Critical Role’s newest DM changes the game

Many fans of Critical Role are likely familiar with Brennan Lee Mulligan’s work as game master for Dropout’s TTRPG actual play series Dimension 20. Others will enjoy the new Critical Role miniseries Exandria Unlimited: Calamity will be their first time seeing Mulligan in action behind the Dungeon Master’s screen. Polygon recently sat down to talk with the author, world-builder, forever-GM. What was the goal? To learn more about what we can expect from the four-episode campaign premiering on Thursday, and to acquaint readers with the personality entrusted with one of Exandria’s most legendary events.

Mulligan is a Dungeons & Dragons lifer, crediting his early years as a GM as well as time at live-action role-play camp for developing his improvisation skillsThis was what led him to Upright Citizens Brigade. You were there writing for the game show. You are right, actuallyMercer met Mulligan in the place where he first saw him. “I wrote a big question where [players had to] notice all the rule breaks in a couple comic panels of a D&D game. Matt discovered some I hadn’t even considered. It was like watching a bald eagle take wing and go into the sky,” he beams.

In 2018, Mulligan debuted as GM for CollegeHumor and Dropout’s actual play series, Dimension 20, which he’s helmed ever since. This series stars regulars Ally Beardsley (Emily Axford), Brian Murphy, Siobhan Thomson, Siobhan, Zac Oyama and Lou Wilson. Side quests are conducted with rotating GMs, casts, including Erika Shiii and AabriaIyengar. The serialized version of the show is available here. Dimension 20 takes viewers through imaginative worlds dreamed up by Mulligan and his players — from the John Hughes-inspired coming-of-age of Fantasy HighTo a Candy Land that George R.R. Martin is proud The Crown of Candy. He’s an expert world-builder, creating deep and textured settings that feel lived-in and distinct.

On screen, Mulligan’s approach to GMing leans heavily into player and viewer transparency. This is one of my favorite episodes. Dimension 20 that sets it apart from other series is the “Box Of Doom,” a dice tray mounted with a camera, which is used for crucial die rolls by both players and the GM. He’s also not afraid to name a Difficulty Class — the target number players must meet or exceed with their roll — when a player character would know immediately in-game whether they’ve succeeded or failed. “I think it builds trust. It heightens drama in a lot of instances, and the dice can be your bad cop, delivering bad news for you,” he says. “It’s a shared moment at the table. As someone who’s been a GM a lot, I relish moments where I can be on the same side of a surprise as my players.”

Dimension 20It just finished its thirteenth season. A Starstruck OdysseyIt is like Calamity, involves Mulligan stepping into an established setting: the Starstruck universe created by Mulligan’s mother, Elaine Lee, and artist Michael Kaluta. “The tone of these two things going back to back couldn’t be more different,” he says. “A Starstruck OdysseyThis is like space bozos: hot suns and hot weapons. Truly the most shenanigans-heavy season we’ve ever done. Coming into CalamityIt is an awful tragedy. However, the commonality there was wanting to honor something.”

Exandria’s expansiveness has been developing across seven years of campaigns, animated shows, comic books, and novels, a daunting task for anyone to step into. “If you stacked up all nine Star Wars movies, that’s about a month and a half of Critical Role. Exandria is so rich, engaging, beautiful and it’s had so much love poured into it,” he elaborates on the tall order ahead of him. “There’s this potluck mentality of, What is it I can bring that we haven’t gotten to do here yet?”

Mulligan has to thank Critical Role’s creative staff, including Marisha Ray as creative director, Dani Carr as lore keeper, and Kyle Shire as producer, for helping him realize his goals. “I really could not have been set up for more success from the creative side of the team,” he says. “Matt [was] incredibly gracious in terms of helping define this time period.”

The show’s setting of the tone was a challenge, he says. Because it took place in an unexplored time period, it had to have the feel of the past but still be relevant for today’s player characters. “There’s that Arthur C. Clarke quote about magic and technology at a certain point being indistinguishable from each other,” he says. “Without giving spoilers, people will see some similarities that exist between our world and the Age of Arcanum in terms of an accessibility of magic that is so promulgated that it just seeps into the workings of everyday life in a way that is not present in current day Exandria. That is something that was truly lost.”

Photo: Michael Schmidt

Mulligan also credits the show’s cast — Luis Carazo, Aabria Iyengar, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, and Lou Wilson — with their deep commitment to the tragedy and finding moments of levity in that of loss. “It’s like that old Ginger Rogers quote. All of those six people are playing a D&D campaign backwards in high heels. They’re playing knowing that the calamity is coming, and the level of trust for me as a GM [and] for the other players at the table is just off the charts,” he grins. “I really can’t wait for people to see a master class in a type of D&D that nobody has practice playing. How many campaigns are you set to enact not only your own demise, but the demise of your civilization?”

Exandria Unlimited: CalamityTwitch, YouTube and YouTube will broadcast the program Thursdays at 7 pm PDT starting May 26. The video-on demand version arrives Mondays on YouTube. To receive the content quicker, subscriptions can also be purchased. Critical Role’s Campaign 3 will resume on June 30. Dimension 20Dropout’s new season returns on Wednesday, June 8 at 4 pm PDT.