Dimension 20 Star Erika Ishii Interview: Joining Burrow's End, Creating An Unlikable Character & GMing Her Own Game (2025)

Dimension 20

Dimension 20 Star Erika Ishii Interview: Joining Burrow's End, Creating An Unlikable Character & GMing Her Own Game (1)

By Caitlin Tyrrell

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Dimension 20

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Summary

  • Burrow's End is the twentieth season of Dimension 20 and takes a darker tone, exploring the mysteries of the Blue Forest.
  • The cast includes both longtime members and newcomers, and the dynamic and storytelling at the table are impressive.
  • Erika Ishii discusses her character Ava, the relationships and dynamics she creates with other characters, and what she would like to explore if The Seven and Misfits and Magic return.

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Dimension 20 is celebrating its twentieth season with an exciting side quest, Burrow's End. From the talented mind of Aabria Iyengar, the first to step into the role of GM other than Brennan Lee Mulligan, Burrow's End delves into the dark mysteries of the Blue Forest. Taking inspiration from Watership Down and The Secret of Nihm, the latest chapter follows a family of stoats as they traverse the dangerous forest to find a new home and discover the truth behind the Blue.

The cast of Dimension 20's latest season includes longtime cast members Mulligan, Siobhan Thompson, Erika Ishii, and Isabella Roland. Newcomers to the dome, Jasper William Cartwright and Rashawn Nadine Scott, were recruited by Iyengar as well. Although Dimension 20 is known for more comedic games, Burrow's End leans into the darkness and tragedy of seasons like A Crown of Candy and The Ravening War.

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Screen Rant exclusively interviewed Erika Ishii about Burrow's End, the current season of Dimension 20. She discusses creating an unlikable character and crafting the dynamics with the other players. Ishii also teases an interest in potentially GMing in the dome and shares how impressed she is by Iyengar's storytelling and innovative creativity.

Erika Ishii On Dimension 20: Burrow's End

Dimension 20 Star Erika Ishii Interview: Joining Burrow's End, Creating An Unlikable Character & GMing Her Own Game (6)

Screen Rant: Erika, so great to meet you. I love Ava. She is insane.

Erika Ishii: Yeah, yeah. [Laughs] Thank you.

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You are so good at creating such different characters for every game you're in. Can you talk to me a little bit about your character creation process and what you're excited to explore with Ava specifically?

Erika Ishii: I feel so fortunate that I have multiple outlets for just really stretching and experimenting, [both] as an actor and as a storyteller. And Ava, was a result of being what Abria says in sports is called "The Fill," I think, where you have your people where it's like, Oh, I'm going to do this, and this and this. And then you just need somebody to come in and round out a team. I really loved doing that because everybody was throwing out ideas of characters, and it slowly built up that we were a family. Then I said, "Oh, we need an older generation."

And with Ava, I was so excited to be a character who was largely unlikable and said things that I think would be a little uncomfortable, but very good for the storytelling aspect of it and character dynamics. I really appreciated feeling safe at the table to do so because everybody is truly, I've never seen role play like this at a table. Everybody was so in it and the dynamic right from the get-go was so tight. And then being able to slot in a truly unpleasant old lady in there was wonderful—really wonderful.

Because that's the thing, it's a challenge, as a performer, to create a character, especially if you're also writing them live as it's happening, who is unpleasant but still watchable. Is not going to shut down other people, their interactions, the story, and saying no, but. So I think it was nice to find those little moments of why do they put up with Ava? Other than that she is family. I think actually, I would say there was a little more leeway this season than any other because the idea is your family, gosh, they're the ones that know how to annoy you the most, but you still love them in a certain way. You have to kind of reconcile that, of not getting along with these people who you do really love deeply.

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Definitely. And I love the different dynamics that you created with how you approach being a mother versus a grandmother versus a mother-in-law. Can you talk a little bit about that in those different relationships?

