Top 10 canonically queer Dimension 20 characters
Nerd culture was never the same once Dimension 20 premiered back in 2018. While it definitely wasn’t the first TTRPG show to take the internet by storm (thank you Critical Role), never before had viewers seen such a perfect balance of improv-driven comedy, a clear appreciation for the mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons, and queer character representation!
Yet even beyond its intriguing plots and fight scenes, what has so many people coming back to Dimension 20 is the series’ diversity — namely, how thoroughly, bombastically queer every single season loves to be.
Every instalment of this hit series brings new LGBTQ+ characters for audiences to fall in love with. Let’s count down the top ten canonically queer Dimension 20 characters now and appreciate not only the players who make them possible, but the way each one is making the TTRPG space that much more inclusive for queer nerds today.
10. Timothy Goose
Neverafter
Played by Ally Beardsley
Starting off the list is everyone’s favorite gay dad, Timothy Goose from D20’s horror season, Neverafter. The ‘straight’ man to this party of deranged fairytale characters, Timothy is constantly defending their youngest members and offering fatherly advice when people need it most. And with a storyline focused not only on keeping his estranged husband safe but searching multiple worlds for his adopted son, Mr. Goose cements himself as not only one of this franchise’s best queer characters, but one of the best portrayals of LGBTQ+ parenting in the media today.
9. Kraz-Thun/Leiland
Escape From The Bloodkeep
Played by Matthew Mercer
If there’s one thing queer characters are going to do, it’s yearn! Escape From The Bloodkeep focuses on a group of villains left scrambling after their leader, the Lord of Shadows, is suddenly put into peril. One of these villains is Leiland, a loverlorn hexblade warlock who pours all his affection into a man — the Lord himself — who loves nothing more than to string him along. This season has Leiland realize that he deserves more than life as a romantic doormat, eventually rejecting his one-sided crush and becoming best friends with the Lord of Shadow’s girlfriend. It’s a heartening end of the dastardly character, and it shows that beyond any romance, oftentimes the most important relationships for gay men are with the supportive women in their lives.
8. Sam Nightingale
Fantasy High / The Seven
Played by Persephone Valentine
Few characters in Dimension 20 are as effortlessly iconic as The Seven’s Sam Nightingale. Played by Persephone Valentine, this sorcerer-bard spends most of her season terrified at the thought of her adventuring party splitting up after high school. Left feeling abandoned post-transition by a transphobic mom and manipulative best friend, viewers watch as Sam opens up about the terror of losing the one group of people who accept her completely. Sam’s portrayal on The Seven exemplifies why found family is so important for young queer kids today, and with the season’s uplifting ending, it shows how the most important relationship a person can have is a love for themself.
7. Ayda Aguefort
Fantasy High: Sophomore Year / Fantasy High: Junior Year
Played by Brennan Lee Mulligan
Introduced in Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, Ayda Aguefort is a half-phoenix wizard who was instantly beloved by D20’s expansive fanbase. Many viewers resonated with her social anxiety and trauma of being abandoned by her father, with her story seeing Ayda not only process these feelings but begin a relationship with player character, Fig Faeth. Her eventual reveal to be on the autism spectrum offers a kind of intersectional representation the mainstream media usually doesn’t offer, making Ayda a fan-favorite not only for her personality, but for how she makes so many viewers feel seen today.
6. Liam Wilhelmina of House Jawbreaker
A Crown of Candy
Played by Ally Beardsley
It’s been amazing to watch asexuality be represented more in movies and TV, with one of the most shockingly impactful portrayals coming from Liam Wilhelmina in D20’s A Crown of Candy. Beginning as a gentle young man, this Game of Thrones-esque setting quickly sees the ranger grow into a hardened ‘war guy’ ready to defend his party from any threat imaginable (even a sentient gingerbread man). This transformation comes with a newfound confidence for Liam, with the character eventually opening about his asexuality to those around him and providing the kind of casual coming out moment that many LGBTQ+ viewers dream of!
