Deborah Ann Woll and filmmaker Ed Gass-Donnelly are preparing to launch the second season of their Dungeons & Dragons actual play series, Tales from Woodcreek, with a new aesthetic and an ambitious narrative. Inspired by Agatha Christie's "Clue" and Stephen King's "The Shining," the upcoming season will be set in a sprawling 1920s mansion, described by Woll as "Clue at the Overlook Hotel."
The initial season of Tales from Woodcreek was deeply tied to its location at Black Creek Pioneer Village, with adventures tailored to the historic buildings and environment. This site-specific approach is being carried forward into season two, though the exact location of the new mansion remains a secret. Gass-Donnelly described the chosen estate as a 1920s-30s mansion that an architect has spent over two decades restoring, complete with hidden passageways and unusual architectural features that have already inspired puzzle design.
"Our basic pitch was Clue at the Overlook Hotel," Woll stated. "We think we found our Overlook Hotel." The narrative for season two will center around a murder mystery at the estate of fictional motion picture moguls, the Bickell Brothers. A teaser trailer, released in black and white, showed Woll in period attire hinting at a "ritzy bash" and the potential disappearance of actors working for the studio, setting the stage for a D&D murder mystery party.
To immerse fans further, the crowdfunding campaign for season two, launching August 11, is being integrated into the show's narrative through an augmented reality game (ARG). This ARG will extend the story beyond a conventional funding request, allowing participants to engage with the mystery even if they do not contribute financially. "If we’re going to do a Kickstarter, how can we actually make the idea of the Kickstarter campaign a campaign in and of itself?" Gass-Donnelly explained. "Even if they don’t give us the money, they can still play."
This ARG is designed to build the lore of the new setting before production begins. By following clues released through various D&D content channels, viewers can uncover secrets about the Bickell Brothers and their studio, leading to a deeper understanding of the campaign world when the season airs. Woll noted that this approach allows viewers to "begin to build the lore of this location so that through supporting the Kickstarter and unlocking all of these little bits of history of this place, you’re actually preparing yourself to have a deeper experience once the show is created."
Despite the elevated production concepts, Woll and Gass-Donnelly emphasize that the scrappy, handmade aesthetic of the first season will be maintained. The Kickstarter aims to provide the resources and time to make props more intricate and to properly compensate the creators, rather than to overhaul the show's core identity. "We will never not be scrappy," Woll affirmed. "But we just want to continue to evolve. Can we have bigger, more intricate props? And some of that has to do with just time. And time requires paying people for their time and their energy and their creativity."
Gass-Donnelly highlighted the resource constraints of the first season, which relied heavily on "sweat equity and generosity," leading to challenges like overheating equipment and last-minute prop fixes. The goal for season two is to enhance the production quality while preserving the personal feel of the series and honoring the tabletop roleplaying at its heart. "We never want the show just to become LARPing," he said. "Some of our favorite episodes are still, at the end of the day, players sitting at a table. It’s just a table in a really cool location."
The 1920s setting will also influence how D&D mechanics are interpreted, encouraging players to reimagine spells and abilities through the lens of early 20th-century technology and occult culture, blending analog machinery with low-tech wizardry. The cast will include returning players Monty Martin, Kelly McLaughlin, and Anjali Bhimani, joined by new core cast member Ginny Di. Guest stars will also rotate throughout the season. Woll views the series as an anthology capable of shifting genres and eras, with the fictional town of Woodcreek providing a connective thread, even as season two expands its scope to a larger mystery. "Woodcreek may have started as a haunted village hidden inside a pioneer museum, but it was never really about the village itself. It was about Woll and Gass-Donnelly leveraging unique locations to bring D&D immersion to a whole new level," the article concludes.