Watching actual play TTRPGs has become popular in the last few years. Campaigns run by Dimension 20 or Critical Role have pretty much become synonymous with Dungeons and Dragons, but those aren’t the only campaigns to look out for. There are tons of other actual play TTRPG channels with diverse casts and compelling narratives. Harley, known online as Breadwitchery, and Hannah, known online as Louiseyhannah, created the collaborative channel Stories Told together because they both love TTRPGs and wanted to participate in more of them.
Harley and Hannah switch off monthly to create mini-series TTRPGs. In an interview with Game Rant, Harley discussed why Stories Told was created, how it picks its players, favorite campaigns, and much more. Interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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Q: What is Stories Told?
A: Stories Told is a collaborative TTRPG channel. It's a channel where we feature actual players of TTRPGs and we do at least one a month. An actual play is when people are playing a TTRPG and it's being filmed and watched by people, so we live stream TTRPGs. We like to do mini-series and we like to showcase indie systems, so not just D&D and not just things that are really popular. We also like to have people on who haven't played TTRPGs before and some people who have played TTRPGs a ton. We always like to have a really mixed cast in terms of experience and that kind of thing as long as everyone's got a sort of really good chemistry.
We think it's really fun to introduce people to new things and often because the chat is being introduced to a new system, so it's fun that they can have it explained to them as the players are having it explained to them. It's basically just a TTRPG collaboration channel, myself and lousieyhannah (Hannah) founded it and we just run a mini-series every month of a TTRPG and it's a really fun time.
Q: How did you get into TTRPGs and D&D?
A: Basically, when I was first interested in it I looked on Reddit because on Reddit there are lots of people looking for TTRPG buddies, mainly they're always looking for a GM which I sympathize with now, but I put stuff on Reddit and I joined a group or two. They never really lasted but they were fun, and then a little while back I got invited onto Cantrip Breakers, which is another actual play with some other streamers and they do an endless actual play where there's no end, it just keeps going with the episodes.
That was fun but it didn't fit in my schedule anymore so, unfortunately, I had to leave. And then because my appetite for TTRPGs had been whetted I was looking into fun seasonal TTRPGs, stuff I could do on my channel, and that kind of thing, and from there Hannah was also really into the idea of doing a lot more TTRPG things, so that's how we sort of got really into it.
Q: Are there any standout campaigns that you’ve done in the past?
A: I really, really enjoyed our first campaign which was called "Aaah, Teen Monsters!" We ran that with the Monster Hearts system, and it was super duper fun because Monster Hearts is basically a system all about roleplaying a different kind of monster, like vampire, werewolf, succubus, that kind of thing, and it deals with themes of being a teenager and hormones and that kind of thing. That was the first thing we did under the Stories Told branding and it was with a bunch of my friends and we all just played ourselves, but not quite, and I found that really, really fun.
It was a really good time because we weren't in our heads about roleplaying or anything. We weren't playing ourselves exactly, we were playing caricatures of ourselves so it was super easy and it was really fun. And I make all the graphics for Stories Told and I was so proud of the graphics I did for "Aaah, Teen Monsters!" because it was a mock-up Windows 98 interface and I was so proud of it, I spent ages on it, so it has a very near and dear place in my heart.
Then I also really like “The Fifth House,” which is one of our series we're actually doing a second season of; as far as I'm aware the campaign itself hasn't excited any controversy but it is an adaptation of the Harry Potter IP and it's using the Witchcraft and Wizardry system by Wacksteven which is not paid for at all, it's a free system. Half of the cast is non-binary and People of Color and that kind of thing and we're using it as a personal reclamation and bastardization of the narrative.
It's very much like a, we're trying to reclaim this for our nostalgia, and we think it's funny if it's a bunch of non-binary people trotting around in the world. But I can understand people have a different perspective and they definitely wouldn't like that. Because we're the affected group we sort of get to make the call on what we feel safe with, and I really, really love that campaign because we're playing eleven year olds and then we're going to be aging up and we're going to see the journey of our characters as they grow up. It's really sweet and our GM is fantastic.
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Q: How has “The Fifth House,” using the Witchcraft and Wizardry system, been handled in the wake of J.K. Rowling’s transphobic views?
