With over twenty seasons to its name,Dimension 20’svaried and hilarious seasons have helped make DropOut one of the best streamers available. Dimension 20 is similar to other actual play shows likeCritical Role, where the cast of talented performers improvise their way through a massive story bolstered byTTRPGs likeDungeons & DragonsandKids on Bikes. However, whereasCritical Rolecampaigns can last over a hundred episodes,Dimension 20frequently hops between casts and settings for shorter seasons that range between 4 and 20 episodes. Trying to figure out which seasons are the best can be deceptively tricky.
Make no mistake, each of the show’s over twenty seasons have their own strengths.The nature-focused “Burrow’s End” and “Mice & Murder,” the noir-styleInside Outworld of “Mentopolis,” the monster college of “Shriek Week,” and “Tiny Heist’s” fairy-folk heist are all strong solo-season stories, and the various other seasons and spin-offs of the ranked shows also hilarious and affecting. Despite that overall strength of the show as a whole, some seasons are just pound-for-pound more compelling, dramatic, and hilarious than the rest. These are the top fifteen seasons of Dimension 20, ranked.
Dimension 20 Beginners Guide: Where To Start & What You Need To Know
Here’s everything you need to know about Dimension 20, the actual play series on Dimension 20 that turns D&D into a hilarious comedy anthology.
15Shriek Week
Season 12
Dimension 20is so beloved among the many TTRPG shows out there due to how unique the settings of many of its campaigns are, and season 12, Shriek Week, is one of the best examples of this. DM’d by Gabe Hicks, Shriek Week had a reduced group with only four players due to COVID-19 restrictions, though this ended up creating a more intimate viewing experience compared to some other seasons with a larger group.
Lily Du
Tuti IV
Shriek Week was also the first season of Dimension 20 not to include Brennan Lee mulligan in any capacity (and only the second to have a guest DM). Shriek Week is set at Bram University, a school where monsters can enroll and learn about humanity with a goal to integrate better into human society.
Shriek Week was full of many nods and cameos from monsters of real-life myths and legends. Legendary horror author Bram Stoker founded Bram University alongside Dracula, for example.This spooky flavor combined with veteran cast members Ally Bearsley, Dani Fernandez, Ify Nwadiwe, and Lily Du led to the four-episode season being one of the best bingeable short-watches inDimension 20history.
14Tiny Heist
Season 5
Season 5, Tiny Heist, was thesecondDimension 20side quest, and like Shriek Week, it stands out primarily due to its incredibly innovative setting. Tiny Heist involves the players taking on characters of an extremely minuscule size, like fairies, bugs, and even living toys.The general idea is more-or-lessHoney, I Shrunk The Kids,though with a heist adventure thrown into the concept.
Travis McElroy
Car-Go Jones
To make this combination of heist adventure and shrinking story even more hilarious, the group’s goal is to find and steal a roll of quarters. The various boards and maps add to the flavor, and still serve as some of the best examples ofDimension 20using these elements of TTRPG’s to enhance the viewing experience.
Tiny Heist takes inspiration from a variety of sources alongside the simple idea of adventuring as tiny characters in the modern world. Many aspects are clear nods to existing movies, shows, and games, such as the talking toys being reminiscent ofToy Story.Brennan Lee Mulligan leads as the DM, which (as fans ofDimension 20know), more-or-less guarantees it will be a satisfying adventure to watch throughout.Adding to the hilarity is the presence of four of the McElroy brothers, whose natural chemistry with one-another leads to many laugh-out-loud moments.
13Mice & Murder
Season 9
Mice & Murder, the 9th season ofDimension 20, stands out for several reasons, though a key one is that it was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, meaning that all 10 episodes only have the players appearing remotely. While this definitely detracts from Mice & Murder compared to the many seasons ofDimension 20where the cast appears in-person, it does add something endearing for many viewers too.
