My Favourite Twitter Accounts and Other Recommendations

Twitter ain’t what it used to be. Once a fun space with punning hashtag games, TV live commentary, and beautifully dumb gags, in 2025 all of the jokes are stolen and all of the photos are A.I. Thank goodness then for the pure wholesome art of mr. joshua AKA @pants. Their endearing art, usually a black and white singe panel illustration with an occasional splash of colour – is a welcome balm in what can frequently be a disorientating platform.

All too often, Twitter’s algorithm serves me incomprehensible posts about topics I cannot decipher due to a lack of context clues. @pants’ near daily posts provide a respite, injecting a bit of warm-hearted whimsy into the feed. Their distinctive world is one populated predominantly by men with tiny glasses, high foreheads, and tidy moustaches. These earnest fellas commit to their work, whether it’s decorating a gingerbread house or sewing costumes for mice. But these humble Dairy Free Boys also know how to relax, taking time out to paint and dance. I love the artist’s work so much that I bought a couple of prints in their recent sale. The world needs more handmade distinctive art and mr. joshua has personality by the bucketful.

Twitter this year also introduced me to Dropout. This American streamer primarily promotes itself by posting scenes from their shows on socials and by gum, it’s effective. After watching approximately two billion clips, I was sufficiently intrigued enough to subscribe and find out more about these very funny shows.

It turns out that Dropout is an absolute treasure trove of gameshows, comedy formats, and tabletop / board game playthroughs starring some of the funniest improvisers working today. Emerging from the ashes of CollegeHumor, this ever-growing underdog dropped scripted content in favour of looser formats they could film in bulk with a revolving cast of top improv talent. Whereas major networks have struggled to translate this not at all new artform into something fit for broadcast, Dropout settled the question ‘how do you put improv on TV’ with a simple ‘you just film improv’.

Goofy show Make Some Noise is a prompt machine, giving players specific scenarios to act out solo, in pairs, or as a three. Off-kilter Very Important People gives guests a full makeover, transforming them into a variety of creatures or objects, before sitting them down for an impromptu in-character interview. Flagship panel show Game Changer sees participants faced with a new format each episode, requiring them to adjust quickly to convoluted rules and new twists. This latter programme is the closest America has got to creating their own Taskmaster.

All three of these shows are brilliant and I have binge-watched them all, but, of Dropout’s catalogue, their actual verifiable phenomenon that has broken containment is Dimension 20. This Dungeons and Dragon actual play show sold out a night at Madison Square Garden.

To reiterate the significance of this: a stadium full of people went to New York to watch seven actors sit on stage and roll dice. That is how engaging and funny the series’ core septet is.

I have watched one and a half campaigns featuring the Intrepid Heroes, the inaugural lineup from the show’s first series, and I love them. This gang has been playing together since 2018 (and many different combinations of them were in home games together before that) so their chemistry together, the joy they find in each other, and the big leaps they trust they can make are wonderful. Their latest series together, a twenty-episode steampunk / sky pirate mashup of Jules Verne and eldritch horror entitled Cloudward, Ho!, showcases all of this and proves they are each working at the top of their game.

Episode one of this campaign is an exceptionally executed “get the gang back together” plot which sees the former adventurers recruited one by one for a mission to find their missing captain / mentor. The roleplaying gives room for heavy emotional moments (their former leader inspires a lot of conflicting difficult feelings) but also has time for dumb bits and messing around. The projected illustrations are beautiful. The practical models on the table are amazing. Cloudward, Ho! is a really good caper with complicated interpersonal relationships, timey wimey shenanigans, and an adorable invasive species named nut pugs.

Fittingly for a franchise which frequently puts capitalism in the spotlight, Dimension 20 proved to me that trickle-down economics does work, albeit in that I loved their core cast so much that I sought out their other actual play projects.

