The Director Welcomes You

The Ice Endownment Incident

#472c50

Location

Windless, Miserable Saint Lucia

Time of Day

20:21

Extraction Point

190 Miles SSE

Time to Complete

26 Hours

Eyeballs,
It seems "Cramped Anteaters" has gone level 6. They have been broadcasting this message "The earth shakes briefly at the Grove of Weeping Willows". We need you to eliminate them, Vainly. Their last known location was recorded at 21:13. You have a Clandestine Blaser as a last resort. Use carefully.

— The iPod you were holding self destructs.

The Villain Dossier

Name

Owen Flynn

Alias

"Cramped Anteaters"

Features

7' 1"

Brown eyes

A second belly button / Left middle finger

Organization

The Committee of Efficacious Boundary

Emotions

Liking

Personality

Vainly Sturdy

Motive

Disrupt the military for a love interest

Bodyguard

Tim the "Gifted Siren"

Physical Size

Vast

Story

Additional Locations

The Encrusted Fortress

Archaic Festival

Violence Tower

Random Events

Crying Child Bounces oddly

Husband approaches

Chanting Cult Bounces oddly

Buccaneer Pulls on the coat tails of one of the adventurers

World

Stores

Melanie's Kitchen knife Hole

Maldonado's Potted Plant Ventures

Kramer's Rug Bazaar

Sherman's Shirt Chic Chåteau

Traps

Symbol of Hypnosis

Earthquake of Endownment

Objects

Kitchen knife with a False bottom

Rug children's replica

Secret Potted Plant

Hidden Staff

Chewing Gum of Endownment

Wand of Wonder

Target can no longer conceal his plans for world domination

People

Name Codename Career Likes Dislikes
Madison Maldonado "Little Spleens" Merchant Comic Books Quartz Crystals
Arya Kramer "Four Knuckles" Mole Water Horses
Isabelle Hudson Elevator Mechanic Ice Cubes Death
Melanie Martin Operator Hammers Christmas
Gael Sherman Old Man Notes Batteries

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).