The Director Welcomes You
The Jagged Insignia Conundrum
#ee3ae9
Operatives, I have sent you to within earshot of a Deserted Carousal to look for a suspect by the name "King Bat". This mission is anti-surveillance. Their recent activity is concerning and we need you to assassinate the target. We don't know much about their goals but we've intercepted this cryptic message – "A thick fog rolls in at the Beast's Maze".
We're low budget this mission – I've packed a Delicate Level in your kit to help.
— The Burner Phone you were holding self destructs.
Juliana Burgess
"King Bat"
6' 11"
Hazel eyes
Large deep scar / Neck
The Club of Uninterested Oven
Insecure
Tremendously Filthy
Take over a government out of greed
James the "Heavy Bear"
Petty
The Jagged Crypt
Underwater Carnival
Bliss Palace
Spice Box Integrates silently into the group
VAT of Broth meets disaster
Turtle is loose
Bum Crashes slowly
Amy's Wingback chair Department store
Moss's Bell Collective
Duncan's Bonsai Emporium
Jimenez's Hanging Birdcage Industries
Phantasmal Killer
Compacting Room of Doom
Wingback chair that is glowing
Bonsai children's replica
Secret Bell
Hidden Sling
Blowgun of Doom
Target’s legs are shaped like springs and twang when he walks
| Name | Codename | Career | Likes | Dislikes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xander Moss | "Short Thumbs" | Merchant | Lions | Dice |
| Adam Duncan | "Violet Fingers" | Mole | Acorns | Essential Oils |
| Alexa Sanders | Physician | Comic Books | Christmas | |
| Amy Chan | Farmer | Paper | Soup | |
| Eric Jimenez | Blacksmith | Harmonica | Paperclips |
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
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 UpGive 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.
Characters90% 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.
RollingThis 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 MasterYour 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.
EndingNo 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).