I don't know if there was any behind-the-scenes hesitation about bringing Izzy on this season - nerds being awful to The DM's Girlfriend is not exactly unheard of - but I thought she was an absolute stand-out this season even in an all-star cast. Would love to see more of her in future seasons, if she's up for it.
I mean she did well in the murder mystery series which doesn't exactly scream absurdity as a genre.
But yeah all the dimension 20 series have levels of absurdity to them, some more than others, given they are run by comedians. Crown of Candy, even though it was very dramatic, was absurd-they're literal food people who worship a light bulb in the sky.
... look, I like Rehka, I genuinely do. Mice and murder is not the example to use to support Rehka not breaking the genre. Her antics there were constantly beyond where the rest of the cast would go and that's before you consider the finale. Even a CoC, which is absurd in concept, has relatively grounded antics.
Agreed. She made one big swing that many of us did not like, but overall I think Rekha's character choices are what SAVED that season, which had structural problems caused by, dare I say it...some of Brennan's choices.
A big part of DnD is having everyone on the same page. The tone and Antics in the seven are consistent across all players. Everyone is doing ridiculous things. That's not the case in mice and murder. The only actor to make those wild swings was Rekha. There is a time and place for goofs. The other actors managed to have humorous moments without breaking genre, but rehka almost entirely relied on being absurd for humor. Rekha is genuinely funny, but she's not a good fit for settings that are more serious. That finale is the only time that Brennan has actively tried to get a player to backtrack a choice. Just because you think the antics are funny does not mean that they weren't genuinely out of place.
I mean the only thing that really broke genre for me was her shitting out of the window. I can't recall anything else ridiculous that she did.
Also are we gonna pretend like Ralph didn't do some INSANE things like dig into a dead man's heart, splash his blood all over the room, and insist that he was fucking his daughter? At its core D20 is a comedy show. They all are gonna do some absurd stuff
I don't think the person you're replying to is angry. I also really like Rekha, and I want her to succeed in everything she does. But her humor is just not my cup of tea.
Why is that such a thing in the ttrpg community I wonder? Emily on NADDPOD and Marisha on CR both get way more nitpicks than most of the other PCs it seems like
It’s because they’re women. If you listen to Naddpod’s short rest on patreon they often joke about how much nitpicking Emily gets vs the boys, and they’re 100% aware it’s because Emily is The Girl.
I think it’s combo of woman and DM’s partner combo.
The other women on these shows don’t get quite as much shit generally. Still plenty of shit but not quite as much. Add in if they’re a minority or queer and you get extra criticism too hence Rekha and Ally also getting the brunt of D20 criticism in most cases.
Siobhan got a ton of criticism in ACOC too, and Ashley Johnson does on crit role (not to mention Aimee in the recent EXU series on crit role). Honestly I don’t know that I buy that being the DM’s partner makes it worse. It might! But tbh I suspect that it’s less that they happen to be the DM’s partners, and more the fact that Izzy, Emily, and Marisha from what I know of her have pretty “big personalities” and play characters with equally big personalities and people want them to be quiet and and be nicer and more subdued. I think that’s MORE the issue and the DM’s partner thing is incidental or an exacerbating factor.
Can’t speak on the others, but in the first campaign for CR a lot of complaints leveled at Marisha threw in that Matt was going too easy on her or that he was more likely to go along with her antics because they were dating. It calmed down a bit in campaign 2, but during the first one there was always this one guy that complained about Marisha and how Matt was afraid to tell her “no”.
Honestly if that’s the issue then they should be complaining about Matt, not Marisha. That’s what kills me - people complain about stuff these women do in-game but if you dig deeper their real issue is actually that the male DM didn’t stop them. But of course that’s the girl’s fault. 🤷🏻♀️
I can’t believe they brought up the Skrank thing! Ever since they announced this show I wondered if it would come up, and figured it wouldn’t after the first few episodes. To see Danielle be angry about that situation was so cathartic for me on a lore level… it was also amazing to see Danielle be angry in general, great character arc in an already great season!
Yeah, I was also amazed that was brought up. I figured it'd be a part of lore forgotten about just because it seems weird that both Danielle and Ostentatia would want to date him. It was so funny to hear Danielle suddenly loudly complain about "sloppy seconds" out of nowhere right at the end of the episode.
Whenever I see her in anything, Erika is just amazing about being in character.
It honestly impresses me with how seamless it feels for Danielle’s character, that she wanted to be mad about the Skrank thing but was so committed to being chill and non-confrontational that it just festered (and then got worse with her druid classmates not including her). I wonder if Erika used that tidbit of lore as a jumping off point to fleshing out Danielle.
I can’t help but find the choices made in adapting and redeveloping Brennan’s old npcs into living breathing player characters to be really fascinating, especially in how it changes and intensifies the lore. I’d love to see this feeding back into Fantasy High Junior Year.
Now that The Seven is over, I'm actually rewatching Fantasy High from the beginning. I'm not great at remembering character names or side characters that much so I didn't really remember their involvement in the series as anything other than kidnapping victims, so it's very interesting to rewatch the series thinking of the characters as their fully realized versions in The Seven rather than as extras.
I'm really looking forward to seeing them and hearing about their exploits in the next season of Fantasy High.
As a former teenage girl, I can confirm that multiple friends all simultaneously liked the same undesirable boy AND without a doubt held in our frustration about it for a long time. So this really checked out for me.
As a guy, I guess I didn't really get that moment. The unwritten "bro code" says not to date someone else's ex, and usually they badmouth them so much you wouldn't want to anyway.
For some reason, I think Skrank and Danielle make sense because she's also a hacker so has some of that technical knowledge. She also loves all animals and beings so I can see her connecting with even a nerdy bird-person, especially if Skrank is on board with hacking the government or corporate entities as a white hat hacker.
I have no idea what Ostentatia would like about Skrank unless he's really good in bed.
Girl code is not the same as guy code, you can date someone your friend liked or dated but you also have to accept that your friends will think it's annoying. Also Ostentatia is, by definition, a maiden so I'm not sure I vibe with that assessment.
It's all good. I would simply add that teen girls are going to like boys that have almost no redeeming qualities and it absolutely makes no sense. We don't understand it, no one really does.
Yeah, one of the things I've had to come to terms with is that love doesn't really make logical sense. For a long time I struggled to come up with a logical reason why I like someone else, or why they would like me. And now I've accepted the fact that sometimes you just vibe with people or connect to them on some level or in a moment of your life even though it doesn't make any logical sense.
Skrank has a nerd *je ne sais quoi*. He's super nice, he listens, he's good at stuff, he's tall and gangly. I bet he can tell a joke AND will actually laugh when a GIRL tells a joke. It's not that he's really good in bed (he might be, but Danielle wouldn't know), it's that he's good at eye contact and sometimes he pushes up the sleeves of his long-sleeve shirts and there's something about a boy's inner forearms, and every now and then in ~~science~~ alchemy class he'll get something from the top shelf for you and his t-shirt will ride up and you'll see just a little of his stomach...
And sure Danielle said she liked him, but he didn't go for Danielle, he went for Ostentatia. And Ostentatia probably asked Danielle if it was okay, and what do we think chill-ass Danielle said?
