---
title: 'Overwatch Actors Talk Gaming Inspirations, Community Building & Role Playing Characters in Character'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=7iomTujCfB8'
video_id: '7iomTujCfB8'
date: 2026-09-23
duration_sec: 649
channel: 'GameSpot'
---

# Overwatch Actors Talk Gaming Inspirations, Community Building & Role Playing Characters in Character

> Source: [Overwatch Actors Talk Gaming Inspirations, Community Building & Role Playing Characters in Character](https://youtube.com/watch?v=7iomTujCfB8)

## Summary

The Overwatch cast discusses their upcoming Daggerheart tabletop RPG campaign, exploring how they developed their characters, the collaborative process with Blizzard, and the unique dynamic of voice actors playing their own characters in a new narrative system.

### Key Points

- **Collaborative Origin** [00:12] — The project began as a collaboration with Blizzard, choosing Daggerheart for its narrative-forward design and quick transitions between story and combat.
- **Character Creation Process** [00:28] — The cast worked with writers to build characters that fit their Overwatch personas, using Zoom meetings and playtests at Blizzard Campus to refine dynamics.
- **Deep Character Knowledge** [01:21] — Voice actors feel they know their characters intimately, which helps them make in-game decisions that align with the established personalities.
- **Community Hook** [02:17] — The community is drawn to the characters' interactions and personalities, and seeing voice actors play them in tabletop games adds a new layer of engagement.
- **Playing as Character** [03:09] — Actors find it easier to choose what their character would play rather than deciding as themselves, leveraging their deep understanding of the character's ideals.
- **Exploring Contrasts** [04:11] — Some actors toy with the idea of having their characters play something very different from themselves, adding dramatic layers.
- **Cassidy's GM Style** [05:14] — Cassidy's GM notebook is described as messy, with coffee stains, scratched-out notes, and grocery lists, reflecting his laid-back approach.
- **Vendetta's Backstory** [05:38] — A fan theory suggests Vendetta joined the game on a therapist's advice to manage anger issues, which the actor finds amusing.
- **Reinhardt's Motivation** [06:11] — Reinhardt's reason for playing is to make peace and welcome everyone, leading with kindness and seeking understanding through the adventure.
- **Brigitte's Competitive Edge** [06:41] — Brigitte approaches the game with a competitive mindset, aiming to optimize and win, though she must remember it's collaborative.
- **Symmetra's Growth** [07:05] — Symmetra uses the game to step out of her ordered world and experience the human condition from a new perspective, addressing her neurodiversity challenges.
- **Dream Characters** [08:12] — Cast members share characters they'd love to play, including J. Jonah Jameson, a good princess, Medusa, Little Caesar, and Vex from League of Legends.

### Conclusion

The cast's enthusiasm and deep character understanding promise a rich, character-driven Daggerheart campaign that will delight Overwatch fans and tabletop RPG enthusiasts alike.

