Dimension 20: A Crown of Candy is Incredible and You Should Watch It!

Author’s Note: This piece was originally published in April 2020. It's been edited and republished. In addition, this piece will contain spoilers for the first episode of Dimension 20: A Crown of Candy.

Last week on Wednesday evening (US time), A new season of Dimension 20 premiered on Dropout. This season is called A Crown of Candy, and its main idea is Game of Thrones meets Candyland. Now, if you’re like me, you absolutely love a good story. I have watched every other season of Dimension 20 to date and Brennan — The Dungeon Master — always delivered such great stories. I went into this episode knowing this time wouldn’t be any different.

Imagine my surprise when Brennan blew my mind away.

In this piece, I will go over the cast members’ characters and some personal thoughts about the show. I’ll give some predictions, too! The episodes air weekly on Dropout so if you wanna catch the episode before reading this article, be my guest.

Ruby Rocks — Siobhan Thompson’s Character

Ruby wants to be in the circus. That’s one of the main things you learn about her from the first two minutes of her introduction. She’s also one half of the Rocks twins, the other being Jet, whom we will talk about in the next section.

From what I gather, Ruby is a rogue and pretty chaotic. She always runs off with her sister and doesn’t attend lectures with Lapin, the chancellor. I love that Siobhan’s portrayal of this character shows how much fun this is for her. This isn’t the grandiose Misty Moore from The Unsleeping City, nor is it the anxious Adaine Abernant from Fantasy High. This is Ruby Rocks, and Ruby truly rocks. She’s fun and funny. She doesn’t want to be in the castle and bear crown responsibilities. She’s actually happy that Jet came out first from their mother’s womb because it means she will never be queen.

But this is the first episode, and I foresee many struggles and character development for Ruby. The end of the first episode — where she presumably dies — is a testament to the danger lurking in the world.

Jet Rocks — Emily Axford’s Character

I think that Jet Rocks will get along very well with Fig, Emily’s character from Fantasy High. They are both chaotic in a way and determined to fight. Jet is also bored with lectures. Instead of forfeiting positions of power like her twin sister, she wants a masculine position — head of the army.

In a way, there is something very Arya-like about Jet, but I don’t know if that was intentional on Emily’s part.

In the first episode, we discover that Jet receives a missive from an acquaintance in Comida. Remember King’s Landing? So Comida is the city where the emperor of all of the six nations in Calorum rules. Comida is this world's King's Landing. The fact that it doesn’t cross her mind that this could be bad speaks volumes about Jet’s future in this show. She’s impulsive, fun, reckless, and going to step into so many traps.

Granted, this is Emily Axford we’re talking about. In addition to the above, I also foresee some great shenanigans and creative moves coming from her.

I don’t know what will happen next, but it seems Jet and Ruby will be in the thick of it. Both she and her sister are children-turned-adults — meaning 18 — on the day of the first episode. I expect great things to come from both rogue sisters.

Amethar Rocks — Lou Wilson’s Character

Lou has always been one of my favorite cast members. I love all of them, but there’s a special place in my heart for anything Lou does. I loved Fabian, I adored Kingston, and I’m fond of Amethar as well.

Watching Brennan and Lou improvise a married couple is one of the highlights of this episode for me. Lou’s character, Amethar, perfectly represents a medieval king. He’s illiterate, impulsive, and tactless. But he has a golden heart, just like Robert Baratheon. He loves his girls more than anything, and he doesn’t want to be king.

Lou plays a barbarian this season which means we might see him go into a rage a lot. Until now, Lou played a Fighter, a Bard in Fantasy High, and a Cleric in The Unsleeping City. A barbarian is a new experience this season, and I’m excited to see where Lou takes this character!

The story moves forward when Amethar receives a letter inviting him personally by the emperor, to attend an event in Comida. The queen speculates that the emperor will name him as his heir there. This turn of events prompts the party to travel to Comida, albeit reluctantly on Amethar’s part. He didn’t want to be a king, and he didn’t want to be an emperor, either. I wonder how that will play out for him.

Liam Wilhelmina — Ally Beardsley’s Character

This season Ally chose to play a young boy who is given as a ward to the House of Rocks. He’s not a prisoner though it’s portrayed as though this is how he feels. It’s a little like Theon Greyjoy from Game of Thrones. The difference is that Liam keeps his identity and does not trust anyone in Castle Candy.

