History Main / AdventureTowns

* ''WesternAnimation/GlennMartinDDS'' is about a BumblingDad wandering the country in his RV. They go to a different town every episode, such as the Amish Country, a green town populated by Hippies, and the setting of a reality show where the host secretly tries to break up their family. They also go to various major cities.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Fanfic]]
* ''Fanfic/TheGoodHunter'' has Cyril spend his time in a state/province-like area for an arc. The occasion where he moves to a new one indicates the start of a new arc. So far, Cyril has visited three -- Lescatie, Sheffield, and Erebus. In particular, Cyril visits a different village every 2-3 chapters during the ''Erebus Arc'', in order to crack down on the slaver raids and hunt down whoever's responsible.

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games have numerous adventure towns. It's not mandatory to visit them, but they are good sources of experience and equipment.

* Most of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' revolved around the Gaang traveling to all sorts of exotic or [[QuirkyTown eccentric villages]] as Aang mastered all the elements. {{Justified}} as Aang was being chased by the [[EvilEmpire Fire Nation]] for basically the entire show.

If you're a writer of a TV drama series with recurring characters, you have a problem: You need a new story every week, and they cannot all be just about your regular cast. So most TV series formats, particularly for drama, involve some way of bringing a new set of guest stars into your leads' lives for every episode. There are just two ways to do this: Either your leads work as cops, lawyers, ER doctors, or emergency rescue team, or another profession that naturally brings lots of other people to them for short periods of time; or else your leads do something that has them travelling around a lot, meeting new people and dealing with new situations wherever they go.

Maybe they're [[TheDrifter drifters]] WalkingTheEarth to right injustices. Maybe they are being [[{{SternChase}} chased by the law]] or they're from LaResistance, and they're eluding agents from TheEmpire. Maybe they are a roving reporter for a big newspaper. Whatever the reason, our main characters go to a new place each week which results in an adventure that they have to solve in forty-two minutes -- sixty minutes minus the commercials. Often the heroes will be MistakenForSpies when they get there. Count [[WastelandElder on a local]] or [[GirlOfTheWeek two]] to help.

If you're a writer of a TV drama series with recurring characters, you have a problem: You need a new story every week, and they cannot all be just about your regular cast. So most TV series formats, particularly for drama, involve some way of bringing a new set of guest stars into your leads' lives for every episode. There are just two ways to do this: Either your leads work as cops, lawyers, doctors, or some other profession that naturally brings lots of other people to them for short periods of time; or else your leads do something that has them travelling around a lot, meeting new people and situations wherever they go.

Maybe they're [[TheDrifter drifters]] WalkingTheEarth. Maybe they are being [[{{SternChase}} chased by the law]]. Maybe they are just trying to get home. Whatever the reason, our main characters go to a new place each week which results in an adventure that they have to solve in forty-two minutes -- sixty minutes minus the commercials. Often the heroes will be MistakenForSpies when they get there. Count [[WastelandElder on a local]] or [[GirlOfTheWeek two]] to help.

* ''[[LightNovel/KinosJourney Kino's Journey]]'' has the main character visit a new Adventure Town in most episodes, occasionally visiting several new ones in a single episode. Each Adventure Town tends to have its own physical laws, technological level, and eccentric characteristics. Frequently subverted by Kino's aloofness preventing her from actually taking part in an adventure.

* The 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime utilized this in a way that was very unique for the time, combining it with [[ChekhovsArmory Chekhov's Armory]]. The early part of season 1 was yet another anime where the heroes visited a town every week looking for a MacGuffin and just happened to be there at the right time to set right that which was wrong. However, after a few episodes of this, a much larger plot materialized. The clincher is that, with the exception of the Psiren incident, practically everything that happened during this period of visiting adventure towns came back to affect Ed and Al at some point, highlighting one of the show's themes of equivalent exchange: you give something up (in this case, time they could've been using to search for the Philosopher's Stone), you gain something equal (aid in their quest later on). This left such an impression on many that even Hiromu Arakawa, the writer of the ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' manga upon which the anime is loosely based, actually took inspiration from this specific story structure during the later chapters of her series.

