Dimension 20

Dimension 20 is a tabletop role-playing game show produced by and broadcast on 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.

Origins at CollegeHumor (2018–2020)
Dimension20 originated as a production for Dropout, a streaming service launched by CollegeHumor in 2018 to deliver content with R-rated material or an unusual format. Dimension20 was among the shows listed for the service when it was first unveiled. The format for the show, with distinct story arcs in different settings, was determined early on in the show's development. The host Brennan Lee Mulligan had been DMing since the age of 10 and had a background as a LARP writer. He had been the dungeon master for a private campaign with most of the principal cast of Dimension 20, only lacking Lou Wilson and Ally Beardsley.

The series' launch took place amid a "renaissance" of actual play shows. Mulligan cited a number of existing tabletop shows as inspiration for Dimension20, including Not Another D&D Podcast (NADDPod), The Adventure Zone and Critical Role. One such show, NADDPod, features Emily Axford and Brian Murphy, who would join Dimension20's primary cast. Guests were also drawn from Critical Role and The Adventure Zone early on in the show's run – Matt Mercer first appeared in Escape from the Bloodkeep and Griffin McElroy appeared in a live episode of Fantasy High in 2019. The full cast of The Adventure Zone appeared in Tiny Heist in early 2020.

The show debuted in 2018 with the first season of Fantasy High. A sequel to this campaign, titled Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, premiered in 2019. Episodes of Fantasy High: Sophomore Year were streamed live on Twitch, unlike 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. Announced on the fifth anniversary of Dimension20, a third season of this campaign – Fantasy High: Junior Year – premiered in January 2024.

The launch of the show took place amid financial troubles at CollegeHumor, which had suffered from a pivot to Facebook video in the late 2010s based on inaccurate metrics. By late 2019, InterActiveCorp (IAC), the company's owner since 2006, was exploring the sale of CollegeHumor. In January 2020, the Dimension 20 cast was laid off as part of larger layoffs at CollegeHumor. Mulligan was left as the only creative staff member on payroll at the company. The show nevertheless continued production remotely as California's stay at home orders were put into effect. CollegeHumor was rebranded to Dropout and continued to produce content, heavily focusing on Dimension 20.

Return to studio production and success (2021–present)
On May24, 2021, Brennan Lee Mulligan announced that Dimension20 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. The show also began to use rotating game masters for side quest campaigns in a change announced the following month. The company was able to hire more staff beyond its initial skeleton crew, and was in a more positive financial situation by 2024.

Beginning in 2022, Dropout began to auction off miniatures from previous seasons of Dimension 20. The proceeds from the auctions go towards funding future seasons of the show, as well as to charitable causes. This began with A Crown of Candy pieces. A Fantasy High auction in 2024 donated 100% of profit to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, and for the first time included scenery pieces and segments of the Dungeon Master's screen.

During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, production on Dimension20 initially shut down. In July 2023, Dropout CEO 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. 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". 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.



In April 2024, Dimension20 underwent a live tour in the UK and Ireland. These performances were billed as the "Time Quangle" and featured non-canonical crossovers between the main campaigns. A performance at Madison Square Garden entitled Gauntlet at the Garden is also scheduled for January 24, 2025. As the venue's ticketing is managed by Ticketmaster, a surge pricing algorithm meant that tickets were briefly selling for thousands of dollars, higher priced than comparable Taylor Swift tickets. Dimension 20 issued a statement afterwards, indicating that they had been unaware Ticketmaster was operating its dynamic pricing system for the venue, and that they had opted out of that system for all future events. Given that 15,000 tickets sold in four days, the event is expected to be the largest actual play show in the United States.

Format
The seasons of the show are broadly divided into Intrepid Heroes campaigns, which feature a recurring group of six players, and Side Quests which feature guest players. Intrepid Heroes campaigns feature Mulligan as the Dungeon Master, along with players Emily Axford, Ally Beardsley, Brian Murphy, Zac Oyama, Siobhan Thompson, and Lou Wilson; these seasons are generally between seventeen and twenty episodes in length, and a campaign setting is sometimes revisited for additional seasons. As of 2024 there have been eight Intrepid Heroes seasons: 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. A 2024 Time Quangle live tour in the UK and Ireland also featured the Intrepid Heroes cast and acted as a crossover between the main campaigns. The players drew randomly from their past characters using bingo machines to set up each show. The Time Quangle performances were recorded, and are to be released on Dropout.

Guest players for Side Quests are generally CollegeHumor alumni or cast members of other actual play shows. An exception to this was Dungeons and Drag Queens which featured notable contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race. Mulligan acted as the game master for the first four side quests, after which the show started to use other Game Masters for these campaigns in addition to Mulligan. Aabria Iyengar is the most recurring guest Game Master, having appeared in the role three times.

