Dragon Friends

Dragon Friends refers to three things:

• the comedy podcast based around a Dungeons & Dragons campaign played live on stage by comedians;
• the first major campaign of that podcast, which has so far run for nine seasons and various spin-offs since 2015; and
• the ragtag group of adventurers who were the main cast of that first campaign.

The Show

Dragon Friends is (usually) recorded in front of a live audience in Sydney, Australia, and performed by three to five players, a Dungeon Master (Dave Harmon for the main campaign), and one or more assistant Dungeon Masters who portray other, “non-player characters” or NPCs (usually Ben Jenkins and Edan Lacey). The show also features live musical accompaniment (initially by Benny Davis, and most recently by Tom Cardy), and sometimes additional characters played by guest comedians, musicians or improvisers.

During a season live shows are performed monthly, usually in two halves. Each half is edited and released as an episode of the podcast, which is usually released fortnightly. Most seasons have 18-20 episodes, though the earlier and last seasons are shorter.

For more about the show and this main campaign, please consult most of the rest of this wiki.

The First Campaign

The original campaign didn’t need a separate name, so it's also just called Dragon Friends. This campaign starts in Faerûn, a version of the fictional world of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting (the default world of Dungeons & Dragons during its fifth edition). It follows the adventures of four “heroes” who save not only their own world but end up travelling to many others, some inspired by the worlds of D&D and other roleplaying games.

Some other, shorter campaigns are also set in the same world as the main one, most notably Beef Babes, which chronicles Freezo’s adventures while he’s away from the other Dragon Friends. There have also been several two-part Christmas specials, in which the roster of Dungeon Masters and players swapped around. These are usually set in the main Dragon Friends universe and feature the familiar player characters, but at an unspecified, quieter time in their journeys, around the holiday of “Yulemas”.

The Party of the First Campaign

The heroes of Dragon Friends are also known as “the Dragon Friends”, or “Draggos” for short. The members of the group are initially halfling rogue Bobby Pancakes (played by Simon Greiner), elf warlock Freezo (Michael Hing) and half-orc barbarian Philge (Alex Lee). Human “handsome man” (fighter/monk) Baston (Edan Lacey) joined the party from season two and stayed for most of the campaign.

The bonds of friendship first forged in a ska-filled Tavern in Daggerford (S1) followed them to the dark wilds of Barovia (Season 2), the gritty neon alleys of Neo-Tokyo (Season 3), the jungles of Chult (Tomb of Annihilation) and the farthest reaches of Wild Space (Season 4).

They returned home without Freezo, joining up instead with the aasimar artificer Lionshield Banknote. They failed to foil a conspiracy by the cult of the Lampwick Sign (Season 5), and had to join the resistance against their ascendant arch-enemy, the vampire Strahd (Season 6).

Freezo returned just in time for the Draggos to be thrown back in time to the Empire of Netheril (Season 7) and change history; their only way home was via suspended animation (Season 8). They finally made it back to their own time, but lost Baston along the way, picking up a new companion: Logan the Huge (Tom Cardy), a tortle druid. It seemed they’d found peace at last - but there’s always time for one more adventure (Season 9).

It’s currently unknown if the original Dragon Friends will return in future, but the show goes on with a new campaign and new player characters.