Raised by Wolves’ Abubakar Salim is all about tabletop roleplaying

After a long day on location in South Africa while filming HBO’s second season Raised by wolves, Abubakar Salim, who plays father in the series, was invited by the rest of the cast for a night on the town. But he had other plans – attending his weekly tabletop roleplaying session Vampire: The Masquerade broadcast live on the internet.

Initially, his castmates were a little confused by his actual gaming hobby, which consists of broadcasting full-length tabletop RPGs online in sessions that can last three or four hours at a time. But soon the other actors continue to work Raised by wolves was engrossed in his double life, which he spent playing sham with his friends.

“They really took an interest in it,” Salim said in an interview with Polygon earlier this month. “They wanted to go into it, and I think there was that sense of [discovery]. We had the space to engage and immerse ourselves.”

Now, Salim is taking his talent for tabletop roleplaying in a different direction. Instead of a blood-sucking ghoul, he takes on the role of a powerful, violent enforcer known as Valkos, an unholy weapon covered in ritual scars and tattoos that is generally not to be trifled with. He is part of the cast of cursed citya new series based on John Harpers ringing in the dark and aired on The Glass Cannon Network.

For Salim, he doesn’t play games on Twitch to get noticed. Instead, he’s there because he loves it.

“I’d be an idiot if I missed it,” Salim said. “It’s that purest form of storytelling and the purest form of actually going into a world and getting lost in a world. And I find it so funny, especially when I’m used to being on set where you have all the costumes and everything and you have a script. […] It has something to do with what feels like the passenger seat, but also with a steering wheel in front of you. […] As a human, it just keeps you alive.”

Real game programs have been growing in popularity since 2014, around the same time that Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition was released. The most popular example of the format is Critical Role, a troupe formed by a group of professional voice actors. The long-running games program recently spawned an animated series on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service, and a second season has already been ordered.

The Glass Cannon Network originated around the same time as Critical Role, primarily as a Pathfinder podcast to play with. Now, the network’s CEO, Troy Lavallee, tells Polygon he’s on board more than $1 million per year on Patreon. What was originally just a single program with a single cast of players has evolved into several different programs. He says eight new theater shows will be launched in 2022 alone, supplemented by 18 tour dates for live performances to paying audiences.

import cursed city alongside Salim are fellow actors Josephine McAdam and Ross Bryant. Gamemaster (GM) Jared Logan recently joined The Glass Cannon Network, bringing his expertise and regulars from his own bloodstream. This acquisition has helped expand The Glass Cannon Network’s talent pool. It recently launched another topical game called Inherit the sanda series that Modiphius’ Dune: Adventures in the Empire based on the original novels by Frank Herbert. But it’s about more than just reaching a critical mass of talented players. Lavalle says it’s about finding the right chemistry, one that resonates with a fickle audience.

“I’ve seen celebrity guests on streams that have around 40 viewers,” Lavallee said. “Why aren’t more people watching? I look at their twitter and like they tweet about it, it’s just that people either like it or they don’t. And I think a lot has to do with whether the celebrity likes gaming or not, because you can get any Joe Schmo celebrity to play. If they are not in play there will be limited returns.

“It’s about finding the right mix of personalities and continuing to create a lot of content, but [also] making sure the casts are fun and varied.”

For GM Logan, it’s also about the system being played. The RPG hobby is more than just swords and sorcery. ringing in the darkfor example mixtures Peaky Blinders-style serialized theft with the occult. It also relies heavily on improvisation, allowing players to actively invent the story over time, creating a found family of characters bound by the same desires. This process is baked into the rules of the game itself.

“In the ringing in the dark“You don’t just create your character with your character sheet, you create your gang,” Logan said. “So the book makes it clear that the main character of the series, the campaign, is really your gang.”

With an even larger cast etched into the fiction of the universe itself, Logan said this is an excellent opportunity to switch in and out of new players over time. For his part, Salim isn’t worried about being eliminated any time soon. Instead, he looks forward to the next opportunity to play.

“At Raised by wolves I always know what scene we’re shooting,” Salim said. “So I have no idea what’s going to happen. It’s one of those things that you throw yourself into because you want it, because you’re just drawn to it.”

“You must be awake,” he continued. “It’s terrifying, but I think that’s what makes it so exciting.”

cursed city airs weekly at 8 p.m. ET Pull out. For the show’s full archive, see youtube.

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