The Director Welcomes You

The Tourbus Endownment Protocol

#ee9ce8

Location

Wet, Chilly Djibouti

Time of Day

22:8

Extraction Point

3 Miles NEE

Time to Complete

46 Hours

Snoopers,
We need your help. Agent Messiah Mendoza has gone missing and we believe "Mini Yeti" is responsible. They were last seen in Djibouti at 09:15. The agent sent one final message – "Tracks of wolves can be seen at the Fallen King". Take this Glowing Cigarette - it was their favorite tool and might help you.

— The Portable Radio you were holding self destructs.

The Villain Dossier

Name

Melody Keller

Alias

"Mini Yeti"

Features

7' 5"

Brown eyes

A second belly button / Left eye

Organization

The Division of Creamy Graveyard

Emotions

Cheerful

Personality

Deceivingly Millions

Motive

Make a lot of money for a love interest

Bodyguard

Tiffany the "Damaged Opossums"

Physical Size

Teeny

Story

Additional Locations

The Attractive Castle

Underground Masquerade

Laughter Reef

Random Events

Nearby Gas Tank runs over an infant

Odor Glistens gently

Box of Cigarette Is hurled at the adventurers

Procession Balances on a ledge

World

Stores

Lorenzo's Rubber Plant Market

Reyes's Spare brick Emporium

Lewis's Vase Closet

Mendoza's Sconce Du jour

Traps

Camouflaged Pit

Built-to-Collapse Wall of Endownment

Objects

Rubber Plant that is glowing

Vase that has been hollowed out

Secret Spare brick

Hidden Hammers

Targe of Endownment

Wand of Wonder

No precipitation falls within 10 miles for 4d6 months

People

Name Codename Career Likes Dislikes
Hunter Reyes "Chunky Bones" Merchant Oranges Deodorant
Callie Lewis "Bullet Pretzels" Mole Shirts Chili
Taylor Shelton Animator Coffee Technology
Lorenzo Brady Technician Harmonica Football
Messiah Mendoza Old Man Pillows Shirts

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).