Tales from Woodcreek is leaving its cursed colonial village behind for a 1920s murder mystery. Deborah Ann Woll describes the second season as Clue at the Overlook Hotel, combining tabletop roleplaying with puzzles, secret passages and a mysterious Canadian mansion.
From pioneer village to haunted mansion
Woll and filmmaker Ed Gass-Donnelly did not originally set out to create a Dungeons & Dragons campaign in a haunted colonial settlement. Their concept took shape after exploring Toronto’s Black Creek Pioneer Village, where its old schoolhouse, creaking staircases and historic buildings suggested the fictional town of Woodcreek.
The eight-episode first season followed a trio of adventurers played by Anjali Bhimani, Monty Martin and Kelly McLaughlin of Dungeon Dudes. Their investigation centred on a centuries-old witch’s curse, but the series went well beyond a conventional actual-play production.
The cast rolled dice and played D&D at a table, then explored historic buildings at night, decoded handmade props with a blacklight Lantern of Revealing and solved puzzles built into the location. Guest performers appeared across four two-episode mini-arcs, while confessionals, gameplay and practical challenges gave the show elements of an escape room and reality television.
A 1920s setting built around secrets
Woll and Gass-Donnelly had always imagined Tales from Woodcreek as an anthology. They initially considered a second season inspired by Hollywood’s golden age, but the story became clearer after they found an old mansion somewhere in Canada. The exact location remains undisclosed.
Woll’s shorthand for the new campaign is “Clue at the Overlook Hotel”. Gass-Donnelly says the property is a sprawling mansion dating from the 1920s or 1930s, restored over 26 years by an architect. Its hidden passageways, unusual architectural details and writing around the house suggested puzzles before the season had even been written.
Woll also noticed strange symbols in a bathroom and immediately saw the potential for another puzzle. The setting is designed to feel like a mystery location in its own right, rather than a backdrop added after the fact.
A black-and-white teaser trailer released in early July shows Woll in what appears to be a flapper dress, addressing the camera about a lavish party at the estate of film producers known as the Bickell Brothers.
The trailer also confirmed that the season 2 Kickstarter would launch on 11 August, with production expected to begin in winter if funding goes well.
The mystery starts before filming
The campaign’s puzzles have already begun. One mailed package contained burned and weathered papers, a small burlap sack like those used in season 1 and a metal key. A letter from Woll, dated 1929, included a cipher leading to bickellbrosstudios.com. Solving a Caesar cipher opened an account belonging to “Ms. Green”, the fictional Bickell Brothers Studios receptionist, whose secret note suggested that something sinister was taking place.
Later Kickstarter updates revealed that actors working for the fictional studio had disappeared. Whether they were kidnapped, killed or sacrificed is part of the mystery.
The unfolding augmented reality game is also expected to involve Ginny Di, Legends of Avantris, Theatre of the Unaligned, DnD Shorts and Taylor’s Tavern Tales, alongside the Dungeon Dudes channel. Their videos and posts are intended to provide additional clues leading into season 2.
Gass-Donnelly says the aim is to make the crowdfunding campaign part of the entertainment. Even people who do not contribute can still follow and play through the mystery. For Woll, the ARG establishes the mansion’s history and gives viewers more context about its people, places and secrets before the campaign begins.
Keeping the handmade spirit
The first season was assembled with homemade props, craft materials and practical effects, often late at night. Limited resources meant overheated cameras, unreliable props and sequences with very little margin for error. The creators want season 2 to remain handmade and inventive, while better funding would allow more ambitious props and properly compensate the people making them.
Woll still wants to handwrite the letters; she would simply prefer not to be doing so at four in the morning. Gass-Donnelly is equally clear that the series will not abandon its tabletop foundation.
“We never want the show just to become LARPing,” Gass-Donnelly says. The table remains central, even when it is located inside an extraordinary building.
That balance will matter to viewers who enjoy the show for its D&D mechanics as much as its atmosphere. The production intends to expand the world without losing the players, dice and collaborative storytelling at its centre. RETROCADE readers interested in immersive game-room setups can also explore our arcade news and gaming coverage.
Occult technology and a changing cast
The 1920s era will reshape how familiar D&D classes, spells and mechanics appear on screen. Early photography, phonographs, electricity and séance culture provide a form of low-tech wizardry, while magical effects may be expressed through analogue machinery instead of traditional fantasy objects.
Bhimani, Martin and McLaughlin are expected to return, with Ginny Di joining as a fourth regular player. Woll said Di fit naturally with the original group during promotional filming. Rotating celebrity guests will continue to appear as the anthology moves between genres, periods and locations.
Although season 2 moves away from the village, it will retain a connection to Woodcreek. At least one of the missing actresses is said to call the village home. Gass-Donnelly compares the broader anthology to expanding from one town into an entire county, allowing stories and characters from different generations to intersect.
A tabletop mystery with room to grow
Tales from Woodcreek began with a haunted village inside a pioneer museum, but its larger idea is using distinctive real-world locations to deepen D&D immersion. Season 2 extends that approach through a restored mansion, a 1920s occult atmosphere and an ARG that begins before filming.
For Australian viewers who enjoy practical game-room experiences, the appeal is familiar: atmosphere, tactile props and a shared table can transform a game without replacing its core rules. From a compact bartop arcade to a full arcade cabinet, the right physical setting can change how a game is played and remembered.
Season 2’s Bickell Brothers mystery is still taking shape, but its ingredients are already clear: a mansion full of clues, disappearing performers, analogue occultism and a campaign that invites viewers to investigate before the first episode arrives.
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