Title: Never Stop Blowing Up
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Ally Beardsley (they/them) as Russell Feeld (he/him) / Jennifer Drips (she/her). Ify Nwadiwe (he/him) as Wendell Morris (he/him) / Vic Ethanol (he/him). Isabella ‘Izzy’ Roland (she/her) as Paula Donvalson (nee Buocadifuoco) (she/her) / Jack Manhattan (he/him). Rekha Shankar (she/her) as Usha Rao (she/her) / G13 (he/him). Alex Song-Xiao (they/them) as Liv Skyler (she/her) / Kingston (he/him). Jacob Wysocki (he/him) as Andy ‘Dang’ Litefoot (he/him) / Greg Stocks (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout
If you missed it, catch our review for the first and second episodes.
Never bring a baton to a gun fight.
As the two men go after Jack Manhattan in the elevator, Wendell as Vic steps in, but Paula doesn’t need any help. A bullet to the head puts the end to one of the attackers. Unfortunately, Usha fails to convince the others to back off peacefully, managing to escalate the situation, but Wendell stops Doug Meat while Dang embraces the spy, knocking a man out with a knockout gas pen as he quips, “Going down?”
The best part of conflicts in tabletop RPGs is how the group works for or against each other, and our amazing action heroes come together to take the thugs in the elevator down. Jumping in with La Familia abilities, the players watch each other’s backs, but as the power goes out, they run through those assisting abilities a bit too quickly. Usha and Russell suffer the worst.
Ally turns the table, convincing Brennan to allow a makeshift sneak attack, but Jacob takes the MVP trophy in the elevator brawl, putting a bullet in all downed enemies. Rekha takes a close second. While Ally is normally an agent of chaos, they’ve got competition from everyone except maybe Ify. However, when Wendell calls Empresario, his attempt to throw the mob boss off ends in the Empresario determined to kill Vic, so we may have the most unpredictable dome yet.
The group plans their next move, and Usha discovers that the Shadow Falcon disk contains a protocol which would scrap secret information, causing a technological apocalypse had she uploaded it as originally planned. They also discover Barsimmeon Higg’s action-world identity: Damian Bane.
Faced with more and more strange, Dang can’t handle that the group doesn’t believe him about Rashab, the alien who possesses his body from time to time. Dang goes from sulking to storming off. He quickly finds a couple at the bar, flirting his way into a possible threesome. While Dang possibly puts himself in danger, Russell sneaks after, determined to keep his nephew safe. Considering the lady ends up being a Russian enemy agent, Dang’s odds aren’t great.
Russell races in, shooting Oksana’s partner who is under the bed. A rough start ends with the French pig on the floor before Russell squares up with Oksana. Managing to convince the Russian spy that they’re on the same side, Russell moves in and manages to take her down too, saving his nephew.
As the two reunite with the group, they fight the Side Winders, but Liv steps in, intimidating them first by clenching a grenade in Kingskin’s fist before hiring them. Russell connects the pair with the chemical that was in the safe where he lost his ID card. While Ally questions if Kingskin is on the juice, the group doesn’t have time. Vic has a race to win.
Highlights
Regardless of the season, family relationships always shine in Dimension 20. The same is true for Dang and Russell. In the real world, Russell is casually protective and actively supportive of his nephew. As Dang struggles with continually being the strange person even in the odd action world, Russell constantly has his back, making sure he’s safe. Every interaction between Jacob and Ally is a delight. The two somehow act as the most rational pair despite the absolute chaos they brew.
Across the board, Jacob Wysocki hit all the notes. From witty quips that could’ve come straight out of a James Bond movie to the way he has dang embrace the weirdness, Jacob walks the line of brilliance and madness. If he doesn’t have a bonding moment with Barsimmeon before the end of the season, I’ll be absolutely stunned. The two clearly have a lot philosophically in common.
Jacob also takes full advantage of tropes, calling upon his organization to provide a car when the group needs one. He did the same with the knockout pen. With the wide scope of spy movie cliches, it will be interesting to see what he pulls next.
Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)
This episode was insane. The group discovers Barsimmeon’s action alter ego is a super soldier, uncover the Shadow Falcon Protocol on G13’s disk, and we had three confrontations: 1) the elevator brawl; 2) Spy vs Russian Spy; and 3) the backflipping Side Winders. We nearly lost Izzy to a laughing fit, and Brennan went full insanity when he introduced the all exactly 30-year-old Side Winders. When the rational game master decides he’s going to follow whatever insanity his players offer, we know we’re down the rabbit hole.
With so many references, the plot of the in-world movie Never Stop Blowing Up just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Brennan said it best in this week’s Adventuring Party, there’s an element of uncertain horror to how action movies work which is made all the more unhinged with the Jumanji elements.
Next week, Vic has his race, but whether Barsimmeon will be in attendance, we’ll just have to wait and see. If you have any predictions, tropes or parody cameos, let us know in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.
Featured Image: Dimension 20
The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network
The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord.
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