September 26, 2018 (2018-09-26) – present (present)
Dimension 20 is a tabletop role-playing game show produced by Dropout, and generally hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show's regular Dungeon Master. Most of the games use Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. Long seasons, featuring a core cast of players in seventeen or more episodes, are interspersed with shorter side quests, featuring a rotating cast in ten or fewer episodes.
History
Dimension 20 originated as a production for Dropout, a streaming service launched by CollegeHumor in 2018 to deliver content with R-rated material or unusual formatting. Dimension 20 was among the shows listed for the service when it was first unveiled.[1] Mulligan cited a number of existing tabletop shows as inspiration for Dimension 20, including NADDPod (Not Another D&D Podcast), The Adventure Zone and Critical Role.[2] The format for the show, with distinct arcs based on different settings, was determined early on in the show's development.[2]
The show debuted in 2018 with Fantasy High as the first campaign presented. A sequel to this campaign, titled Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, premiered in 2019. Episodes of Fantasy High: Sophomore Year were streamed live on Twitch, as opposed to the pre-recorded and edited style of other campaigns on Dropout. The season concluded with a two-part finale titled “Spring Break! I Believe in You!”, which was streamed remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] On the fifth anniversary of Dimension 20, a third season of this campaign – Fantasy High: Junior Year – was announced which premiered in January 2024.[4]
In January 2020, major layoffs took place at CollegeHumor, including much of the cast. The show nevertheless continued production remotely as California's Stay at Home orders were put into effect.[5] On May 24, 2021, Brennan Lee Mulligan announced in a video on Dropout that Dimension 20 and other CollegeHumor projects would resume production in-person and in-studio, adhering to COVID safety guidelines set by SAG-AFTRA and other film guilds and production unions.[6]
During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, production on Dimension 20 initially shut down.[7] In July 2023, Sam Reich stated that as Dropout is not a member of the AMPTP, they "may be able to reach an interim agreement with SAG" which would allow them to resume production.[8] Reich commented, "but we'll only do that, obviously, if we get the blessing of the union and the buy-in of our performers. If not, we have enough content in the can to last us a little past the end of the year".[8] In August 2023, Reich announced that all Dropout shows have resumed production as it was determined that their "New Media Agreement for Non-Dramatic Programming" was actually a non-struck SAG-AFTRA contract.[9][10]
Format
Many seasons feature a core cast known by fans as the "Intrepid Heroes" (Emily Axford, Ally Beardsley, Brian Murphy, Zac Oyama, Siobhan Thompson, and Lou Wilson), currently numbering at eight as of January 2024 and each totalling at around twenty episodes - Fantasy High, The Unsleeping City, Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, A Crown of Candy, The Unsleeping City: Chapter II, A Starstruck Odyssey, Neverafter, and Fantasy High: Junior Year, otherwise known as "main campaigns." For other seasons nicknamed "side quests," which range from four to ten episodes, the show invites guest players, generally other members of CollegeHumor or figures from the TTRPG community. As of October 2023, Dimension 20 has had thirteen such side quests: Escape From The Bloodkeep (featuring Erika Ishii of L.A. by Night and Matthew Mercer of Critical Role), Tiny Heist (featuring the cast of The Adventure Zone), Pirates of Leviathan (set in the Fantasy High setting, and featuring Krystina Arielle of Star Wars: The High Republic Show and Marisha Ray of Critical Role, with Mercer returning), Mice & Murder (featuring many CollegeHumor alum), Misfits and Magic (the first campaign to feature a guest GM, Aabria Iyengar, with Brennan Lee Mulligan as a player), The Seven (also set in the Fantasy High setting), Shriek Week, Coffin Run, A Court of Fey and Flowers, The Ravening War (a prequel to A Crown of Candy), Dungeons and Drag Queens (featuring winners and other notable contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race), Mentopolis, and Burrow's End. Mulligan is usually the Dungeon Master, but beginning with the tenth season, Misfits and Magic, the show adopted rotating Game Masters. The change was announced via a trailer with an attached FAQ document.[11][12]
Set in Elmville, an odd, anachronistic town resembling a high-fantasy John Hughes movie. "The Bad Kids" attend freshman year at high school Aguefort Adventuring Academy, which teaches students to become adventurers.
The show's first "side quest" season, a parody of The Lord of the Rings. A cast of villains try to hide the death of their Sauron-esque leader from the rest of his evil armies.
A campaign set in a magical version of modern-day New York City, where a group of New Yorkers protect its residents from knowing about the underlying magic in their city.
A continuation of Fantasy High. The Bad Kids leave Elmville to retrieve the Crown of The Nightmare King for 60% of their final grade. Streamed on Twitch as "Dimension 20 LIVE", then edited for Dropout. The campaign was the first to use "theater of the mind", not battle minis or sets. The two-part finale was recorded remotely due to Stay at Home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a city built into the walls and garden of a suburban house, a crew of "tiny people" (bugs, fairies, living toys, etc.) try to pull off a heist against a crime lord. Inspired by The Borrowers and Toy Story, and featuring the McElroys from The Adventure Zone.
Zac Oyama as Chancellor Lapin Cadbury & CumulousRocks
Set in a Candy Land-inspired kingdom of Candia in a Game of Thrones-inspired setting of violence and political intrigue. Pre-recorded episodes, followed by a new live after-show with the cast (known as Adventuring Party) were released every Wednesday until the season finale.
