High school is a time full of operatic highs and dramatic lows. Kids spend their time taking their first shaky steps into adulthood. Now imagine the challenges of the high school experience mixed in with the challenges of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
That’s the premise of Fantasy High, an actual play that began as a College Humor show that now returns to Dropout this month. Fans of media like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Teen Titans and other shows that mix teenage drama and supernatural intrigue will find a lot to love. Brennan Lee Mulligan, Dungeon Master of Fantasy High and a central figure in Dimension20’s ascension as an actual play phenomenon, is one of the first people to talk about how D&D has grown in unexpected ways.
“I’ve been playing the game since I was ten years old,” said Mulligan, “There were these incredible people, these writers and designers, who were making the game. But now there’s also a whole industry of people who play the game. I don’t mean just actual play, I mean convention people, live shows, dice makers, supplementary content makers and indie TTRPG makers. It’s an exciting time for the hobby.”
Fantasy High began in 2018 as a story that honored 80’s high school coming of age stories. The Bad Kids, as they are called by fans, stumble through adventures at Aguefort Adventuring Academy. Not only have the heroes grown since then but so has the field of actual play.
“The memory of the internet is very short,” said Mulligan. “Talking about Critical Role, Dimension20 and The Adventure Zone. You can already feel fans collapsing these shows into being contemporaries. Critical Role was already very established when I was pitching Dimension20 to College Humor.”
The show was one of the first success stories for the imprint. Mulligan created Fantasy High because it tapped into the broad elements that make creating a D&D world part of the fun. Not only does the Dungeon Master decide what’s included, they also decide how things like magic work.
“Fantasy High started in a world that got to use the everything including the kitchen sink mentality of Dungeons & Dragons,” said Mulligan. “If you think about the D&D world, it’s like a cosmological everything bagel. Here’s angels! And demons! And faeries! And giants! And a bunch of stuff that’s like a weird Gary Gygax fever dream. It gets to tap into that play space but it’s also a coming of age story.”
Mulligan has made a name for himself as one of the most famous Dungeon Masters in the world. He’s been at the center of Dimension20 programming for years as well as stengthening the bonds between other shows as a guest star. But the idea of coming back to Fantasy High has been with him for years and the time seemed right for a return.
“I don’t experience the eureka-like lightbulb moment of inspiration,” said Mulligan. “My idea of creative inspiration is an idea starts haunting you. It keeps coming back to the point where I have to do this to get it out of my system. We said afte the end of Sophomore Year we’re going to give this world a nice long rest. We made a pact that we will only come back here when it was time to do so. About a year ago, I told everyone ‘I’ve been having ideas about the setting’ and a bunch of people said ‘Yeah, I’ve been thinking about my character too.’ I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
Dimension 20: Fantasy High Junior Year premieres on Dropout.tv on Wednesday, January 10th, 2024, at 7pm ET / 4pm PT. Episodes will air every Wednesday.