Rotating Heroes, a DnD podcast originally helmed by Dimension 20 stable and Make Some Noise Noise Boy Zac Oyama and now captained by Jasper William Cartwright, has a killer format. Three comedians play a short arc. The story ends. One character from that game stays on and has a new adventure within the world with two new guests. The cycle continues after every arc, therefore keeping the lineups fresh without fully dropping an entire cast. This neat premise solves the logistical problem of how to book your funny friends without tying them to a long-term commitment and results in a wonderfully interconnected world where fan favourites can return.

The first campaign’s best combination of guests comes in arc three: improv teammates Devin Field, Victoria Longwell, and Jacob Wysocki. As with Dimension 20, their long history of collaborating is the key to their success here – their chemistry is off the charts. The trio spar and joke with ease, establishing multiple running comedic bits including Wysocki repeatedly teeing up major character reveals which will be dropped in the next session and the party’s tenuous grasp of object permeance resulting in them instantly mourning an ally as soon they move from view. The three are such a standout cast that it is no surprise that their entire gang is brought back for a further outing later in the show.

Also in regular rotation on my playlists is Not Another D&D Podcast. Very much a D&D podcast, this lovely silly show boasts not one but two Dimension 20 regulars. Cocreated by Brian “Murph” Murphy and Emily Axford with Jake Hurwitz and Caldwell Tanner, this series’ hook is that each campaign takes place after legendary heroes have already saved the world.

I am currently nearing the end of the first campaign (Bahumia) and it is a giddy delight. Murph is a master at creating dweeby irritating heels that the party can mercilessly make fun of. Emily and Jake early on start a seemingly game-blocking joke that Tanner’s cheery boy scout is the only one of the team who can read but across the course of the game their characters overcome this now-canon trait through a series of sweet faltering steps towards literacy. Also, Emily’s character has a possum companion named Paw Paw. Protected by Plot Armour so he be injured but not killed, he is “voiced” by Murph making various frantic squeals and animal sounds. He may be my favourite character in the game.

Sticking with my go-to soundtracks while I work, this year I finally watched comedy troupe SpitLip’s award-winning musical Operation Mincemeat. This show also came on my radar via Twitter, this time because I started seeing posts from their devoted fans, the Mincefluencers. As with the Dropout clips, curiosity led to me investigating and the cast album soon went into regular rotation on my playlists. I Liked the cast videos posted by the show’s socials, rooted for them whenever they were up for major awards, and was pleased when the original cast / creators were able to transfer the hit to Broadway. Throughout all of this, I had not actually seen the show.

This changed when a family friend came to London and wanted to treat us to some theatre. I pitched Operation Mincemeat and, as they had missed seeing it on a recent trip to New York, we duly booked a matinee. I am relieved to report it is a really great show with tightly choreographed farcical sequences, fast costume quick-changes, and a wonderful performance from Peter McGovern as shy scientist Charles Cholmondeley. As someone with a background in improv, sketch, and fringe theatre, I’m a sucker for anything where a small cast plays all the parts so this – where the quintet plays a range of characters across nationalities and genders – is right up my street. Both the show, and the bizarre true war story it is based on, are unlikely British triumphs.

Speaking of homegrown franchises, Taskmaster has now been on TV for a decade. Originally a comedy format Alex Horne could run remotely ahead of a single live show at the Edinburgh Fringe, this entertainment behemoth has now spawned books, a VR game, and countless international versions (the Australia and New Zealand iterations are each great).

Both UK series this year (series nineteen and twenty) had terrific lineups. Series nineteen’s contestants particularly were absolutely electric together. This bunch of silly sausages frequently proved to be embarrassing, oblivious, or outright weird – and it was a delight. Special mention must go to visiting American fireball Jason Mantzoukas who adored watching the show so much that he asked to be on it, flew himself over to the UK repeatedly in order to do so, and shot the final two studio recording sessions while suffering from food poisoning. Loving something so much that you want to crawl inside your television and join in is a relatable feeling and parlaying your celebrity status into achieving it is absolutely one of the few acceptable uses of fame.

In stark contrast, chasing your dreams and failing is the subject of Glen Berger’s book Song of Spider-Man. This is a firsthand account of the disastrous and expensive Spider-Man musical which resulted in multiple cast injuries. This slow burn retelling reveals a surprising (to me at least) fact: everyone involved was trying to make this show good.

