I will try to keep this page spoiler free.
I really just wanted to write something appreciative about Dimension 20 as a whole. I first started watching Misfits and Magic because a friend of mine kept sending me tiktoks of this crazy Harry Potter spoof for hypernerds. Just listening to Erika and Brennan critique the fictional educational system in a fictional setting…priceless. At some point, the YouTube algorithm coughed up the original and I watched, not having a clue what Dimension 20 was. Pretty soon, I was like, damn, this whole thing is good, which quickly morphed into me telling my friends, no, you have to watch it. Still how I feel. The whole thing is good and you have to watch it.
So far, I have made my way through the following campaigns:
- Misfits and Magic (Harry Potter setting parody, side quest)
- Escape from the Blood Keep (Lord of the Rings setting parody, side quest)
- Starstruck (only sci-fi setting; idiots in space)
- A Crown of Candy (improbably, a mashup of Candyland the boardgame and Game of Thrones)
- Tiny Heist (side quest)
- A Court of Fey and Flowers (regency plus fairy court, squee)
- Neverafter (current campaign, fairy tale/multiversal/cosmic horror)
Misfits and Magic
What I loved about it: In short, the perfect story for the perfect combination of players, characters, and DMs. Aabria Iyengar I believe was the first guest DM on Dimension 20, and what an amazing choice. She really brings unmatched heart to every setting I’ve seen her DM (or GM), and that is my favorite thing to watch. Brennan as a DM always does an amazing job enhancing the tension of a scene and bringing to life character actions. But Aabria is tapped into the emotional landscape to an unparalleled degree. In telling a story about teenagers, the GM and the players made a great choice to go for “found family” and instant bonding/friendship when the team first gets together even though they are all very different. That choice played off other aspects of characterization really makes for a heartwarming story. I’ve watched the whole things several times, and I am sure I will go back to it again.
Other notable mentions:
- Brennan Lee Mulligan as a player/character. This might be treasonous, but I like Brennan better as a character than as a DM. And he’s an amazing DM. That’s how good he is at playing his characters. He made his character, Evan Kelmp, an amalgamation of tropes that I despise, and I’d say his performance of it is a frickin delight. Granted, he’s going for comedy, but it’s comedy embracing emotional stakes rather than ignoring them.
- Erika Ishii. As this was my first introduction to Dimension 20, I was very sad to learn that Erika was not an intrepid hero (part of the regular cast of players). Like Brennan, she built a character built on a lot of tropes I’m not necessarily fond of, but her portrayal of it was inspiring, full of heart and mania. May her tribe increase.
- Worlds Beyond Number. Welp, I guess they also decided they were the perfect combination of players and character. Check out https://worldsbeyondnumber.com/. Just learned about this while I was writing this blog post.
- Sam and Lou are amazing too.
Escape from the Blood Keep
What I loved about it: It’s probably reductive to say that it’s very funny, but it’s very funny. I can’t decide between Erika Ishii and Amy Vorpahl as my favorite characters or players. Oooh, Trapp was so good too. And Matt Mercer. It’s so hard to decide! The comedic timing and the way these actors can play off the main conceit of their villian is just priceless. And they named one of the antagonists Kasara the Beige. That is the best Gandalf shade I have ever heard. It’s almost like a villain wrote this story.
Starstruck
What I loved about it: A lot, actually. This was actually my first adventure with the main cast (also known as the Intrepid Heroes), and first impressions are wild. Some notable ones: Lou convinced me that he personally, and not Gunnie, is the one with the gambling problem. Have no idea whether it is true or not, but that’s what I walked away with. Murph was so convincing as Big Barry Syx, brawn over brains, that it totally masked his actual nerdy personality for me. When he cut his hair and put his glasses back on, it was a Superman to Clark Kent transformation! The inventive use of both ship to ship combat and character (mini) combat was also fascinating to watch and learn about. One of my favorite things about Dimension 20 is how they are always experimenting with different mechanics in different settings.
A Crown of Candy
What I loved about it: Uhhh, they made me take Candyland seriously. How did they do that? What sorcery is this? This season was gripping and heartbreaking by turns. I think the first time in Dimension 20 history that I cried in multiple episodes. The stakes felt very real, loved the world building. Loved Brennan throwing in the religion/philosophy stuff. The fact that the eschatology of the religious order was actually relevant to the plot made my day as a student of religion and philosophy myself. A bit of the real world getting in there–can’t underestimate the power of religion, for both good and ill. In terms of performances, I think Lou as King Amethar was my favorite, and his portrayal of the role might be my favorite so far for the actor. Although shout out to Zac Oyama for his dry as dust (but still hilarious, cunning, and at times moving) portrayal of Lapin Cadbury.
A Court of Fey and Flowers
ACOFAF rules! This, hands down, has been my favorite season of Dimension 20–and really any D&D I’ve seen on the interwebs. Aabria is back in magical action creating beautiful scenes for character relationships and emotions to come to life. I didn’t know I needed a D&D regency setting, but I definitely did. (I do love me some Jane Austen, it’s true). I loved all of the mechanics imported from Good Society. I loved the slower pace and focus on character interactions instead of physical combat. You don’t really need physical violence to tell a good story, to get people invested in characters, or to have a damn good time. This campaign had almost no combat in it at all, and it was fantastic.
Notable call outs (there are sooo many):
- The Cousins. Lou and Emily playing as cousins. Honestly, the funniest damn thing I have ever seen. I could listen to these two just talk nonsense for hours. (And I did.) In direct homage to this, a good friend and fellow fan and I deliberately chose to be cousins in our own D&D campaign. And we call each other Cousin now, because we have to. You have to watch this just for Lou and Emily.
- Captain K. P. Hob. Definitely my favorite Brennan character and Brennan performance. So much absurdity and so much heart packed into one…seven and a half foot tall hobgoblin! So many good moments that I won’t mention here to avoid spoilers. Captain Hob ended up being my favorite character from this campaign. You have to watch this for Brennan alone.
- Oscar. HOW IS THIS OSCAR’S FIRST TIME PLAYING D&D? For the first half of the campaign, Deloso de la Rue was my favorite character. I won’t say why for spoilers, but it was just such a well crafted character development and reveal from Oscar. Loved Oscar, loved Rue.
- Omar. OMAR IS A DELIGHT. I would love to see more of him. His portrayal of Prince Andhera being totally at odd’s with himself was priceless. You should watch this for Andhera being a walking social trainwreck alone.
- Surena. This is too plot specific to say too much about, but I will say Surena’s portrayal of her character was so expertly and creatively done.
Neverafter
What I love about it: There are moments in this season that have genuinely inspired both a sense of awe and of the numinous in me. And you can’t yell at me for using the word numinous–Brennan did it first. Numinous basically means “religious awe”–a sense of something that is “beyond”–that can’t be named, or comprehended, or understood, at least not completely. It’s a difficult thing to evoke in a fantasy world, because the more you interact with “supernatural” forces, the more mundane they can seem. It is difficult to convey that something is beyond our ken, but Brennan knocks in out of the damn park in many different scenes in this campaign. Horror is not a genre that often appeals to me, and existential horror, often times less so. What makes this narratively compelling for me is that the horror is wrong, it’s not the way things should be, or even usually are. There’s something that has gone terribly wrong that the characters are trying to put right. It’s dark outside, but it’s actually too dark. Things aren’t supposed to be this bad. That’s a moderating influence for me. There’s a reason the monsters have gotten out of control.
Conclusion
Oh, man, I could write so much more about why I like Dimension 20, and I probably will. I’m so excited to get to partake in these stories and performances. They really are a gift. So happy people have spent so much hard work on these things.