The Director Welcomes You
The Insurance Skill Protocol
#26aa79
Silent Negotiators, I have sent you to climb a Hidden Circus to look for a suspect by the name "Red Elephants". This mission is black ops. Their recent activity is concerning and we need you to deactivate their resources. We don't know much about their goals but we've intercepted this cryptic message – "A vagrant asks for money at the Three Fingers".
We're low budget this mission – I've packed a Colorful Boot in your kit to help.
— The Portable Radio you were holding self destructs.
Stella Bell
"Red Elephants"
7' 10"
Amber eyes
Large moles / Left hand
The Sorority of Fluffy Craigslist
Disgraced
Gently Sticky
Make a lot of money to save humanity
Jerry the "Worn Humanoid"
Modest
The Curved Business
Expensive House
Vulnerability Castle
VAT of Broth is being loudly arrested
Dracula overflows
Gallon of Trash Is under a curse
Water Vessel Salutes the adventurers
Presley's Crate Outlet
Fletcher's Tea Pot Closet
Roberts's Coat Collective
Bates's Ceramic Crock Collective
Tripping Chain
Compacting Room of Skill
Crate that is glowing
Coat that has been hollowed out
Secret Tea Pot
Hidden Credit Card
Whip of Skill
Target can no longer conceal his plans for world domination
| Name | Codename | Career | Likes | Dislikes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elias Fletcher | "Mini Dumplings" | Merchant | Chickens | Paper |
| Jayce Roberts | "Heavy Hands" | Mole | Candy | Books |
| Abel Gibbs | Human Statue | Doors | Chickens | |
| Presley Deleon | Bruised | Chili | Cookies | |
| Andrea Bates | Old Timer | Rubber Bands | Lipstick |
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).