Nobody was looking to rush out something sloppy to make a quick buck. The core creative team (Berger, director Julie Taymor, U2’s Bono and the Edge) sincerely wanted to produce a show with rocking songs, highbrow references, and, well, edge. Instead, it spent so long in development that it set a record for the most Broadway previews and became a laughing stock at the Tonys. Despite this, the story is not disaster porn. Berger throughout believes in the work and tries to fix the show. While he is ultimately unsuccessful, he is happily able to walk away with minimal regrets and enemies.

Struggles of a different kind are the central topic in Gabrielle Drolet’s Look Ma, No Hands. This breezy book of essays centre on the writer-artist adjusting to a life of chronic pain affecting her neck, arms, and hands. Typing, dating, and assembling IKEA furniture – all are now impacted by her restricted mobility. This is however by no means a misery memoir. It is a charming funny read which also covers the bizarre assignments she tackles as a freelance writer (one essay - about a project best summarised as Horse News - ran in The Guardian).

Once again, my exposure to this artist comes courtesy of Twitter. Her animal-centric art provides another bright light in the darkness, with her Rat A Day offering every October being a firm favourite of mine. I was lucky enough that my suggestion kickstarted the month this year (in line with my love of DnD, I suggested a rat wizard).

Incredibly, when you order the book directly from her, you can request a custom pic. I like squirrels and Halloween so naturally my suggestion was the fluffy critters in costume. When my copy of the book arrived, I was delighted to see this:

Personal stories also fuel Antosh Wojcik’s debut poetry collection Suburban Locust. Reading this gently surreal book, which features family traumas and feelings of displacement, feels magical. I’m fortunate enough to know the author I.R.L. – we met at university, collaborating on multiple plays and podcasts. I am delighted he found poetry and proud that he kept pursuing it.

As is evident from some of my earlier picks in this post, I like art and I like Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana: A Visual History therefore hits a bullseye in my Venn diagram of interests. Written by Michael Witwer, Sam Witwer, Kyle Newman, and Jon Peterson, this chronological look at artwork and designs for the world’s most famous tabletop game is a treat for the eyes full of pullout maps, concept art, and monsters. It’s a hefty tome, but absolutely worth it for almost half a century’s worth of cool illustrations and paintings featuring dragons.

If there is one thing to gleam from these reviews, it's that social media is still able to connect creatives and small businesses with people who love their work. Twitter definitely feels different from its innocent early days, but art still reaches fans and future fans, so please keep on posting.

Four Things I Loved in May

Dungeon Delves: Vol 1 by Katie Oliver

Dungeon Delves provides some of the most wholesome DnD art ever. Katie Oliver's triweekly comics radiate joy. These funny and sweet strips, each just a few panels, encapsulate how exhilarating it is play RPGs.

Her first collection, Dungeon Delves: Vol 1, serves as a both a celebration and explanation of the hobby (this is neatly conveyed by its cover revealing the only thing on the author's mind is the Dungeons and Dragons dice set). This book is a breezy read and one that will bring a smile to your face. I'm excited that a sequel is coming soon!

Twelve Percent Dread by Emily McGovern

Emily McGovern is another artist I discovered online who I adore. Her three panel strip about discussing politics is a favourite of mine. Her first graphic novel, Bloodlust & Bonnets, is a fantastic vampire hunting romp set in Romantic-era Britain which features Lord Byron and a telepathic eagle named Napoleon.

In stark contrast, her second book, Twelve Percent Dread, is a contemporary story capturing what it is like to be living in a city while young and struggling. Its protagonists are constantly freelancing, taking on unfulfilling jobs just to make rent or meet VISA requirements. They seek answers on apps which tracking their health and goals (the book's title refers to one of their daily stats).

While focused on a small group of friends in London, this wide-ranging fastmoving slice of life tackles big tech, alternate medicine, immigration, social media, and identity. This novel is an impressive achievement and an absorbing read. Despite the book being over four hundred pages, every time I read this I finish it within a day.

