The Director Welcomes You

The Paper Bag Oblivion Protocol

#133240

Location

Dry, Humid Seychelles

Time of Day

10:50

Extraction Point

68 Miles E

Time to Complete

38 Hours

Investigators,
We need your help. Agent Camden McGee has gone missing and we believe "Italian Hydra" is responsible. They were last seen in Seychelles at 01:20. The agent sent one final message – "Clouds develop quickly at the giants footsteps". Take this Glowing Audio Cassette - it was their favorite tool and might help you.

— The Vinyl record player you were holding self destructs.

The Villain Dossier

Name

Jude Ruiz

Alias

"Italian Hydra"

Features

4' 3"

Amber eyes

A second belly button / Right arm

Organization

The Committee of Childish Reward

Emotions

Tenderness

Personality

Lively Plump

Motive

Take over a country out of jealousy

Bodyguard

Timmy the "Sticky Kraken"

Physical Size

Soaring

Story

Additional Locations

The Flat Shelter

Bustling Forge

Cleanliness Masquerade

Random Events

Meteor is being loudly arrested

Woman Ignites violently

Ninja Is being tortured

Chauvinist screams at the top of their lungs

World

Stores

Aliyah's Sink Ventures

Rodgers's Vase Technologies

Murphy's Bonsai Solutions

McGee's Metal chair Unlimited

Traps

Object Smeared with Poison

Swinging Block of Oblivion

Objects

Sink with a False bottom

Bonsai with a False bottom

Secret Vase

Hidden Frying Pan

Cat of Oblivion

Wand of Wonder

Caster’s attempts at scrying yield visions of incredible beauty

People

Name Codename Career Likes Dislikes
Mary Rodgers "Obese Churros" Merchant Dice Baseball
Chase Murphy "Heavy Ribs" Mole Snowglobes Video Games
Ryan Hunter Dog surfing instructor Teeth Scarves
Aliyah Hart Indifferent Tea Octopus
Camden McGee Soul Deodorant Cousins

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).