I was a psychology major in college, and anything involving the brain is an automatic watch for me. Throw in a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), and I am all in! I am admittedly late to the party; however, now that I am caught up on Mentopolis, I am excited to give my take on this Dimension 20 side quest. Without further ado, let us get into it.
Mentopolis‘s Cast
What would a TTRPG be without the players? Below is a list of the Prefrontal PIs, their characters, and their race or brain space.
| Player | Character | Race |
| Brennan Lee Mulligan | Game Master | N/A |
| Hank Green | The Fix | Hyperfixation |
| Siobhan Thompson | Imelda Pulse | Impulse |
| Freddie Wong | Daniel Fucks | Pleasure |
| Danielle Radford | Anastasia Tension | Attention |
| Mike Trapp | Detective Hunch Curio | Curiosity |
| Alex Song-Xia | Conrad Schintz | Conscience |
The Story of Mentopolis
The city of Mentopolis reminds me of my hometown of Las Vegas, back when it was still full of mobsters and noir detectives. While this may resemble many cities we viewers have grown accustomed to, this one is slightly different. Our players make up the mind of Elias Hodge, a Junior Researcher at Gobstopper Industries. After a murder, our Prefrontal PIs must solve the case before devastating consequences occur. Will our gumshoes put together all the pieces? Or will this become an unsolved case?
Thoughts on Mentopolis
I had a blast watching these players embody their characters. Trapp and Green both seemed to be in their elements this season. The Fix had some fabulous monologues with fun facts that amazed me. I also felt that Wong and Song-Xia played up their parts of the brain well. Daniel Fucks was a delightfully devilish character, and watching Conrad Schintz come into their own was beautifully done. Additionally, Thompson and Radford are always a delight to watch, and having them both at the table had me giddy. Overall, these players killed it, making this psychology major proud.
I also appreciated using Hunters Entertainment’s “Kids on Bikes” RPG System. D&D 5E is a fine system. It is the one I use at my table. However, Dimension 20 is unafraid to use other games to tell their stories. This is a great way to bring people intimidated by D&D 5E to try TTRPGs, which I may need to try in the future. Ultimately, I had so much fun with this game and am excited to see the next side quest.
Odds & Ends
If you want to watch Mentopolis, the first episode is available on YouTube. The rest of the season, six episodes in total, is available on Dropout. Another fun side quest I recommend is Starstruck Odyssey, which I wrote about here if you want more TTRPG shenanigans.
