‘Blackbird Pie’ Offers Up a Slice of Immersive Tabletop Gaming (NoPro Notes)

(Disclaimer: This is based on a preview show that may have undergone changes.)

At No Proscenium, we’ve talked quite a bit about the idea of play (I know, I know, but it’s somewhere in the four hours of that podcast and I don’t remember when) and “Those Who Play” recently. Of course, what “play” means to participants and creators can vary quite a bit. At its base though, it’s about the way a participant interacts with a work. Usually, that’s chatting with a character or exploring the space, and the type of play isn’t so literal, or if it is more literal, it’s hidden behind a few layers of form and function.

Which brings us to Live Action Attractions’ Blackbird Pie. Borrowing heavily from Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop RPGs, it is maybe the most literal example of a show that you “play” (yes, even more than Tales by Candlelight, which also utilized similar concepts).

Blackbird Pie riffs on the idea of taverns and medieval banquets to spin out a collective yarn with attendees and their host for the evening, an “assuredly trustworthy innkeeper” (Brett Jackson). Before the show, participants are sent a questionnaire that helps set your character for the evening, along with providing dietary information and a photo. Based on your answers, you get what are essentially your “stats” for the evening. To make it friendly for people of all levels of gaming experience, they amount to: a character class; something you’re good at; something you’re bad at; and a special item. The photo is for a memento that lists those stats — it’s simultaneously one of the cooler keepsakes I’ve received from a show and one that’s connected to the experience in a meaningful way.

Some things happen when you first arrive and then the innkeeper sets the party off on their quest. And that quest plays out on a giant hand-drawn map that covers the table you sit at, where you stumble into encounters that the innkeeper will describe before leaving your party to figure out their plan of attack. Those encounters then unfold with a few dice rolls that get some benefits based upon if you’re using your “strong” attribute. There are a few other idiosyncrasies to the game revolving around days running out (represented by candles), how you move about the map, and what happens when a party member dies. (I feel like I’ve spent too many words describing the rules and making it sound more complex than it actually is, but it’s all in service of what I want to talk about next.)

And that’s getting back to the idea of play. Once Blackbird Pie gets going, it is a total blast to play. It shakes out to a tabletop game with an interactive character/GM/host to guide you. Jackson relishes his part as the innkeeper and is clearly having a lot of fun coming up with the scenarios and how to adapt to how the party chooses to deal with them, while playing a hammy character for the group to interact with. If the party wants a show that’s part comedy/part adventure/part interior decorating show, he’ll make it happen, and, if you want to play it differently, I suspect he can make that happen too. (In fact, a late-game slip of the tongue opened up a new path to explore, which we all thought was part of the game… until he explained later that he’d accidentally exchanged one word for another.)

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If Jackson and the show are game for handling whatever is thrown at them, your party of adventurers is where the element of play really comes in (aside from literally playing a gigantic board game, of course) by choosing what exactly to hurl his way. The system is complex enough to allow for people who are more willing to interact or are more familiar with gaming to come up with increasingly interesting ways through. But it’s also simple enough that people who are less comfortable with interaction can contribute to the game. Sometimes that comes in the party interplay where you decide how to approach a scenario or in chatting with the innkeeper as you make your individual move.

The location of the show also adds to the immersion. Live Action Attractions has sought out rental properties that are dressed to the nines as actual D&D gaming spaces. A dragon’s head over the fireplace and medieval weapons lining the walls sure go a long way to transporting attendees into the world of Blackbird Pie.

You may have noticed I said “dietary information” way up there at the start and that’s because the other big component of Blackbird Pie is food and wine. The show leans further into that tavern-type experience and provides a family style meal of meat and vegetarian options, along with wine or mocktail pairings. The five courses, created by Edward Khechemyan, loosely tie into some of the things you run into during the show and are quite delicious. The stuffed grape leaves lauded by the marketing materials are, indeed, really freaking good. Tying food into a show is difficult because interacting and eating don’t always go hand-in-hand, but Blackbird Pie manages pretty well because of the way it’s formatted.

The one major hurdle with making this show accessible to people who aren’t familiar with this type of play or familiar with immersive theatre will be the price: it’s a high buy-in at $145. That price is high, but you can expect a good amount of bang for your buck with food, wine, a cool memento, and a fun show that can run upwards of two hours.

Justifying cost can be tricky, especially when you’re doing this as a reviewer and you haven’t actually paid. Jackson’s performance and DM skills are a ton of fun, but if you’re really experienced with D&D, the experience may play out differently. Playing a simplified version of a tabletop RPG in a themed space certainly added to the experience, but how much does it add? The food and wine are both better than I expected, but you can get a helluva meal in LA for that much money. I personally had a lot of fun at the show and getting the chance to play and be creative in this format is cool and those elements above did enhance what Blackbird Pie is trying to do.

In fact, with the right group, I think I’d be likely to go back. But, the “right group” can be a bit of a gamble as Blackbird Pie is sold on an individual ticket basis for “twelve road-weary strangers per seating.” The ticket price is high compared to, say, an escape room, and if I had to pick between it and another show (immersive, theater, concert, a Disneyland run) as my “expensive thing” for a couple of months, I don’t know where I would land.

Blackbird Pie has begun its open-ended run. Tickets are $145; private bookings are also available.

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