In the same universe as Fantasy High, a group of pirates band together to prevent an evil insurance company from destroying their floating pirate city of Leviathan. This was the first campaign to be completely recorded remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Siobhan Thompson as "Anastasia" Iga Lisowski & RowanBerry/Holly Branch
Brian Murphy as Cody "Night Angel" Walsh & Kugrash
Ally Beardsley as Pete Conlan
Three years after The Unsleeping City, the Dream Team reunites, with two new members, to stop internet-based media corporation Gladiator from destroying the balance between Dream and Waking Worlds. The remotely recorded campaign used virtual tabletop Roll20 instead of physical dice, sets and figurines.
An Edwardian murder mystery campaign inspired by Sherlock Holmes, set in a world where characters are anthropomorphic animals, in the same vein as The Wind in the Willows, attending the birthday party of a wealthy estate owner.
A parody of Harry Potter with U.S. exchange students at a British magical academy. The campaign uses the Kids on Brooms system, and is the first with a guest GM, and first in‑studio after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Seven Maidens, an adventuring party formed after the events of Fantasy High: Freshman Year, must go on a dangerous quest to prevent their party from being disbanded when their senior-year members graduate. The campaign used digital tabletop system TaleSpire for encounters and battles.[31]
Monstrous "children of horror icons" find love and investigate a mystery in their first week as seniors at prestigious monster/human learning institution Bram University.[32] Uses the Mythic system created by guest GM Gabe Hicks.
A campaign in the sci-fi Starstruck universe, which was co-created by Elaine Lee (Mulligan's mother) and Michael Kaluta, following the adventures of a crew of a ragtag space ship trying to save the galaxy. It uses the Star Wars 5e role-playing system.
A comedic vampire road trip where Dracula's entourage must return a nearly dead Dracula to Transylvania – or die. The game uses a modified version of D&D 5th Edition.
In a Regency era-inspired Fae Court, several of the realm's most prestigious aristocrats attend an event known as the Bloom. It utilizes 5e and Good Society game systems.
Marketed as "the horror season," featuring classic fairy tale characters whose stories have become twisted and violent as their land, the Neverafter, is corrupted by dark forces.
A prequel to the previous campaign A Crown Of Candy set 20 years earlier, in which a disparate group of nobles are blackmailed into furthering the aims of a mysterious religious sect as the land of Comida slides into civil war.
A continuation of the original Fantasy High campaign which features more elaborate projections made by season artist Cait May along with a theme song by Sarah Barrios.
Dropout has released multiple one-shot adventures in addition to their full-length campaigns, such as Dimension 20: Fantasy High! Live! at The Bell House (with Brian David Gilbert),[48][49]Fantasy High LIVE at RTX Austin (with Griffin McElroy),[50]College Visit (RTX @ Home Live),[51]Boys' Night! (Roll20Con),[52]Misfits & Magic Holiday Special[34] and Misfits & Magic Live at GenCon 2022 (Iyengar as GM, with players Noxweiler Berf, Michelle Nguyen Bradley, Markeia McCarty, Becca Scott).[53]
Supplementary shows
Dropout publishes additional videos that discuss elements of role-playing (Adventuring Academy)[15] or specifics about the first season (Dimension 20 Fantasy High Extra Credit). These are released via YouTube.
Dropout also features a Q&A and talkback show tied to various seasons of Dimension 20 called Adventuring Party. The first four seasons centered around A Crown Of Candy,Pirates of Leviathan,The Unsleeping City: Chapter II, and Mice & Murder were all filmed remotely and aired live following the release of the episode of Dimension 20 aired that week, where fans submit questions for Mulligan and the cast to answer. Once filming resumed in The Dome, however, the format changed to that of a commentary talkback show pre-recorded immediately after the filming of the previous episode.[54]
Comic Book Resources warmly received the show, describing it as "among the best of its kind". The review highlighted the arc based format, which keeps the story fast paced and allows the rotation of new players and voices in the space.[24] The show has also been praised for its positive LGBTQ representation, with multiple characters exploring their sexualities during the two seasons of Fantasy High.[15]
Glen Weldon, for NPR in 2021, wrote: "Mulligan is such a good DM and he's got so many improv skills. He's such a close and responsive listener that no matter what the players throw at him, he can always roll with it, without breaking the game. And that is a very rare skill, so it's terrific stuff".[55] Weldon compared the show to Critical Role and highlighted that the cast is "sketch and improv comedians. While the folks at Critical Role are often very funny, they're actors. [...] At Dimension 20, if they can go for a joke, they're going to go for the joke, and that might line up closer to my sensibility".[55]
Justin Carter, in a review of A Starstruck Odyssey for Gizmodo, stated that "the consistency with which Dimension 20 shakes things up has helped give it a different kind of longevity compared to some of its fellow Actual Play titans, and each season [...] is able to feel like a natural part of the franchise while also its own distinct thing".[56] Carter highlighted that "several of the season’s best events are too good to spoil, but every episode has at least two moments of incredible, often hilarious roleplaying from the cast. [...] Starstruck’s blend of strange humor and character drama feels a little bit more reined in than some earlier seasons and not prone to bits that could admittedly go on a little longer than necessary".[56] Carter commented that this season has an infectious joy to it and that it takes the "fun to new, cosmic heights".[56]
Rowan Zeoli, in a review of Dungeons and Drag Queens for Polygon, commented that the season "embraces the LGBTQ+ community in no uncertain terms" and that "in a time when the LGBTQ+ community is under constant attack, Dungeons and Drag Queens is a beacon of nerdy, queer joy".[41] Zeoli highlighted that the cast "experiences the range of emotions your first D&D campaign can evoke" with the season offering "an easy and entertaining access point for queer people who have never felt safe entering D&D's complex (and occasionally infuriating) world of rules, lore, and role-play. One could watch these four episodes, along with a few episodes of Adventuring Party, and walk away with a basic grasp of the game".[41]
