Title: Dimension 20 Live – Viva Más Vegas
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Emily Axford (she/her) as Sundry Sidney (she/her). Zac Oyama (he/him) as Norman Takamori / Prince Valdrinor a.k.a. Skip (he/him). Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as Riva (she/her). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Gunthrie Miggles-Rashbax (he/him). Ally Beardsley (they/them) as Margaret Encino (she/her). Brian Murphy (he/him) as Barry Syx (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout
We return to Anarch Era and our Intrepid Heroes on the Wurst. Despite saving the world, the crew continues to struggle to find work, so when offered a brand deal from Plug’s Butt-Ugly Stuff Hut to fight at the Battle of Brands, they group jumps on the opportunity. Unfortunately, Barry Nyne can’t participate as he was injured while romantically involved with Sundry Sidney.
Sidney and Barry Nyne’s relationship clearly makes Barry Syx uncomfortable, but whether its due to his clone brother being involved with Sidney or that both consider him like a brother which crosses unsavory wires, Murph leaves to the audience’s imagination.
While Riva returned to her planet at the end of the series, she’s brought back in as a senator of Aguatunesia; however, due to Barry Nyne’s injury, Gunthrie reaches out, inviting her back for Slippery Puppet 2: Electric Boogaloo. From her office on Aguatunesia, she projects herself into a psychodrone, rejoining the crew of the Wurst.
Falling right back into their gambling habit, the crew withdraws all their money, rushing into a casino to bet everything on black. The ball is rolling up. Surely, they cannot lose.
While the spontaneity of the rest of the crew fits well with their characters, the idea that Margaret Encino would allow them that sort of funding without some kind of prior plan surprised me. It’s also no surprise that the group bet on green, giving themselves a one in nineteen chance of winning based on Brennan’s calculations. Murph manages to roll a 3, and all of their money is gone in a single go. Skip follows up by getting money from a loan shark, and with Bambi’s mass winning streak at the Wurst’s casino, they’re so far in the red that they can’t even see the black anymore.
But what I love the most about Margaret Encino is that no setback gets her down. She sets up a union, pulling heavily from Riva’s political AI spy network. Unfortunately, the casino steps in before she can finish. and a swarm of Jib-Jobbers jump into the arena. Zvoon, the sphere who we met during her bachelorette party, is now a massive success at Pleasure Putty. Our final participants in the mix are the Warfare Witneys.
While Sidney and Barry take out the Jib-Jobbers and stun the Whitneys, Margaret rushes to the side of a stunned android, trying to convince her to liberate herself. While she gets out of there, Skip manages to sneak up on Zvoon. In response, the powerful sphere discharges, but Riva counters, preventing the attack.
While Gunthrie distracts Zvoon, the Warfare Whitneys attack Sidney. However, one of them tries to hit Margaret, who calls in Barry to save her. The poor ignored clone comes to her aid, and he goes into a rage, inspiring all those around him into the Zone.
Aurora takes Zvoon out, dying in the process, but that gives Margaret the opening she needs to convince the Jib-Jobbers to unionize. With this, our Intrepid Heroes win the Battle of the Bands. Thanks to Bambi’s booky, they were able to make everything back and more.
Highlights
Rick Perry is always a win. Seeing him cosplaying Loose Duke racing through the arena went beyond anything I could’ve hoped. It’s also a great reminder that there are so many Dimension 20 NPCs that are readily recognizable and easy to cosplay with just what you already have in your closet.
A number of NPCs show up, but Bambi Leroux was the real winner of this live show.
Final Score (3 out of 5 Stars)
This was a fun romp, and while I’m always excited to revisit what was one of my favorite D20 universes (Thank you, Elaine Lee!), it ended far too quickly. If this was an appetizer to a season two, then I think it’s an excellent reintroduction. If this was all we’re going to get, I appreciate the show, but it definitely will just make me mourn what could have been all the more.
My personal biases for this setting aside, the pacing was a bit off, dragging in the first half and feeling almost too fast after intermission. I imagine it was dizzying for those in the audience. There were some great NPC cameos, but few were dived into, so it was a bit like a slideshow rather than adding anything to the story.
Overall, this live show seemed fun if you were there in person and like an enjoyable watch, but it isn’t a must-watch.
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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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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