The Director Welcomes You
World, Pole, Cake, Spy.
#7b4c7e
Agents, We need your help. Agent Fiona Mendez has gone missing and we believe "Mad Hobgoblin" is responsible. They were last seen in Kuwait at 16:17. The agent sent one final message – "A mysterious key is found on the ground at the Music Store". Take this Soft Watch - it was their favorite tool and might help you.
— The Burner Phone you were holding self destructs.
Angel Hanson
"Mad Hobgoblin"
7' 9"
Red eyes
Faint curved scar / Right eye
The Sorority of Embarrassed Cake
Preoccupied
Naturally Loud
Disrupt the military out of desperation
Billy the "Jealous Gnome"
Elder
The Tragic Suburbs
Polluted Isle
Extermination Carousal
Bum Is accused by the law
Nomad Is getting confiscated
Robber explodes
Cookie scurries by
Ximena's Picture Frame Closet
Ryan's Footlocker Little shop
King's Doorway Outlet
Mendez's Candle Unlimited
Ghoul Touch
Collapsing Column of Extermination
Picture Frame made of heavy metal
Doorway children's replica
Secret Footlocker
Hidden Gauntlet
Javelins of Extermination
Triumphant fanfare fills the air for 1d6 turns
| Name | Codename | Career | Likes | Dislikes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dean Ryan | "Green Eyes" | Merchant | Slippers | Rocks |
| Ethan King | "Red Forearms" | Mole | Soap | Rabbits |
| Gavin White | Teacher | Tissues | Essential Oils | |
| Ximena Salazar | Talent agent | Bells | Death | |
| Fiona Mendez | Zestful | Soccer | Plushies |
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).