Grant O’Brien
Detective Sylvester Cross
Lockdowns and other restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed many to discover TTRPG’s likeDungeons and Dragonsfor the first time, playing with one-another on video messaging platforms like Zoom, Teams, and Discord. This has given Mice & Murder something of a nostalgia factor for manyDimension 20fans, as it brings back memories of similar gaming experiences they also had during the pandemic.
Most of the cast of Mice & Murder were newcomers toDungeons and Dragons,which also led to some hilarious moments. The setting is especially interesting too, as it’s set in the 1905 of an alternate universe where the earth is inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.Throw in a muder mystery where the party have to solve a murder at Squire Badger’s 60th birthday party, and Mice & Murder makes for a unique and charmingDimension 20season, even if most fans don’t consider it the best.
12The Seven
Season 11
For fans of Disney princesses, The Seven is likely the best season ofDimension 20,as the side quest has a great deal of fun lambasting the various tropes of the leading ladies of classic Disney movies — as well as a healthy amount of parodying teen movies and the high school experience in general. The Seven takes place in the Fantasy High setting from the first everDimension 20campaign, though it focuses specifically on the characters of The Maidens.
Persephone Valentine
Sam Nightingale
The adventuring party in The Seven were all female players, which added to the hilarity as each was able to draw on their own personal experiences in high-school.While thisDimension 20season may not be the most serious (even by the standards tongue-in-cheek approach toDungeons & Dragonsthat makes the entire show so popular), its 10 episodes manage to be laugh-out-loud funny without sacrificing a cohesive narrative.
The Seven was the second season to be filmed in-person with all cast members present after the COVID-19 pandemic, though with some restrictions still in place there remains a notable absence of group shots. This season was also notable for making use of 3D virtual maps to represent the action taking place, rather than real maps on the table or 2D representations.
11A Crown Of Candy
Season 13
The third Intrepid Heroes campaign fromDimension 20was season 6 of the show overall, and it featured one of the most innovative settings for aDungeons & Dragonsadventure so far. A Crown of Candy took place in the world of Calorum, a world where each kingdom represents a different food group in the nutritional pyramid. These includes Candia, land of sugards, Vegetania and Fructera for vegetables and fruits, and even The Dairy Islands.
Brian Murphy
Sir Theobald Gumbar
A Crown of Candy is one of theDimension 20seasons that epitomizes what makes the show so popular. Despite the map and general aesthetic making it seem as though the adventure takes place somewhere not dissimilar from the Candy Kingdom inAdventure Time,A Crown of Candy manages to perfectly balance bomastic weirdness with solid fantasy roleplaying and epic adventure.
Surprisingly too given the bubblegum aesthetic of the maps and set pieces, A Crown of Candy was also one of the deadliestDimension 20campaigns as far as the player characters are concerned. Every player had to create a backup character just in case (though only two ended up being used). All in all, A Crown of Candy remains one of the most unique seasons of the show, and it would likely rank higher were it not for later returns to the world of Calorum doing the setting even more justice.
10Coffin Run
Season 14
DM’ed by Jasmine Bhullar ofDesiQuest, “Coffin Run” isone of the most consistently silly seasons of Dimension 20, with a cast of oddballs that stand out even from the rest of the show’s vast roster of characters. “Coffin Run” focuses on the allies of Count Dracula as they work to protect the wounded Count from several threats.
Isabella Roland
Dr. Aleksandr “Sasha” Astrovsky
Getting to play the Fang Gang as a bunch of openly evil vampires gives the show a unique comic edge even when compared to something like “Escape from the Bloodkeep”.Zac Oyama’s Squing is one of Dimension 20’s most bizarre and funny creations,an ancient vampire with the body and maturity of a child.
The rest of the cast is equally solid, with May, Sasha, and Wetzel each bringing unique energy to the season. Bhullar also matches their skills well, particularly with her surprisingly effective wildcard Florina. An orphan the Fang Gang encounters, Florina and her multi-pronged presentations about why they should hire herhighlight the relentless comic energy that propels “Coffin Run.”
