Ify Nwadiwe and Jacob Wysocki Chat Never Stop Blowing Up, Being New at a Table, and Proudly Being Nerds

Never Stop Blowing Up, the latest season from Dimension 20, has wrapped up, ending the adventures of the Amazing Action Stars led by Brennan Lee Mulligan. In this adventure a group of employees at a video rental store in Lake Elsinore, California, are pulled into a VHS of Never Stop Blowing Up, a bombastic action film that draws on every trope in the book.

Among those players were Ify Nwadiwe and Jacob Wysocki who we had a chance to catch up with last week to discuss being the new player in the Dome, what their characters took away from their time in the VHS, and why it's great to show off your nerdy pride.

Nwadiwe and Wysocki weren't the only members of the Never Stop Blowing Up cast that we were able to catch up with. If you're interested in more Never Stop Blowing Up then be sure to check out our interview with Brennan Lee Mulligan where we discussed the newly crafted mechanics, and our interview with Izzy Roland and Alex Song-Xia where we discussed character motivations whether 'too far' was possible in this game.

How Does Brennan Lee Mulligan Prepare The Table?

To begin our conversation I was interested in hearing how the concept of Never Stop Blowing Up was introduced, and how they were prepared for a season that would reach such insanity.

"This is my third D20 season, this is my second with Brennan; even with Bloodkeep, Brennan does a good job of starting. Before our Session Zero, he does a long spiel about the world of the game, he has like a soundtrack to it, you get really drawn in and that I really appreciated. It's changed how I do even home games," Nwadiwe explained.

This experience was different for Wysocki, a regular for fans of Dropout content but his first time on Dimension 20. "I was really nervous because of the monolith that is D20 and the Dome. I think I was like, 'I need to know as much as possible and I need to know the data,' and Brennan is just the best one there is."

TTRPG Are Improv With Math

Wysocki explained that through the work he and Brennan Lee Mulligan had done together improvising, he was able to relay how to use that improv ability and translate that to success in the Dome. "He imbued a lot of confidence and that 'this is the ultimate yes and season,' so go big and go crazy."

"You're here because you're big and you're crazy, so go big and go crazy."

I did ask both Nwadiwe and Wysocki if there was any point during the game that they did feel like they had gone too big, both immediately started shaking their heads from side to side.

Nwadiwe spoke about how Mulligan never made them feel like anything was too far. "As the GM, Brennan was 'Yes And'ing on a level. I think we were trying to preemptively stop thinking that might be too much and he was like, 'No, let it rip.'"

Wysocki chimed in "I feel like early on we were all break checking a little bit, and as soon as I was like, 'My car drives into the pre-established hanger that the secret society owns and that becomes a plane,' and that worked I was like, 'Oh, I can do whatever I want.'"

A Newcomer to the Dome and TTRPG

Wysocki might have had his first experience in the Dome with Never Stop Blowing Up, but it's not his first time with TTRPGs.

"I definitely was a late adopter in that world," Wysocki said. "I think up until this, I had done maybe four~ish home games. One was very long standing with a core group of people who figured out we could do this every other week for a year."

[Zac] Oyama is a good friend of mine, he was the first one to ask, 'Do you want to try doing this for entertainment?' and he's got a great podcast called the Rotating Heroes," Wysocki added, speaking to his professional TTRPG experience. "He GMs and has a rotating cast of people that come in, and one character stays while another two might leave so you're always following one familiar character."

"[This was] my first experience of, 'Hey, you're going to get 12 hours of gameplay in a really small period of time and you have to make a beginning and an end.'"

Wysocki expressed his thanks for getting that exposure. Moving from home games to professional audio podcast helped him be more comfortable for the filmed Dimension 20 experience.

Some kind words were shared about how Wysocki felt like 'the baby' at the table amongst the other players, but Nwadiwe reassured him that "he crushed it."

What Actions Heroes Can Learn From Normal Folks

A key portion of the epilogue was when all of the characters returned to their real bodies. No longer were we in the presence of Vic Ethanol and Greg Stocks, but it was Wendell Morris and Andy 'Dang' Litefoot back in Dave's Video Rental. During this time, each character expressed their growth in new relationships and perspectives on their lives and a definitive path to continue forward.

Knowing how much Wendell and Dang had grown from their experiences, I wondered if Vic and Greg would have grown at all from those same interactions.

"Vic would realize that he needs to get a better grasp on what 'La Familia' really means," Nwadiwe said. "That maybe if he truly wants to respect La Familia that he needs to consider what they want and not just to have a desire to win everything no matter what."

"I think [Greg] would probably take away that it's OK to unbutton the cufflinks, and maybe loosen the bowtie a bit," Wysocki said about Greg Stocks. "Maybe stumbling into a solution could yield positive results as well like living a little bit more on the instinct, that neurodivergent 'ooh shiny object.' He could become a little more loosey-goosey."

Playing Never Stop Blowing Up a Quarter Mile at a Time

Before wrapping up I had to ask Nwadiwe about the unique dynamic that his characters shared. While other players were growing into the abilities and gaining the skillsets of the characters directly, Wendell had a number of moments, looking into mirrors, where Vic Ethanol would talk to him and encourage him directly.

This unique approach, Nwadiwe explained, comes from his experience with improv comedy and doing more but different. "I was playing improv at the table with some of the best improvisers in the world, and improv teaches us to 'yes and' but also heighten and do things differently."

After seeing everyone having the same fish out of water approach to it I was like 'OK, I want to do what they're doing but in a slightly different way, what's a way I can play this that highlights the coolness of what they're doing but adds another flavor to it?'"

This improv technique truly did allow for all characters to continue to expand their characters and fuel the chaotic world of the game right until it's conclusion.

You can now watch the whole season of Never Stop Blowing Up on Dropout.tv, and you can check out the first episode on the Dimension 20 YouTube channel.