Maybe they're [[TheDrifter Drifters]] WalkingTheEarth. Maybe they are being [[{{SternChase}} chased by the law]]. Maybe they are just trying to get home. Whatever the reason, our main characters go to a new place each week that results in an adventure that they have to solve in forty-two minutes -- sixty minutes minus the commercials. Often the heroes will be MistakenForSpies when they get there. Count [[WastelandElder on a local]] or [[GirlOfTheWeek two]] to help.

* The 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime utilized this in a way that was very unique for the time, combining it with [[ChekhovsArmory Chekhov's Armory]]. The early part of season 1 was yet another anime where the heroes visited a town every week looking for a MacGuffin and just happened to be there at the right time to set right that which was wrong. However, after a few episode of this, a much larger plot materialized. The clincher is that, with the exception of the Psiren incident, practically everything that happened during this period of visiting adventure towns came back to affect Ed and Al at some point, highlighting one of the show's theme of equivalent exchange: you give something up (in this case, time they could've been using to search for the Philosopher's Stone), you gain something equal (aid in their quest later on). This left such an impression on many that even Hiromu Arakawa, the writer of the ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' manga upon which the anime is loosely based, actually took inspiration from this specific story structure during the later chapters of her series.

* ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' quite blatantly does this, especially the first season.

* ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'' uses this a lot. The plot of an issue would have Usagi wondering into to a town plagued by bandits or yakuza or a supernatural monster.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Featuring a time machine that can go anywhere in time and space, features Adventure ''Times'' that are often also Adventure Planets and at least three times an Adventure Universe. Adventure Bases, Adventure Starships and Adventure Space Stations are also par for the course.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'': FBI Agents Mulder and Scully chase aliens, alien-human hybrids, clones, genetic mutants, vampires, serial killers and conspirators all over the United States. Plus in Norway, Hong Kong, Russia and Antarctica.
* In ''Series/TheWitcher2019'', a Wtcher's actual job works a lot like this, but thanks to the plot that he's gotten tangled up in Geralt of Rivia gets to do less and less of it as the series progresses.

* Xena and Hercules' intended SpiritualSuccessor ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'' used a similar format. In the first season, the heroes are on the run from an extremely powerful warlord on a scavenger hunt of sorts, so they have to move around. In the second season they're on a journey to find an older, even more obscure MacGuffin, and the search takes them all over the Midlands.

* In ''TabletopGame/DogsInTheVineyard'', the [=PCs=] are God's Watchdogs in an knockoff of 19th century Mormon territory, traveling between towns ("branches") and fixing thorny problems before they fester into full-blown demon-enabling heresy.

* A few episodes in the second season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' were like this, after the island of Avalon kept sending Goliath, Elisa and Angela to different parts of the world where old or new enemies were causing trouble.

* Initially averted in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' but with each passing season, more episodes have taken place outside of Ponyville and Canterlot. The advent of the Cutie Map in Season 5 has led to different settings on almost every episode.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Series/{{Route 66}}'', ''Series/ThenCameBronson'', ''Series/KungFu'', ''Series/KnightRider'', and ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' did this every week.

* In ''TabletopGame/DogsInTheVineyard'', the [=PCs=] are God's Watchdogs in an {{Expy}} of 19th century Mormon territory, traveling between towns ("branches") and fixing thorny problems before they fester into full-blown demon-enabling heresy.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound''. One city is filled with delinquent children, another has a cultist group just around the corner, another is in the middle of a ZombieApocalypse...

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' revolves around an road trip across America that Grandpa Max takes Ben and his cousin Gwen on in his RV. The stops range from cities, dingy tourist traps to farms. Inevitably, there will be a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monster or Villain of the Week]] that Ben will find in these places, no matter how mundane they seem.

* The ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime has a lot of these in practically every episode between Gym battles. Even the Gym towns ''themselves'' qualify as this, as they spend a few episodes in each one doing various things.

** Inverted with ''Series/ThePretender'' wherein Jarod was pursued by the BigBad.

* Classic SternChase versions include ''Series/TheFugitive'', ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk'', and ''Series/NowhereMan''.

** Inverted with ''Series/TheFugitive'' wherein Jarod was pursued by the BigBad.