5. K Tanaka
Misfits and Magic, Misfits and Magic Season 2
Played by Erika Ishii
Who hasn’t had an emo phase? Played by Erika Ishii, xXBrokenDreamXx entered Misfits and Magic proclaiming themself as the edgiest, most fanfiction-obsessed spellcaster that this season’s magic school wasn’t ready for. She quickly finds his hatred for femininity and love for all things emo challenged by their uplifting adventuring party, a group who makes it clear that no matter what they like, xXBrokenDreamXx will be accepted just the way they are. It’s this acceptance that allows them to truly find herself throughout the seasons, eventually choosing the name K and realizing her genderfluidity with the help of these supportive friends.
4. Delloso de la Rue
A Crown of Fae and Flowers
Played by Oscar Montoya
At first glance, Delloso de la Rue from A Crown of Fae and Flowers represents a harmful stereotype; mainstream media has historically portrayed non-binary people as inhuman, with characters who use they/them pronouns often being alien or monstrous in some way. And as a non-human character — first presenting as an oceanic elf and then as an owlbear — Delloso seems like another addition to this harmful practice…but then they begin to speak. And viewers learn the intentionality behind this presentation, how by playing on the setting’s magic, Oscar Montoya showed how openly non-binary folks often feel pressured into presenting in a ‘digestible’ way for society. This circumvents the stereotypes Delloso could have easily fallen into, and it offers an exploration of the non-binary identity that more viewers need to hear today.
3. Kristen Applebees
Fantasy High, Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, Fantasy High: Junior Year
Played by Ally Beardsley
The first canonically queer character in all of Dimension 20, Ally Beardsley’s portrayal of Kristen Applebees set a precedent that has stayed with the series almost a decade later. This character’s journey of unlearning her hyper-religious childhood and embracing her queer identity is an arc that many LGBTQ+ viewers will know well. And with Ally’s portrayal of the awkward moments that coming out brings — particularly the heartwrenching experience of admitting that you have a crush — Kristen offered TTRPGs one of the most relatable queer storylines the medium has ever seen. All of the characters of this list owe Kristen a debt of gratitude, as it’s her popularity on Dimension 20 that encouraged all liveplay shows to create characters as proudly queer as her!
2. Pete ‘the Plug’ Conlan
The Unsleeping City, The Unsleeping City: Chapter 2
Played by Ally Beardsley
Not many performers can balance hilarity with heart like Ally Beardsley, and no character shows this prowess more than Pete ‘the Plug’ Conlan. When we begin The Unsleeping City, he’s at the end of his rope; still healing from top surgery and hiding from his transphobic family, the young drug dealer is struggling with all of this plus his own addictions — only to discover that he’s the ultra-powerful voice of New York’s magical underbelly. Aided by the second season’s in-depth portrayal of recovery, The Unsleeping City’s juggles Pete’s experience as a mystical powerhouse and a queer person trying to keep themselves afloat with well-deserved nuance. It creates one of this franchise’s most endearing characters, and the story of a queer person facing their demons that many viewers will resonate with today.
1. The Entire Cast of Dungeons and Drag Queens
Dungeons and Drag Queens Season 1, Dungeons and Drag Queens Season 2
Played by Alaska Thunderf*ck, Bob the Drag Queen, Jujubee, Monét X Change
Was there ever any question that this group would take first place? While every season of Dimension 20 has LGBTQ+ characters, none have been as death-droppingly LGBTQ+ as the cast of Dungeons and Drag Queens. Made up of drag royalty — Monét X Change, Bob the Drag Queen, Jujubee, and Alaska Thunderfuck — this series is the queerest of all D20 not only because of its characters, but the topics they tackle in each episode. These installments explore themes of found family and societal discrimination, with their villains acting as metaphors for the harmful social mechanisms that continue to hold our communities back today. Filled with all of this narrative nuance and decked out in the fiercest drag you can imagine, this cast is at the forefront of the fight to make TTRPGs inclusive for all!
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