Erika Ishii: Oh my goodness, again, everybody just playing at the top of their intelligence. Brennan, it's just so easy. We are like family at this point, and just seeing moments where we could sort of wiggle in with each other. I think Aabria had decided to have the vignettes of her character introduction be duo scenes and putting me with Brennan was just such a gift because not only would that character be the most comfortable with haranguing her oldest daughter, but also, I have the most experience giving Brennan sh-t. So it was really finding little surprises in there. Trying to set your daughter up was a surprise to me. I didn't plan that. The physicality of all of it. We got to say so much about our characters in such little time. And then also just constantly finding gifts for each other during the season, like me telling Brennan, Oh, Tula's a hoe.

With the grandkids too, you see it all the time. I always feel like I would be the perfect grandparent, but I never want children of my own just because you can spoil them in a certain way. And you can sort of make life difficult for their parent, while still maintaining a good relationship with them. Gosh, I'm so in awe of Rashawn as a player, as an actor, as just a storyteller, and just giving her reactions to me. Her and Viola's reactions to Ava were just so rich and nuanced. And Jasper was an absolute blast, because, I think in some ways, the trepidation of Thorne towards Ava mirrored a little bit of Jasper's nerves in stepping into the dome. He was so nervous to begin with, but he's brilliant, he's a good listener, and incredible at reacting to things. So I immediately knew that I could lean in on the classic meet the in-laws tropes and have him just absolutely play up that charming British, flusteredness. And he just, oh, that was wonderful.

And I think you start to see a little bit of the arc going on with the two of them very strongly of the, "You better not hurt my daughter." I feel like Ava is definitely the kind of person when he came around calling, was smacking her raccoon baculum and saying, Hey, look at this here, I got this off of a raccoon that I killed when I was about your age and intimidating him. But it's just such a gift to immediately take off running with everybody from the first episode and know exactly who they are to each other. Just the brilliant that because of being a family because of just really trusting everybody as performers.

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Dimension 20 Star Erika Ishii Interview: Joining Burrow's End, Creating An Unlikable Character & GMing Her Own Game (7)

It's so much fun to watch. I also love that you have a weapon, and that is your weapon.

Erika Ishii: Yeah, Aabria I decided early on. Gosh, I can't remember. I have to look up the text or the email, but I think Aabria's like, Do you want a club or a weapon of some kind or are you just gonna go in and be bare fisted? And I was like, Oh, yeah, I would definitely want like a little bone club, I think, and I can't remember which one it was at this point. We have this mind meld, and one of us came up with, Oh, it's got to be a dick bone. And the other one said, Oh, definitely a raccoon one, too.

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And then Ava's experienced a huge amount of change in a really short amount of time. The Warren is gone, all these other stoats are gone, and then now they've met this new, very strange group of stoats. How do you think she's adjusting to this?

Erika Ishii: It's fun. I as Erica always, I feel like I'm pretty good at adapting. I have to be as an improviser. When you're set in your ways, and you have done the same thing for so long, and that's the thing that you're used to helping you survive. It's hard to change, but of course, you have to balance as a storyteller. How do you have somebody be resistant to change and still help move the plot along? I think Brennan, seeing Brennan do a good job of that too, of being very resistant to things and then still bringing stuff up in a way that drives everything forward. Similarly, I had to say, I don't like change, I don't like feelings, I like sort of solving it.

But understanding we have 10 episodes to do a whole story with arcs for everybody. So we got to keep it moving. I think that Ava is intrigued by the idea because she does want to do whatever is best for the family, and she's had just even in the course of living a hard life, you have to adapt in order to survive. Just like in Call of the Wild that they made us read. That's the laws of nature, you have to adapt to survive. So while she has that grandma trait of just being really resistant to change. She has that animal instinct to adapt to survive.

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I love that. And then this season has been full of surprises with the animated puppet shows, the bear map that looks insane and gnarly, and then just the story reveals. What, for you, has been one of the most surprising parts of this season?

Erika Ishii: The brilliance of Aabria is that she's constantly surprising you. Every season has been an innovation. That's true of all Dimension 20 seasons, but specifically Aabria pushes storytelling and the envelope in a way that is, I want to say, unhinged. She, in some ways, I mean, she knows the rules so well. There's always the joke about her and Brennan being the rules, lawyers. She has learned them, committed them, and internalized them so much that she's able to play with them, break them, and understand how to use them to her advantage in storytelling. The fact that every beat, whether it's a fight or a social encounter, informs the central theme of the story and aids us in finding the next beats has continued to astonish me throughout the season.

