SHOW REVIEW: DIMENSION 20 - CITY COUNCIL OF DARKNESS Rating: 7/10 Took me a while but I've finally caught up with this, and I have some thoughts! It was incredibly funny, to the point of being unhinged, and it got more funny as the season went on. As a comedic actual play, this is the intrepid heroes at their funniest! This was both a good and bad thing. This is based on Vampire the Masquerade, a system I haven't ever played but from my understanding is supposed to be a little more somber and serious. I understand that this is a comedy show, but they've pulled off a serious tone in the past and I think they could have done that here! Unfortunately, I think most of the players weren't super into the tone of the game and once they started doing bits, there wasn't enough bit management from Brennan and it went off the rails, leading to my second thought. This was structured as a sandbox, but sandboxes require many more sessions than what the cast had to work with. That meant that bits would run, Brennan would honour the bit, and the players end up railroading themselves away from other mysteries towards something funnier. By the final episode, even they acknowledged that it had gotten so silly to the point where their tenuous grasp on VtM rules broke and they started using DnD 5e advantage on some rolls. Also, to get to this ending, Brennan did have to railroad them on the fly. At the end of the day, I don't really think a sandbox this open works for a show with this format, because the narrative felt messy and, by the end, rushed. At least the highlight of this season is the incredible work and effort put into the town of Purpee, down to the small details! It was really a great setting, great cast of NPCs, and a depiction of small town politics which (knowing Brennan) is probably depressingly accurate if you remove the sex rituals. Ultimately, the players are really, really good at comedy. As a comedy this is genuinely hilarious, and there are so many bits that had me SCREAMING, especially whenever Ally said or did literally anything! I just wish they had taken it in a different direction with more episodes and a more structured sandbox, that's all. #Dimension20 #VampireTheMasquerade #CityCouncilofDarkness