We're only one episode into Dimension 20's steampunk campaign Cloudward, Ho! and I may already have a new favorite Dimension 20 NPC: Wealwell Gotch (Brennan Lee Mulligan).
One of pugilist Maxwell Gotch's (Brian Murphy) six older brothers — and yes, all their names end in "well" — Wealwell is blessed with both a funny name and a funny voice. Sometimes that's all you need to get attached to a character, something Game Master Mulligan knows all too well when it comes to making up NPCs on the fly.
"If I had made Wealwell, [the cast] wouldn't have loved him as much," Mulligan told Mashable in a Zoom interview. "The Intrepid Heroes smell fear, and when a character has a stupid name and a weird voice, they can tell right away."
Wealwell's origin story begins with Murphy's reveal that Maxwell has six brothers, all of whom become characters Mulligan has to create. By this stage in the campaign, some are simply names on a list Mulligan reads out in an early scene. That could have been Wealwell's fate too, but you can't just rattle off a name like Wealwell and expect a group of professional comedians not to pounce on that potential. Watching the cogs turn in the cast's heads as they decide to single out Wealwell is a wonderful reminder of Dimension 20's roots in improvisation, as is Mulligan's instant decision to bring Wealwell into the fold.
With that decision comes Wealwell's voice, a simpering over-exaggeration of Mulligan's other rich (and already heightened) Gotch family voices.
"When I started speaking as Wealwell, I went, 'Oops, this voice is a little sillier than I anticipated it was going to be,' and the rest is history," Mulligan said. "That's what [the cast] seized on, that's what they loved, and that's where we went."
The rest of the episode focuses on Maxwell and Olethra MacLeod's (Ally Beardsley) efforts to reunite the crew of the legendary Zephyr airship, but it also doubles as a "get-to-know-me" for Wealwell, who seems to be along for the ride for the foreseeable future.
As the cast gets the ball rolling on this season's main adventure, they also pepper in new information about Wealwell. Murphy declares that he's "fun" and "solid," setting him apart from Maxwell's other jerk brothers. Beardsley decides that Wealwell is super hot. And Mulligan adds in a running gag that Wealwell is constantly nauseous — not great for a character who's about to spend a lot of time on an airship! (But great for the audience, who gets to witness his posh queasiness in all its glory.)
Each of these building blocks combine to create an instantly memorable new NPC. Wealwell is the product of a perfect storm of Dimension 20's spontaneity, with the cast taking a one-off gag and turning it into something hysterical. For Mulligan, that's part of the magic — and occasionally, the peril — of playing with the Intrepid Heroes.
"What do they say? If you want it to rain, don't take your umbrella, because it will rain on the day you don't have your umbrella. And if you do bring your umbrella, it won't rain. For NPCs, if you have a stupid name and a weird voice and nothing else, that will be [the players'] favorite NPC," Mulligan explained. "They will smell the half-bakedness, and they will go, 'What's his name? What's he like? What's his favorite food?' Because they'll know that you don't know, and they want you to do it on the spot because they're trying to get you."