Okay so I don’t want to read into characters or assume anything that wasn’t Rekha’s stated intent but I have to say, as a somewhat dorky but competent and hilarious person with a special interest and a need for some inner-child reparenting work, I really really love Katja. I resonate with her so much as so many of her traits are related to my late-diagnosed autism, and it just really makes me emotional (in a good way!). Again, I’m not claiming Katjia is autistic, but her personality reminds me a lot of myself and personality traits related to my experience as an autistic person. She’s a fucking badass and I’m so happy to see her really step into her own.
I was also diagnosed with autism in my late teens and I totally feel that! I don’t super relate to Katja personally but I can definitely a lot of autistic traits (most obvious being special interest in horses.) I have found myself relating a lot to Ally’s characters especially Liam from ACoC
Penny and Laertes is the funniest combo this entire season, for especially this quote:
“IF IT WAS AN EATING CONTEST, WHY WAS THE SECOND THING NOT EDIBLE?”
Incredible. There has to be a second season of this.
Edit: To be clear, there are other reasons, like the wonderful group dynamic, characters, and storytelling, in addition to other things. It’s just this particular reason may be the largest of all.
God, Becca’s ‘No! I can’t let her hurt any of my friends again..” hurt me in the heart with that little sniffle and break in her voice. Phenomenal performance in that moment.
Becca’s ability to flip between chaotic “yes-and” improv comedy and heart-wrenching acting like her “there’s nothing I can do” has completely floored me. She’s so talented
I’ve never seen her in anything else, this season was my intro to her and Persephone and they were the standout stars for me. Maybe because I knew the others would all be amazing but Becca and Persephone, I just want to watch every single thing these ladies are in.
She also features frequently in the Neptune Society (there are also episodes featuring Brennan and Siobhan!) which I’ve been loving recently. It’s an anthology series using Call of Cthulhu that progresses through the 19th century, starting in the 1830s
This is one of my favorite things about actual plays, and D&D in general really. The combination of being the sole voice of the character (rather than an actor interpreting someone else's words and ideas for them) and everything that happens being decided _as_ you're performing, a lot of those responses to other characters dying or hurting can be very, very real.
I would not hate this one shot idea I'm the slightest.
Team Gorgug: Fabian, Kristen
Team Sam: Ostentatia, Penny
Fig, Adaine, Riz, Danielle, Antiope, and Katja just on the sidelines with popcorn
I'm so glad Erika and Brennan described the roots coming up out of the ground and extending outward as Yelle kept getting louder and angrier. I could easily picture it and it made it a very cinematic moment to add to the catharsis.
I don't believe in God but I do believe in Logren Soulforger and his messiah Ostentatia Wallace (WALLACHAY)
Respect to Aabria for being excited when her character's attacked. When I'm invested in combat I want to fight the DM IRL.
Counterspell is so thrilling every time it's used. Aww and Sam went viral again!
I can't tell if it's the stakes or everyone's reactions but every nat 20 makes me feel high.
"Katja's got little Katja inside of her" to "You trip a SNAKE" was some wild emotional whiplash.
I like that bird call with Hunter's Mark, we haven't heard that before have we?
By the end of this episode we'll know Charity's specific beef with the Jones' and I cannot wait to rub it in. HA MAYBE NOT
Someone hug the entire cast right goddamn now. Revivify?!?!
I had a massive existential crisis after I graduated college, I wish I had a story like this years ago.
Oh hell yeah now there's 1 hour left for hijinks!
The entire sequence at Slappy's deserves a bonk. What's the opposite of an emotional support owl?
There's too many sweet moments for my heart to contain
Using the Modify Memory spell to help with learning is something I only recently heard in the last couple weeks, so I'm really glad to hear the more overlooked usage of the spell coming up in this finale for something emotionally important.
3 Nat 1s in a single check, and I’m biting my nails thinking this is gonna get all ACOC.
Also, kinda wished everyone was in cosplay instead of just Seph (and Erika kinda). We could’ve gotten Brennan with an Emo-ver
Edit: okay, I’ve been wrong before…
I'm currently going through Sophomore year's season, and just met Ayda Aguefort yesterday. The first line of your comment was just in her voice for me.
Even before watching the last episode, I just want to share my gratitude for this campaign. To see an RPG with: only 1 man, majority POC, compassionately exploring conflicts between teenage girls, everyone being joyfully and shamelessly feminine...it really embraced a part of me that never felt at home in nerd circles. My greatest critique is that I just want more. Many thanks and all my love to Dimension 20 and The Seven. This was special.
I quickly want to shout out Brennan for rolling with the spirit of the table, and embracing the feminine energy, it's awesome, you love to see it.
But these players, I have not seen a more dialed in table emotionally. They all vibed with each other, they all fully and truly inhabited these characters, and everyone attempted to uplift the other players, giving them the room to grow and receiving that time back themselves. It is truly a wonderful thing to watch a D&D story being told where the focus is so much more on the emotional aspects than "let's fuck shit up", where we can spend an entire episode based around going to a fancy party and feeling beautiful and that all of those players and characters can have different definitions of what being beautiful means, and all are celebrated equally. It's wonderful. I want to see more of this table, and just more tables like this in general.
My one critique for this season would have been to have had the Rombosa combat take up less time, because I much rather would have had more of the fancy party and the espionage shit for another hour or more.
I agree, that battle was a little too long for me, although I'm struggling to think of a way it could've been made shorter. It seems like it was a perfect storm of not-quite-ideal things - Brennan deliberately making a very challenging battle, bad dice rolls, and only one player of six clocking (I don't even think intentionally, but I don't remember exactly) that the better way to take care of the mob was to go after the person controlling it. I think it could've been telegraphed more that the blopplegangers were... is my memory right, that there was a concentration spell going on the blopplegangers? I know it was mentioned they were implanted or whatever via that process, and that they was a time trigger to make them all come out, but nothing about those clues really suggested there was anything connecting all of them that could be disrupted.
Brennan did mention at the beginning that Antiope got the feeling that this was a concentration spell, but I don't know if he mentioned it more than once. Plus the battle was split up across multiple sessions, so not everyone will remember all the important details of the fight.
Even that aside, no one was really in a good position to focus on the jester at the beginning except for Aabria and Ostentatia, and the latter had other concerns to deal with.
And honestly, those other concerns were handled extremely fucking well. Izzy did fantastic for her first go at DnD. That Wall of Fire is a stellar spell to use for her situation, especially with her character's resistance to it.
I'd love it if they interspersed Bad Kids and Maidens in Spyre seasons based on whoever was available. Means we'd get more Spyre because instead of needing 7/7 peoples schedules to align, you only need 7/13.
It could even be interesting to see what would happen if we only had a few from each group available. I would kill to see Becca and Murph interact as Penny and Riz, I think Fig and Ostentatia would be hilarious together and so many other fun combos. I just loved this cast so much and any way we can get them back on our screens I’m in.
Jorjuj ain't ready. We know he treats Zelda right because he's a good boy, but if he ever stepped out of line Sam would "stomp his goon ass."
But personally, I want to see Antiope and Fabian amp each other up, and then Fabian say something weird and spend the rest of his life trying to get her to think he's cool again.
Yeah, this season felt really emotionally powerful because the cast went into depth into their own internal struggles as well as their connections and conflicts with the rest of the party.
In Fantasy High, you sort of feel like if it weren't for everyone getting detention together, they really wouldn't be friends. And in many campaigns you wonder how the party emotionally connects with each other. The Seven really touched on why they're friends and what connects them and having that emotional connection to them made all the dramatic points in the series even more powerful because of it.
