Some more thoughts about Dungeons and Drag Queens (D20), especially Brennan’s presentation as DM
Brennan spent a large chunk of his life attending or working at a LARP camp. He’s no stranger to dressing up for games. He played a space wizard on Ultramechatron Go. He’s no stranger to dressing up on camera.
But in Dimension 20, he is resolutely Some Guy™️ and honestly it feels like he is doing that to make D&D and other TTRPGs as approachable as possible. You don’t have to go over the top. You don’t have to dress up. You can just be Some Person™️ and let your imagination do the heavy lifting
Which brings us to D&DQ. Brennan is full glam. And people are Horny™️ for it. But I think a lot of people might be missing the point. Doing an all Drag Side Quest is a political statement in America right now. And if Brennan was just Some Guy™️ he could potentially give fuel to folks (who don’t actually know anything about him) to say “look at what the dropout sjws are forcing on this poor cis-het dude”
So Brennan cheerfully dons A Lewk™️. For the first time, Denise the super talented makeup artist gets a crack at his face. And yes, he’s meeting his players where they are. And he’s doing his best to let the spotlight shine on the Queens. But. He’s visible. He’s (intentionally or not) telling the world “If you want to come for them you’ll have to come through me”
Don’t get me wrong, I love the “Brennan hotboi!” takes. And maybe I’m reading too much into it. But I love the feeling that this cis-het white boy got sprayed with glitter, tossed on Eursulon’s pauldron, and said “I got y’all. It’s safe here.”
In a world where it is very much not safe to be trans right now, that means a fucking lot
I love how one half of the d20 tag about d&dq rn is being excited seeing the queens as new players, and the other half is unhinged thirst for brennan lee mulligan
why the FUCK is Jujubee so chaotic and messy in the gameplay and so fucking HEARTFELT and EMOTIONAL in the adventuring parties?????? Not allowed. No way is this allowed.
I'm on episode 2 now and seeing them get so excited to describe their turns is so fucking cool. Monét and her poison arrow headshots and Bob describing Gertrude mustering the bravery to join her new compatriots in battle it's just so goooood I'm so proud of them