I think a great example of that is the bear. Obviously shocking, obviously truly the best battle map ever created, just in terms of innovation and creativity in viscosity. Unbelievable, unbelievable work of art. But also, it allowed Ava to explain the use of technology. She says in episode three, Ava tries to describe something she doesn't have the words for: trucks carrying humans. And she says, Oh, I saw human, or I saw living creatures in a giant non bear. And so Abria in putting that bear in episode two established the world we were in, showed how scary it was, gave us a really incredible encounter, and also gave us the words and the way to understand how to move forward. And the themes of Yes, what is it to be human? The use of technology.

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What were your thoughts when the new stoats did reveal "Hey, humans are the enemy" in this latest episode?

Erika Ishii: I didn't get to finish the screener of it, but now that you say it because I still have a half an hour left to watch, but recalling back, I didn't know. We all just had to guess about what the Blue was, humans, and the mysteries of burrows. We were figuring out what was happening in real time. Aabria told me about seeing that vehicle, seeing large beings, and describing them. I had to put together that it was humans in a truck in hazmat suits. And that the blue is, what the blue is. What the dust is. That's a long way to come back around to say, again, just shocking. Every step of the way, a shock, a delight, and a surprise, and I think, having figured out prior to this, that it was humans, it was still so shocking to understand the weight of that. And just like the unknowable horror of it all. Yeah, it's terrifying to think about.

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Dimension 20 Star Erika Ishii Interview: Joining Burrow's End, Creating An Unlikable Character & GMing Her Own Game (8)

And then how does it feel to be a part of the 20th season of Dimension 20?

Erika Ishii: I can't believe it. I was in the first ever, what we call back then side quests, the non-Intrepid Heroes seasons. And just seeing where it's come, we've come a long way, baby. It's truly an honor to be part of this with these people. And I think this season is such a milestone, not even just in terms of the number of seasons, but truly a pinnacle, I think of what Aabria and the crew have done and can do, and are moving forward with.

I love that. And then you're a part of two of my favorite seasons, Misfits and Magic and The Seven. I hope we get more of both of those! If we did, is there anything specific you'd like to explore with your characters from those?

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Erika Ishii: Oh, my gosh, it's so funny, because so much of what I decide about my characters is informed by the GM and talking with fellow players. And saying, Well, if your character did this, then well, it would only make sense that K would go in this direction. There's something very special about those seasons to me, in that it was the first time, there were a lot of firsts for me. The Seven was the first sort of all femme table that I've been at, where we were really free to be the most. To not have to constantly mask or worry that we were too much. It's all these little gates that your mind passes through when you're femme of, is this right? How will this help people view me in this? And that's just a survival mechanism.

But being at a table with all femmes led by a Brennan who knew exactly when to step up, or step back, and encouraged us. Everybody's supporting each other in such a huge way. It was so freeing. It was so freeing and significant. And I could see that and everybody around the table. And we're still all in a text thread too. We're all still friends. It was really special. And with Mis Mag, first of all, it was a majority Black season and majority BIPOC season. And that was also another gate that you don't have to put your mind through. Where you feel safe to explore things that you might not venture to do at a table where you're the minority. Having both of those identities, interwoven with the respective plots and supported by the respective characters was unbelievable. So basically, what I'd want to explore for those, again, is to continue to play characters that I wouldn't normally get to play. And do things with them, I wouldn't normally always feel empowered to do.

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I love that, and then you also had another first kind of recently with first time GMing on Worlds Beyond Number.

Erika Ishii: Ah, yes! It was, again, I was terrified because I'm not necessarily, I don't have that training. Imagine your first game being something that you know people are paying to see and that its for your friends who are truly literally the best in the world at this thing that you're doing. It's harrowing, but also, again, nothing but love, support, and crazy. Yes, and-ing from my friends. The community was also so supportive. At the end of the day, being in that room and laughing and having fun with everybody and seeing, when you see you can surprise and entertain your friends. That's the best feeling in the world. I think that's what we're all chasing. In all the things that we do together is we want to surprise and entertain our friends.

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You were fantastic! I am curious: if you were to ever GM in the dome, is there a specific genre you would want to play with?