Things start to heat up when Liam receives a secret missive from his brothers that asks him to kill the king. If he refuses, he will get a beating like never before. This interaction gives some clues about a possible abusive childhood on Liam’s part, and I would love to see this played out. Ally portrays him as defensive and distrusting of others while also being a chill and helpful guy.

It seems so far that Liam and Theobald have a special connection. He respects Theo and goes to great lengths to make sure Theo knows he wasn’t trying to get away when he left to wander in the forest.

In addition to an interesting personality, Liam is a druid with a pig companion called Preston. That pig is genuinely one of the cutest creatures ever! Preston is so cute that at some point, Brennan turns straight to the camera and says, “If I kill Preston, you’re not allowed to be mad at me.” To which Siobhan answers, “If you kill Preston, we are all leaving this set.” And if that’s what the cast themselves are saying, I wonder how the fan reaction to Preston will be.

Overall, it seems to me that Liam is harboring many secrets. He will have to learn to trust the company. Also, it’s not clear yet what the relationship between him and anyone other than Theo is. Theo seems to care about Liam, and Liam reciprocates that.

Sir Theobald Gumbar — Brian Murphy’s Character

You probably noticed there’s a trend in this article to compare the PCs to characters from Game of Thrones. Well, you’re not wrong! If there’s one GoT character I would use to describe Theo, it would be Eddard Stark. You know what? I would even take Rodrik Cassel or even Jorah Mormont as a replacement.

Theo is a great companion to have. He cares about the company. In terms of D&D alignments, I think he’s the only actual Lawful good in this campaign. Liam is a druid, so he is probably neutral good. The Rocks twins are definitely chaotic good. Their father approves of their deeds, so probably chaotic good as well. Lapin seems indifferent about all of it. So probably Lawful Neutral (he did mend the broken glass at the behest of the fairy. I’m undecided about him until the next episode)

In any case, Theo will do his duty to protect the Rocks twins and his king. He’s the captain of the guard for the Rocks family.

Also, I think this is the first time we see an eldritch knight in the game, and I’m super curious about where Murph will take the character!

Fun fact: Theo is a gummy bear.

Chancellor Lapin Cadbury — Zac Oyama’s Character

Lapin is one bitter character. He’s supposed to be a chocolate bunny, so I’m unsure what happened along the way. I think that Zac’s characters were always these cool dudes. Gorgug from Fantasy High had such a charming journey finding his dad and getting rid of his shyness and low self-esteem. Ricky Matsui was a firefighter in New York. If that’s not the most lawful good you can get, I don’t know what is.

Now though, Lapin is an abrupt divergence from the ‘good’ path for Zac. Lapin is also kind of insufferable. I think Zac himself is having a ton of fun playing him.

The first episode sees Lapin being outsmarted by the roguish Rocks twins and giving a lecture to scarecrows. There is something very secretive about Lapin. His actions, his demeanor. He seems like the type of person to hold many secrets.

Lapin is also a warlock, so that could probably come in handy. His patron is a celestial, which is going to be very interesting. Celestials are good by nature, so Lapin should have come up with a good reason to have a celestial grant him powers. I have reason to believe that the celestial who somehow grants him powers, or at least connected to it, is the fairy we meet in the first episode. She seems to have Lapin wrapped around her finger.

I’m excited to see where Lapin will go this season. He seems like the kind of character who could do incredible things. We shall see.

The Story and My Predictions

So, After one episode, there isn’t much to say. But I will say how reminiscent of the first season of Game of Thrones that episode was. The emperor sends a private letter in his own writing to Castle Candy asking the king to come to Comida because he is sick. In a similar fashion, In Season One of Game of Thrones (or in the books), Eddard receives a missive about Jon Aaryn’s death and that the king is journeying north. When the king finally arrives, he asks Eddard in person to come to be his hand in King’s Landing.

Now, as opposed to Eddard’s naivety, our players can role for Insight, investigation, and charisma to make events go how they want them to. Especially the naughty Rocks twins. So, I don’t expect the party to die because of innocence. But, I do expect the concord to shatter, for the current emperor to die, and there will be war instead of the title going to The King of Candia.

I could be totally wrong, but I just don’t see the conflict in giving the title to Amethar. I also don’t expect a Game of Thrones-like show to play out without knives in the dark. Someone in the NPCs could be a traitor.

That’s all good, but I’m thinking far into the future. You should definitely watch this show! Every Wednesday on Dropout!

Thanks for reading! If you want to watch the first episode of A Crown of Candy, you can find it on YouTube: