The Director Welcomes You

Heroin, Ice, Trade, Spy.

#ae49b3

Location

Bright, Windy Papua New Guinea

Time of Day

24:55

Extraction Point

127 Miles W

Time to Complete

19 Hours

Eyeballs,
We need your help. Agent Lauren Molina has gone missing and we believe "Tough Ogre" is responsible. They were last seen in Papua New Guinea at 00:09. The agent sent one final message – "The group finds a dead fish at the Skull shaped island". Take this Evil Can Opener - it was their favorite tool and might help you.

— The Origami Swan you were holding self destructs.

The Villain Dossier

Name

Harmony Butler

Alias

"Tough Ogre"

Features

7' 3"

Red eyes

Large moles / Left hand

Organization

The Association of Sharp Trade

Emotions

Liking

Personality

Swiftly Calamitous

Motive

Make a lot of money for scientific discovery

Bodyguard

Daniel the "Vast Rhinoceroses"

Physical Size

Teeny

Story

Additional Locations

The Sensual Carousal

Archaic Tower

Ruin Forest

Random Events

Bear Is under a curse

Softball Is hurled at the adventurers

Cat is heard screaming

Wanderer skins a cat with his teeth

World

Stores

Timothy's Marionette Properties

Molina's Cabinet Warehouse

Gallagher's Chaise Outlet

Molina's Rubber Plant Supermarket

Traps

Black Tentacles

Wall Blade of Disaster

Objects

Marionette with a False bottom

Chaise that has been hollowed out

Secret Cabinet

Hidden Sticks

Wrench of Disaster

Wand of Wonder

Target fears that all of his efforts are for naught

People

Name Codename Career Likes Dislikes
Christopher Molina "Quiet Pinky's" Merchant Clocks Glitter
Mackenzie Gallagher "Right Falafels" Mole Octopus Clocks
Ivan Lowe Fortune Cookie Writer Rock n' Roll Soda
Timothy Wells Headhunter Sticks Batteries
Lauren Molina Librarian Cartography Glass

Cipher



                


                

                    
                    

                


                

                    
                    
 
                


                

                    
                    

                


                

                    
                    

                


                

                    
                    

                

                
                

                    
                    

                


                

                    
                    

                

              

            

          

        

      

    



    
      
      
 
        

          

            
The Fuck Is This?

          

          

            
            
After years of playing Dungeons & Dragons, I decided to make a variation where everything is improv. The DM knows as much as the players and you tell a story together - sitcom style. We use this site as a quest starter, think of some characters, and see how much we can make each other laugh.

            
            
It's designed to be simple, portable, and dependent on being creative & inventive. I wanted a framework to guide the plot forward but let us find the story. This page is just a guide to help the stories become too redundant - take as much as you want, ignore as much as you need. If you want to follow along with our adventures or read some examples, check out  my personal story notes.

            
            
This concept and site was crafted by Andrew Maruska with linguistic help from Evan Stark

          

        

      

    


    
      
      
 
        

          

            
But how?

          

          
            
            The Most Important Rule
            
Be Silly. The goal is to laugh not to have a normal adventure. Someone wants to go to the moon? Fuck yeah they do and we're going to do it with medieval technology.

            
            Set Up
            
Give the players a home base, a year they want to play in, and some general ownership of the setup. It's more successful when everyone has helped create the world because when a player makes suggestions it's easier to integrate them without feeling too precious. It helps to have a figurehead that assigns the quest to authoritatively start.

            
            Characters
            
90% of creating a character here is a funny voice you're forced to talk in for 3 hours. I typically have people pick one trait they want to be good at and give them a slight advantage when using that - and the same for a negative trait. Don't overcomplicate it. They wanna be a skateboarder who can't feel love? perfect. +2 to cool & -2 to social acceptance. 

            
            Rolling
            
This can be whatever you want but as a general rule I use d20's as a graded scale. Sometimes, I craft the roll to mimic the action i.e. if they are walking a tight rope then might need to roll a 10 because 20 & 1 make them fall to one side or the other. Rolling in D&D got boring so make it fun again. 

            
            Dungeon Master
            
Your goal is to say 'Yes and...' but realistically it's 'Yes and roll to see if you can actually do that triple backflip down the cliff to mount the attacking phoenix...' - It's okay to make them fail, just don't tell them no. This guide is to help you be 1 step ahead of the players but it can't know the vibe of the room, have some empathy and play to the crowd. 

            
            Ending
            
No one can tell you this. The guide is to help you get 1/3 of the adventure set up and the rest will be created by the adventuring party. Have fun with it and try to tie up some loose ends at the end (or don't and bring them back for another adventure).