Instead, you have plot hooks like this: What if John Hughes directed your D&D campaign? What if we watched The Lord of the Rings from the perspective of the bad guys? What if Game of Thrones took place in Candyland? All of these ideas are rich with comedic potential, but the amazing thing is the way that the cast continually pushes beyond the simple punchline to reveal something deeper and more real. This is not just, The adventurers meet in a tavern. Plus, the ideas behind each season are incredible. The players are uniformly great at portraying these characters in realistic ways while still managing to be hilarious, and Brennan does a great job guiding the story so that there is never a dull moment.
Ultimately, what continues to draw me to Dimension 20-and what has made it one of my favorite actual play shows-are the people behind it. If not for the little minis, how would we know that the corn cuties are so darn cute? He’s just a person in this world, and he’s the best vice principal any adventurer could ask for.Īlso, much could and should be said about the set design and miniatures by Rick Perry, which goes above and beyond to help bring the worlds of Dimension 20 to life. When one of the players in my long-running home game decided to start an academy for adventurers, I knew who would be her 2nd in command, none other than Brennan Lee Mulligan.
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In addition to Dimension 20, Brennan has also hosted a chat show with other D&D-famous people, as well as the cast of Dimension 20, called Adventuring Academy that is chock full of great advice for DMs and just people playing D&D. Brennan is clearly committed to good storytelling, but because Dimension 20 emerged from CollegeHumor, it is no surprise that there are a lot of laughs to be had in any given episode, along with the requisite drama and even tears! It has everything! The love he has for the game is matched only by the love he clearly has for his players and their characters. While Brennan may be humble, I will just say that it is inspiring to watch Brennan do his thing behind the DM screen in each episode. Leading all of the mayhem of every season of Dimension 20 is the humble Dungeon Master, Brennan Lee Mulligan. Unlike many other actual plays, which can span years while going through an entire campaign, one benefit of Dimension 20 is that each season spans either 6 or 17 episodes, roughly 2 hours in length for each episode.
These seasons are usually shorter, and could, in theory, be watched in one sitting. The show is divided into main seasons, with a recurring cast starring Emily Axford, Ally Beardsley, Brian Murphy, Zac Oyama, Siobhan Thompson, and Lou Wilson, while interstitial mini-seasons bring in big names in the world of actual play RPGs, like Matt Mercer (DM of Critical Role) or the entire McElroy family (of The Adventure Zone fame). In recent years, actual play RPG shows have really taken off, led by shows like Critical Role and podcasts like The Adventure Zone, not to mention countless other podcasts and streams in which people band together to fight dragons, explore dungeons, and revel in the power of friendship.Ī standout of the genre that should grab your attention if you are at all interested in the idea of watching people pretend to be goblin rogues or elven wizards is Dimension 20, the flagship show of CollegeHumor’s paid subscription service Dropout, and an exemplary example of its kind. There may be some editing to keep things moving, but in general it is just a group of friends playing D&D, whether they be nerdy-ass voice actors, brothers with their dad, or a bunch of sketch and improv all-stars gathering around a lushly designed set. If you’re like me, you love a good actual-play RPG show.īut first, a crash course: an actual-play RPG show is a podcast, Twitch stream, or otherwise recorded content of people playing a role-playing game (usually, because it is the biggest and most popular, Dungeons and dragons a.k.a.
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