The Director Welcomes You
The Swift Diamond Question
#d25132
Sleuths, We need your help. Agent Jordyn Gibson has gone missing and we believe "Left Griffin" is responsible. They were last seen in Laos at 12:20. The agent sent one final message – "A vagrant asks for money at the Three Fingers". Take this Light Banana - it was their favorite tool and might help you.
— The Origami Swan you were holding self destructs.
Nova Deleon
"Left Griffin"
4' 3"
Amber eyes
Small mole / Right leg
The Bureau of Proud Week
Confident
Vaguely Spoiled
Make a lot of money out of greed
Jerry the "Tiring Sphinx"
Towering
The Swift Arcade
Desolate Carnival
Casualties Fortress
Bag of Flour is being loudly arrested
Procession Is throwing a BBQ
Store Finds gold in the water
Fairy emerges
Stella's Footlocker Consulting
Edwards's Drawers Specialities
Contreras's Workbench Ventures
Gibson's Watch Labs
Rune of Paralyzation
Bricks from Ceiling of Peace
Footlocker that has been hollowed out
Workbench with a False bottom
Secret Drawers
Hidden Handcuffs
Whip of Peace
Target’s hands can’t be cut by any blade forged by a mortal
| Name | Codename | Career | Likes | Dislikes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaiah Edwards | "Violet Feet" | Merchant | Cartography | Horses |
| Luis Contreras | "Orange Livers" | Mole | Acorns | Photography |
| Adam Peterson | Ghost | Limes | Photography | |
| Stella Stevenson | Intoxicated | Broccoli | Trees | |
| Jordyn Gibson | Hotel Manager | Bracelets | Photography |
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).