an anti-adversity system, I workshopped a system with a skill game with a bar but I kept coming back to the tower."

"It's perfect because it's a little bit of skill involved but there is a rule that if you touch it you take it, so no tippy tappies"

A look of disbelief and shellshock came over KPs face as this rule was disclosed. He reinforced that the consequences were very real in the game and it's not something that any rules in D&D can save you from.

KP and Nicks started to reference a moment from the trailer as KP pulled a block. KP highlighted how real the feeling of success was for him in that moment. Nicks added laughing that that was the moment he thought "Ok, we might have something here. That was the proof of concept. I wanted to find a way to bring up the tension but as more blocks are pulled you know it's going to be harder."

Battle Damage The Audience Can See

On top of the Jenga Tower another unique aspect to appeal to the audience is the live battle damage that will occur to the players as they get in danger.

Colin Fleetwood, the director, got the kudos for coming up with the idea of adding blood, but Nicks explained it was something they stumbled into. "When Colin accepted a deal and we got to talking production details it came about because he didn't understand the medium completely."

Nicks described miscommunications on the need for a set, Fleetwood believing it would take all of their budget before Nicks explained it just needed to be a static space with a table "like a play".

"When I was trying to explain that if I beat his armor class I could cut him and he said 'do they get damaged?' and I explained yeah they might have a gash and he said 'so we'll do the makeup for that?'" Through conversation they were able to figure out that blood could be set up in 5-30 minutes

Nicks joked that he hadn't seen anything like that in AP before, a progression of battle damage, and right as they were filming Dimension 20's latest season Never Stop Blowing Up had DM Brennan Lee Mulligan get bloodier with each episode.

Meeting Camp Councelor Virin

KP took some time to introduce me to his character for Camp Rend, Camp Councelor Virin. "He is all about the camp, this is probably his second or third year working at Camp Rend. He comes from a local druid circle in the nearby forest and he does not like it. He hates the idea of being stuck in the past and being all nature-esce:

We shared laughs as both of our thoughts turned to the idea that Virin was a druid on the equivalent of his rumspringa.

KP expressed his love for being part of Death Role Show not only as a player, but that it was a production that made him feel like it was something he helped create. "When I was on the show and I got to experienc ethe story and the production I personally felt in that moment no one else is doing something like this, it's very cool and I'm imagining how we can take this to the next level. As someone who came from a Project Management background I know how I can help, what is a Producer but a Product Manager for the media world."

From there KP was able to get involved in creating pitch decks, crafting a media kit, and took over the reigns of the social media for Death Roll Show. The key of it all is that KP expressed his desire to make sure Death Roll Show could be a complete success.

Tips For Creators Interested In Their Own APs

Knowing that Nicks and KP had taken the first of many difficult steps into the realm of Actual Plays, playing on different tables and now producing their own shows I wondered what tips could be offered to those who might be hesitant to take their first steps.

For Nicks he was able to immediately offer what might be simple advice to hear, but to put in practice is much harder. "Keep trying, don't give up. I know that sounds lame but when I first started auditioning I had a very bad experience. It soured me on it and I almost left. You're going to have bad experiences, we know in this world there are gatekeepers and bad actors but a run in with one of those can sour you. Just work through that at your own pace and if you can get to the other side of it there are amazing people you'll get to meet."

"Think big, if you have an idea and you think it's good then think big"

KPs advice came from a bit of a stranger place, an adult film director, who said "Everyone is fuckable" After pausing to laugh for a moment KP took the time to explain what he meant. "There's someone out there that will look at you and think 'I will smash that' and for any idea that you have there is someone out there that will see it and say 'I want to smash that idea.'"

"A lot of people tend to want to make it big and make a huge audience. You have to remember even if you have ten people who watch your show you have to remember what ten people in a room looks like. When you see a number that looks like 100, compared to others that might seem small but you've got to imagine 100 people watching you perform. I feel like we're losing our perspective on how big that is."

Short And Sweet Story

Death Roll Show's first season, Camp Rend will start airing on the 10th of October and will air for the next four Thursdays concluding on Halloween night. KP did make a joke about how there is another Actual Play that airs on Thursdays that "a lot of people tend to be Critical about" but reinforced the idea that their episodes aren't just airing earlier but will each be in the 45-60 minute range making it easier to digest.