This Dungeons & Dragons Musical Celebrates the Agony of Rolling a Natural 1

 

If you have played tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, then you are probably aware of the term Natural 1.  It is tabletop gaming slang for rolling the lowest possible score on a 20-sided die. Not only that, it usually signals a catastrophic failure: the hero misses the target, fumbles the spell, or somehow turns a simple task into a disaster. Because the number is rolled naturally on the die, before bonuses are added, players call it a “natural” 1 — or simply, a “nat 1.”

So, Arin Jacobelli and Sho Xia, students at Ringling College of Art and Design and self-proclaimed massive nerds and D&D enthusiasts, came together to create a musical homage (if you can call it that) to Natural 1.  It follows Richard, a very unlucky bard who only rolls Natural 1s.  That’s a blow to any bard’s self-esteem, especially when his companion, Bonk the Barbarian (I wonder if Bonk means the same thing in the US as it does in the UK?) rolls only Natural 20s. 

As you will see, Richard ultimately resolves that even a lifetime of Natural 1s is OK, if you have your best buddy next to you…