(Caption: “Been fun introducing these guys to DnD. A few weeks later he tweeted a picture of the Heathens for the first time. When cameras captured him repping Critical Role before a Thursday-night matchup against the Broncos-during which he also caught his first career touchdown-a handful of Stanton’s favorite players and dungeon masters started following him on Twitter.
It’s also why he hands over the storytelling reins to the players whenever possible, teeing them up to describe the action of slaying an enemy-provided they succeed on the requisite attack roll-with a simple question made famous by the popular D&D show Critical Role: How do you want to do this? “Especially when they get into it,” Stanton says, “that’s really rewarding.” And why he gushes with pride in describing Garrett’s research initiative upon deciding to kill off Garrett the Gray: “I show up to his house that night, and he’s looking at how to make Alucard into a D&D character,” Stanton says.Įqually gratifying has been the love Stanton receives whenever he posts about D&D on social media. It’s why he bought starter sets of various-sized dice for all the Heathens, and why he paints mini figurines of each player’s character, placing them on the maps that he draws to help visualize their fantasy world.
“We started working for hire, came into this group.”įor Stanton, spreading his passion is part of the fun. “We were gladiators together,” Teller explains.
A friend of Stanton’s on the Browns’ offense, Lamm joined next, later roping in Teller together, on top of a full spread of Raising Cane’s chicken, the two linemen also brought fleshed-out backstories for Flapper and Shiloh to their first session. “It was like, who the hell do I ask now?” But finding eager adventurers was easier than he thought. “At that point the search was on for other guys on the team to play,” he says. “I might be into trying it,” Garrett replied. “I wasn’t as always unabashed in my fandom, and I wasn’t really anywhere for long enough where I felt like I could put that kind of trust into somebody.” That changed one day last season when Stanton saw Garrett wearing a Stranger Things T-shirt at the Browns’ facility and summoned the courage to ask whether Garrett had ever considered playing, like the kids on the show. All the while, though, Stanton kept his passion private at work.