## Transcript

We sat down with the cast of Overwatch to talk early gaming info, community building, and role-playing characters in character.
When this whole concept came around, it began immediately as a collaboration with the folks at Blizzard. We very quickly decided, let's watch this in the right place. Daggerheart is a system that a lot of people on the team loved, and I myself have been enjoying running since we launched it.
and it felt right for this sort of world and these characters. It's very narrative forward. It's very quick to transition between story and combat and gameplay. And we very quickly began to just build out the concepts of what story touchstones we could pull from,
what would be a fun arc, and then start working with these folks to create the characters that they think their Overwatch characters would want to build in Daggerheart. And so we had Zoom meetings and conversations as they got to reach out to each of you individually
about what kind of character you wanted to play, what their loadouts were, what their domain card choices were, and then getting to do playtests on Blizzard Campus where we all got to kind of try out the dynamic between us at the table.
And even just in those, we're like, oh, this is going to be crazy and a lot of fun. So, yeah, it's been collaborative with the team and all of you since the very beginning, which is my favorite kind of aspect of doing these sort of things.
So it's been really, really fun. And I was going to say we're lucky. I mean, separate to Vendetta, who's newer, we've lived in these characters for so long. I feel like we know how they react to certain things.
But back to the writers being so good at what they do, I think since the beginning they gave us a very clear idea of who these characters are. So even Vendetta, as new as she is, has so much to pull from
to know how Vendetta would act in a certain situation. So we've been set up for success, hopefully. What I really found out when I became part of this community is that what really hooked the player was the characters and their interaction and their personality because they're all so different and you get to choose which one is your favorite, you get to choose which one you love more, which one you dislike.
and see us, voice actors, acting as our characters, because we will be acting as our characters, playing together these tabletop games, I think as a whole new layer of interaction.
It like a double layer of interaction So we have our interaction as characters and we have our interaction as the character character So it going to be awesome
I don't think there was any conflict, particularly between what I, Anjali, would want to play versus what Symmetra would want to play, because, again, we are so used to inhabiting these character, it's very easy to step into her shoes, literally step into her heels, and
say, cool, what does my girl want to play? You know, because I love her so much, and each one of us, I think, loves the character so much that it's almost like playing with another friend and saying, what do you want to play?
If I were your GM, what do you want to play? Let's figure that out. And it almost feels easier because sometimes as an actor, you're so used to stepping into different roles that when you're told, what do you want to play, you start to short circuit
it a little bit, but knowing Symmetra as we do, or as I do, and knowing each of our characters as I do, it feels like, oh, no, no, no, this makes perfect sense. This is what she would want to play. This is how her ideals and everything get focused into a character.
Because dramatically, you can play an opposite. It's always interesting to go, well, what if Reinhardt plays the opposite? But is that too much? It's like, is my character one thought,
this is what I do. So you want to play as the character what he would want to do instead of, well, let's add another layer to the layer to the layer. Although I do think we, I hope I'm not,
I feel like all of us in some way or another are toying a little bit with, well, what if our character thought that this was very different from them? Or at least I know I do. My character thinks she's doing something so different
and so out of the box. And you're like, oh girl I don't know how to tell you this but that's you that doesn't seem like a nice familiar experience no no I just love the concept of Cassidy coming back after a long day
like sweating throws his equipment and gun on the table sits back throws his cigar and then starts going into his GM notebook to start rolling the window yeah
yeah surprisingly good handwriting in my opinion but I think it's also pretty good coffee stains and wrinkled, paired bits. A lot of it's half notes that he kind of forgot what he wrote a few weeks back
and he's trying to reinterpret it. I think it's a number of them are scratched out and there's like clone numbers in the corner. It's a multi-purpose notebook. He just kind of, you know, partial GM notes, you know, partial... Big mouth. Yeah,
grocery list. He only really has one notebook. I think he very organized necessarily which is why he glad that people showed up to his game night I have a whole concept in my mind about this because I wondered how did someone like Vendetta
end up playing at the table with all these people she doesn't really get along with? So I thought maybe Vendetta might have got into therapy and her therapist suggested her that she got into a tabletop game to work on her anger issues.
And I'm like, I don't really know what she's talking about. I don't have any anger issues. I mean, I'm angry, but is that an issue? I don't think so. And there you have it. That's my favorite. There we go. Here it is.
I just think the way Reinhardt got into tabletop gaming was because he wanted to make peace and welcome everyone to the table. No matter what we've gone through, we put that aside and we lead with kindness.
And maybe through that, through this adventure that we go on together, we find new understanding. Oh. That's what he'd do. The ground bird just wants to optimize everything.
Yes, I'm in Mexico. Exactly, thank you. And she's like, I've never done this thing, but I could kick their butt. So she's just like, I'm a lobe. I know how to do this.
I'm going to have that. This is how I get more points for this. So, I mean, I think she's in her selfie mode of like, I got this. Yeah, this is going to remind me of the collaborative game. Oh, right, right. I have to play with you people. Okay.
Yeah. I think for her, that's right, it's a two-fold thing. One is that she is trying to learn how to break out of the, not the shell, but kind of the order that she has created in her world and kind of step out of that a little bit.
Look, in Overwatch 2, she has a loose band. Whoa! That's gross. Whoa! What happened? Literally, it's gross. This is gross. So I feel like that's part of what she's doing there, and I don't see some incapacity for that.
But also, you know, because of her neurodiversity, I think sometimes it's hard for her when people don't necessarily understand that she's maybe being direct but not insulting. Or maybe she has a challenge with human interaction.
And so I love the idea that she comes to TGRPG and she comes to Daggerheart to be able to experience the human condition from another vantage point. Because that's what we do when we're playing games. We get to experience each other and ourselves in reality adjacent and explore parts of ourselves that we never explored before And to me that a really exciting place That a really exciting place
If I could play a tabletop RPG as any other character, it might not be the best and friendliest table, but it would be J. Jonah Jameson from the Spider-Man series because everybody else would be a menace,
and I'm right, and they're wrong. You roll those dice, mister, and you are making the biggest mistake of your life. Take on Jameson. I'll take it. What a great story.
And also, I'd be playing a good princess. Yes. Wow. Yes. Stretch those boundaries, Eddie. Yep. Yeah. I think I would want to play Medusa from Stray Dogs.
Because she does have two different sides to her. And everybody thinks that she's a monster. But really, there's a soft and gentle side to her that nobody else knows. It's just that when you close her, you might see him up to his side.
It's just a friend. I think I want to play as Little Caesar. He is six and three-quarters years old. And he sounds really nice, but he's kind of a little asshole.
And I think he'd be a good cleric. He would heal you, but he would be a dick about it. Yeah. Basically. I think just because it's top of mind recently, there's a wonderful indie game called Leisure Bound. We have a character named Averice in there.
Who is just this delightful little feline of a slightly precocious, but a bit self-absorbed figure? Who would like to take over the table? It's his hero arc, and you all can take a seat and support me in my storytelling decisions.
Partially because it would be fun to watch him just destroy a table organization, and eventually have to be deconstructed by his friends and come to face his own sort of issues with his insecurities.
This is what we all do at the table when we roll dice, isn't that right? I think I'd like to play this character that I play only in Italian, of course, the Italian
version of League of Legends. I have a character in League of Legends, which is a Yordle. It's Vex. So she's like this very little, very small Yordle and she hates everything.
She's like, all the time just like, I hate colors and I hate stuff, but she's so tiny and cute, but I think she would like to play someone very big and tall.
She has to get to feel that strength once in a while. So I would really, really love to play her. It is. That's why I like to play Barbara so much in real life, because I'm happy for her.
Oh, I think you learned something today. Thank you, thank you.