The Curse (series 2)

I have been a devotee of Tom Davis ever since Murder in Successville. He was the silly heart and anchor of the improvised murder mystery series and he is just as bombastic and goofy in The Curse. This slick heist comedy recently returned for a second run and I am so glad we got another chance to hear the unique tones of Davis' marble mouthed Mick.

This caper is a delight. I devoured series two in a single evening. It is so fun to spend three hours with this gang. The men are so hilariously ill-fitted to be criminals. They are either cocky or insecure or, in the case of Davis' Big Mick, just not very bright. Emer Kenny's Natasha does her best to wrangle them, but her competent leadership cannot stop inevitable disaster and the body count increases as the series goes on. It is so enjoyable to see them sweat in a mess of their own making. I dearly hope the show gets a third series.

Wyrd Science

Despite already being interested in tabletop and board games, I only learnt about the magazine Wyrd Science because an improv pal was interviewed in it. I bought just that issue, partially out of curiosity and partially as it is cool to get stuff featuring people you know. I was then so enamoured by this first taste that I downloaded the initial two issues and ordered the third.

While I rarely extend beyond the realms of DnD 5e, I was engrossed by write-ups of different systems, rulesets, and worlds. This magazine is a real treat. Each issue is a wonderful mix of in-depth interviews and reviews which seemed to prioritise conveying a sense of how the games feel to play instead of dry objective ratings. All of these are written by people who clearly know their stuff and have a real passion for games.

Also, oh, the artwork! Equally dazzling in print or PDF, the full page pictures - a combination of game art and images commissioned for the articles - are gorgeous. This amazing piece by Carly A-F in particular so struck me that I stopped to zoom in and admire all of the wonderful details.

The images in Wyrd Science were so beautiful that it inspired me to start following more fantasy and tabletop illustrators on Twitter. This not only means I'm more likely to see goblins on my timeline, but also ensures I'll discover more great creators to support like Dungeon Delves.

Film Review: why Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves feels like a great game of DnD

Folks, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is GREAT. I had such a fun time! It is a feelgood movie with big laughs and I had a blast.

This hard fantasy which will satisfy hardcore fans of the game with references to realms, spells, and factions pulled from the sourcebooks (as someone currently playing Tomb of Annihilation, I got a kick out of shoutouts to the Harpers and the Emerald Enclave). However, what I appreciated most about the film was that it captures the feeling of playing DnD. Games have a thrilling chaotic vibe. The most enjoyable sessions are a giddy mix of debating plans, dumb shenanigans, and throwing all your spells and weapons at a baddie. This wild combo is a trip and the movie nails this tone.

Part of this is down to the amazing ensemble cast. All their performances are perfectly pitched. Each member of the adventuring party is a fully rounded creation. These are complex beings with feelings, not stock types swinging swords. They are charming company and two hours with them flies by.

The movie is also very funny. There is broad slapstick and dry one-liners. Regé-Jean Page is hilarious as the overly perfect paladin with no grasp of idioms or sarcasm. Such a schtick could be overused, but the balance is kept just right and he leaves with us wanting more. And I do want more. This caper is a real treat!

If you are not already convinced to go, I do not know what to tell you. That the crew prioritised practical effects and puppetry over making everything CGI? That it features one of the sweetest genuinely platonic male-female friendships I have ever seen on screen? That Hugh Grant is clearly having as much fun playing a shameless scallywag as he did in Paddington 2? These are all true.

Sure, the film is not perfect, but then, neither is a great session of DnD. Every game will feature multiple low-scoring dice rolls, a secret that should not have been shared, or the unfortunate loss of an ally. All these missteps only serve to make the dizzying highs feel so much sweeter.

Honour Among Thieves is not just a great movie, it's also a great DnD movie. Go see it with a few friends.

Being Bing: a Celebration of one hundred games of DnD

As of last Thursday, I have now played one hundred sessions of the DnD game I started with my best friends during lockdown. For over two hundred and fifty hours, I have experienced life as a child bard named Bing Whistles.