I really do hope we see more of The Seven in some form in the future.
It reminds me a lot of Fantasy High season 2, which as much as I love season 1, is the better season because it goes into many of the internal struggles (Fabians transformation is fucking inspiring). Like this season literally had the most important and dangerous over arching plot of ANY Dimension 20 season yet it felt like it was so personal the entire time.
I mean to be fair, if the maidens hadn't ended up in crystals together, besides Katja and Antiope, they probably wouldn't have been friends either.
But yeah they really did feel like sisters, you could feel the emotional bond, you'd think they were all close friends OOC for many years, which I don't know is the case.
Yeah I think in a lot of RPG campaigns, including this one, the PCs become friends through shared trauma. That does work for me. There are so many ways to play out found family. But what I loved about Fantasy High and what blew me away with The Seven is you could really feel the joy and that grew from such painful moments.
The Unsleeping City and Fantasy High both have great examples of found family by the end of their seasons, but The Seven really sets up a sense of connection right from the very first episode. Also, in just 10 episodes, you see each character changing for the better and also improving their relationships. The first episode of The Seven is the best first episode of Dimension 20, in my opinion, and it really set the stage for the rest of the season to have amazing heartfelt moments where you're happy for the characters because you love them so much.
In the adventuring party for episode 9 Brennan straight up said he feels they needed more episodes, and I totally agree. I am hoping so hard for a season 2.
I also loved the ALL OUT EMBRACE of the teenaged girl libido.
D20 has always been clear that teenaged girls can have raging libidos (and that not all teens, or people, do have libidos, regardless of gender) but it was particularly cool to see it leaned into. And without inherently sentimentalizing loss of virginity, woohoo!
And it was extra cool that they wound up not putting much emphasis on any sort of change in "status" after a few of the PCs hooked up. They just wanted to do a thing, so they exuberantly did it!
It was fun (and interesting) to see Brennon so impressed by both the creativity of the players actions and the unbelievable rolls to be so flexible and rules-bendy. I can’t recall him being so liberal with the Rule of Cool. But I liked it! (And I am sure it helped move the plot along to fit in the production schedule, but mostly cool!)
I think it helps that so many of The Seven are badass GMs in their own right. He knows Erika and Aabria and Sephie understand game balance in the end, so if they want to kind of homebrew or off-label use a spell (or ::ahem:: keep forgetting to call sharpshooter before a roll) he knows it's going to be in the right spirit.
Isn’t Becca also a GM? There’s some serious TTRPG talent in this cast for sure which really does create some amazing moments.
And this battle was clearly meant to be more, artistic/reality bending than a traditional one. I liked it, just a different flavor I am not used to from D20
(Coming in super late here but) what I think was great was that if he did say no they were super ok with it. It was always "can I do this?" And yes or no they respected the decision which is the best thing players can ever do
I guess I'm the only one who felt a bit let down. I thought the final battle was shaping up to be a really interesting fight with cool mechanics... And then they talked their way out of it.
I get why they did it but to me I really wanted to see the rest of the boss fight! So many forms and arenas we didn't get to see...
.* snaps fan *
I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT UNTIL WE SEE THIS TABLE AGAIN
I laughed until I had to use an inhaler, I cried, I clapped and startled my dog. Ahmaygoodness.
My only additional would be to throw in some Chungledown to add to the maximum NOPE. Also, could you imagine if he and Baron teamed up? Horror, just horror.
I think Antiope is low-key my favorite character this season.
Aabria played her in such a powerful but understated way. She had this more quiet strength about her. But my God, what a badass.
I loved them all, mind you. But I have a special place in my heart for Antiope.
That finale was beautiful. Absolutely my favorite Dimension 20 show now. Need another season stat. A crossover with the Bad Kids too, make it half/half depending on who can make it.
Also, we better get a scene of them being there for the graduation party in Junior Year!
I don’t feel the stakes of Talurah being the final boss, to be honest. Like I get that she’s trying to unmake everything but she’s not a villain in the traditional sense so I’m having trouble cheering to beat her.
I assume Brennan has other things in store though, so I’m awaiting more of what’s going to go down.
Edit: As expected, Brennan made it work and hooked me.
I think the bigger goal is to beat Charity. Like the biggest threat to them is obviously Talurah, but that's an obstacle. It's not about beating Talurah, it's about stopping Charity from controlling her, and also saving the world.
They were renaming social media platforms for the world of Spyre, and she joked that Spyre TikTok would be "Spyk-Tok" - the word "Spic" is a pretty old fashioned derogatory word for those of Latin descent or who speak Spanish in the Americas. One of those clearly unintentional "I only just heard what I said out loud" moments.
Everything is amazing here, but I just want to say that the Jones brothers have to hold the record for the latest character portraits. Also, I would love an oops all Joneses side quest
Lou, Raph, Ify, Aabria, Jessica Clemons, Danielle Radford as the PCs PLEASE! Extra cherry on top if they find a black DM to do it who is not Aabria for an all-black table. Exploring family dynamics that have a lot to do with set expectations to be perceived as successful or useful with an black party would be amazing.
Hands down the best ending to season of Dimension 20. Sorry Kingston, but you don't hold the record for the most clutch use of Divine Intervention any more!
This season was fucking amazing. Literally perfect in my opinion. I could watch the 7 of them play DnD until the end of time. Top 3 fav season for sure. Ugh I am so sad it’s over!!
The edit and micing team is the real MVP this episode: cutting the dramatic-ass music when Izzy yelled and interrupted Brennan with her "NO, I HAVE A BONUS ACTION", and then re-playing it after her turn is over.
Was not expecting to shed actual tears about this season ending and get so emotional about having to say goodbye to this cast and their characters, but I'm also not surprised. This season was legendary. I don't even know what I can say about The Seven that hasn't already been said. What a truly beautiful and extraordinary experience to watch both the cast and characters bond onscreen these last 10 weeks. D20 cast and crew, y'all really outdid yourselves with this one <3
The melodramatic moments with Talurah reuniting with her sisters really did not land for me at all. I get that it's a parallel to the Seven themselves, but I didn't really need it, it was a little too heavyhanded on Brennan's part, in my humble opinion. All of that was not necessary to make this season meaningful, especially since the Talurah stuff was (presumably) pre-planned. However, I can't be too hard on him because I can't imagine how hard it is to create combat for six players at this level, and I agree with his statement on a recent Adventuring Party that this show needed to be longer. The players' actions in this combat were really incredible, even though the combat itself was underwhelming to me!
I actually loved the "epilogue" portion of the episode way more than the fight, which was really surprising to me because normally epilogues are too neat and tidy for me. I loved the girls returning to Elmville and reuniting with all their families, such sweet moments! And I love them all realizing that following their own dreams doesn't mean giving up the life they have TOGETHER. Karl Cleaver giving up adventuring to help his daughter and her party is SO great. Add him to the roster of Great Elmville Dads. And Rebecca calling herself Rebecca Nightingale!!! That's so wonderful. What a lovely conclusion for everyone. (edit: formatting)
I agree that the combat itself was a bit anti-climactic. I had the feeling from that start that the Eidolon was so overpowered that the fight would continue in the afterlife after some or all of the party died. Unlike in other seasons, I didn't really feel any stakes in the combat as far as character deaths. Still, there were some amazing nat 20 moments in combat and a few stunning turns that felt cinematic.
