Dungeons & Dragons is in the ascendancy in gaming culture these days, whether that’s through games like Baldur’s Gate 3, a blockbuster film, or more recently, live plays.
In conventions across the world, the famous faces of the worlds of gaming, anime and more have begun to convene to play out short D&D campaigns for an audience.
The recent DreamHack Birmingham was no stranger to this, placing the likes of Carolina Ravassa (Overwatch, Valorant) and Mela Lee (Mortal Kombat, Apex Legends) on stage for a one-shot live on stage.
Joining them was Jason Spisak, the voice behind Arcane’s Silco, Fallout: New Vegas‘s Vulpes Inculta and more, who revealed to me before the show how deep his love of D&D runs.
“I’ve been playing D&D since the ’80s,” he began. “I had the chance to play 2nd Edition when I was younger, and I love it.
“It is the embodiment of being a child again. You get to take your imagination and let it have free reign over a story. And the collaborative nature of it, where you get to sit with other people and just make something on the fly that is beautiful and memorable – it’s my favourite thing about it. It’s like being a kid again.”
Upon my describing D&D as ‘nerdy’, Spisak quickly interjects, “Thank you! I actually take that as a compliment. I’m high nerd.”
But far from besmirching the good name of D&D, I only describe it as nerdy to juxtapose its origins with the live show-level popularity it has now reached, something Spisak would never have predicted.
“When I was growing up, D&D was the sort of thing that you kind of didn’t tell anyone you were doing,” he recalled. “As silly as that seems, I think it kind of made you feel like you were part of something special, a little bit like a little club.
“But I love the fact that it has evolved into a larger community. There’s something about being part of something bigger when it hits the mainstream and it becomes something that people desire to be a part of, that you feel a different kind of special.
“Just the other day, I was at a gaming café called The Round Table in a little town outside of Toronto called Guelph, and it was Tuesday night. It’s game night, they’re playing D&D, and I was just like, “Hey, can I throw in on your table?”
“And they don’t know me, I don’t know them, but I just sat down and joined the game. And that, to me, is such a beautiful example for humanity. How we can just sit down at a table of strangers and be welcome. I think it’s a beautiful metaphor.”
Spisak, of course, has garnered quite the popularity in recent years among Arcane fans for his portrayal of Silco, a role which continues to define his career.
On his popularity among Arcane fans, he explained: “It’s an absolute privilege as an artist. You could go your whole life without ever having some piece of your art get widely seen, and have a chance to impact a large number of human beings.
“And that’s why we do this as artists. Because we want to give someone a personal emotional catharsis, or a way to exorcise their demons, or a way to just be understood in a way. And for something I have done to illuminate the lives of so many people, it’s humbling, and it’s very fulfilling.”
Spisak then took a pause to call for Silco to be added to League of Legends: “Come on, put Silco in League. I know I’m in Teamfight Tactics. He can sneak up behind you and just be, ‘Power. Real power’, and you just freak out. Come on, give him a superpower with Shimmer.”
While Silco is still in the forefront of many minds, many of us will always remember him as Vulpes Inculta of Caesar’s Legion in Fallout: New Vegas, with new players experiencing his performance perhaps not in the way he would prefer.
“A lot of people enjoyed [Fallout: New Vegas] and played it for hours and hours and hours, and I’m now getting a ton of fans for Ella [Purnell]’s show. Ella also plays Jinx in Arcane, and is the lead in the Fallout TV series.
“And so many of them come up to me and they’re like, ‘Oh man, I just picked it up and I was playing again, and there you were! It was so great! And then I shot you!’
“I was like, ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.’ You know, it’s an honour to have my life ended virtually by numbers of people who come up to tell me so.”
Beyond Silco and Vulpes, Spisak also played the Penguin in Batman: The Telltale Series, among many others. I asked Spisak what it is that draws him to such villainous roles.
“I think one of the reasons I’m asked to play those characters is because it’s complicated for producers. Everybody who’s creating a game or creating a series, they have a set of problems. They need characters that are going to be believable, that are going to suck you into the story.
“And my job as an actor is to solve problems. My solution is to get the story to be told in a way that people remember it. It’s memorable, it’s engaging. So, I think this is just my gut feeling that I bring a sense of humanity to characters that otherwise would be a caricature, right?
“Every time I approach a character, to me, a hero is just a villain with a different set of circumstances. He or she is the hero of their own story, although you see them as a villain.
“Silco wants to bring about the nation of Zaun. He doesn’t want the Lanes to be oppressed by Piltover. He’s a freedom fighter, but he goes about it in a way that’s immoral, and we all know that.
“And he’s on a trajectory. Once Jinx comes into his life, once a daughter comes into your life – I know, I have two daughters – you are changed forever. And so, she changes him, and for the first time, he has something to lose, and then his life is cut short.
“So, it’s hard to see him as someone you hate, even though you know he’s done despicable things. And I think one of the reasons producers asked me to help solve those problems is because when you have a memorable villain – someone you can genuinely care about or see their point of view – you are more connected to the story. So, I think I help them solve it in that way.”
Incidentally, Spisak’s favourite Shakepseare play is Macbeth, so make of that what you will.
For the full interview where Jason talks more D&D, Arcane, Fallout: New Vegas and Shakespeare, head to the Radio Times Gaming YouTube channel.
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