Before I discovered roleplaying games, I had never had a recurring part. School plays don't have sequels and I wrote few sketches with returning premises. Before Bing, I had not played many characters for multiple outings and those that I did were ones I had little input into shaping.

While the initial concept behind Bing was mine, he was developed with my sister, our dungeon master, and subsequently informed, as we are in real life, by the beings around us. Over the course of our games, I have had to decide how Bing reacts to the deeds and words of others. What delights him? What makes him ill at ease? Which lies is he willing to perpetuate?

After playing him regularly for almost two and a half years, I now have a strong sense of who he is and what he stands for. I can confidently justify actions with a clichéd cry of 'it's what my character would do!'. In this case, the thing he usually does is STRESS.

Oh, Bing is so worried! He worries about his family, his fellow adventurers, the prospect of war... RPGs can be a vehicle for wish fulfilment - you can create a character who is tall, confident, strong. I've unintentionally cast myself as someone small and anxious.

I never set out to create a homesick fretter. As you may be able to deduce from his name, Bing Whistles was a character initially built around a joke. My original concept was that he wanted to be a stage magician*. He lives in an universe where spellcasters abound - and he himself can cast many a powerful cantrip - but what he wants to do for a living is ask 'is THIS your card?'.

The name 'Bing Whistles' is in fact a stage name, one that could only have been generated by a child poorly ad-libbing, saying what they see nearby à la The Brady Bunch's George Glass. It is not a moniker to be intoned with respect or reverence - it's nonsensical.

In short, Bing Whistles was intended to be a little boy pursuing a job which, within a fantasy realm, was very silly indeed. A happy chap with a wholesome dream.

Well, you make plans and God laughs. While Bing would prefer to be known for his closeup magic, the incident of his that is brought up most often is that the first time he cast the spell Shatter, it made a man's head explode. No wonder he's a nervous wreck.

A perhaps unsurprisingly consequence of Bing being worried is that I in turn worry about him. There's a lot of pressure on the little guy. Bards have such an incredible range of abilities that the question for them is not so much 'can I help' but 'in which way shall I help?'.

Bing can use spells to hurt, heal, teleport, deafen, and silence. He can send messages across lands and banish enemies to demiplanes. Within six months of in-game time, he has brought four beings back to life. That is a huge amount of power for anyone to handle, let alone an eleven year old.

However, while he can save the lives of others, he cannot resurrect himself. This is his tragedy. At some point in the game, I will have to stop playing Bing Whistles. That is mine. Whether it's when our party can level up no more or in a battle where his body and soul are irredeemable, eventually I will end my run as Bing Whistles. I and my friends will experience this loss as we would with an actual death. It would be impossible not to having spent so many hours in his company.

I of course hope his final outing is not any time soon. I enjoy exploring the world through his eyes. I am curious to see how he grows. 

To that end, I started our one hundredth game with Bing realising it might be his birthday. He is now twelve!

By the end of the session, he had almost died three times. Plans, God, laughing, etc.

For now though, he lives and I love it. Being Brendan is pretty good but I am always excited to be Bing for a while. Even if I do wish he would learn to relax.


*No disrespect intended to this profession - my grandpa used to be a magician.

How Tabletop Role-Playing Games got me Through 2020

I miss making up stories onstage. Sure, like the rest of the global improv community in 2020, I now do shows via video chat, but the gigs I am part of usually feature montages of disparate scenes. We often explore the same universe, but we are rarely telling one tale.

While it may be a while before I’m doing narrative improv in person again, I have found a medium that sates my need to devise adventures with friends: tabletop role-playing games.

Much like the improvised quests I devise with The Parentheticals, games like Dungeons & Dragons are focused on collectively creating a story that follow the same characters throughout. Everyone involved becomes emotionally invested in the party’s journey. You wince at their pain and punch the air when they are victorious. It is exhilarating.

I cannot wait to get back onstage, but until it is safe to do so, I am very content with participating in what are essentially private performances. Each campaign is a story shared with only five to eight people. Some groups livestream their game or turn sessions into podcasts, but part of the appeal for me is that no one else can fully appreciate the world in our heads.

