The Director Welcomes You

The Knavishly Substantial Agent

#4466c2

Location

Wet, Breezy Belize

Time of Day

4:8

Extraction Point

183 Miles NEE

Time to Complete

28 Hours

Eyeballs,
It seems "Red Mummy" has gone level 4. They have been broadcasting this message "Clouds develop quickly at the Field of Wildflowers". We need you to eliminate them, Knavishly. Their last known location was recorded at 08:21. You have a Mechanical Balloon as a last resort. Use carefully.

— The Microsoft Zune you were holding self destructs.

The Villain Dossier

Name

Ximena Johnson

Alias

"Red Mummy"

Features

7' 6"

Brown eyes

A second belly button / Crotch

Organization

The Agency of Disruptive Earthquake

Emotions

Shocked

Personality

Knavishly Strong

Motive

Take over a government for a love interest

Bodyguard

Jimmy the "Invisible Merfolk"

Physical Size

Scanty

Story

Additional Locations

The Substantial Peninsula

Overpopulated Sanctuary

Darkness Lodge

Random Events

Panhandler is heard screaming

Cat scurries by

Swarm of Bees Catches leprosy

Panhandler Spontaneously disintegrates

World

Stores

Chase's Watch Market

Bowman's Bureau Threads

Hayes's Hanging Birdcage Labs

Wade's Mural Logistics

Traps

Collapsing Column

Razor-Wire across Hallway of Vulnerability

Objects

Watch that is glowing

Hanging Birdcage made of heavy metal

Secret Bureau

Hidden Handcuffs

Camera of Vulnerability

Wand of Wonder

Caster’s next Summoning yields 1d4 chrome-plated ostriches

People

Name Codename Career Likes Dislikes
Kennedy Bowman "Fast Forearms" Merchant Clocks Lipstick
Madelyn Hayes "Nice Forearms" Mole Television Shirts
Abel Hodges Engineer Scarves Teeth
Chase West Restless Rocks Trucks
Brandon Wade Bounty hunter Rubber Stamps Bread

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).