With Dungeons and Dragons' rise in popularity, dozens of shows dedicated to the world's most popular tabletop game have surfaced online, each helmed by a Dungeon Master. While the list of great DM's stretches on forever, very few are as talented as Brennan Lee Mulligan, the Dungeon Master behind College Humor's D&D series Dimension 20. Game Rant got the chance to talk Brennan about his experience as a Dungeon Master, and what it's like being part of one of the most interesting tabletop series on the internet.
"I owe all of this to my mom, Elaine Lee," Brennan tells me over the phone, "...when I was a little kid, she was like, 'you should play this game, D&D, I think you would really like this,' and she was absolutely right." Brennan has been DM-ing since he was ten, starting out at local comic book shops with groups in their late teens and early twenties. "They were incredibly kind to entertain me at the table, it was really great for me to learn how to play the game, but a ten-year-old playing with a bunch of twenty-year-olds, there’s gonna be a difference in what’s fun... I wasn't as rule-bound, at ten, as these twenty-year-olds that had a full understanding of the game’s mechanics were. So I ended up just conscripting my friends to play with me."
Friends in tow, Brennan started running his own campaigns, assuming the role of Dungeon Master, "If you set up a game, it kinda de facto falls to you to run it. And it’s one of those things of just habit on habit, where it's like, ‘okay, I’m gonna run the game because I wanna play’ and then suddenly, you’ve been DM-ing for 21 years. It just kinda snowballs like that."
Having played for many years, Brennan has witnessed the rise of Dungeons and Dragons from a nerds-only hobby to a mainstream pastime, which he is incredibly grateful for. "I mean, it’s a dream come true, truly. Nerd spaces have long had an unfortunate history of gatekeeping and this idea of like, ‘oh this person is a fake gamer’. Which is the most asinine, backward, toxic mentality a person can have... I remember when D&D was not a celebrated pastime or hobby, and I am grateful that it has been embraced by the larger culture."'
For those unfamiliar with Brennan's work, Dimension 20 is a wildly different show compared to most others out there, mostly due to its unique campaign settings, which have featured a high school for adventurers in Fantasy High, and a mystical version of New York in The Unsleeping City, among others. Brennan is currently working on a new side quest, as well as another full season of the show, which he says will be yet another departure from the typical Dungeons and Dragons norms, "As far away as Unsleeping City was from Fantasy High, this season is kind of even further from both of them. We are way out into new territory with the setting for Season 5. I think people are going to be really excited. It’s definitely a bigger lift on my part than previous seasons, so I’m very excited."
Brennan has a strong roster of people to help him execute Dimension 20, but the worlds are designed almost entirely by him. "And really it’s me walking in there and being, like, ‘these are the worlds I’m excited about’. Mostly what I get is thumbs up and excitement from the people that work on the show with me about how we’re going to make this vision come to life, which is a situation that exists almost nowhere in this industry and I am impossibly grateful for it."
That creative freedom is liberating, though it can be a pretty heavy weight on one's shoulders. "Every season, is me just looking into the vast cosmos and being like, ‘cool, where do we want to go next?’ ", Brennan tells me, "Which is, again, incredible, but it’s incredibly deeply nerve-racking on another level. But, it’s the fun kind of nerve-racking." The only real restraints on the show are ensuring that there are relatable characters and a strong comedic idea at its center, two things that Dimension 20 has achieved throughout each of its seasons.
With decades of experience under his belt, Brennan has a lot of advice to offer to those looking to run their own campaigns, including what can separate a good campaign from a great one, "I think a great campaign, if I was going to point out one keystone, is about every single person at that table feeling like every choice they have made has been honored. And, conversely, feeling the enormity of everybody else’s choices... It’s no fun to be in a game where either as a Dungeon Master you feel like you’re dragging your players along, nor is it fun to be in a game as a player where you’re like, ‘Man, nothing is happening. I guess I’ve got to do everything.’ But on the flip side, it stinks to be in a game where no choices are being honored. So, when I think about the campaigns I’ve been in that have been really incredible, it was this miraculous dance of all the players constantly taking big swings. Big character choices, dangerous risks in battle, having changes of heart; really emotionally raw, vulnerable scenes... When they did something to the campaign world, the campaign world changed as a result of it."
For those that wish to follow in his footsteps, Brennan offered up some useful advice for first time Dungeon Masters, in particular, stating, "Kill your darlings. An idea you had, an encounter you had, allow it to be different or maybe never even happen if the other choice is empowering your players." Brennan emphasized that Dungeon Masters are in a unique bind, as they have to be willing to throw at all the hard work that has gone into a session if the player's choices don't lead them there. At the end of the day, it's painful, but it makes for a much better campaign.
Brennan is incredibly passionate about Dungeons and Dragons, in a way not many other people are. As he tells it, even after recording hours upon hours of the game, he still hasn't grown tired of playing. He has an "unending appetite" for D&D and still runs games at home with friends, despite initially believing that he may hit a wall. That still hasn't happened though, and it seems that Brennan will keep playing as much and for as long as he can.