A: Basically, before we even launched the campaign I made a post on our Patreon because of its obvious implications due to perpetuating the cultural memory of Harry Potter, even if you aren't putting money directly into J.K. Rowling's pocket a lot of her power is her cultural capital, of course, because it's like, "Oh, the author of Harry Potter is saying this." Basically what we explained was that myself, as a non-binary woman, a bastardization of her work by including non-binary characters and also fundraising for a cause she'd hate is something that I find very funny, and it's very comforting to me. We fundraised for Mermaids U.K. throughout our campaign, we raised like over $1,300 or something over the course of five episodes, it was great, I loved it.
But spite against a transphobe isn't the healthiest of motivators in my opinion, so we avoid mentions of J.K.R. during the actual play. We don't make references to it because I don't think spite against a transphobe is the healthiest motivator for trying to make a nice campaign. Several friends and members of my community who are trans men and women and non-binary people were consulted before I started developing the campaign so we could get a balanced perspective of what I was doing. Everybody was okay with it, but of course, again, I said that if anybody isn't comfortable as a trans viewer or non-binary viewer, I completely understand and I would love to hear from them how we can improve things.
And of course, the relationship that myself and the trans members of the cast have with this is not the universal experience of trans people affected by J.K.R., so we completely acknowledge that and if anyone wants to avoid our campaigns, we completely understand. We just hope no one holds it against myself or the cast, because as I said, it's very much one of those things where when it comes to things like this, lots of allies will say, "Listen to trans people, listen to non-binary voices!" and then we're like, "Okay that is us, so are we cool to do this?" And it's been a really nice time and we haven't had any sort of controversy or anything like that, but I very much understand we are still giving her cultural capital.
What our GM did that I didn't even notice until the very end of it, was the sort of villain of the first season was somebody who had contributed to the foundation of Hogwarts and it was found out that they were actually a horrible person and it was actually very subtly done so we didn't realize it was effectively a metaphor until the End of Year speech and it was really, really good and we loved that.
Honestly, I would be fine with a cis individual making an argument for why something I'm doing is transphobic because if they're very educated in that kind of thing, maybe they're more educated than me. Because just me existing and being non-binary doesn't mean that I know everything, but I do think when people say, "Listen to marginalized voices," totally fair, with it, got it, but also we're not a monolith. There are going to be trans people that disagree with me and think that I'm doing the worst thing ever and then there will be trans people who agree with me and think I'm doing totally fine stuff because marginalized people aren't a monolith.
Q: What is something you think more TTRPG and Dungeons and Dragons games could benefit from in terms of inclusivity?
A: I think that they could very much benefit from making sure there's always chemistry, because I know I have known people in the past who have included individuals literally just because they are a token and they're not considering whether the person likes a system or whether they're going to have chemistry with the rest of the cast. I think it's really important if you are somebody that's developing TTRPGs and casting TTRPGs, surrounding yourself with marginalized individuals so you don't need to tokenize anybody so that you can just be like, "Oh, who likes that system? These people like that system," and then just naturally you will notice that there is an inclusive cast there in front of you because you've surrounded yourself with a diverse group of people.
Everyone should be doing that always, in my opinion, but if you are someone who casts TTRPGs and you're finding yourself being like, "Hm, yikes, my cast is all white. Why does this happen every time? Darn it." Like, just start reaching out to other members of the community and you will have a more interesting and better time if you are getting to know more people within it and not just connecting with people of the TTRPG community who look like you. Just like, really diversifying your experience with it I think is really great.
I would also say that when it comes to systems, like not being afraid to homebrew because some people are very uncomfortable with, for example, fantasy racism where it's like, if you're an orc, people are mean to you. Some people are very uncomfortable with that, so if you're wanting to make a more inclusive environment, don't be afraid to homebrew out the fantasy racism. Or if you want to use systems that are by disabled individuals or by queer individuals there are some fantastic lists about that, and you can do that and those systems within them will have inclusive things. Like Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a system and I'm pretty sure within the text they say that bigotry is not welcome at the table if you're playing this game, and I think that's really fantastic.
Q: You have a Patreon for Stories Told – what kind of content can people expect to see on there?
