DnDBeyond is an online platform dedicated to the world of Dungeons and Dragons. One feature it offers is the extensive collection of magic items available for players and Dungeon Masters to use in their games. Magic items in DnDBeyond can greatly enhance the gameplay experience by providing unique abilities and enhancing a character's capabilities. These items can be found, earned as rewards, or purchased in the marketplace. The website categorizes magic items into various types such as armor, weapons, wondrous items, and artifacts. Each item comes with a detailed description, including its rarity, attunement requirements, and any special abilities it grants the user.
REVIEW: ‘Speakeasy Magick’ is transportive entertainment
NEW YORK — The McKittrick Hotel, home to the still-popular Sleep No More immersive experience, has expanded many of its theatrical and culinary offerings over the years. They produced a well-received run of the haunting ghost play The Woman in Black, and they are regularly throwing holiday bashes for everything from Halloween to New Year’s Eve.
One of the longtime tenants of the McKittrick is an up-close magic show known as Speakeasy Magick. The magical mayhem takes place at the hotel’s Club Car venue, which is a delightfully apportioned theater space made to look like a 100-year-old speakeasy. The booze flows from a side bar, the smoke penetrates every corner, and there’s a skilled pianist offering some early jazz tunes while people mill around. A scrumptious bag of popcorn awaits each patron as they find their seats for the promised personal prestidigitation.
The emcee for the evening is the renowned magician Todd Robbins, an expert on all things macabre and slightly oddball. His style of illusion is that of a devilish charmer, someone who can hold the audience’s attention with a mere smirk or raised eyebrow. He begins the night by explaining how Speakeasy Magick works: Over the course of two hours, a traveling troupe of close-up, sleight-of-hand magicians will circulate the room and offer their mysterious art form to the patrons at each table. There are several rounds that run 15-20 minutes in length, and for that time span, it’s only a few audience members at each table being wowed by the magical skills of this motley variety of performers.
In between the rounds of magic, Robbins will take to the microphone and focus the evening once more, offering his unique brand of curious humor and mysterious pontificating. A couple of the magicians will also ascend the small stage and offer a brief routine for everyone to enjoy. Everything moves wonderfully well over the two-hour evening, with a definite rhythm to the magic, to the alcohol and to the transportive feeling of being in a tucked-away corner of New York City.
This version of Speakeasy Magick is slightly larger than the initial incarnation of the sleight-of-hand show, which was previously housed at a different venue in the McKittrick. The transition has not changed any of the intimacy. This is almost as intimate as one can get with the magical arts, and each of the performers are exquisite.
Which illusionists one experiences up close depends on where one’s seated. Everyone will experience the same level of magic, but it’s the luck of the draw on which magician will sit down at the table. At a recent evening performance, the five magicians at this reviewer’s table consisted of Matthew Holtzclaw, Patrick Davis, Mark Calabrese, Alex Boyce and Matias Letelier. They were individually wondrous, each representing different styles and exhibiting unique skills.
Take, for example, Calabrese, who is a magician with an aggressive, in-one’s-face humor. His magic is unparalleled and unexplainable, and his fast talking, pointing at each patron, remembering everyone’s names, and amazing art of making cards appear and disappear were a true highlight. He’s one of the best.
Holtzclaw is a bit quieter than Calabrese, but no less stunning. His routine instantly has audience members scratching their heads and covering their gaping mouths. At this recent performance, he was also one fo the ensemble performers who offered some of his magic on the stage for the entire audience to enjoy. Boyce, too, is an impressive illusionist, someone whose act seemingly defies the laws of physics. His brief stage show, featuring the time-honored tradition of working with white doves, just about instigated a standing ovation.
Speakeasy Magick, which often sells out and is currently on sale through the end of January, works so well because the McKittrick goes all-in on the ambiance and atmosphere. This is not merely a smattering of tables with a few chairs and a magician with some tricks up their sleeve. This is an immersive environment in which one steps back in time, probably 100 years to the age of Prohibition, and experiences some illusion is an illusory space that feels almost cinematic in detail.
Speakeasy Magick is magical entertainment that transports audiences to a bygone era of secret boozing, devilish delights and magical mayhem. It’s not to be missed.
By John Soltes / Publisher / [email protected]
Speakeasy Magick, hosted by Todd Robbins, continues at the McKittrick Hotel in New York City. Featuring a rotating cast of magicians, including Matias Letelier, Alex Boyce, Patrick Davis, Matthew Holtzclaw and Mark Calabrese, among others. Running time: 2 hours. Click here for more information and tickets.
John Soltes
John Soltes is an award-winning journalist. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Earth Island Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, New Jersey Monthly and at Time.com, among other publications. E-mail him at [email protected]
Speakeasy Magick
The McKittrick Hotel has finally reopened its doors, and it is serving up something much needed: impeccable speakeasy vibes mixed with a healthy dose of COVID fatigue humor (not to mention an reassuringly thorough list of COVID protocols). Situated just off the elevator, right before the stairs up to the luscious Gallow Green, Speakeasy Magick has come back to life in the hotel’s Club Car.
