The Director Welcomes You
Area, Beard, Officer, Spy.
#a9e4b7
Silent Negotiators, I have sent you to the top of a Expensive Barn Dance to look for a suspect by the name "Junior Cockatrice". This mission is black ops. Their recent activity is concerning and we need you to uncover their plans. We don't know much about their goals but we've intercepted this cryptic message – "A mysterious key is found on the ground at the giants footsteps".
We're low budget this mission – I've packed a Heavy Level in your kit to help.
— The iPod you were holding self destructs.
Clara Lawrence
"Junior Cockatrice"
4' 9"
Amber eyes
Large moles / Right middle finger
The Clique of Delightful Officer
Intrigued
Eagerly Damaged
Make a lot of money for pure destruction
Donald the "Zealous mammoth"
Trifling
The Worn Creek
Bustling City
Happiness Shelter
Bunny meets disaster
Gang Is getting confiscated
Keg catches on fire
Mutant Is throwing a protest
Jordyn's Flowers Growing Market
Weber's Stamp Set Hole
Lynch's Stamp Set Mall
Buchanan's Tea Pot Little shop
Dropping Ceiling
Insanity Mist Vapor of Prosperity
Flowers Growing made of heavy metal
Stamp Set that has been hollowed out
Secret Stamp Set
Hidden Chastity Belt
Credit Card of Prosperity
Caster has an answer for everything
| Name | Codename | Career | Likes | Dislikes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ella Weber | "The Toes" | Merchant | Ice Cubes | Water |
| Joshua Lynch | "Wild Elbows" | Mole | Tea | Music |
| Alice Erickson | Hotel Manager | Cartography | Rabbits | |
| Jordyn Holmes | Psychiatrist | Children's Stories | Rubber Bands | |
| Aaliyah Buchanan | Talent agent | Honey | Television |
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).