The Director Welcomes You
Who is Darnell Death?
#ce8ea7
Scrutinizers, I have sent you to within earshot of a Abandoned Island to look for a suspect by the name "Three Mermaid". This mission is anti-surveillance. Their recent activity is concerning and we need you to disable the bomb. We don't know much about their goals but we've intercepted this cryptic message – "A stranger can be seen in the shadows at the Grey Hollow".
We're low budget this mission – I've packed a Light Towel in your kit to help.
— The Burner Phone you were holding self destructs.
Rhett Mack
"Three Mermaid"
4' 9"
Gray eyes
Small mole / Right thumb
The Community of Surly Bed
Numb
Lightly Jagged
Take over a country to cause catastrophe
Darnell the "Filthy Vampires"
Miniature
The Square Arcade
Abandoned Peninsula
Competency Masquerade
Hoard Is throwing a BBQ
Chauvinist Gets their hand chopped off
Husband explodes
Bear Is under a curse
Connor's Workbench Chic Chåteau
Barker's Candle Specialities
Thompson's Platter Market
French's Stool Warehouse
Chain Lightning
Poison Wall Spikes of Endownment
Workbench that has been hollowed out
Platter children's replica
Secret Candle
Hidden Blindfold
Sickle of Endownment
Target whistles like a teapot when struck by magic
| Name | Codename | Career | Likes | Dislikes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easton Barker | "Black Waffles" | Merchant | Washing Machines | Potatoes |
| Logan Thompson | "Black Heels" | Mole | Chickens | Jigsaw Puzzles |
| Matteo Bryant | Spirit | Shirts | Doors | |
| Connor Cruz | Statistician | Essential Oils | Sticks | |
| William French | Farmer | Clocks | Rocks |
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).