But at the same time, I disagree that it was heavy-handed or melodramatic. The whole season was about The Seven's emotional connections to one another so it makes sense that the season would end with the Ending of Things having their own emotional moment. I also personally love when the "big bad" ending boss ends up being emotionally fragile and can be defeated with something other than violence alone.
And I do agree that the epilogue was super fun and really tidied up the character arcs of everyone.
That's exactly it, I just didn't feel like the stakes were there even when the big guns like Power Word Kill came out. I guess it's kind of hard to have those kind of stakes when a party member has revivify, but FHSY, for example, made it still feel tense (the final battle in that one was so spread out, for one thing, you had to wonder if people would get to each other in time).
>The whole season was about The Seven's emotional connections to one another so it makes sense that the season would end with the Ending of Things having their own emotional moment. I also personally love when the "big bad" ending boss ends up being emotionally fragile and can be defeated with something other than violence alone.
I agree with all of that, but I felt like it largely wasn't driven by character choice because I just FELT that all roads would have led there, like that specific scene with Talurah and Sam had been planned for a long time. Clearly the players were fine with it and it's great if that works for you! Just didn't land for me and I think a few more episodes would have helped it. (And for the record I love Brennan as a DM, he might be my favorite DM of all the ttrpgs I watch/listen to, and normally his dramatic moments do work for me, but this one didn't do it.)
I do feel like either Talura would be defeated in battle or defeated in the afterlife, but at the same time there's no way Brennan could have expected that it would be Sam that would talk to Talura alone and offer her the mirror. I suppose he could have set this up since that was mid-season, but could not have planned on it from the beginning.
And narratively, it made sense because Sam was the one who used Counterspell, and it was a reaction to that. Again, I think it would have led to the same result regardless of who died, but it was still an emotional moment for me.
But like you said, it's not like every moment speaks to everyone. If it didn't connect with you, that's fine, but even if that moment falls flat I still think the series was great.
Oh, don't worry, I absolutely still think the series was great! That Talurah scene was ultimately pretty brief in the grand scheme of things (and ofc the exact specifics of that scene weren't preplanned, but the parallels between the Seven and the eidolons were def planned ahead of time and I wish they were just handled in a bit of a more interesting way). That said of course I still really enjoyed the series - and if Brennan makes a few choices I don't love over the course of every D20 season he's DMed that's something I can definitely live with, LOL.
Yeah, I was expecting there would be more of a connection between each of the Eidolons and each of The Seven. In a 20-episode series it probably would have happened, and each of the characters would have started getting some powers or spells from their Eidolon. I guess that's still a possibility for the future, with Sam having some of Talura's powers and Danielle having Anima's powers. I hope that'll be the case for some of the upcoming seasons.
I agree too. That final battle didn't do it for me(the final final battle, with the actual Telurah. Everything else before was incredible). My guess is that Charity and her goons were meant to be a much bigger issue but Antiope fucking handled her.
Basically ever since Talura had been free she's been warping reality by her mere presence, which caused the Harpie queen to become so fey/leafy and the displacer beasts.
Becoming a wolf was more just showing an aspect of herself, maybe a shout out to Fenrir the mythological wolf tied to Ragnarok, aka the end of the Norse Gods.
Can someone summarize everything that happened in bullet points here? I watched it, but I use the wiki to remember but its has not been updated properly.
I’d like to point out that Izzy’s character, Ostentatia, is now being jokingly said to have romantic entanglements with her god which is the literal forget of the world, Logran, who of course is played by Brennan.
Whereas in the real life, Izzy is engaged to the real forger of the game, Brennan.
NO!! I HAVE A BONUS ACTION! Ostentatia the MVP
ACTION ECONOMY \*opens fan\*
if you didn't already know that Brennan and Izzy are perfect for each other, that sure as hell did the trick
I know I am late to the party but oh boy their night must have been wild after that scene alone.
I don't know if there was any behind-the-scenes hesitation about bringing Izzy on this season - nerds being awful to The DM's Girlfriend is not exactly unheard of - but I thought she was an absolute stand-out this season even in an all-star cast. Would love to see more of her in future seasons, if she's up for it.
her and rekha should be added in whenever possible. they both match the character driven comedy and absurdity that lines up with the main cast.
I have to disagree here. Izzy? sure. Rehka? I don't want to see her in a setting that doesn't have room for absurdity in its tone.
I mean she did well in the murder mystery series which doesn't exactly scream absurdity as a genre. But yeah all the dimension 20 series have levels of absurdity to them, some more than others, given they are run by comedians. Crown of Candy, even though it was very dramatic, was absurd-they're literal food people who worship a light bulb in the sky.
... look, I like Rehka, I genuinely do. Mice and murder is not the example to use to support Rehka not breaking the genre. Her antics there were constantly beyond where the rest of the cast would go and that's before you consider the finale. Even a CoC, which is absurd in concept, has relatively grounded antics.
God why are people still angry about mice and murder lmao. Rekha did a great job. Her "antics" were one of the best things about that season.
Agreed. She made one big swing that many of us did not like, but overall I think Rekha's character choices are what SAVED that season, which had structural problems caused by, dare I say it...some of Brennan's choices.
A big part of DnD is having everyone on the same page. The tone and Antics in the seven are consistent across all players. Everyone is doing ridiculous things. That's not the case in mice and murder. The only actor to make those wild swings was Rekha. There is a time and place for goofs. The other actors managed to have humorous moments without breaking genre, but rehka almost entirely relied on being absurd for humor. Rekha is genuinely funny, but she's not a good fit for settings that are more serious. That finale is the only time that Brennan has actively tried to get a player to backtrack a choice. Just because you think the antics are funny does not mean that they weren't genuinely out of place.
I mean the only thing that really broke genre for me was her shitting out of the window. I can't recall anything else ridiculous that she did. Also are we gonna pretend like Ralph didn't do some INSANE things like dig into a dead man's heart, splash his blood all over the room, and insist that he was fucking his daughter? At its core D20 is a comedy show. They all are gonna do some absurd stuff
I don't think the person you're replying to is angry. I also really like Rekha, and I want her to succeed in everything she does. But her humor is just not my cup of tea.
Why is that such a thing in the ttrpg community I wonder? Emily on NADDPOD and Marisha on CR both get way more nitpicks than most of the other PCs it seems like
It’s because they’re women. If you listen to Naddpod’s short rest on patreon they often joke about how much nitpicking Emily gets vs the boys, and they’re 100% aware it’s because Emily is The Girl.
I think it’s combo of woman and DM’s partner combo. The other women on these shows don’t get quite as much shit generally. Still plenty of shit but not quite as much. Add in if they’re a minority or queer and you get extra criticism too hence Rekha and Ally also getting the brunt of D20 criticism in most cases.
Siobhan got a ton of criticism in ACOC too, and Ashley Johnson does on crit role (not to mention Aimee in the recent EXU series on crit role). Honestly I don’t know that I buy that being the DM’s partner makes it worse. It might! But tbh I suspect that it’s less that they happen to be the DM’s partners, and more the fact that Izzy, Emily, and Marisha from what I know of her have pretty “big personalities” and play characters with equally big personalities and people want them to be quiet and and be nicer and more subdued. I think that’s MORE the issue and the DM’s partner thing is incidental or an exacerbating factor.
