You might have seen the incredible all-star cast of The Puppy Roll 2 (and their dogs!) unite for a chaotic and heartfelt D&D session on October 20th. We had an interview lined up with the event’s creator, Anjali Bhimani, and while a digital gremlin held up the responses, they’ve now safely arrived!
We are thrilled to share them now because the event’s primary mission – supporting Petco Love – is still underway. They haven’t hit their ambitious fundraising goal yet, so here’s your chance to read about the inspiration for the event and make a real difference for animals.
The Puppy Roll is such a delightful and unique idea! What was that ‘aha!’ moment that made you decide to turn your (and your friends’) adorable dogs into Dungeons & Dragons adventurers for charity?
It was a series of aha! moments. Years ago, I ran a Kickstarter for my book, I am Fun Size and so are YOU! which Charley, our dog, was a huge part of – both the inspiration to write it and the actual book itself. For that Kickstarter, one of the rewards was to come play a D&D one-shot with me and B. Dave Walters, and I decided, you know what? I wanna play Charley since he’s my little hero. And it was such a joy that I realized I wanted to do it over and over again. I wanted to play Charley because I loved him so much and I knew my friends with pups had these wonderful animals too and I wanted them to have that joy and share it with more people. So I kept thinking of what that could look like, and of course, the best reason to do a game like this would be for charity. So that was the first aha…
So, I talked with some friends who are in the tabletop space who were enthusiastically supportive of it and encouraged me to do it, but then I met the folks from Petco Love, which sealed the deal. I was on a red carpet at an awards ceremony where they had brought adoptable puppies, and I realized after seeing them a couple of times. They have such a wide reach, and they are such a passionate and excited group of people doing so much good in the world. And so The Puppy Roll was born! I had a few ideas of things I definitely wanted to be in the adventure, and I knew who I wanted to play with and the doggies that I wanted to play with (it truly wasn’t just about the people, it’s about knowing their dogs and wanting to see them come to life as characters). So it was a series of things.
Some of the silly moments in the stream, particularly the very first monologue in the first stream, were definitely jumping off points for what I wanted to do with the story but also Petco Love and their different initiatives and their database Petco Love Lost which helps people reunite with their lost animals, that was also an inspiration for some of the mechanics in the adventure.
You’ve assembled an absolute all-star cast for this, many of whom are friends and frequent collaborators. What’s the energy like when you get this group together, especially when the goal is to embody their furry best friends at the table?
It is the most delicious chaos you could ever ask for! When I did The Puppy Roll, it was the second time that I had ever DM’d, and I knew that it was going to be crazy and chaotic. It was exactly what I wanted because each and every one of these players, as virtuosic as they are and as incredibly talented as they are, the joy and love that they bring to the work that they do is really the most extraordinary thing about them. All of them do it in their own special way. So really, it was a fantastic excuse to bring friends together and just have a wonderful party, and to do it for an incredible cause. I’m so grateful for so many of the sweet little idiosyncrasies of their own animals – who are so damn loveable in real life – that they brought to the table and for giving me the freedom to make a ridiculous story and a very lively world for them to play in.
Supporting Petco Love is clearly a passion. Could you tell us a bit more about why you chose them and what their mission to save and reunite pets means to you personally?
I have a particular heart space for Petco Love because of how I met them how immediately excited we all were to do things together, and do do this thing… even though they didn’t know anything about Dungeons & Dragons. I love how much joy they bring to the work they do. It’s not easy work. It can be heart-wrenching, and it can be sad, and yet they bring so much love and innovation to everything they do. The enthusiasm for fighting the good fight and for saving animal lives and reuniting people with their pets is such a strong weapon that they have in this fight. Whether it’s their Petco Love Lost database or it’s boots on the ground work they are doing, they so so much good helping smaller organizations and shelters get the resources they need.
Between creating The Puppy Roll and co-producing the Twenty-Sided Tavern tour, you’re not just a guest at the table anymore but a driving force behind major productions. What have you enjoyed most about stepping into that producer role to bring these big, exciting projects to life?
Exactly that! Bringing big, exciting projects to life! I think, as actors, in particular, we are sort of weirdly taught that we do not have the power to do the thing we love until someone gives us permission by hiring us. As a producer, that mindset goes right out the window. I’ve never liked waiting around for someone to tell me I could do something; I much prefer to just go do it. Bt even I fell prey to that mindset when it was told to me over and over again…it just never sat well with me. As a producer, you have not only the power to do the things you love, but to help your friends and your community create the things they love; to give opportunities to so many people. The same way I view being an actor and a storyteller as a career of service — in service of entertaining the audience, broadening their horizons, expanding their hearts with storytelling, making them laugh when they’re sad — I find producing to be a wonderful act of service. Essentially, what you’re doing is helping turn someone’s dreams into reality, whether it’s me, myself, or the people who come to me and want to work together on a production. Plus, it’s always fun to be the host of a party, or rather, the ringleader … and in some ways that’s how I look at producing, a big ol’ celebration that just happens to be work while it’s also wickedly fun.
Recent interviews have rightly celebrated your work on projects like DesiQuest that highlight specific cultures, while The Puppy Roll seems built on the universal love for our pets. Both are fantastic ways of building community. What does “community” in the TTRPG space mean to you, and how do you hope to see it grow?
In general, community means everything to me because I discovered over the past decade that my number one mission in life is to help people realize they are not alone. Probably primarily because I felt like I was so alone for so much of my life, even though I was surrounded by so much love and support and amazing people. It’s so easy to get stuck in your own head and think no one can understand you, or will…but you can decide whether that’s an isolating this or that i make you unique. The TTRPG community celebrates exactly that. They celebrate every person bringing their unique creativity to the games we play, to the art we make, to the stories we tell, but they also say, You are a part of this story. There is a seat for you at the table — literally and figuratively — please come to our party. Come be IN our party. All of these inviting activities that we have only make us all not only feel like we belong, but also recognize that we don’t have to be anything other than who we are in order to belong. And that right there, I think, is the most empowering thing in the world. To build an understanding of our differences while also accepting and inviting each other to the table. I don’t know that there’s anything stronger than that.
Okay, last one, and it’s very important! The poster shows you’re DMing as your precious angel pup, Charley. If Charley were really in charge of the session, what would be the main quest objective, and what house rules would he absolutely insist on?
He would absolutely insist that every single dog owns a human or a whole human family who will pet them, and love them, and scratch their belly, and scratch behind their ears, and let them use a D20 kibble ball because he was obsessed with his. And he would insist on bacon. He would insist on large quantities of bacon. Bacon and peanut butter. He would run for the President of Dogstagram on the platform of belly rubs, bacon, and peanut butter for all.
Honestly, I created the lore of the world in The Puppy Roll based on some of the things I think he would actually insist on, so you’re gonna have to come watch stream to see more of them!
Thanks, Anjali!
