In case you’re wondering what it’s like on the D20 set while taping: I snapped this photo of Aabria from the monitor, made a meme out of it, and texted it to her while she was recording. So now I’m the only person that knows the exact moment in the episode when she’s giggling not from the players but from this me ❤️
In the span of ten episodes Aabria and Co. weave an exciting and emotional adventure story about a family of sentient stoats. It delivers huge laughs, interesting societal criticism, remarkably emotional and well-acted scenes and concludes with a series of epilogue scenes that feel appropriate for each character, some heartfelt and subdued and others bigger than life and all the funnier for it.
Siobhan and Izzy play the perfect pair of siblings. They fight and argue but they also love each other. Jaysohn (Siobhan) looks up to Lila (Izzy) and believes she's the smartest stoat in the world (and by the end she probably is) and Lila hypes up her little brother's athletic skills. They both fully embodied these kids and I could watch them do fun stuff for more episodes. Give me a version of Saved by the Bell with them. Stoat by the Bell.
Brennan and Rashawn, playing sisters, also knock it outta the park, showing a more mature sibling dynamic. Brennan portrays Tula as the quintessential overtired single mother of excitable kids, and Rashawn as younger sister Viola straddles a very interesting line of being intimidating to outsiders but very much more naive and looking to her older sister when she starts a family.
Jasper as Thorn, a guy everyone just lets be a cult leader because he really wanted to, is fantastic. His is a difficult role as the only non-blood relative. Jasper plays Thorn with such real humanity of a guy in over his head and letting his ambition wife call the shots, but also one who agrees with her goal, really loves her and has moments of real menace. He has some very funny scenes, his big speech is perfect, and I just enjoy him.
Erika is wonderful. They play the epitome of generational trauma as many have said but as much trauma as Ava has, she is also loving and willing to learn. The fact Erika took this adversarial role is incredible. The tense dramatic scene primarily between Ava, Tula and Viola is amazing. They act their asses off and make hard choices that I imagine are difficult even for such an experienced player.
Aabria's DMing always feels fun. She doesn't get bogged down in the rules. She knows them. She plays by them. But as a master, she knows how and when to break them too. Her seasons on Dimension 20 have all had a tenseness, a particular edge to them that can give me anxiety during dramatic scenes between two characters. It always feel like one of her NPCs may say something devastating and the tension between characters reaches really thrilling heights. This is present in other seasons, but I don't think anyone does it as well as she does. The first season of hers to have battle maps, Aabria really swung for the fences and gave us some of the wildest maps to date.
Shout out to Carlos Luna's voice acting. He did an incredible job. And shout out to the whole crew who have put together one of the best seasons of D20. They keep finding ways to build on what's come before and they should be commended for it.
Dimension 20 is most successful when the concept is very streamlined. They don't do huge 100 episode campaigns capable of handling huge winding complex narrative, but short focused D&D stories, which is why many of the Side Quests have been so fantastic. They embody this philosophy most clearly, but it's apparent in the most beloved Intrepid Heroes seasons as well—John Hughes/High Fantasy, Game of Thrones/Candyland, Retrofuturism, Film Noir but in a Brain... Burrow's End fits this perfectly. It's streamlined concept paired with great storytellers and great chemistry sets it up to be a smash hit before it begins. And goddamn does it deliver.
i don't think people appreciate how good the mice & murder "oops all college humor goofballs" season was. i rewatched it right at the beginning of burrow's end (for adorable woodland creature reasons) and it's just so underrated.
first of all, every member of the cast is KILLING IT. grant is genuinely witty as a sherlock holmes-style dandy and is solving the case in real time. rekha's southern drawl gives me life. katie goes full peaky blinders. raph is a master of rolling badly and then roleplaying exactly how his character fucked it up. and sam's portrayal of buckster $ boyd is so charismatic it makes me want him back in the dome for a side quest ASAP
ally's portrayal of lars gets its own bullet point because i genuinely believe it's some of their best work. often ally's characters are the lynchpin of season lore, but lars proves how much ally shines when their talents for comedy are harnessed toward nothing but inhabiting an impossibly loyal silly little thembo who knows a lot about astrology
*hits the trunk of my car* this baby can hold so many nat 20s in it
specifically the nat 20 that rekha hit which made brennan speed rewrite the entire season??? and it works so well i can't imagine any solution to this mystery other than the one he came up with???
lucretia brockhollow's voice
honestly i thought i would dislike the covid-season-ness of it all but i actually loved that you could see everyone's facial expressions at the same time. it's a lot more smoothly executed in a technical sense than unsleeping city: chapter 2 or even fantasy high: sophomore year
the gags carlos luna did with the figures in roll20??? come on
sometimes a family CAN be a mother who's an epileptic mole, a father that's a capitalistic javelina pig, and a grave-robber weasel son who's probably older than the dad
it's just so cozy and fun and laugh-out-loud funny it makes me feel like i'm wrapped up in a blanket sipping hot chocolate from a warm mug
I lost a post where someone theorized that Phoebe is going to come back puppetering Dr. Wenabocker like the bear had been, which sucks because I had an even worse idea: what if that last line in the tape “They’re so very sneaky…” was Phoebe using his vocal chords?
Myrtle: what's your awareness level inside all of us? Like, do you only know what we know?
Stimey: ohh, well, I think I know a fair amount. It's interesting I'm still me in all of your bodies, but also because I'm experiencing different things in each when I project my consciousness into different bodies I begin to feel different. Almost as though I'm becoming different people. Sometimes I wonder if I could become something vast and terrible. Maybe I could. But we'll never know, I suppose. What can I help you with?
Myrtle: I was just wondering if you could pass a message to Cheese? And tell him to give us a signal when to catch up with the group.
Stimey: [in Cheese's head] I hope I'm not interrupting you at a bad time Master Cheese, but --
Cheese: Aaah!! What?!
Stimey: Myrtle and Captain Jack were both wondering if there was a time for them to move in or somehow for them to join with the rest of you.
Cheese: yeah, I mean, I'll keep you up to date. I'll send you some messages when I know a little bit more. Thank you for checking in. Uh, don't use my eyes next time. Just use like, your voice. Not inside my eyes. Thank you.
Stimey: not inside your eyes? I can grab whichever of your senses that you like. I could make you taste a message or a feeling on your skin.
Cheese: oh, Stimey, you're so creepy, man.
Stimey: why? Oh, I didn't mean to be, what have I done wrong? Remember, I'm only from one room and I have no idea about society and the world.
Cheese: oh man, and boundary issues too. Okay, thanks Buddy. Just tuck yourself down deep inside me, I guess. Uh, ugh.