A: So, we post a monthly update on our Patreon about anything that's new, like, "Oh look, the last campaign is up on YouTube now," or anything like that. Also in our monthly update, we say what system we're doing that month and sometimes we mention the one we're doing the month after that as well. And we also put the cast lists on there, like way ahead of time, and works in progress of the graphics as I'm working on them, works in progress of the art as it's being done if we have anything like that. And then the highest tier which is at 10 pounds a month, they get character sheets and lore-building info at the end of campaigns, including the GM's notes, so that's an extra behind the scenes thing there.
Q: What makes Stories Told different from other TTRPG channels?
A: I would say that we are constantly trying to do something new. I think we also have the element of it's literally just me and Hannah running the entire thing, so it's very much like a Mum and Pop TTRPG channel – I would be Pop – but we're always trying something new. We're always going to do a new system, even if people really adore a campaign that we just did, we're like, "We've got to leave it in the vault. We've got to move forward and do a new thing and maybe come back to it much later."
Because we're always trying to do something new and bring new cast members on and have new experiences and tell new stories because obviously, that's what it's all about is telling stories and making there be a fresh new story every month for people. And I don't think, as far as I'm aware, that something's being done right now where a TTRPG channel is doing a mini-series every single month and I like that a lot about us is that we do that.
Q: Can you walk me through what the recruitment process looks like for all the campaigns?
A: Yeah, so sometimes if it's a campaign where, because what we like to do is not use people from a previous campaign again immediately because it's all about having fresh faces, so we'll bring back people sometimes, but sometimes we need fresh faces. And sometimes that means we look back and we're like, "Wait, we've looped it, there are too many people that have been in stuff now. We need an entirely new cast!" And if that happens we'll either think to ourselves, "What friends do we have who might like TTRPGs?"
So, for example, if I was doing a horror TTRPG, I have so many friends who are into horror stuff and I would make a list of them and I would be like, "Okay, have any of them been in a Stories Told thing recently? Oh, this person has, I'll remove them." And then also I don't immediately account for whether they've been in TTRPGs or not, because what I do is I will ask them if they're interested. I will pitch them the whole TTRPG and then I'll be like, "This is how the system works, would you be comfortable doing this for four episodes?" Often people who are new to TTRPGs are totally down.
If we don't have a full cast off of just us thinking of our friends, I will go to Twitter and be like, "Hey! Is anybody interested in doing a TTRPG about this content?" And often I will say, "Mutuals or people that are mutuals with my mutuals," because it's hard to vet people, I feel like, because there are often times where you will play with somebody at a table and you don't know them but they seem fine, and then when you play with them you find out they're crossing boundaries in a way that you're not comfortable with.
Because we're an actual play channel, we would probably find that out at session zero, which is the preparatory session that we do off-camera, but at that point, it's a little late because we might have commissioned stuff already and set stuff up already. So I like it to be people that I'm mutuals with and so I have a little level of trust established, or mutuals of my mutuals so again there's a little level of trust established.
It isn't perfect of course, it's not a perfect system, but it does help my anxiety when it comes to working with people that I don't know. And that's the essential recruitment thing is, "Are you interested in this? Do we know you? Have you worked with us super recently? No? Okay, cool, you're in," and then we just make sure it's a very high chemistry cast. We would never put two people on where we might think, "Oh, Harley is in this and so is this other person who's really shy and also Harley speaks over people all the time and that's okay in certain groups, but not in this group," so we make sure there's big chemistry going on with the cast always and then often most of them know each other already.
Q: That element of chemistry and the unknowing of if you're letting someone new into the circle, it's important to protect everybody in that space.
A: Yeah, not only the cast members but also our audience, of course. We set a certain standard for ourselves and our behavior and our audience has come to respect that and what they're comfortable with. If we're presenting someone to our audience who suddenly tramples all over that, that's a "yikes," as the kids say.
Q: What can you reveal about the upcoming TTRPG campaign based on Good Society?
A: I can reveal the cast because we made a little announcement tweet. It's going to be Katscratchh, myself, Hannah – which is really fun because Hannah and I aren't always in stuff together. We usually have a "you do one, I do one" sort of back-and-forth campaigns, but we're in one together this time, so I'm really excited – and also the Twitch user Lorie who is LegendofLorie on Twitter, and it's going to be GM'd by Edward Spence who is a fantastic GM that we bring on for things often. He's great, he's an actor, he's incredibly descriptive, and he's just so good.