Campaigns
The campaigns use the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition system with Brennan Lee Mulligan as the Dungeon Master (DM) unless otherwise stated. The DM or Game Master (GM) also creates house rules that alter the role-playing game system the campaign is using.

One-shots
Dropout has released multiple one-shot adventures in addition to their full-length campaigns. Four have been extensions of the Fantasy High campaigns, including ''Dimension 20: Fantasy High! Live! at The Bell House (with Brian David Gilbert), Fantasy High LIVE at RTX Austin (with Griffin McElroy), College Visit (RTX @ Home Live), and Boys' Night! (Roll20Con); while two have been continuations of Misfits & Magic, consisting of the Misfits & Magic Holiday Special and Misfits & Magic Live at GenCon 2022'' (Iyengar as GM, with players Noxweiler Berf, Michelle Nguyen Bradley, Markeia McCarty, Becca Scott).

Filming and set design
In the late 2010s, the format pioneered by Critical Role — with the cast performing live in a full table multi-camera composite — had come to dominate actual play. Dimension 20 does not however follow this convention, but rather alternates between several cameras which are presented full screen. The players were originally surrounded by a colored geodesic dome, with lighting adjusted scene by scene or images projected on its panels. Mulligan explained that "the idea of having the polyhedral dome as the center set piece of our set is an homage to the sort of polyhedral dice that make up a lot of these role-playing games". He described it as a "crystal cave" that "can go from a frosty fantasy feeling" to "more of a Fortress of Solitude, Sci Fi vibe" which allows the show to shift genre as needed. The set remained a dome through the filming of Fantasy High: Sophomore Year (2019); in subsequent campaigns, the set utilizes curved walls instead of a dome.

In an interview, Director Michael Schaubach highlighted that Kenny Keeler, the original director of photography, started with a Dana dolly and that "in the years since, Schaubach has overseen the quest for a different, even more articulable jib, updated cameras, an LED projection system that can add shadows and animation onto the walls of the set, and, in Burrow's End, audio recordings presented as artifacts". Graham Sheldon, the director of photography for Neverafter (2022), stated that they typically used five cameras when filming the campaign with a setup that allowed closeup overhead shots of the maps and miniatures. Sheldon commented that while there is pre-planning to give "everyone a good sense of where things might go" during filming, the improvisational aspect of the show often required people "to hop on additional cameras to follow the action". Sheldon also highlighted that the director tracked "moments in real time that might be a good insert moment later for the minis" and "DP Kevin Stiller was able to shoot the mini closeups as a 2nd unit, occasionally while the main season was still filming in parallel". Multiple episodes are generally shot back to back, with editing taking place over several days for the batch. The format does add cost to the production, but the approach allows for the removal of pauses and the inclusion of post-production elements such as character art, illustrations and footage of the battle terrain.

Supplementary shows
Dropout publishes additional videos that discuss elements of role-playing (Adventuring Academy) or specifics about the first season (Fantasy High: Extra Credit). These are also released via YouTube.

Beginning with A Crown Of Candy, Dropout began airing a Dimension 20 Q&A and talkback show called Adventuring Party, in which the cast would discuss the most recently recorded episode. 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 submitted 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. In January 2024, Dropout released the behind-the-scenes documentary titled The Legendary Rick Perry and the Art of Dimension 20 which focuses on the work done by the show's production designer and creative producer Rick Perry.

Reception
CBR 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. The show has also been praised for its positive LGBTQ representation, with multiple characters exploring their sexualities during the first two seasons of Fantasy High.

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". 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". Moises Taveras, for Paste in 2023, also highlighted the improvisational nature of the show and how the game mechanic of dice rolls "sets Dimension 20 apart from the rest of TV". Taveras stated that "I can't predict a thing that's going to happen thanks to the insanely successful marriage of this mechanic to the cast's improvisational skills. There's nary a moment, whether it be a rousing victory or an utter defeat, that doesn't propel these characters forward in some way and carve out a unique, player-driven story. And because they are improvised rather than written, the characters feel like authentic people, even if they are fanciful in nature".

In 2023, Lauren Coates of Polygon highlighted how the anthology format allows Dimension 20 to reinvent itself and span "a vast variety of genres, styles, and tones" with their seasons "consistent in their ability to deliver across comedic, narrative, and emotional fronts". Coates commented that "as funny as the series is, it isn't just Dimension 20 's sense of humor that makes it so beloved; it's the consistently heartfelt, poignant storytelling that accompanies it. There's incredible emotional depth to each new world of Dimension 20, as players and game masters collaboratively craft thoughtful, absorbing arcs tailored to each player and character".

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". 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". Carter commented that this season has an infectious joy to it and that it takes the "fun to new, cosmic heights".

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". 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".