The Director Welcomes You

The Mandatory Player Dilemma

#00bf21

Location

Wet, Rainy Cabo Verde

Time of Day

17:56

Extraction Point

100 Miles SE

Time to Complete

33 Hours

Eyeballs,
We need your help. Agent Caroline Baker has gone missing and we believe "Golden Dragon" is responsible. They were last seen in Cabo Verde at 23:00. The agent sent one final message – "A stranger can be seen in the shadows at the Hollow oak tree". Take this Dull Hammer - it was their favorite tool and might help you.

— The iPod you were holding self destructs.

The Villain Dossier

Name

Mason Brooks

Alias

"Golden Dragon"

Features

6' 9"

Blue eyes

Stretch Marks / Right eye

Organization

The Office of Spicy Smoke

Emotions

Disturbed

Personality

Potentially Bloody

Motive

Take over a country to become the best

Bodyguard

Nicky the "Drab Bull"

Physical Size

Scanty

Story

Additional Locations

The Mandatory Business

Bustling Crypt

Optimism Barn Dance

Random Events

Panhandler Attempts to rob a bank

Panhandler Is throwing a BBQ

Skeleton scurries by

Nearby Gas Tank grabs a lady's purse

World

Stores

Brayden's Trinket Convenience store

Parsons's Metal chair Factory

Vaughn's Trophy Discount

Baker's Lipstick Couture

Traps

Incendiary Cloud

Crushing Room of Vulnerability

Objects

Trinket that is glowing

Trophy with a False bottom

Secret Metal chair

Hidden Guthook

Ring of Vulnerability

Wand of Wonder

Target has a scar on his forehead as though clumsily lobotomized

People

Name Codename Career Likes Dislikes
Brantley Parsons "Casual Hearts" Merchant Squirrels Rubber Stamps
Ayden Vaughn "Plump Elbows" Mole Rubber Stamps Harmonica
Grant Knight Cleaner Comic Books Video Games
Brayden McCarthy Engineer Candles Rubber Bands
Caroline Baker Firefighter Rock n' Roll Football

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).