9Escape From The Bloodkeep
Season 2
A breakneck pace full of unexpected lethal turnshelps keep the hilarious “Escape from the Bloodkeep” on track. The first of Dimension 20’s “Side Quest” seasons that typically work as stand-alone stories, “Escape from the Bloodkeep” focuses on the six lieutenants of Zaul’nazh, a riff on Sauron fromThe Lord of the Rings.
Amy Vorphal
Efink Murderdeath
After he’s suddenly destroyed thanks to the machinations of the Forces of Light,it falls to Efink, Sokhbarr, Lillith, Markus, Leiland, and Maggie to restore him and hold back the forces of light. The high stakes of the season are established early, with a number of shocking turns in the first battle turning the Tolkien parody into a bloodbath.
What elevates the season is the core cast and their interplay with Mulligan. The manic Avanash and dim-witted Percival are both hilarious NPCs on their own, but it’s the cheery halfling Galfast Hamhead and her unexpected rivalry with Matthew Mercer’s Leiland that stands out asone of Dimension 20’s single best comedy duos.
8The Ravening War
Season 17
The prequel to the previous season “A Crown of Candy,““The Ravening War’s” tight focus helps keep the sprawling fantasy epic grounded. Both stories are set in the land of Calorum, a take on Candyland imagery with aGame of Thronestone. While “A Crown of Candy” focuses on a power struggle for the throne centered around House Rocks and their allies.
Lou Wilson
Thane Delissandro Katzon
“The Ravening War is set years before and reveals how a massive conspiracy set the stage for the events that occurred in “A Crown of Candy”.The only season of Dimension 20 so far DM’ed byCritical Role’s Matthew Mercer,“The Ravening War” benefits from a tight character focus.
While the prior season set in Calorum established the massive world, the sheer scale of the cast could make things tricky to follow. By contrast,“The Ravening War” has a compelling cast of five central characterswho find their morals tested by promises of power and purpose that nevertheless remains hilarious. Already a renowned DM, Mercer fits perfectly intoDimension 20’s silly and loose approach to epic storytelling.
7The Unsleeping City (Chapter II)
Season 8
Set in a mystical version of New York City, “The Unsleeping City” is a two-part series that focuses on six unexpected heroes who become known as the Dream Team.Plug, Sofia, Ricky, Kingston, Kugrash, and Mistyfind themselves tying to establish peace between the material and the sleeping worlds.
Kingston Brown
Ethereal and grounded at the same time,“The Unsleeping City” represents some of the most expansive and exciting world-buildingin all of Dimension 20. Season 1 is honestly just as strong as the second season and does great work building up the setting. However, characters like Cody Walsh and villains like Nullelevate season 2 to new comic and supernatural heights.
Even being filmed during the height of the pandemic (forcing the season to be largely conducted remotely) couldn’t bring down the energy for an exciting season.The Unsleeping Citywill return with a live show in Madison Square Garden,which could build off the events of the previous seasons and potentially push the world forward in unexpected ways.
6Misfits and Magic
Season 10
The first campaign DM’ed by Aabria Iyengar,“Misfits and Magic” is one of the best parodies ofHarry Potterout there, with a keen sense of commentary on the source material that never loses sight of the characters. Taking place at a magical academy in Britain, “Misfits and Magic” focuses on a pilot program to bring four American magic-users — Jammer, Dream, Sam, and Evan — to the school as older teenagers.
Misfits and Magic Cast
Whitney Jammer
A decidedly meta-take on the premise, the four teens are largely aware of real-life pop culture likeHarry Potter, setting up an effortlessly funny back-and-forth between Aabria and the cast.Dream and Sam are uniquely specific and universally silly teens,and Jammer is one of the best examples of Dimension 20’s surprising gallery of well-meaning goofballs.
Evan is the highlight though, a reluctant and exhausted “dark one” who just wants to be left alone. One of a handful of times Mulligan has been a member of the cast of a season, hisEvan is simultaneously one of the show’s most tragic and silly characters.
