The Director Welcomes You

Gladiator, Balcony, Tank, Spy.

#7a84fd

Location

Cloudy, Arid Central African Republic

Time of Day

17:6

Extraction Point

28 Miles N

Time to Complete

5 Hours

Scrutinizers,
We need your help. Agent Judy Wagner has gone missing and we believe "Violet Platypuses" is responsible. They were last seen in Central African Republic at 13:17. The agent sent one final message – "A stranger can be seen in the shadows at the Unicorn Nest". Take this Vicious Hammer - it was their favorite tool and might help you.

— The Tablet of Stone you were holding self destructs.

The Villain Dossier

Name

Allison Salazar

Alias

"Violet Platypuses"

Features

5' 3"

Blue eyes

Faint curved scar / Right hand

Organization

The Union of High Tank

Emotions

Confused

Personality

Upliftingly Calm

Motive

Take over a country in pursuit of knowledge

Bodyguard

Mitch the "Irrelevant Spirit"

Physical Size

Big

Story

Additional Locations

The Progressive Tower

Touristy Castle

Rage Lake

Random Events

Biscuit Adopts a nearby child

Butter Shipment skins a cat with his teeth

Corncob Is under a curse

Meteor stop the party and asks questions

World

Stores

Avery's Rug Department store

Banks's Pipe Beauty Stop

Rice's Watch Emporium

Wagner's Satchel Beauty Stop

Traps

Camouflaged Pit

Symbol of Hypnosis of Bitterness

Objects

Rug children's replica

Watch made of heavy metal

Secret Pipe

Hidden Dagger

Lighter of Bitterness

Wand of Wonder

Caster tells malicious lies about his employer or benefactor

People

Name Codename Career Likes Dislikes
London Banks "No Churros" Merchant Books Chili
Reese Rice "Right Toes" Mole Rubber Stamps Squirrels
Melanie Reyes Police Officer Dice Clocks
Avery Keller Old Man Eggs Sharp Things
Judy Wagner Chief Executive Officer Television Soup

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).