In recent years, streaming TTRPGs and Dungeons and Dragons has grown in popularity with shows like Dimension 20 and Critical Role gaining an immense fan following. As wonderful as those campaigns are, there are tons of others for TTRPG fans to sink their teeth into – one of which is Stories Told, an actual play Twitch channel that lets its players and viewers experience a new system every month. Known online as Breadwitchery, Harley is a streamer and co-founder of the Stories Told TTRPG channel. The other founder is Hannah, known online as Louiseyhannah.
Harley and Hannah created Stories Told because they really enjoyed participating in TTRPGs and wanted to do more of it. The two alternate, so one month Hannah will plan something and then the next month Harley will plan a campaign. In an interview with Game Rant, Harley discussed what Stories Told is, how it’s different from other TTRPG channels, and the little details that make watching and participating in Stories Told a fun experience.
According to Harley, Stories Told is “a collaborative TTRPG channel” that runs at least one campaign a month. These campaigns are “actual play,” meaning they are filmed and watched by an audience. The campaigns are first live-streamed on the Stories Told Twitch channel, and later uploaded to YouTube so they are accessible on different platforms. The YouTube channel is ‘Stories to be Told,’ so fans looking to watch on YouTube can find past campaigns there.
Stories Told not only showcases larger, more well-known systems, it also makes a point to play through indie systems. Harley and Hannah welcome new TTRPG players as much as those who have experience participating in the genre. The most important thing, to Harley, is chemistry between the people at the table. Every month Stories Told streams a mini-series campaign based on a new system with a new cast, which makes it different from a lot of other TTRPG channels. Harley and Hannah want as many new experiences as possible, so even if fans really love a series, they’ll put it on the backburner for a while before even considering bringing it back.
“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 – telling stories and making there be a fresh new story every month for people.”
Stories Told takes care to make sure the same campaign systems aren’t repeated, and that each campaign has a fresh cast. While Harley isn’t saying there can’t be repeat cast members, it’s important they’re spaced out so viewers get to experience an unrepeated cast every campaign. When it comes to choosing people, Harley says the process is themselves and Hannah reaching out to their friends and pitching the whole campaign to gauge interest. If they’ve crafted up a list and see that too many of the people listed have already participated with Stories Told, Harley will then turn to Twitter to gauge interest.
One thing she specifies is she’ll only want Twitter mutuals, or those who are mutuals with her mutuals to express interest. This may seem strange, but it helps establish a level of trust at the get-go, which ensures everyone will be safe in the campaign. Harley said it’s “hard to vet people,” and oftentimes no one knows how someone really is until session zero, and by then it may be too late to find someone else because the graphics are already commissioned. It’s important to Harley that everyone on the cast and the audience feels safe in the Stories Told space, so even though it isn’t a perfect vetting system, it works for now.
“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.”
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Stories Told has a Patreon that fans can support to help keep the channel going. Anyone who becomes a patron can get access to things like early cast lists, work-in-progress updates of different graphics and art pieces, and even character sheets and lore information at the end of the campaign. What is available will depend on the tier, but there are also monthly updates that detail what the next campaign will be or let everyone know the last campaign has been added to YouTube.
Stories Told also has something known as a “chaos bar” in each of its campaign sessions that players may donate money to fill. Once a certain level is reached, the GM will insert a bit of “chaos” into the session, and only the GM knows what that chaotic element will be. The “chaos bar” works as a way for viewers to tip the cast and pay them for their work in the TTRPG, especially because at this time the Patreon doesn’t cover paying the cast. Harley said it’s helpful because those who want to tip a particular cast can do so, instead of having Patreon money go to Stories Told as a whole.
“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 by itself that would be fantastic, but as is that isn't the case.”
Stories Told runs at least one new campaign every month. While the cast could be comprised of newcomers or regular TTRPG players, Harley hopes it’s always going to be a fun time. Stories Told is currently running a campaign inspired by ‘Good Society,’ which will stream every Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. BST.
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