It feels oddly poetic to step into a bar – a speakeasy, if you will – that could have been pulled from the Roaring Twenties, and to feel the combined tension and catharsis of the past eighteen months coursing through the room as champagne is sipped and neighbors chat. What was special about Speakeasy Magick pre-pandemic is now therapeutic, brilliant, and exciting in a way that we might not have been able to comprehend before.
Everything about the McKittrick is a transportive experience, but Speakeasy Magick is a production unto its own. As with the infamous immersive Sleep No More, the ambience of your night at this magic show is defined by a dark, smoky, candlelit room, to the tune of a talented pianist delivering old classics for an early twentieth century vibe. But in some ways, Speakeasy Magick is an even more intimate experience than Sleep No More. For one, guests are seated in parties at small tables, and your group will be along for the same unique ride as you.
Over the course of the night, the six magicians of Speakeasy Magick work their way through the tables, and each one has a way of bringing in their small audience with their own personalities and pulls. Learning names and encouraging audience participation that leaves even the participant baffled, each magician arrives with a unique set of mind-boggling tricks and an even more impressive persona. We tried to follow along with Matthew Holtzclaw’s explanation of three-card Monte, never expecting that the real reveal was up his sleeve the entire time (metaphorically, of course – the real legerdemain was much more complicated, or so I assume). We laughed with Todd Robbins’ self-deprecating humor and gasped in horror as he performed tricks that would guarantee anyone their own car on the subway.
The evening is emcee’d by Todd Robbins, who will tell you he’s performed magic from Coney Island all the way to…Coney Island (but in reality has an extensive resume). Robbins creates such a convivial atmosphere to the event that you may even leave feeling as though you’ve made friends. The closeness of the room, the charm of each of the performers, and personalization of each magician’s act make for an intimate experience that would be hard to replicate or to find elsewhere. Speakeasy Magick was made for the McKittrick, and the McKittrick was made for Speakeasy Magick.
Share this:
- Hosted by Todd Robbins
- Performers include: Mark Calabrese, Matthew Holtzclaw, Matias Letelier, Prakash Puru, Todd Robbins, Rachel Wax
- The McKittrick Hotel, Chelsea, New York City
A night to remember: my experience at the Speakeasy Magic
Forget everything you know about “more of the same magic shows” and thank me later! Ok, you might know by following me on instagram that there are many, many, maaany entertainment options in NYC, which makes it a bit hard to decide which ones are worth your money and time. Recently some of you asked me for recommendations for not so obvious shows and that’s when I got connected with Speakeasy Magic and they invited me to experience one of the most popular shows of all times. Seriously, get ready to be impressed, amazed and speechless and for a night filled with laughs and great drinks!
The magic (literally) takes place inside the iconic McKittrick Hotel, where other popular shows are held, such as the amazing Sleep No More. And it is also where the Gallow Green rooftop is located. So as you can see, you’re in for a great night.
The show begins the minute you walk in, Speakeasy Magic takes you back in time, it’s very intimate, elegant and yet very casual. There is a piano being played before the show so you get in the mood right away. You can order drinks as you go in at the bar or simply wait for one of the servers to come to your table and don’t worry, there is service throughout the show.
Ok, about the fun stuff… You will be entertained by the best magicians of NYC. And no exception, they were all amazing! There are some performances that happen on the main stage but most of the time, the magicians will rotate from table to table, engaging with all the guests at your table and it is such a great experience! You can’t help it but wonder how in the world they did the tricks they do. It’s fun literally from beginning to end but it’s also genius, impressive, mysterious… all at once. I highly recommend for anyone looking for a fun date night or even a girls night out, I was there with one of my best friend and we had the best time!
I recommend booking your tickets in advance since space is limited. The show happens every Thursday, Friday and Saturday and you can buy your tickets and learn more about the show HERE! The Speakeasy Magic is located at 530 West 27th Street, New York, NY
PHOTOS: Speakeasy Magic
Martha Sachser
Martha Sachser is a Brazilian photographer and travel blogger living in New York. In 2012 she started this blog and has been sharing her adventures in the city and around the world.
1920s Magic(k) in (nearly) 2020 — Review of Speakeasy Magick
Let me set the scene. You walk into the dark, musty, 1920’s prohibition-style speakeasy. Choose a table. Any table. Doesn’t matter if you let the magicians see which table you’re sitting at — they’ll come to you.
Cue ragtime music being played on the piano downstage for a bit while you get your first round of old-fashioneds and get acquainted with your neighbors at your table. Know that you’ll be going on a mind-boggling journey with these people for the next two hours.
