Aabria Iyengar
Aabria Iyengar inMonsterhearts
Occupation(s)	Actress,Game master, (former)chief marketing officer
Years active	2018-present
Known for	Exandria Unlimited,Dimension 20,Worlds Beyond Number

Aabria Iyengar (/əˈbriːəˈaɪ.ɛŋˌɡɑːr/ə-BREE-əEYE-en-gar) is an American web series actress known primarily fortabletop role-playing game anthologies,streams andpodcasts. She was theDungeon Master (DM) for the first season ofExandria Unlimited. Iyengar has been both a player and aGame Master for multiple seasons ofDimension 20 and a guest DM onThe Adventure Zone.

Iyengar is the formerchief marketing officer for the dice-maker Dice Envy.^[1][2][3]

Iyengar appeared as both aplayer and as theDungeon Master (DM) in multipleactual playpodcasts between 2018 and 2020 on the Happy Jack's RPG Network.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} Iyengar was originally a guest player, acting as Laura Bennett, in the actual playweb seriesKollok: 1991 on the Hyper RPG Twitch channel before joining the main cast in the second season in 2019.^[10] In 2022, Iyengar reprised her role in the sequel set 30 years after the first show –Kollok was broadcast onAMC Networks' FearHQ Twitch channel.^[11][12] Iyengar has been part of the main cast, playing as Koseh, forInto the Mother Lands since 2020.^[2][13]

In 2021, Iyengar was the DM for two actual playanthology web series –Misfits and Magic, the tenth season ofDimension 20, and the first season ofExandria Unlimited, aCritical Rolespin-off.^[14][15][16] She was the first Critical Role DM afterMatthew Mercer.^[17] Chase Carter, forDicebreaker, stated that "both appearances were hits within their respective fandoms, leading many to clamor for more Iyengar".^[13] Iyengar also performed as a guest DM onThe Adventure Zone, with theMcElroy Brothers as players, in 2021.^[1][18] Christian Hoffer ofComicBook.com highlighted that "Iyengar has quickly built a reputation and fanbase due to her fantastic storytelling and rapport with players".^[1] Carter commented that "Iyengar is quickly becoming a household name in the realm of tabletop actual play. [...] Her fame has been a welcome change for many who are glad to see a Black woman garnering so much respect and excitement in what has been a predominantly white endeavor within a historically white hobby".^[13] Iyengar gave the Storytimekeynote at the 2021PAX Unplugged.^[19]

In August 2022, Iyengar appeared asgamemaster onDimension 20:A Court of Fey & Flowers, a combination ofDungeons & Dragons and theJane Austen-inspired gameGood Society.^[20] She also joined the cast of theVampire: The Masquerade web seriesNY by Night, playing as Margot "Fuego" Walker. Em Friedman, forPolygon in 2022, commented that Iyengar's actual play credits now "span nearly the entire industry" with herBy Night debut.^[21]

In January 2023, it was announced that Iyengar, alongsideErika Ishii,Lou Wilson, andBrennan Lee Mulligan, would star in the creator-owned actual playpodcastWorlds Beyond Number; the show premiered in March 2023 and ranked inPatreon's top twenty accounts within a month.^{[22][23][24][25]} Also in March 2023, Iyengar joined thethird campaign ofCritical Role as a guest star playing as gnome cleric Deanna.^[26] In November 2023, Iyengar joinedCandela Obscura as the third chapter's game master.^[27][28]

Iyengar returned toDimension 20 as the gamemaster forBurrow's End in 2023^[29] and the second season ofMisfits and Magic in 2024. This was the anthology's first Side Quest campaign to receive a sequel season.^[30] Duncan Butcher forPolygon opined that "particular credit needs to go" to Iyengar as "her use of props, projections, and battle maps across herDimension 20 seasons has consistently pushed what the medium is capable of".^[31] Also in 2024, Iyengar was a guest star in the stage production ofDungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern which combines actual play,improv, andimmersive theater atStage 42 in New York City.^[32] In 2025, she is scheduled to reprise her player role inThe Twenty-Sided Tavern before acting as the show's first guest Dungeon Master.^[33]

Iyengar contributed to theCritical Role sourcebookTal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn (2022).^[34] Iyengar will contribute ashort story in the upcoming anthologyCritical Role: Vox Machina–Stories Untold (2025).^[35]

Iyengar is the writer, with artist Mari Costa, on the upcoming comic seriesThe Fade; it will be published byBoom! Studios starting in November 2024.^[36]

Iyengar attended theUniversity of Iowa where she was a member of theirDivision I volleyball team.^[37] She also attended theUniversity of California, Los Angeles where she competed for theUCLA Bruins track and field team.^[38]

Iyengar first playedDungeons & Dragons in 2015 or 2016^[39] when she was invited to her now husband's board game group and was given a cleric character sheet to play.^[40]Wired highlighted that "Iyengar was often the only woman or person of color at the table, and she faced a lot of other players questioning her knowledge of the game, as well as more overt harassment. As a GM, she now works to ensure her players don’t have to face those same challenges. [...] With the increased visibility of actual play games, [...] Iyengar has increasingly been able to tailor her playing experience to what she wanted it to be for both herself and her audience".^[41]

In April 2023,WizKids announced a new miniature boxed set ofExandria Unlimited characters including a figurine of Iyengar.^[42]

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(April 2023)

• 21st-century American actresses
• Actual play performers
• American people of Indian descent
• American voice actresses
• American web series actresses
• American women podcasters
• American podcasters
• CollegeHumor people
• Iowa Hawkeyes athletes
• Living people
• UCLA Bruins women's track and field athletes

• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Incomplete lists from April 2023
• Year of birth missing (living people)