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.
Owen Flynn
"Cramped Anteaters"
7' 1"
Brown eyes
A second belly button / Left middle finger
The Committee of Efficacious Boundary
Liking
Vainly Sturdy
Disrupt the military for a love interest
Tim the "Gifted Siren"
Vast
The Encrusted Fortress
Archaic Festival
Violence Tower
Crying Child Bounces oddly
Husband approaches
Chanting Cult Bounces oddly
Buccaneer Pulls on the coat tails of one of the adventurers
Melanie's Kitchen knife Hole
Maldonado's Potted Plant Ventures
Kramer's Rug Bazaar
Sherman's Shirt Chic Chåteau
Symbol of Hypnosis
Earthquake of Endownment
Kitchen knife with a False bottom
Rug children's replica
Secret Potted Plant
Hidden Staff
Chewing Gum of Endownment
Target can no longer conceal his plans for world domination
| 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 |
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).