So that's going to be the cast and it's going to be, as far as I'm aware, it's every Wednesday in August starting on Wednesday the fourth and it's going to be at 9 o'clock BST. In terms of themes, we're going for a more romantic comedy vibe as opposed to a drama or a farce, and it's going to be slightly historically accurate but we're not really sticklers for it. And there will be things where if you're watching the campaign and you donate towards the goal that we're running during the stream, if it gets reached Ed will make something happen, unclear what. It's always been "the GM's going to cause some chaos" bar in the past, so it's a good time and that's part of how you can interact with the campaign. I'm really excited for Good Society, I very much intend on dressing up.
Q: Are there any newcomers in the campaign?
A: As far as I'm aware, Lorie has a little TTRPG experience and she's very much interested in them, but I'm fairly certain Lorie is pretty new to TTRPGs. Kat has GM'd several things in the past and me and Hannah have been in a lot of Stories Told campaigns in the past. So Lorie is the new arrival, as Good Society would say, and I'm super excited to work with her.
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Q: Do you know how much of the campaign is pre-written, versus how much autonomy you and the other players will have to shape what happens?
A: A really interesting thing about Good Society, and something we're sort of getting a handle on ourselves as players, is that Good Society effectively follows rounds, and I don't have them right in front of me so I can't entirely tell you them in the correct order, but Good Society goes through rounds. They're effectively like the event rounds, like you would attend a ball, and then there's the letter-writing round where each member of the cast, if they would like to, will write a letter to somebody. Then there's the rumor-starting round where each member of the cast, if they'd like to, will start a rumor about another member of the cast.
Also, the NPCs – we, as characters, have NPCs that we've brought with us from our backstories, like two NPCs – the other members of the cast who aren't the GM will play those NPCs, so Good Society is very much a collaborative experience rather than being the GM, Ed is what they call the Facilitator and he's there to sort of guide things along and play the NPCs when needed, but he's very much facilitating the collaborative experience of the players. So Good Society, compared to a lot of other systems, has a high amount of player autonomy which is fantastic. Also kind of terrifying, but fantastic.
Q: What inspired the creation of the "chaos bar" you were talking about before?
A: So, effectively it was that we really like being able to pay our cast, but as individuals we don't have disposable income that we're able to invest inside of Stories Told. Often Patreon will just cover the cost of the graphics and art of the campaign and that's it. If our Patreon grows so that we can support our players off of the Patreon as well by itself that would be fantastic, but as is that isn't the case. So we have the Chaos Bar, as it was, as a way of incentivizing if people would like to contribute to the cast getting tipped.
It's very much like we're giving back to the community, because if they want to see something crazy happen, it's like, "Great news, we can make that happen for you." Also, we like it because you might be subscribed to the Patreon, for example, but you may have a campaign a month down the line with a player who you love and you love their character and you're super into it, and then if you would like to support them you can tip them during the stream during what you're seeing and see them react to it and that sort of thing. Whereas Patreon is more of a consistent, monthly thing where you don't exactly see where it's going because you're just on a subscription service. But if you would like to tip a particular cast because you particularly adore that cast, you're able to do so.
Q: What is one piece of advice you would give to TTRPG newcomers?
A: Oh boy, oh gosh, not going to lie, if I'm able to plug somebody else, watch a lot of Ginny Di videos, she's great. And also just, I would say always try and keep your character's motivations in mind and demeanor in mind because personally, I often get post-campaign anxiety over like, "Oh, I kind of acted like myself there, I didn't really do what my character would want to do and I feel like my character is weaker," so always keeping your character and their motivations in mind while also allowing yourself room for some fun and some out-of-character speaking to the other players in a lighthearted way.
Second tip, of course, would be to utilize safety tools. Always be at a table that you feel safe at. Don't put up with conduct that makes you uncomfortable and/or triggers you or anything like that just because you think you'll have trouble finding another table. There are so many tables out there, there are so many TTRPG groups out there that will make you feel comfortable and will use safety tools effectively.
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Stories Told airs its new campaign based on Good Society on Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. BST.
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