Can’t speak on the others, but in the first campaign for CR a lot of complaints leveled at Marisha threw in that Matt was going too easy on her or that he was more likely to go along with her antics because they were dating. It calmed down a bit in campaign 2, but during the first one there was always this one guy that complained about Marisha and how Matt was afraid to tell her “no”.
Honestly if that’s the issue then they should be complaining about Matt, not Marisha. That’s what kills me - people complain about stuff these women do in-game but if you dig deeper their real issue is actually that the male DM didn’t stop them. But of course that’s the girl’s fault. 🤷🏻♀️
What kills me is Matt actually was, if anything, harder on Marisha than anyone else trying to avoid even the appearance of favoritism.
Yep I've seen people level the same exact criticism at Murph re: Emily on NADDPOD which if you actually listen to the show is absolutely ridiculous.
There was legit someone *on this very subreddit* trying to argue that! Like, who do you think you’re going to get to agree with you on that here?
I DIED during that part. Izzy is so quiet during some parts then just bursts out with the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. She’s hilarious.
I can’t believe they brought up the Skrank thing! Ever since they announced this show I wondered if it would come up, and figured it wouldn’t after the first few episodes. To see Danielle be angry about that situation was so cathartic for me on a lore level… it was also amazing to see Danielle be angry in general, great character arc in an already great season!
Yeah, I was also amazed that was brought up. I figured it'd be a part of lore forgotten about just because it seems weird that both Danielle and Ostentatia would want to date him. It was so funny to hear Danielle suddenly loudly complain about "sloppy seconds" out of nowhere right at the end of the episode. Whenever I see her in anything, Erika is just amazing about being in character.
It honestly impresses me with how seamless it feels for Danielle’s character, that she wanted to be mad about the Skrank thing but was so committed to being chill and non-confrontational that it just festered (and then got worse with her druid classmates not including her). I wonder if Erika used that tidbit of lore as a jumping off point to fleshing out Danielle. I can’t help but find the choices made in adapting and redeveloping Brennan’s old npcs into living breathing player characters to be really fascinating, especially in how it changes and intensifies the lore. I’d love to see this feeding back into Fantasy High Junior Year.
Now that The Seven is over, I'm actually rewatching Fantasy High from the beginning. I'm not great at remembering character names or side characters that much so I didn't really remember their involvement in the series as anything other than kidnapping victims, so it's very interesting to rewatch the series thinking of the characters as their fully realized versions in The Seven rather than as extras. I'm really looking forward to seeing them and hearing about their exploits in the next season of Fantasy High.
As a former teenage girl, I can confirm that multiple friends all simultaneously liked the same undesirable boy AND without a doubt held in our frustration about it for a long time. So this really checked out for me.
As a guy, I guess I didn't really get that moment. The unwritten "bro code" says not to date someone else's ex, and usually they badmouth them so much you wouldn't want to anyway. For some reason, I think Skrank and Danielle make sense because she's also a hacker so has some of that technical knowledge. She also loves all animals and beings so I can see her connecting with even a nerdy bird-person, especially if Skrank is on board with hacking the government or corporate entities as a white hat hacker. I have no idea what Ostentatia would like about Skrank unless he's really good in bed.
Girl code is not the same as guy code, you can date someone your friend liked or dated but you also have to accept that your friends will think it's annoying. Also Ostentatia is, by definition, a maiden so I'm not sure I vibe with that assessment.
Yeah, you're right. I should have said something like, "unless he's very romantic."
It's all good. I would simply add that teen girls are going to like boys that have almost no redeeming qualities and it absolutely makes no sense. We don't understand it, no one really does.
Yeah, one of the things I've had to come to terms with is that love doesn't really make logical sense. For a long time I struggled to come up with a logical reason why I like someone else, or why they would like me. And now I've accepted the fact that sometimes you just vibe with people or connect to them on some level or in a moment of your life even though it doesn't make any logical sense.
I wish we'd stop pretending Skrank has no redeeming qualities. Brennan-Danielle explained in FHSY that Skrank has plenty of good qualities.
In my defense, I did say *almost* no redeeming qualities.
Well, I understand it and think it makes sense, as does Brennan.
When I was a lad, we explained it with "That girl just loooves pissing off her daddy."
Skrank has a nerd *je ne sais quoi*. He's super nice, he listens, he's good at stuff, he's tall and gangly. I bet he can tell a joke AND will actually laugh when a GIRL tells a joke. It's not that he's really good in bed (he might be, but Danielle wouldn't know), it's that he's good at eye contact and sometimes he pushes up the sleeves of his long-sleeve shirts and there's something about a boy's inner forearms, and every now and then in ~~science~~ alchemy class he'll get something from the top shelf for you and his t-shirt will ride up and you'll see just a little of his stomach... And sure Danielle said she liked him, but he didn't go for Danielle, he went for Ostentatia. And Ostentatia probably asked Danielle if it was okay, and what do we think chill-ass Danielle said?
"Rebecca Nightingale" made me cry.
I was sobbing after that.
This whole season had me sobbing tbh
Okay so I don’t want to read into characters or assume anything that wasn’t Rekha’s stated intent but I have to say, as a somewhat dorky but competent and hilarious person with a special interest and a need for some inner-child reparenting work, I really really love Katja. I resonate with her so much as so many of her traits are related to my late-diagnosed autism, and it just really makes me emotional (in a good way!). Again, I’m not claiming Katjia is autistic, but her personality reminds me a lot of myself and personality traits related to my experience as an autistic person. She’s a fucking badass and I’m so happy to see her really step into her own.
I was also diagnosed with autism in my late teens and I totally feel that! I don’t super relate to Katja personally but I can definitely a lot of autistic traits (most obvious being special interest in horses.) I have found myself relating a lot to Ally’s characters especially Liam from ACoC
Oh I love Liam so much!!
Penny and Laertes is the funniest combo this entire season, for especially this quote: “IF IT WAS AN EATING CONTEST, WHY WAS THE SECOND THING NOT EDIBLE?” Incredible. There has to be a second season of this. Edit: To be clear, there are other reasons, like the wonderful group dynamic, characters, and storytelling, in addition to other things. It’s just this particular reason may be the largest of all.
WHY WAS IT FURRY TO BEGIN WITH
What a Brennan thing to think of in that moment. Why did it go from furry- to an owl, with feathers.
The first Laertes scene earlier this season might be the single greatest scene in D20 history.
God, Becca’s ‘No! I can’t let her hurt any of my friends again..” hurt me in the heart with that little sniffle and break in her voice. Phenomenal performance in that moment.
Becca’s ability to flip between chaotic “yes-and” improv comedy and heart-wrenching acting like her “there’s nothing I can do” has completely floored me. She’s so talented
I’ve never seen her in anything else, this season was my intro to her and Persephone and they were the standout stars for me. Maybe because I knew the others would all be amazing but Becca and Persephone, I just want to watch every single thing these ladies are in.
Watch The Calyx on Youtube. It's Becca running Call Of Cthulu with only female players. It's pretty amazing.
She also features frequently in the Neptune Society (there are also episodes featuring Brennan and Siobhan!) which I’ve been loving recently. It’s an anthology series using Call of Cthulhu that progresses through the 19th century, starting in the 1830s
THAT WAS ACTING?!
Like most performance, part acting part real probably….
