Political Discourse Rolls for Initiative: A Review of A Role Playing Game

​A Role Playing Game begins where most adventures end. Set around a tabletop role-playing game, this thoughtful political drama explores friendship, democracy, and the importance of staying connected together even when we disagree. This smartly written show is a critical success.

A Role Playing Game
Presented by Street Rat Media
Written and directed by Trey Reinheimer
Produced by Nicole Ohara
The Hobgoblin Playhouse on Gardner, Main Stage
1516 N. Gardner St., Los Angeles, CA 90046
Runtime: Approximately 60 minutes
Content advisory: Flashing lights
Tickets and information: Available here

You find yourself just off the busy streets of Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, stepping inside the appropriately named Hobgoblin Playhouse. The air is still, broken only by the quiet rustling of an audience settling into their seats. As the lights rise, a basement slowly comes into view.
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At the center of the room, four players gather around a table crowded with character sheets, dice trays, snacks, and drinks. A Game Master sits behind a screen, guarding the final secrets of a fantasy realm months in the making. The space feels comfortably lived in, like the kind of basement where side quests, running jokes, and late-night debates over the rules have already unfolded.

Months of adventuring, shenanigans, and the occasional bit have all led to this moment. The party has battled monsters, defeated bandits, and overcome perhaps the greatest challenge facing any tabletop group: finding a time when everyone is free to play. After four months of storytelling, they have reached the final session of their Caverns and Creatures campaign, facing one last confrontation with the Evil Emperor. In tabletop role-playing games, the main antagonist is commonly known as the BBEG, or Big Bad Evil Guy or Gal.

A Role Playing Game does not follow the quest itself. Instead, the play begins right after the campaign ends, shifting its focus to what comes next. Writer-director Trey Reinheimer's debut at the Hollywood Fringe Festival follows these four friends as they complete their long-running adventure. Once the emperor has fallen and the kingdom has been saved, the players begin imagining the future. Who should lead after the fall of a tyrant? What would a fair and just society actually look like? How do you create something better without repeating the failures of the old system?

What begins as playful post-game riffing gradually becomes far more personal. The fate of an imaginary kingdom opens the door to a difficult discussion about the real world, reopening wounds from the 2024 election and exposing frustrations that have clearly been simmering beneath the surface.

The writing is excellent and timely because these characters are not political opposites. They largely want the same things, but they disagree about what meaningful action looks like and how much compromise is acceptable along the way. The result resembles the kind of uncomfortable conversation that can unfold between close friends who know exactly how to get under one another's skin. That tension feels especially relevant as I write this, just days after California's primary elections. 

The stage at the Hobgoblin Playhouse is used to great effect, making the audience feel less like spectators and more like quiet guests invited into a game night already in progress. Nothing about the scene feels forced. One player absentmindedly stacks dice while waiting for their turn. Another reaches for a refill of pretzels, while someone else tops off their drink. The group seems to know one another genuinely. They trade jokes, celebrate victories, and fully commit to the dramatic stakes unfolding in their imaginations. Their chemistry suggests a history extending well beyond the hour we spend with them.
It is these small details that make the production feel lived in rather than staged, and that authenticity is one of its greatest strengths.

I have spent dozens of hours playing tabletop role-playing games. My personal game of choice has been Dungeons & Dragons, both as a player and as a Dungeon Master. I recognized the rhythm immediately. This cast doesn't feel like a staged performance or a game for an audience. It feels like an actual party, concluding a story they have shaped one roll at a time.

The entire ensemble deserves credit for making that illusion look effortless. Julie Amuedo, Francis Kemper, Miles Bryant, Klenn Harrigan, and Bek Suoma are not simply portraying people seated around a basement table. They are also slipping in and out of the heroes they created, reacting to dice rolls, committing fully to ridiculous choices, and giving one another room to have their moment.

Suoma is especially impressive as the Game Master, guiding the game and driving the story while bringing the many characters populating the fantasy realm to life with a variety of voices and accents. Anyone who has ever sat behind a GM screen knows how much the role demands. A Game Master simultaneously serves as narrator, referee, improviser, scene partner, and guide through a collaborative storytelling experience, sometimes all within the same breath. They shine in the role and seem like an absolute natural. I would gladly play at their table.

The ensemble's political arguments are personal, rather than theoretical. Each performer brings a distinct energy to the group dynamic, allowing disagreements to grow out of recognizable relationships rather than reducing the characters to generic mouthpieces for competing ideas. The argument matters because the friendships matter.

The gaming table is not merely a clever backdrop for this political drama. It is what makes the entire piece work. Role-playing games give people room to imagine possibilities that can seem much harder to reach in everyday life. They offer a safe environment to explore feelings, ideas, and difficult choices. Eventually, however, things become all too real as this group of friends must confront the complications of the world they actually inhabit.

Late in the performance, the discussion turns toward a very important topic: healthcare. In a fantasy realm, our heroes can heal someone by casting Cure Wounds or Greater Restoration. Outside the game, the problems are far more complicated. There is no simple spell powerful enough to fix a healthcare system that still leaves too many people without equal access to the care they need. The strongest adventuring parties succeed because of their differences, not despite them. Each member brings something the others may not have.

I think that is the core message of A Role Playing Game. The people gathered in this basement do not agree on everything. They challenge one another. They frustrate one another. Their exchange becomes messy because the questions they are asking do not have easy answers. But disagreement does not have to mean disconnection. You can argue about the path ahead while still recognizing the value of the people walking beside you. You can challenge one another honestly without forgetting that the person sitting across from you is still part of the same party.

The production offers no easy answers. Instead, it underscores that building something better requires listening, honest engagement, and a shared sense of purpose.

Do not feel discouraged if you have never played a TTRPG. You do not need to know the difference between a d20 and a dexterity saving throw to enjoy the show. It is funny, charming, smartly written, and accessible even if you have never created a character or joined a campaign. Its hour-long runtime moves quickly while still leaving audiences with plenty to discuss afterward.

I hope the play leaves audiences with two things. First, a reminder that even when our ideological differences feel deeply personal, political discussions should remain centered on the issues that unite working people, Economic, social, and cultural rights, rather than allowing division to become the point. Disagreement is essential in a democracy, but respect and kindness toward our fellow human beings must remain part of the conversation. That being said, those disagreements must also be rooted in facts, not misinformation.

Second, I hope the play inspires a few people to gather some friends and embark on an adventure of their own. Starting a tabletop role-playing game can feel intimidating from the outside. Still, there are many wonderful options for everyone, whether the system is Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade, Daggerheart, or something else entirely. At their heart, these games are about trusting the people beside you and shaping a story no one could have created alone.

A Role Playing Game rolled a natural 20. This is one adventure worth joining.

Curious about starting your own campaign? Here is a helpful guide to get started with Dungeons & Dragons: D&D Beyond Beginner Guide