To explain what happened during these sessions is akin to telling someone your dream. The significance of events is lost of them. You cannot adequately convey how exciting it is to defeat a fictitious foe. In-jokes are never going to be as funny when explained to someone.

Given the improv background of my fellow players, there is a giddy silly energy to proceedings whenever we play. There are lots of comedy bits and tangents. Introducing an audience however could make us self-conscious. The Observer Effect would kick in.

These sessions have helped me become far more comfortable telling a joke for one person than trying to please an entire room. I still miss the thrill of whipping up a crowd, instinctively feeling when to ride a laugh, but I think I may emerge from this time at home as a less needy performer. I don’t want to be a SUPERSTAR. I am satisfied just making my pals laugh.

That said, I do enjoy how RPGs allow me to do some acting without the rigmarole of pursuing it as a career. The roles I give myself are never ones I would be up for in auditions. No one would look at my boyish chubby cheeks and floppy fringe, then cast me as a po-faced bureaucrat nearing retirement (which is exactly the part I created for a Monster of the Week campaign). You can play characters outside of your age, gender identity, and, if you want, species. As these games take place inside your mind, the only limit is your imagination.

Playing the same person each week makes me feel like I am part of a long-running serialized drama. I have the luxury of being able to settle into a role. Just as in an improv scene, I can gradually feel out which choices instinctively seem wrong. I can adapt and drop quirks until I have a rounded character whose choices are completely different to mine. Brendan thinks running into danger would be a terrible idea. My grumpy monster hunter however…

Admittedly, at times, the line between myself and my creations can be blurred. For instance, in one campaign, I am playing a boy saddened that circumstances beyond his control mean it is not safe for him to go home and see his family. Mostly though, it is a joy to turn up each week and know whatever happens will be fun.

After all, the most obvious benefit of playing these games in these times is escapism. For a few hours, we have a chance to temporarily forget the ongoing numerous crises and instead focus on something fantastical. Don’t think about rent – we have an orc to slay.

I will now stress, for the sake of my parents, that I do also think about how to pay rent.

Right now, in the real world, we are not encouraged to travel. In our imagined adventures however, we can go all over the map, traverse many lands. We ride horses, sail boats, and trek across fields. We hunt vampires and haggle for potions. We can actually hang out in a pub! And all from the comfort of our respective homes.

Holding these sessions virtually is so convenient. Playing together in the Before Times required coordinating half a dozen schedules to find the one Saturday afternoon a month in which we can all travel to the same house. Now we play weekly.

It is a delight to “meet up” so often. Before the lockdown in March, I was already part of one campaign. I now play in three. In this year alone, I have played seventy sessions of TTRPGs. To put that into perspective, in 2019, I played a total of twelve.

The games are such a great way to bond. They are the happy medium between a free-flowing jokey chat of a check-in with mates and the structured fun of a quiz (although both of these have been part of my lockdown too). I finish each week with two consecutive nights of games and always leave them wanting more.

When we can go to each other's houses again, all the campaigns I am in will continue and most, if not all, will stay online due to people living in different cities. Tabletop role-playing games are a major part of my schedule now and I like it that way. They form part of a balanced diet of hobbies alongside improv and making podcasts.

I love having these games in my diary. They have kept me sane. They made sure I’m still exercising my storytelling muscles. They gave me something to look forward to. In other words, they are exactly what I needed to help me cope with my time at home.

The Games that Got me Through 2020

Dungeons and Dragons (various authors. Currently published by Wizards of the Coast)

I am playing two campaigns. One is taken from a book (Curse of Strahd. I’m a big fan of this as I love all things spooky). The other is an incredibly inventive homebrew adventure devised by my sister.

Monster of the Week (original guidebook is by Michael Sands)

Your group is a team of monster hunters trying to figure out which supernatural threat is causing chaos this week. Basically, it’s your chance to roleplay as Buffy and the Scoobies/Mulder and Scully/Sam and Dean.

Goat Crashers (one-shot by Grant Howitt)

A one-page game in which you are all goats trying to fit in at a party.