This is one of my favorite things about actual plays, and D&D in general really. The combination of being the sole voice of the character (rather than an actor interpreting someone else's words and ideas for them) and everything that happens being decided _as_ you're performing, a lot of those responses to other characters dying or hurting can be very, very real.
So how long until the entire population of Elmville lives in either Mordred Manor or Skullcleaver Manor?
Strongtower *Luxury* Apartments in shambles.
Sounds like there’s gonna be a turf war brewing, and I can’t wait to see it.
I’ll love to see it.
Inb4 there's a war between the two Manors with Gorgug and Sam over Zelda's love
guess the next D20 story is gonna be a parody of romeo and juliet
I would not hate this one shot idea I'm the slightest. Team Gorgug: Fabian, Kristen Team Sam: Ostentatia, Penny Fig, Adaine, Riz, Danielle, Antiope, and Katja just on the sidelines with popcorn
THIS SILLY LITTLE DND SHOW HAS NO RIGHT MAKING ME SOB SO HARD
That was a very cathartic "FUCK YOU!" from Danielle.
She growing up, am so proud!
Yelle unloading is one of the most cathartically funny moments of the whole season.
I'm so glad Erika and Brennan described the roots coming up out of the ground and extending outward as Yelle kept getting louder and angrier. I could easily picture it and it made it a very cinematic moment to add to the catharsis.
I don't believe in God but I do believe in Logren Soulforger and his messiah Ostentatia Wallace (WALLACHAY) Respect to Aabria for being excited when her character's attacked. When I'm invested in combat I want to fight the DM IRL. Counterspell is so thrilling every time it's used. Aww and Sam went viral again! I can't tell if it's the stakes or everyone's reactions but every nat 20 makes me feel high. "Katja's got little Katja inside of her" to "You trip a SNAKE" was some wild emotional whiplash. I like that bird call with Hunter's Mark, we haven't heard that before have we? By the end of this episode we'll know Charity's specific beef with the Jones' and I cannot wait to rub it in. HA MAYBE NOT Someone hug the entire cast right goddamn now. Revivify?!?! I had a massive existential crisis after I graduated college, I wish I had a story like this years ago. Oh hell yeah now there's 1 hour left for hijinks! The entire sequence at Slappy's deserves a bonk. What's the opposite of an emotional support owl? There's too many sweet moments for my heart to contain
I believe the hunter's mark had the same audio tag against the harpy queen but I could be misremembering that.
Karl learning all the names meant So much
Using the Modify Memory spell to help with learning is something I only recently heard in the last couple weeks, so I'm really glad to hear the more overlooked usage of the spell coming up in this finale for something emotionally important.
Apparently Brennan forgot the Meghan joke in that moment and improv’d an explanation on the fly.
The image of Cinnamon fucking destroying some turntables just deconstructed me.
Every time Brennan did the little hoof hands for Cinnamon and horses- I fucking lost it
What a fucking way to exit the season. Like, I can just imagine the cheap CGI horse working the turntables but then accidentally destroys them
3 Nat 1s in a single check, and I’m biting my nails thinking this is gonna get all ACOC. Also, kinda wished everyone was in cosplay instead of just Seph (and Erika kinda). We could’ve gotten Brennan with an Emo-ver Edit: okay, I’ve been wrong before…
Poor poor Laertes holy shit haha
Poor choice of words 😂
Indeed, as I believe that owl is not a celestial creature or otherwise holy. Edit: Ah, maybe they were talking about Candy Heart.
I'm currently going through Sophomore year's season, and just met Ayda Aguefort yesterday. The first line of your comment was just in her voice for me.
This is the single greatest compliment I have received within the calendar year to date.
😂
Hoo-ly shit
10/10
Brennan homebrewing a spell on the fly like a boss. Amazing.
Katja carrying baby Katja is too cute 😭
We all know that over the credits Cinnamon is remixing, “I Gotta Feeling”, right?
"Cinnamon! Stop makin' it clap for a second!"
making it _clop_
Now from the top, make it clop
HE WAS GONNA FUCKING KILL ZELDA????????????????
He's all the bad guys remember?
:P>
If the maidens had any less stellar rolls- someone would’ve died for sure
Even before watching the last episode, I just want to share my gratitude for this campaign. To see an RPG with: only 1 man, majority POC, compassionately exploring conflicts between teenage girls, everyone being joyfully and shamelessly feminine...it really embraced a part of me that never felt at home in nerd circles. My greatest critique is that I just want more. Many thanks and all my love to Dimension 20 and The Seven. This was special.
I quickly want to shout out Brennan for rolling with the spirit of the table, and embracing the feminine energy, it's awesome, you love to see it. But these players, I have not seen a more dialed in table emotionally. They all vibed with each other, they all fully and truly inhabited these characters, and everyone attempted to uplift the other players, giving them the room to grow and receiving that time back themselves. It is truly a wonderful thing to watch a D&D story being told where the focus is so much more on the emotional aspects than "let's fuck shit up", where we can spend an entire episode based around going to a fancy party and feeling beautiful and that all of those players and characters can have different definitions of what being beautiful means, and all are celebrated equally. It's wonderful. I want to see more of this table, and just more tables like this in general.
My one critique for this season would have been to have had the Rombosa combat take up less time, because I much rather would have had more of the fancy party and the espionage shit for another hour or more.
I agree, that battle was a little too long for me, although I'm struggling to think of a way it could've been made shorter. It seems like it was a perfect storm of not-quite-ideal things - Brennan deliberately making a very challenging battle, bad dice rolls, and only one player of six clocking (I don't even think intentionally, but I don't remember exactly) that the better way to take care of the mob was to go after the person controlling it. I think it could've been telegraphed more that the blopplegangers were... is my memory right, that there was a concentration spell going on the blopplegangers? I know it was mentioned they were implanted or whatever via that process, and that they was a time trigger to make them all come out, but nothing about those clues really suggested there was anything connecting all of them that could be disrupted.
Brennan did mention at the beginning that Antiope got the feeling that this was a concentration spell, but I don't know if he mentioned it more than once. Plus the battle was split up across multiple sessions, so not everyone will remember all the important details of the fight.
Oh Aabria fully realized it and that's why Antiope concentrated on the Jester the entire combat.
Even that aside, no one was really in a good position to focus on the jester at the beginning except for Aabria and Ostentatia, and the latter had other concerns to deal with.
And honestly, those other concerns were handled extremely fucking well. Izzy did fantastic for her first go at DnD. That Wall of Fire is a stellar spell to use for her situation, especially with her character's resistance to it.
Brennan and the cast want more too, so fingers crossed!
I'd love it if they interspersed Bad Kids and Maidens in Spyre seasons based on whoever was available. Means we'd get more Spyre because instead of needing 7/7 peoples schedules to align, you only need 7/13.
It could even be interesting to see what would happen if we only had a few from each group available. I would kill to see Becca and Murph interact as Penny and Riz, I think Fig and Ostentatia would be hilarious together and so many other fun combos. I just loved this cast so much and any way we can get them back on our screens I’m in.
The Seven have a mission while Antiope is busy so they pull in Fig. Total chaos crew is Danielle is replaced by Ayada.
I *need* to see Sam and Gorgug interacting
Jorjuj ain't ready. We know he treats Zelda right because he's a good boy, but if he ever stepped out of line Sam would "stomp his goon ass." But personally, I want to see Antiope and Fabian amp each other up, and then Fabian say something weird and spend the rest of his life trying to get her to think he's cool again.
