<\/p>\n
When Kevin Clay, the actor who brings the devout and ambitious Elder Price to life on stage in The Book of Mormon<\/em>, steps away from the spotlight, he enters a different kind of sacred space: the Dungeon Master’s chair. For Clay, the worlds of Broadway theater and tabletop role-playing games are not separate realms but complementary creative disciplines. This article delves into how Clay, initially a player, evolved into a forever DM, crafting an intricate campaign setting called Kardelheim that blends high fantasy with superhero narratives. We’ll explore the origins of his D&D passion within the touring company, the profound character arcs he inspires, the rich mythologies he builds, and the practical advice he offers for Dungeon Masters looking to elevate their own storytelling and player engagement.<\/p>\n In the late 2010s, while on the national tour for The Book of Mormon<\/em>, Clay and his fellow cast members sought a creative outlet to fill their days in unfamiliar cities. Alongside friend Jacob Ben-Shmuel, who joined the tour to understudy Elder Cunningham, they launched a D&D campaign. With schedules free apart from nightly performances, they engaged in sessions three times a week for four hours at a time, a practice that continued intensely for months and years. This regular, collaborative play forged a tight-knit group and cemented D&D as a lasting passion for Clay, even as the pace adjusted when careers evolved and play moved to remote formats.<\/p>\n Clay’s early character, a cleric named Dama, directly reflected the thematic environment of the show itself. Dama, having left his pious village, witnessed magic being used freely by all kinds of people, leading to a spiritual crisis. Ben-Shmuel, as DM, expertly woven this internal conflict into the narrative, causing Dama’s divine powers to wane as his faith faltered. The character eventually faced a reckoning from his patron, the moon goddess Sel\u00fbne, and through renewed devotion, regained his strength. This story arc exemplifies how Clay and his group naturally explored themes of belief and power, blurring the lines between their theatrical work and their gaming.<\/p>\n After leaving the tour and making his official Broadway debut as Elder Price in 2018, Clay assumed a new pivotal role: the permanent Dungeon Master. He established a revolving table, inviting various friends from the Broadway community to play. Ahead of a European tour in June 2019, Clay ran his first campaign over a few intense months. The party joined a war effort and discovered the enemy was searching for blood descendants of gods. The campaign concluded with a chaotic gnome wizard named Oopsie, played by Clay’s friend Cody Strand, using his god-blood to open a portal to a futuristic city greeted by a flying superhero\u2014an impromptu cliffhanger that captivated the group and set the stage for Clay’s future world-building.<\/p>\n Prompted by his players’ curiosity about the superhero city, Clay, while on the European tour, began codifying a creation mythos. He established that long ago, early humans on an island killed the primordial goddess of light. Her partner, a god of darkness, strives across ages to revive her, while their divine children oppose him. These children were eventually sealed away in four crystals, which became heirlooms of the four houses founding the city-state of Kardelheim. In the campaign, players are tasked with reclaiming these gems as their encasements weaken, facing a moral dilemma: destroy them and potentially aid a grieving god, or keep a potentially evil force sealed.<\/p>\n Clay enriched Kardelheim by defining distinct cultures for its four ruling houses, utilizing his acting skills to assign unique accents. Humans speak with an Irish accent, druids use standard American English, dwarves have a deep American Southern drawl, and elves speak with an old-school Georgia accent. This deliberate disorientation led to an unexpected narrative twist: rather than siding with honorable thieves, one group of players found themselves gravitating toward and aligning with a villainous faction. Clay noted that the party, somewhat accidentally, fell in with “not good people,” a plot development that became central to their campaign, demonstrating how player agency can unpredictably shape a story.<\/p>\nThe Touring Origins of a Theater-Based D&D Group<\/h2>\n
A Cleric’s Crisis: Faith and Magic on Stage and at the Table<\/h3>\n
Stepping Into the Dungeon Master’s Role on Broadway<\/h2>\n
The Birth of Kardelheim: A City Born From Divine Tragedy<\/h3>\n
Building Culture and Accidentally Aligning With Villains<\/h2>\n
Kardelheim’s Dual Epochs: Fantasy Crystals and Superhero Brands<\/h3>\n