Wil Wheaton weaves a wicked tale on new 'Titansgrave' web series

When actor Wil Wheaton is the game master for a role-playing game (RPG), you know you're in for a treat. After all, Wheaton is the creator and host of the award-winning Geek & Sundry web series "Tabletop," in which he plays popular board games with his friends. As a past player on "Tabletop" myself, I can vouch for Wheaton's game master skills.

In this new web series, "Titansgrave," Wheaton joins YouTube star Hank Green ("VlogBrothers"), actress Alison Haislip ("Attack of the Show"), voice actor Yuri Lowenthal ("Big Hero 6") and voice actress Laura Bailey ("Avengers Assemble") to play "Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana."

For the prologue episode of "Titansgrave," Wheaton explains the basics of role-playing games, the Fantasy AGE system and the characters and the history of the world of Valkana.

For those unfamiliar with RPG basics, the game master is the only one in the game who knows what is about to happen to all the characters playing, and helps the players by guiding them through a series of encounters -- with monsters, traps, battles, etc. -- during the game, with the outcomes often determined by various dice rolls. The players, however, can change the story as they play.

"This means that the same game could be run multiple times by the same people, but the story is always going to be different depending on the choices they make," Wheaton says in the video.

In this RPG, Valkana is set in a science-fantasy world where heroes Saurian female Aanika (Hank Green) with a little robot sidekick named Jeremy, elf-dwarf Kiliel (Alison Haislip), cyborg human Lemley (Laura Bailey) and Orc-Saurian S'Lethkk (Yuri Lowenthal) must band together to fight enemies on their various adventures.

Anyone wanting to know more about the world building for the Titansgrave RPG can read more in the game designer's blog.

In the first episode of "Titansgrave," the journey begins with an animated tale of the history of Valkana and sets the scene of the characters' first adventure. The members of the group venture to Nestora, where they find themselves at the Pegasus Roadhouse where a festival called the Battle of the Boasts is taking place. Our heroes dance, drink beer, burp, tell tall tales with magic fire and bubbles, and battle beer bandits.

The second episode has our heroes travel with the Beer Baron to his estate as bodyguards for "gold and a party." On the way, they must confront an old enemy. Later, Aankia, Kiliel, Lemley and S'Lethkk drink way too much of the rarest beers at the Baron's estate, prank a cybernetic Saurian, and help a dwarf fight off brewhouse intruders. If that weren't enough excitement, they also face an ancient threat.

In the third episode, the gang heads to Nestora in search of Farkiah the Antiquarian who will tell them more about the mysterious orb in their possession. At the market district, the heroes can't wait to shop and barter but find themselves in trouble again. Get ready for explosions and flirting.

Now that you're caught up, you can catch a new episode every week. Each episode is around 45 minutes each, so be sure to pop some popcorn, grab a beverage and settle in for a fun adventure.

Those wanting to create their own adventures will get a chance to buy the game this summer when Green Ronin publishes a "Titansgrave: Ashes of Valkana" world and adventure book in conjunction with Fantasy AGE.