Erika Ishii: Yeah, yeah, I think so. Well, here's the thing about GMing in the dome it's not even just about the DMing part, that's like 5% of what you do. The rest of it is meetings, having to email people about miniatures and sets, and character design. Truly so much paperwork. And I wonder how ambitious I want to be with something like that. But there is a framework that I have in mind for it that I would be excited to explore. I don't know, maybe I should keep it a secret. Just in case they ever do ask me, but I can't. I mean, that would be crazy. That'd be crazy. I would do it if they asked me, though. I'm too curious about what the process is like.

Dimension 20 Star Erika Ishii Interview: Joining Burrow's End, Creating An Unlikable Character & GMing Her Own Game (9)

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Well, now I feel like we need that because I need to know the answer.

Erika Ishii: Yeah. Yeah, I do have something in mind, and I wonder if it would work. It would, again, sort of make use of the specific talents of the people that they bring into the dome and the technology that they have in there. And the incredible work that the art team does. Oh, yeah, now you got me thinking.

I love that. I hope we see it. I do. Also, I'm also a huge Critical Role fan. So I do want to say as someone who is very happy to see Laudna and Imogen together, thank you for being one of the catalysts to set that off.

Erika Ishii: Thank you. When you're guesting on a show, you have a very small window to go in, establish your character, do an arc, and also sort of seamlessly integrate and extricate from an ongoing game. I feel like I came in with some very specific goals in mind, and I'm grateful that Matt was up for a lot of the things that we did. Yeah, I think, because I'm used to four episode seasons, ten episode seasons, I have a tendency to just go for it. Story gotta happen. Story ain't gonna story itself.

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It's so great. And then what have you found most surprising about playing Ava that maybe you've learned about yourself from that process?

Erika Ishii: What did I learn about myself? I don't think that there was exactly a sniper moment or shot-through-the-door moment with Ava. But I will say that just being an antagonistic character is actually really fun and good, especially when you're in an environment where people are willing to push back against you, but at the same time move forward with you. I want to play a villain more, I think, is the takeaway.

I like that takeaway. I enjoy your more antagonistic characters.

Erika Ishii: Thank you. Yeah, it feels good to be bad.

Dimension 20 Star Erika Ishii Interview: Joining Burrow's End, Creating An Unlikable Character & GMing Her Own Game (10)

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And then, can you talk a little bit about how the mechanics were adjusted for the stoat element of being a barbarian?

Erika Ishii: I think also, there was an adjustment in our brains that I don't think we ever actually calculated out on paper of distance. It's not really 10 feet, that would be crazy. But it was really, really fun to be in the action all the time and to have so many things that I could do per turn that was really fun to play with. What did we do for adjusting with stoats with barbaric, specifically barbarian? I think it was very fun to make the decision to keep the roll like the terrible, all ones roll, so that I have like three charisma. I think the only sort of thing that we homebrewed was that I used strength instead of charisma to intimidate, which makes sense.

Yeah. Ava having a three charisma is not only just perfect, character wise, it is hilarious.

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Erika Ishii: Oh, it's so good. It was so good and so fun.

I love it. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. I love Burrow's End and so much. I can't wait for more. Ava's hilarious.

Erika Ishii: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you for the questions. And thank you for you know, your support and the love for Dimension 20.

I will watch whatever Dimension 20 puts out even when it traumatizes me. I'm in.

Erika Ishii: Yeah. Bless you for that. Yeah, Burrow's End is very, very, very special to me.

About Dimension 20: Burrow's End

Dimension 20 Star Erika Ishii Interview: Joining Burrow's End, Creating An Unlikable Character & GMing Her Own Game (11)

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Burrow's End takes place in the Blue Forest where a certain family of stoats comprised of matriarch Ava, adult sisters Tula and Viola, Viola's husband Thorn Vale, and Tula's children Jaysohn and Lila find their once peaceful existence threatened by forces both natural and otherwise.

Check out our other Dimension 20 Burrow's End interviews:

  • Aabria Iyengar
  • Siobhan Thompson
  • Brennan Lee Mulligan

New episodes of Dimension 20's Burrow's End debut on Dropout every Wednesday.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

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