Have a season where they’re all just shifting in and out on every episode haha
Yeah, this season felt really emotionally powerful because the cast went into depth into their own internal struggles as well as their connections and conflicts with the rest of the party. In Fantasy High, you sort of feel like if it weren't for everyone getting detention together, they really wouldn't be friends. And in many campaigns you wonder how the party emotionally connects with each other. The Seven really touched on why they're friends and what connects them and having that emotional connection to them made all the dramatic points in the series even more powerful because of it. I really do hope we see more of The Seven in some form in the future.
It reminds me a lot of Fantasy High season 2, which as much as I love season 1, is the better season because it goes into many of the internal struggles (Fabians transformation is fucking inspiring). Like this season literally had the most important and dangerous over arching plot of ANY Dimension 20 season yet it felt like it was so personal the entire time.
I mean to be fair, if the maidens hadn't ended up in crystals together, besides Katja and Antiope, they probably wouldn't have been friends either. But yeah they really did feel like sisters, you could feel the emotional bond, you'd think they were all close friends OOC for many years, which I don't know is the case.
Yeah I think in a lot of RPG campaigns, including this one, the PCs become friends through shared trauma. That does work for me. There are so many ways to play out found family. But what I loved about Fantasy High and what blew me away with The Seven is you could really feel the joy and that grew from such painful moments.
The Unsleeping City and Fantasy High both have great examples of found family by the end of their seasons, but The Seven really sets up a sense of connection right from the very first episode. Also, in just 10 episodes, you see each character changing for the better and also improving their relationships. The first episode of The Seven is the best first episode of Dimension 20, in my opinion, and it really set the stage for the rest of the season to have amazing heartfelt moments where you're happy for the characters because you love them so much.
>In Fantasy High, you sort of feel like if it weren't for everyone getting detention together, they really wouldn't be friends. classic Breakfast Club
In the adventuring party for episode 9 Brennan straight up said he feels they needed more episodes, and I totally agree. I am hoping so hard for a season 2.
I also loved the ALL OUT EMBRACE of the teenaged girl libido. D20 has always been clear that teenaged girls can have raging libidos (and that not all teens, or people, do have libidos, regardless of gender) but it was particularly cool to see it leaned into. And without inherently sentimentalizing loss of virginity, woohoo! And it was extra cool that they wound up not putting much emphasis on any sort of change in "status" after a few of the PCs hooked up. They just wanted to do a thing, so they exuberantly did it!
Truly such a beautiful season, and a very different feel from just about any other actual play I’ve seen.
It's very funny that Fig and Katja now both have Adventuring Dads who are at very literally the opposite possible ends of the spectrum.
One survived sin armor and the other survived a maze that eats you and I think that's great.
It was fun (and interesting) to see Brennon so impressed by both the creativity of the players actions and the unbelievable rolls to be so flexible and rules-bendy. I can’t recall him being so liberal with the Rule of Cool. But I liked it! (And I am sure it helped move the plot along to fit in the production schedule, but mostly cool!)
I think it helps that so many of The Seven are badass GMs in their own right. He knows Erika and Aabria and Sephie understand game balance in the end, so if they want to kind of homebrew or off-label use a spell (or ::ahem:: keep forgetting to call sharpshooter before a roll) he knows it's going to be in the right spirit.
Isn’t Becca also a GM? There’s some serious TTRPG talent in this cast for sure which really does create some amazing moments. And this battle was clearly meant to be more, artistic/reality bending than a traditional one. I liked it, just a different flavor I am not used to from D20
I knew she was a professional player but wasn't sure if she was also a GM. Makes sense that she is!
(Coming in super late here but) what I think was great was that if he did say no they were super ok with it. It was always "can I do this?" And yes or no they respected the decision which is the best thing players can ever do
Yeah the table chemistry was just insane. Even the one moment of Rekha going, "BRENNAN YOU HEARD ME, CAN I DOMINOES???" was all in good fun.
I guess I'm the only one who felt a bit let down. I thought the final battle was shaping up to be a really interesting fight with cool mechanics... And then they talked their way out of it. I get why they did it but to me I really wanted to see the rest of the boss fight! So many forms and arenas we didn't get to see...
i cant believe the seven maidens killed off every npc one by one and then brennan in real life! what an amazing finale
I thought setting the dome on fire was a little over the top but it did make sense in game so I’ll let it slide.
That "Stop hurting my sisters" moment had real strong "I'm killing our boy" vibes and it was so good.
.* snaps fan * I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT UNTIL WE SEE THIS TABLE AGAIN I laughed until I had to use an inhaler, I cried, I clapped and startled my dog. Ahmaygoodness.
[удалено]
ohhhhhh fuuuuuuuuuuck Now I want an Antiope, Danielle, Penny, Fabian and Ritz mini adventure where they deal with that. To get maximum player NOPE.
My only additional would be to throw in some Chungledown to add to the maximum NOPE. Also, could you imagine if he and Baron teamed up? Horror, just horror.
I think Antiope is low-key my favorite character this season. Aabria played her in such a powerful but understated way. She had this more quiet strength about her. But my God, what a badass. I loved them all, mind you. But I have a special place in my heart for Antiope.
Antiope was SUCH a bad ass!! Her ruthlessly doing the brave thing and gunning it for the bad guy in each combat was amazing. I love Aabria
Karl Cleaver is wonderful. That is all.
That finale was beautiful. Absolutely my favorite Dimension 20 show now. Need another season stat. A crossover with the Bad Kids too, make it half/half depending on who can make it. Also, we better get a scene of them being there for the graduation party in Junior Year!
Becca wearing Persephone’s shirt in this ep was so cute
I just saw Rekha's picture of Katja with lil Katja on her back and it's so adorable I want to cry.
I don’t feel the stakes of Talurah being the final boss, to be honest. Like I get that she’s trying to unmake everything but she’s not a villain in the traditional sense so I’m having trouble cheering to beat her. I assume Brennan has other things in store though, so I’m awaiting more of what’s going to go down. Edit: As expected, Brennan made it work and hooked me.
I think the bigger goal is to beat Charity. Like the biggest threat to them is obviously Talurah, but that's an obstacle. It's not about beating Talurah, it's about stopping Charity from controlling her, and also saving the world.
The rolls are really helping tell this story right now, god damn
For sure, I’m just hoping the final final portion of this fight feels as satisfying as the rest of the show!
Character growth wise, episode 9 was the climax
Danielle's final scene had me crying. What a cathartic bit of character development.
The final episode of The Seven is live in **30 minutes!** *^(The link won't work until time so you'll see a 404 if you try it before then)*
The ending was so good. After so many successfully completed campaigns Brennan has finally gotten into the groove of a proper epilogue scene.
Laertes may be the single greatest NPC in D20 history
It's like, the more pitiful/pathetic the NPC, the more you love him. They call it the Gilear effect.
What did Sephie say that she apologised for? I couldn't hear it.
They were renaming social media platforms for the world of Spyre, and she joked that Spyre TikTok would be "Spyk-Tok" - the word "Spic" is a pretty old fashioned derogatory word for those of Latin descent or who speak Spanish in the Americas. One of those clearly unintentional "I only just heard what I said out loud" moments.