Host Todd Robbins (Monday Night Magic, Chris Angel Mindfreak) kicks off the evening with a mysterious bit about the power of magic and attempts to describe what you’re about to experience — which he coined as “speed dating for magic”. You’re about to be given the unique opportunity to experience interactive close-up magic demonstrated by multiple magicians, each with their own set of tricks and style of theatrics. Robbins (who got increasingly more charming throughout the duration of the night) ends his opening monologue with the equally exciting and ambiguous phrase “anything can happen tonight.” And no truer words had ever been spoken.
Magician one steps up to your table and performs an impressive routine, a mix of sleight-of-hand card tricks, a disappearing coin or two. Maybe they make a beer appear out of thin air and invite you to share it with them (this happened to my guest for the evening, needless to say he was a happy audience member) — this first set goes for about 10 minutes.
Then onto the next magician. A whole new act, but maybe this time your magician utilizes fire (yes, real fire) and requests audience participation. So someone at your table volunteers their engagement ring as a prop, no big deal…and then it goes missing. All the jaws at your table are dropped. Except the magician, who after profuse apologies and a couple of hard-hitting jokes prepares to leave for their next set. Just in the nick of time, the ring reappears. Wand. Drop.
After about three sets, some magicians take center stage for larger spectacles that the audience experiences together. The most memorable act was Alex Boyce, who performs an illusion involving a half dozen pigeons that just keep appearing and disappearing out of thin air. Not a single word was uttered except for “How?!” “Where?!” “What?!” from all sides of the room. It was seriously impressive, I’m still trying to figure it out.
Back to the magic speed dating. Maybe this time it’s some rope magic. The best part about this set up is that no show is the same. The only downside is that you will not get to experience all magicians in one evening — so you’ll just have to come back for more.
Robbins closes out the evening with a delightful monologue and witty humor, with the full cast of magicians on stage. This acted as a thank you to all who joined the show that evening. And then they all disappeared. And so did we, onto 27th Street.
Speakeasy Magick has my strongest recommendation for an evening of magic, wonder, and fun. In a time where entertainment can be streamed on any device at any given moment, this show grants you and your guests the opportunity to disconnect and be amazed by pure talent. There’s something for everyone at this show.
Performers include Matthew Holtzclaw (Penn & Teller: Fool Us), Patrick Davis (Monday Night Magic), Jason Suran (The Other Side), Mark Calabrese (Penn & Teller: Fool Us), Matias Letelier (Matias’ Magic & Mentalism), Prakash Puru (celebrity favorite), Alex Boyce (How to Transcend a Happy Marriage), Rachel Wax (A Taste of Magic), Noah Levine (Magic After Hours), and more.
Each item comes with a detailed description, including its rarity, attunement requirements, and any special abilities it grants the user. Magic items can range from simple enchanted weapons and armor to powerful artifacts with legendary abilities. They can provide bonuses to attack rolls, damage, and saving throws, as well as grant special abilities such as spellcasting, flight, or temporary immortality.
DnDBeyond also allows players to create and customize their own magic items using its homebrew feature. This feature enables players to design unique items for their characters or customize existing items to suit their needs. Additionally, the platform provides tools for Dungeon Masters to create, customize, and distribute magic items in their campaigns. This includes the ability to assign rarity, legendary abilities, and other properties to items, as well as control their availability and distribution within the game world. Overall, DnDBeyond's collection of magic items allows players and Dungeon Masters to enhance their Dungeons and Dragons experience by adding depth, variety, and excitement to their games. Whether it's a mighty weapon of untold power or a subtle trinket with hidden abilities, magic items play a significant role in shaping the stories and adventures that unfold within the game..
Reviews for "The Ultimate Shopping Guide for Magic Items in DnD Beyond"
1. Emma - 2 stars
I was really disappointed with the "Dnhbeyond magic items" book. The descriptions for each item were vague and lacked any real depth. I was hoping for more detailed information about each item's abilities and how they could be used in gameplay, but it felt like the author just threw together a hodgepodge of random ideas without any real thought. Additionally, the artwork in the book was lackluster and didn't bring the magic items to life like I had hoped. Overall, I found this book to be a waste of money and would not recommend it to fellow adventurers.
2. John - 1 star
I don't understand the hype around the "Dnhbeyond magic items" book. The magic items described in this book were underwhelming and lacked originality. It felt like the author just compiled a bunch of generic and overused ideas into one book. I was hoping for unique, game-changing items but was sorely disappointed. The lack of creativity in both the descriptions and illustrations made for a dull reading experience. Save your money and look for better magic item resources elsewhere.
3. Samantha - 2 stars
I was really excited to get my hands on the "Dnhbeyond magic items" book, but it fell short of my expectations. The descriptions for the magic items were too brief and left a lot to be desired. I was hoping for more in-depth information about each item's backstory and origins, but it was severely lacking. The artwork in the book was also mediocre at best, with uninspired illustrations that did not capture the imagination. Overall, I was left feeling unsatisfied and would not recommend this book to fellow fans of magical loot.