Title: Fantasy High: Junior Year
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Emily Axford (she/her) as Fig Faeth (she/her). Zac Oyama (he/him) as Gorgug Thistlespring (he/him). Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as Adaine Abernant (she/her). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Fabian Seacaster (he/him). Ally Beardsley (they/them) as Kristen Applebees (she/her). Brian Murphy (he/him) as Riz Gukgak (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout
The Bad Kids are back! Dimension 20 kicks off their newest season by returning to the campaign that started it all: Fantasy High! Back in the first season of Dimension 20, Dropout took a risk, bringing together members of their fantastic team to throw their dice into the life action role playing fray, and twenty-one seasons later, that risk certainly paid off.
Returning to Elmville and the Aguefort Adventuring Academy, we enter the third season and junior year of this incredible tabletop RPG. However, we’re not in Elmville! The Bad Kids are in the Red Waste dealing with the coming of the Night Yorb which burst from Riz’s tattoos in our last visit with this wild adventuring party.
Immediately thrown into battle, our phenomenal players take full advantage of the updates between the Dimension 20 dome of their sophomore year and now. From detailed projections to a new table, they’re starting with an absolute bang. Giant insect-riding Yorbies intercede as the Bad Kids try to defeat the Night Yorb. As we start in the middle of battle, health and abilities are partially drained on both sides.
A bad roll immediately puts Fabian in a bad position. His flirting with the magical mirror spirit Ecaf pulls his attention, sending him under the Hangvan while Riz drives from the wheel well. As Fig magically inhales the darkness of the Night Yorb, Riz jumps on the gas as Gorgug reels in the solar lasso.
With only three days left of summer, our heroes spent their summer entrenched in the struggle of the Night Yorb, and junior year looms. They’ve missed their whole vacation. Exhaustion weighs on them. Though they may save the world again, our heroes must deal with the reality that there will always be another Big Bad.
All around them, the Yorbies chant, healing the Night Yorb by speaking its name. If the mysterious manta ray of darkness isn’t in a bloody state, our cast can’t defeat it. The Night Yorb heads towards a tall tower where its worshippers gather. As the van crashes down, a stone pillar crumbles as a Yorbie gives his life in hopes of stopping our heroes.
Before all hope is lost, an unknown voice speaks to Fig, offering a deal which the exhausted Tiefling takes at the close of the first episode.
Highlights
Lou Wilson is always a treat. Constantly thinking on his feet, he takes “Yes, and – ” to its flirtatious power-up. Considering he seduced one of the main villains in A Court of Fey & Flowers, leaving Apollo prone for the slaughter, his swivel from smooth advances to being pretty much run over stole the show. Sometimes the dice just want to tell a story, and the greatest players, like Lou, know how to roll with it.
From drinking the darkness of the Night Yorb to the deal which ends the first episode of the season, Emily Axford embodies the duality that has made up Figueroth Faeth. Though the character can come across as self-centered at some times, prior seasons revealed her deep insecurities stemming from the traumatic revelation of her true parentage and the fallout with the man she had believed was her father.
Perhaps this season we’ll see Fig further recover, realizing how ignoring the risks to her own safety in hopes of sparing those she loves might, in fact, harm them. For the last two seasons, Emily has carried the dramatic breadth required to balance a character whose emotional core runs deep but who often hides her heart beneath a devil-may-care attitude, and I’m looking forward to seeing whether we hit that wonderful cathartic release and growth that this season’s arc appears to offer.
Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)
Despite starting in the midst of battle, our Intrepid Heroes keep things light, spending most of the time joking and referencing moments in the earlier two seasons. While Fantasy High manages to span a wide range of emotions with the light comedic moments stretching with chaotic revelry before tumbling into emotional heights, Brennan Lee Mulligan and the cast fully embrace the reality of adventuring teenagers. From Kristen’s philosophical growth and at times even avoidance of accepted responsibilities to Fabian’s self-reinvention, Fantasy High pits our players against world-ending evil, but they never forget that coming-of-age is rarely a clean or neat or even consistent process.
Who do you think Fig just made a deal with? What dangers await our intrepid heroes? Let us know what you think in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.
Featured Image: Dimension 20
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