The Director Welcomes You

Operation — Clever Hell

#f18624

Location

Cloudy, Miserable Saint Lucia

Time of Day

18:53

Extraction Point

177 Miles NW

Time to Complete

31 Hours

Eyeballs,
It seems "Orange Kangaroos" has gone level 6. They have been broadcasting this message "An out of place door appears at the Devil's barrow". We need you to eliminate them, Zestily. Their last known location was recorded at 03:13. You have a Invisible Candle as a last resort. Use carefully.

— The Tape recorder you were holding self destructs.

The Villain Dossier

Name

Zoe Soto

Alias

"Orange Kangaroos"

Features

6' 11"

Heterochromia eyes

Large deep scar / Right middle finger

Organization

The Bunch of Inexpensive Hope

Emotions

Powerless

Personality

Zestily Pre-Pubescent

Motive

Take over a government in pursuit of knowledge

Bodyguard

Emily the "Revolting Dragon"

Physical Size

Sizable

Story

Additional Locations

The Clever Lake

Rundown City

Peace Mansion

Random Events

Storm Is getting confiscated

Squirrel drops from the sky

Feminist Bursts loudly

Deadbeat Bounces oddly

World

Stores

Diego's Musical instrument Creative

Jacobs's Doorway Outlet

Parsons's Grandfather Clock Collective

Flores's Tea Set Department store

Traps

Beehive

Hail of Needles of Reservation

Objects

Musical instrument made of heavy metal

Grandfather Clock children's replica

Secret Doorway

Hidden Nipple Clamp

Rock of Reservation

Wand of Wonder

Target is pursued by rogue shadows that resemble his own

People

Name Codename Career Likes Dislikes
Tucker Jacobs "Casual Falafels" Merchant Syrup Notes
Andrea Parsons "Short Waffles" Mole Horses Glass
Natalie Newman Bounty hunter Octopus Bracelets
Diego Mclaughlin Chief Executive Officer Syrup Broccoli
Jayce Flores Stressed Deodorant Washing Machines

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).