Mechanics, murder, and more than a few non sequiturs
The third episode of Never Stop Blowing Up starts in the middle of an assassination attempt on Jack Manhattan. Oddly appropriate timing.
Inside the elevator of the Deluxe Royale hotel, three men have cornered the party in an attempt to eliminate Detective Jack Manhattan on the orders of drug lord Empresario. Paula, the middle aged divorcee trapped in Jack’s body, is not handling it well. She shoots a man in the head, heaving and sobbing. Russell, in the body of cat burglar Jennifer Drips, screams in horror.
These opening minutes of Never Stop Blowing Up’s third episode, “The Deluxe Royale,” foreshadow what is to come over the next two hours. The realities of the violence these video store workers are expected to endure and commit within this alternate universe begin to settle in, and each character’s reaction to their new bodies, and this new world, puts a deconstructivist lens to the action genre. “The Deluxe Royale” also displays the most intricate use of the eponymous system’s mechanics so far, and provides a showcase of how Never Stop Blowing Up simulates and subverts blockbuster action movie narratives. This episode is perhaps one of the most chaotic episodes of Dimension 20 I’ve ever seen, with plot points jumping and shifting rapidly, though they all manage to tie together through the power of improv. I’ll do my best to synthesize it all here for you.
The characters diverge in their responses to dangerous circumstances. Paula, as mentioned, reacts to violence with violence, as does Wendell. Thanks to a few poor rolls from player Ally Beardsley, Russell adjusts poorly to using his new femme body in combat. Dang, as superspy Greg Stocks, is seemingly unphased by the wanton brutality, executing attackers without hesitancy. Russell puts a hand on Dang and says he's "proud of whatever choice [he] makes," while Kingskin’s henchman Doug Meat is shocked at such a blunt use of lethal force. Usha and Liz, pursue a higher road, though both try and fail to convince the attackers to stop fighting.
"The realities of the violence...begin to settle in, and each character’s reaction to their new bodies, and this new world, puts a deconstructivist lens to the action genre."
During the episode, Rekha Shankar develops an incredible bit that, while intended as a joke, reflects the inherently cruel elements of traditional TTRPG combat while disincentivizing non-violent options. Shankar, as Usha (as G13) massages one of the attacker’s necks in an attempt to soothe him. Brennan Lee Mulligan jokingly assigns an improbably high Difficulty Challenge of 16, when Usha’s corresponding skill is only a d4. Shankar then responds, “It's just funny Brennan, ‘cause Ally tried to snap someone's neck, and here I am trying to repair it…” noting how it was more likely for a character to inflict violence than deescalate. While this is intended for comedic effect, it is fascinating to see frustrations play out when a character is committed to being nonviolent (so far) in a world where violence is the norm. Shankar then chooses to have Usha turn off the lights in the elevator, which Dropout’s lighting crew impressively improvises a technical match, as the elevator projection on the dome turns black.
