Joe Manganiello is a games designer.
Games designer Joe Manganiello
The 44-year-old actor is a huge fan of 'Dungeons & Dragons' and he believes he was hired for new movie 'The Spine of Night' because of his work in the fantasy genre for games company Hasbro.
He explained to Variety: "I think they knew about my work in the fantasy genre, namely 'Dungeons & Dragons' and even Hasbro — I’ve been a game designer for them. I helped redesign this board game called 'HeroQuest'; it’s basically 'Dungeons & Dragons' in a box.
"I was hired by 'Dungeons & Dragons', initially, as a consultant. That started a friendship with the company, in which I then got to write storylines for adventure modules, and create characters that led to action figures and toys that are sold in toy stores. I got to redesign a lot of the 'Dungeon & Dragons' characters and things because I started a streetwear line — like I wasn’t busy enough, I guess. I also ran this A-list celebrity 'Dungeons & Dragons' game in my house every Friday night, and turned my wine cellar into a dungeon. I think it just became a part of my identity."
Joe also revealed that he continued his celebrity 'Dungeons & Dragons' game online once the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
He said: "When the pandemic hit and we all went into quarantine, we’d been playing live. That weekend, we postponed and actually punted while I went and figured out how to work this computer system where you can create your own dungeon maps and enter your players into it. Once we figured out the tech of it, we started playing online. They talked me into running two games a week. And then we saw [COVID] isn’t going away anytime soon. I had to pull it back to one night a week. It takes a lot to prep. It’s like preparing as a director to run a TV show every Friday night — live with your friends starring in it. For me, I started getting busy."
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