TITLE: D&D But… It’s Cluedo
GM: Johnny Chiodini
PLAYERS: Mike Channell as “Colonel Mustard,” Luke Westaway as “Reverend Green,” Emily Bates as “Ms. Scarlet,” Andy Farrant as “Professor Plum”
STREAMING SERVICE: Oxventure YouTube Channel
It’s been a big year for Oxventure, between airing the final season of the Oxventurers Guild, premiering Wyrdwood, announcing their first solo live D&D show coming in 2025, and teasing a second season of Deadlands. To close out the year, they’ve aired their live show from last month’s MCM Comic Con Birmingham: another in their “D&D But…” series, with each player now taking the role of a character from the board game Cluedo (Clue for those of us outside the UK).
Johnny Chiodini once again takes the GM’s chair, making the board game favorite a playable adventure. Due to issues preventing both of them from being present, regulars Jane Douglas and Ellen Rose were absent from the event. Emily Bates of RPGeeks stepped in to make up the numbers, taking on the part of Ms. Scarlet. What followed was 90 minutes of barely held together chaos… but as long-time Oxventure fans know, that’s not a bad thing.
As with other “D&D But…” outings for Oxventure, each player is given a prefab character sheet. Each player in this session was also given a sealed envelope, the contents of which would remain known only to the player themselves until the end of the game. The envelope gave brief but pertinent information: whether the character did it, where they were when the body was discovered, their potential motive (whether they did it or not), and some sort of general motivating character trait. At the end of the session, each player would be called on to write down who they think killed Mr. Boddy; if the vote was indecisive, it would be thrown to the live audience.
Sadly, there isn’t an easy way to look closer at the character sheets generated for this session. (Patreon supporters can view the sheets in the Supporters Club Discord.) The actual mechanics beyond social and investigative rolls appeared to be the main tripping point, but only insomuch as using what was available on the sheet required a moment to “flavor” things. For example, spells were technically cast, but worked out in real-world terms. “Command” involved Luke as Rev. Green using all his priestly gravitas to try (and fail) to get Professor Plum to do as he was told, for example.
Mild mechanical issues aside, all the players were right on top of everything, which is consistently an impressive aspect of Oxventure as a group. Anyone can jump into a character they create for their own good time; embodying a one-off sheet made by someone else is another issue entirely. But everyone did their most with minimal lines of characterization, either leaning fully into what they were given (such as Rev. Green being “so hungry”) or simply inventing their own interpretations (such as Professor Plum being a “professor of anime”). Emily made a solid showing in her guest seat, drawing eyes as Ms. Scarlet and making the most of her potential motivation—to the point that it was picked up by other players by the end.
The setup and story were extremely light in this one, and for obvious reasons: everyone already knows the story of Clue. Johnny as GM has always balanced herding cats with letting everyone have their fun (and jumping in on it), which was on display regularly with the Oxventurers Guild. That same chaotic energy is back for this game, but Johnny shows their ability to wrench the party back on track as needed. With a brick through a window, if necessary. Twice.
As much as the game goes off the rails—with Andy making constant bad anime jokes, Mike not being sure which battle of Normandy Col. Mustard would have fought in, Luke declaring Rev. Green to be a Hell Priest a la DOOM, and Emily slowly but surely building an offscreen soap opera for Ms. Scarlet—the players do manage to get the job done. In short, with a guiding hand, they do make it to the accusation phase. And, somehow, they actually find and unmask the real killer. (Johnny throws it to an audience vote just for fun regardless.) And at the end of the day, that is the ethos of Oxventure. They’ll get the job done, no matter how chaotic and off-track they may appear to be. And, most importantly, the audience will have a good time in the process.
Highlights
Everyone was in fine form with character voices across the board. Johnny bringing the players to heel with carefully-administered bricks through windows will resonate with other GMs. Best of all, though, were the stories that emerged through the otherwise wild action. We know why every character may have had reason to hate Mr. Boddy, and we see them building entire personas and attitudes around those single sentences. They also all agreed, very early on, that Mr. Boddy was named such because he was absolutely shredded.
Final Score (4 out of 5 stars)
Playing D&D in a way it’s not “meant” to be played will always be difficult, but it’s part of why we love this recurring series. Experimenting with the system like this will lead to occasional issues, which are generally ironed out should the group decide to use the same approach a second time. (See our review of Oxventure’s D&D But… Everyone Has Amnesia 2 for an example.) The fact that this was their first, and potentially only, Cluedo-flavored outing means it was bound to be a bit rougher around the edges. Combine that with a new player swapping in for two absent regulars, and everyone is already on the back foot.
The group’s humor, Johnny’s preternatural player-wrangling skills, and Emily’s ease at aligning with the group took what could have been a rough game all ’round and turned it into something that, while not streamlined, was eminently entertaining. It’s a grand reminder that Oxventure is great, but Oxventure live is an experience all its own.
With the lights off on the Oxventurers for the year, we can’t wait to wait and recap what’s coming in 2025!
Image Source: Official Oxventure Tumblr
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