In the first episode of Fantasy High, there’s a fight between the heroes of the story, a group of high school misfits and loners called The Bad Kids and a possessed lunch lady and her swarm of creamed-corn demons. Despite being fearsome enemies, the corn demons are quickly dubbed “corn cuties”. It’s both a very funny set-up and illustrative of the weird blend of genres that Fantasy High tells its stories in ’80s John Hughes coming-of-age films and classic Dungeons and Dragons high fantasy. Imagine the exact same plot as The Breakfast Club, but at some point, they have to kill a dragon.
Fantasy High was the first campaign story from Dimension 20, with the first season coming out over five years ago. Since its debut, Dimension 20, a tabletop role-playing game show produced by Dropout and generally hosted by comedian Brennan Lee Mulligan, has exploded in popularity. The show has over 20 seasons, with each taking place in a different type of fantasy world, such as a magic New York in The Unsleeping City, a food-based Game of Thrones drama in A Crown of Candy, a sci-fi adventure in A Starstruck Odyssey and many more.
I believe it’s the perfect blend of entertainment – it has the gameplay structure of Dungeons and Dragons rules, a commitment to storytelling and fantasy that I love, but also a deep comedic sensibility that comes from the cast members being accomplished comedians and improvisers and comedic actors. But with so many seasons, it can be intimidating to work out where to start – which is why, with the third season of Fantasy High out now, it’s the perfect place to start.
“Are you my dad?”
In Fantasy High, we’re introduced to Aguefort Academy, a school for adventurers. In D&D, adventurers are seemingly more common than farmers, so it’s an understandable reference. Agueforts is a kind of blend of Hollywood’s depictions of American high schools, with all the tropes and cliques of cheerleaders and football stars and popular kids and the wonder and insanity of magic schools like you’d find in The Worst Witch or Wizard of Earthsea books. These recognisable tropes provide both the setting and a lot of the humour, with even the principal, Professor Aguefort, depicted as an even more psychotic Dumbledore on meth.
The Bad Kids, as they come to be known, are a group of weirdos and nerds and misfits who are thrown together on their first day at the school. Each character fits into the tropes of these kinds of classic high school narratives – a highly strung type-A kid (who is a wizard), a rebellious musician (whose dad is a demon), a fedora-wearing goblin nerd, a rich jock-pirate… And while all these tropes are definitely played for comedic effect, there’s also an incredible commitment to roleplay, to consistency with these characters, that transforms the story from merely a collection of jokes into a proper and exciting drama. They haven’t just chosen to set this in a high school – they are committed to exploring all the horror and beauty of being a teen, and they honour that coming-of-age narrative.
Real issues that matter to teens are explored through the story – Kristen Applebees, played by Ally Beardsley, for example, navigates coming from a highly religious family and having that very teenage crisis of faith (in the corn god, Helio). Both Kristen and Fig explore sexuality and coming out. Gorgug Thistlespring, a half-orc with gnomish parents, deals with being adopted – with his search for his real dad one of the funniest recurring gags with emotional payoffs.
Oh, and they play it HORNY, too, just like real teens. Multiple episodes are derailed by the character’s various quests to “get their kisses in”. Much like with real high school, their interests and desires change – in the second season, Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, more focus is put on dating, and there are several very funny party scenes. We can only assume that the story will mature again in Fantasy High: Junior Year (which is, apparently, in the American system, when people are around 16?).
This is of course, all fitted in around the fantasy plots – missing girls, evil school teachers, dragons and demons, a quest for the nightmare kings crown, the horror of the evil Night Yorb – which has deep and beautiful world building to satisfy even the most fervent fantasy nerd.
“I’m a little shrimp”
Fantasy High is also, in my opinion, the most consistently funny of all the Dimension 20 shows – which makes it an incredibly rewarding introduction. Every cast member is incredibly funny in themselves, and are trained and proficient in the kind of improvised comedy that this method of storytelling needs.
Because of this, they’re willing to hold on to beautifully hilarious bits, which recur throughout the seasons. Brennan Lee Mulligan as games master navigates making the NPCs (non-player characters) rich and realistic with also being insane and hilarious – a great example of this is Gilear, Fig’s step-father, a fantasy world version of the most divorced dad in the world, a sad half-elf clown who eats yoghurt and spends entire episode arcs stuck in the wheel of a van, or with his penis trapped in a suit of armour, or dead.
Because it’s improvised, they can find themselves in the strangest of situations – the cast know when to commit, and Brennan knows when to give them just enough rope. One of my favourite bits, completely divorced from the main plot, is when a character disguises herself as a “very old lady” named Hilda Hilda who keeps skateboarding away after kissing people.
I also love Fantasy High, especially the first season, because there’s a lot of unintended chaos – everyone is learning the ropes of how this show works and, in many cases, learning how to play Dungeons and Dragons for the first time. Ally, in particular, is very funny with this, confidently attempting spells or actions that just have no basis in the rules. It’s very relatable if you’re also new to the system or the style of play – as they learn, so do you. In the very first fight in the first episode, as they try to beat a bunch of tiny corn demons – a pretty classic entry-level D&D fight, the characters continually try to jump on top of the cafeteria tables and continually fail their dice rolls, meaning they get their asses handed to them.
It’s chaos, it’s hilarious, leading to Brennan saying, “I hope I haven’t done something as a Dungeon Master that makes you think you HAVE to jump on tables?”
The first episode of Fantasy High: Junior Year is out now, dropping weekly on the Dropout app or YouTube.
–
Patrick Lenton is a freelance writer and author living in Melbourne. He writes the newsletter All The Heterosexual Nonsense.
Image: Dropout
Leave a Reply