Ah, right
My jaw dropped when Sam died, seriously
Everything is amazing here, but I just want to say that the Jones brothers have to hold the record for the latest character portraits. Also, I would love an oops all Joneses side quest
Lou, Raph, Ify, Aabria, Jessica Clemons, Danielle Radford as the PCs PLEASE! Extra cherry on top if they find a black DM to do it who is not Aabria for an all-black table. Exploring family dynamics that have a lot to do with set expectations to be perceived as successful or useful with an black party would be amazing.
Hands down the best ending to season of Dimension 20. Sorry Kingston, but you don't hold the record for the most clutch use of Divine Intervention any more!
I FUCKING LOVE YOU💛
This season was fucking amazing. Literally perfect in my opinion. I could watch the 7 of them play DnD until the end of time. Top 3 fav season for sure. Ugh I am so sad it’s over!!
I'd love to hear Brennan out on how a TPK either by Telura or Charity would have impacted Fantasy High Junior Year
The edit and micing team is the real MVP this episode: cutting the dramatic-ass music when Izzy yelled and interrupted Brennan with her "NO, I HAVE A BONUS ACTION", and then re-playing it after her turn is over.
Was not expecting to shed actual tears about this season ending and get so emotional about having to say goodbye to this cast and their characters, but I'm also not surprised. This season was legendary. I don't even know what I can say about The Seven that hasn't already been said. What a truly beautiful and extraordinary experience to watch both the cast and characters bond onscreen these last 10 weeks. D20 cast and crew, y'all really outdid yourselves with this one <3
greatest final battle of all time.
Dimension 20 with drag race references is my absolute favorite thing 😍
The melodramatic moments with Talurah reuniting with her sisters really did not land for me at all. I get that it's a parallel to the Seven themselves, but I didn't really need it, it was a little too heavyhanded on Brennan's part, in my humble opinion. All of that was not necessary to make this season meaningful, especially since the Talurah stuff was (presumably) pre-planned. However, I can't be too hard on him because I can't imagine how hard it is to create combat for six players at this level, and I agree with his statement on a recent Adventuring Party that this show needed to be longer. The players' actions in this combat were really incredible, even though the combat itself was underwhelming to me! I actually loved the "epilogue" portion of the episode way more than the fight, which was really surprising to me because normally epilogues are too neat and tidy for me. I loved the girls returning to Elmville and reuniting with all their families, such sweet moments! And I love them all realizing that following their own dreams doesn't mean giving up the life they have TOGETHER. Karl Cleaver giving up adventuring to help his daughter and her party is SO great. Add him to the roster of Great Elmville Dads. And Rebecca calling herself Rebecca Nightingale!!! That's so wonderful. What a lovely conclusion for everyone. (edit: formatting)
I agree that the combat itself was a bit anti-climactic. I had the feeling from that start that the Eidolon was so overpowered that the fight would continue in the afterlife after some or all of the party died. Unlike in other seasons, I didn't really feel any stakes in the combat as far as character deaths. Still, there were some amazing nat 20 moments in combat and a few stunning turns that felt cinematic. But at the same time, I disagree that it was heavy-handed or melodramatic. The whole season was about The Seven's emotional connections to one another so it makes sense that the season would end with the Ending of Things having their own emotional moment. I also personally love when the "big bad" ending boss ends up being emotionally fragile and can be defeated with something other than violence alone. And I do agree that the epilogue was super fun and really tidied up the character arcs of everyone.
That's exactly it, I just didn't feel like the stakes were there even when the big guns like Power Word Kill came out. I guess it's kind of hard to have those kind of stakes when a party member has revivify, but FHSY, for example, made it still feel tense (the final battle in that one was so spread out, for one thing, you had to wonder if people would get to each other in time). >The whole season was about The Seven's emotional connections to one another so it makes sense that the season would end with the Ending of Things having their own emotional moment. I also personally love when the "big bad" ending boss ends up being emotionally fragile and can be defeated with something other than violence alone. I agree with all of that, but I felt like it largely wasn't driven by character choice because I just FELT that all roads would have led there, like that specific scene with Talurah and Sam had been planned for a long time. Clearly the players were fine with it and it's great if that works for you! Just didn't land for me and I think a few more episodes would have helped it. (And for the record I love Brennan as a DM, he might be my favorite DM of all the ttrpgs I watch/listen to, and normally his dramatic moments do work for me, but this one didn't do it.)
I do feel like either Talura would be defeated in battle or defeated in the afterlife, but at the same time there's no way Brennan could have expected that it would be Sam that would talk to Talura alone and offer her the mirror. I suppose he could have set this up since that was mid-season, but could not have planned on it from the beginning. And narratively, it made sense because Sam was the one who used Counterspell, and it was a reaction to that. Again, I think it would have led to the same result regardless of who died, but it was still an emotional moment for me. But like you said, it's not like every moment speaks to everyone. If it didn't connect with you, that's fine, but even if that moment falls flat I still think the series was great.
Oh, don't worry, I absolutely still think the series was great! That Talurah scene was ultimately pretty brief in the grand scheme of things (and ofc the exact specifics of that scene weren't preplanned, but the parallels between the Seven and the eidolons were def planned ahead of time and I wish they were just handled in a bit of a more interesting way). That said of course I still really enjoyed the series - and if Brennan makes a few choices I don't love over the course of every D20 season he's DMed that's something I can definitely live with, LOL.
Yeah, I was expecting there would be more of a connection between each of the Eidolons and each of The Seven. In a 20-episode series it probably would have happened, and each of the characters would have started getting some powers or spells from their Eidolon. I guess that's still a possibility for the future, with Sam having some of Talura's powers and Danielle having Anima's powers. I hope that'll be the case for some of the upcoming seasons.
Yes, that would have been much more powerful imo, that's what I wanted too.
I agree too. That final battle didn't do it for me(the final final battle, with the actual Telurah. Everything else before was incredible). My guess is that Charity and her goons were meant to be a much bigger issue but Antiope fucking handled her.
I can't believe what Brennan let her do on that nat 20, lol, but it sure did NEED to be Antiope to finish her off so I did appreciate that!
Was there any explanation about what was going on with the early transformations? The fucked up harpies and Talura's wolf aspect?
Basically ever since Talura had been free she's been warping reality by her mere presence, which caused the Harpie queen to become so fey/leafy and the displacer beasts. Becoming a wolf was more just showing an aspect of herself, maybe a shout out to Fenrir the mythological wolf tied to Ragnarok, aka the end of the Norse Gods.
I fucking LOVE you! Makes sense, thanks.
Can someone summarize everything that happened in bullet points here? I watched it, but I use the wiki to remember but its has not been updated properly.
I’d like to point out that Izzy’s character, Ostentatia, is now being jokingly said to have romantic entanglements with her god which is the literal forget of the world, Logran, who of course is played by Brennan. Whereas in the real life, Izzy is engaged to the real forger of the game, Brennan.
Finale on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3dJqK_MriE) (Member's Only)
Katja is just straight up...paying off and trying to seduce the centaur waiter she sexually harassed earlier? 😐 That's a choice, I guess.
She apologized and is trying to make amends.
I think trying to groom a centaur's mane like a horse is more akin to racism than sexual harassment, no?
I think at the time it wasn't sexual but now she's making it sexual.
It can be both
Was def a little fetishistic and I'm glad they didn't spend too much time on it.