Today we’d like to introduce you to Harlequin Grey.
Hi Harlequin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Honestly, it took me a decade of playing TTRPGs like Dungeons&Dragons, Pathfinder, and Savage Worlds. I’ve always played and enjoyed these games in private. It’s amazing to be able to weave new stories in far-off fantasy lands alongside your friends. It wasn’t until November 2024 that I learned to Dungeon Master (DM) for Dungeons and Dragons. Five, soon to be six, friends of mine and I started a module called The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. I liked the layout and the story, and I thought it would be a good first campaign to teach myself to be a DM. We recorded the sessions for the sake of notes and keeping continuity, and as most of us are content creators and streamers we needed up deciding to put it on YouTube. The tech is awful in the early episodes, and probably could still use improvement, but that’s when the Harlequin’s Hallowed Hearth YouTube channel began. In May of 2025, I wanted to watch some Actual Play content (think shows like Dimension20 or Critical Role) with all-female casts because I hadn’t seen it done. I really couldn’t find any, and decided to post to my social media to see if any women wanted to do a one-off streamed adventure. I couldn’t find the content I wanted to watch, so I decided to create it. I thought I’d receive maybe one or two messages as I had a literal 2 followers on the account at the time, but I ended up receiving upwards of 117 messages and comments, all from femme-presenting people wanting to be involved in the stream. I only had room for 5 players on one stream, so it turned into a series called Hail to the Heroines. Rather quickly after, I introduced a new show called That’s Not How Initiative Works. It followed the same one-shot format as Hail to the Heroines, however Initiative features a co-ed cast. The shows take a lot to produce, and have been on and off hiatus as we’ve started producing long form campaigns. We currently have our Pathfinder 2E campaign, An End To Hunger, that launched in January of 2026. It follows our party through a Gothic Horror adventure, and the Game Master and Author, Elanor Ruth Smith (@foiblesandfables) has earned a CRIT Award nomination for Best Paizo GM for her work on the show. In May of 2026, we launched a Monster of the Week campaign, The Last Known Survivor: Support Group, written and Storytold by Rafaela Perez (@alltheifonlys) and follows a group of institutionalized paranormal survivors as they discover what really happened to them. After we launched Last Known Survivor, I realized I’d stepped into a producer role. I genuinely didn’t mean to get here, I’ve always just wanted to give people a place to tell their stories, especially those who aren’t always as welcome in gaming spaces like People of Color, Women, the LGBTQIA+, the disabled, and anyone else who has been treated like they’re less than. Games are for everyone, and if you don’t know how to play, I will teach you.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Oh absolutely not. Both Hail to the Heroines and That’s Not How Initiative Works have been on and off of hiatus due to the amount of work they take to produce. We learned that one-shot based shows are extremely high maintenance and need more time to produce than we had. We’ve also learned that while one-shots are fun, multi-part content is what the audience connects to more. You can develop characters more, and you have the ability to tell more interesting and complex storylines over 12-16 hours as opposed to 3-4. The good news is in 2027, we’ll be relaunching each of those shows as miniseries, with an adventure lasting 3-4 sessions each.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a professional Dungeon Master (Dungeons&Dragons) and Actual Play Producer, DM, and Performer. In my professional capacity, I run tables once a month for a local group called Dungeons&Flagons (@dnfpdx) at their live events, and online I focus on teaching people to play Dungeons and Dragons through Learn to Play Campaigns on StartPlaying.Games. I currently have 2 campaigns going with two more accepting bookings starting in October. In my Actual Play capacity, I love giving people who have been ignored or treated as “less than” a platform. Women, LGBTQIA+, People of Color, and people with Disabilities of all kinds being those most commonly on my shows. I fall into all but one of those myself, and I didn’t like feeling “other”-d. I want to give people who’ve experienced that same exclusion a place to tell their stories
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
It’s going to sound counterintuitive, but just start. There’s so many different ways to do TTRPGs and Actual Plays! Different people have different preferences, so here’s my three golden rules:
1) Tech doesn’t matter, user ability does. You don’t need a super high end or fancy set up to start recording. You need to understand the settings with whatever OBS Software you’re using to record or stream so that your quality sounds and looks as good as possible for the equipment you already have. Super high-end mics can sound trashy if you don’t know how to adjust them.
2) Don’t be afraid to ask for help getting started. There’s so many people like me who love to teach newcomers and share our love of TTRPGs. Yes, you can hire someone like me on StartPlaying.Games to teach you, but you can also get the player books and learn from the friends and from social media/youtube. I have a Learn to Play series on my social media meant to provide and explain information for beginners. Games are for everyone.
3) It won’t take off right away. It just won’t, and that’s okay. If you want to join or start Actual Plays shows for fame or recognition, then you probably will end up disappointed. My streams still barely break 10-15 viewers at a time, and usually it sits around 6. I started and continue to do what I do because I think these stories are important, and I’d still be doing this even if no one watched. Does it get a bit discouraging sometimes? Absolutely, but at the end of the day the entirety of the TTRPG community are here to enjoy our games and tell our stories, nothing more.
Pricing:
- $20/session for a standard StartPlaying campaign
- Private bookings start at $20/session but can be customized to your needs and event. Please DIrect Message or email!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://startplaying.games/adventure/cmri6b5st004tl504iai8v6u4?ref=cm2ikidii0009k6u1edv5ejm1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hells_harlequin
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1HKt1Mq9Vz/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@harlequinshallowedhearth
- Other: Here’s two link-hosting sites, one for the Hearth and one for my Hells Harlequin media. This has everything so you can pick what you’d like! Linktr.ee/HarlequinsHallowedHearth Linktr.ee/Hells_Harlequin
