Line #20 Podcast/TheAdventureZone


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adventure_zone_intermission_art.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:It's the Adventure Zone! [[note]]Clockwise from top: Amnesty, Commitment, Balance, Hootenanny, Dust, Elementary. Not pictured: Graduation, (K)Nights, Furry.[[/note]]]]
3	->'''Griffin:''' I didn't expect it to go like that...\
4	'''Travis:''' What did you ''expect'' to happen?\
5	'''Griffin:''' YOU TO ''CATCH A FUCKING FISH IN THE '''FISH MINIGAME'''!'' Am I out of my mind? Is that an unreasonable expectation? To give them a fucking fishing minigame -- Taako makes the lake float, Travis jumps in with a rapier like "let's get it done!" and Dad makes the fucking shit teleport away!\
6	'''Clint:''' Welcome to the Adventure Zone, Griffin.
7	-->-- [[Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance Balance]] arc, San Diego Live show
8
9	''The Adventure Zone'' is an ActualPlay podcast featuring the Creator/McElroyBrothers (Justin, Travis, and Griffin) playing assorted TabletopRPG[=s=] with their father, Clint. The podcast began in late 2014 and new episodes are released every other Thursday.
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11	The podcast initially focused on a single TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons campaign, ''Balance'', with Griffin as the DungeonMaster. Afterward the four [=McElroys=] took turns directing short experimental arcs until one of them, ''Amnesty'' (also DM'd by Griffin), was chosen for expansion into a full second season. As of Summer 2019, Amnesty has also finished as a series, as has ''Graduation'' with Travis as DM. The fourth full campaign was ''Ethersea'', with Griffin back as DM, and the current campaign is ''Steeplechase'', run by Justin.
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13	Thus far, the podcast contains the following arcs:
14
15	!Arcs
16	!!Seasons 1-6
17	* '''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance''' (2014-2017) is a D&D campaign run by Griffin. It follows human fighter Magnus Burnsides (Travis), elven wizard Taako (Justin), and dwarven "cleric" Merle Highchurch (Clint) as they attempt to hunt down powerful, world-destroying artifacts at the behest of an organization called the Bureau of Balance.
18	** In the same continuity is the adventures of the Hogsbottom Three, run by the hosts of bad movie podcast ''Podcast/TheFlophouse''.
19	** '''The Zone of Adventure: Imbalance''' (2021) is a D&D campaign run by guest DM Aabria Iyengar. It is a 3-episode miniseries set after the events of Balance, where the Tres Horny Boys and returning supporting characters face a new, time-related threat. Notable for being the first arc of the series presented as videos on Website/YouTube instead of as a podcast.
20	* '''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneAmnesty''' (2018-2019) is a ''MediaNotes/PoweredByTheApocalypse'' campaign run by Griffin using the ''TabletopGame/MonsterOfTheWeek'' hack. As mentioned above, ''Amnesty'' began life as an experimental arc before being picked up for the second season. A MonsterOfTheWeek story taking place in the fictional ski town of Kepler, West Virginia, following the tourist trap owner Edmund "Ned" Chicane (Clint), the amateur magician Aubrey Little/The Lady Flame (Travis), and the park ranger Duck "[[InsistentTerminology It's a]] [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname nickname]]" Newton (Justin) as they hunt down dangerous monsters coming from a [[CoolGate mysterious stone gate]] in the woods.
21	* '''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneGraduation''' (2019-2021) is a D&D campaign run by Travis, his first time in the DM seat for a main campaign. It follows barbarian sorcerer Fitzroy Maplecourt (Griffin), swashbuckling rogue Argonaut "Argo" Keene (Clint), and an unnamed druid Firbolg (Justin) -- three students enrolling at Hieronymus Wiggenstaff's prestigious School for Heroism and Villainy... or rather, its (somewhat less prestigious) Sidekick and Henchperson Annex. Dark forces are at work at the school to bring about an apocalypse, and the students must be trained in the arts of magic (and [[MundaneMadeAwesome accounting]]) to save their world.
22	* '''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneEthersea''' (2021-2022) is a D&D campaign run by Griffin, set in an post-apocalyptic undersea city called Founder’s Wake. The campaign began with a five-episode prologue, of the four playing a world-building card game called "The Quiet Year", which told the story of how four kingdoms caused an apocalyptic storm through their overuse of magic, eventually forcing them to settle underneath the waves. The story itself is set some twenty years later and follows a trio of adventurers working for the Blue Span Brokerage. They are the famous teleporting-shark - or "blink shark" - killer, Amber Gris (Justin); a young man who has recently defected from the church that raised him, Devo La Main (Travis); and a newly formed "brinearr" [[note]]a race which came about during the prologue; humanoid coral bodies possessed by spirits of the "einarr" people[[/note]], Zoox (Clint).
23	* '''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneSteeplechase''' (2022-2023) is an original MediaNotes/ForgedInTheDark campaign run by Justin. Set in an immersive amusement park for the rich, it follows three criminal employees of an arcade called "Poppy's Place", located on the nostalgia-themed layer "Ustaben": the former arm-wrestler Beef Punchly [[note]]real name Linden Julius[[/note]] (Travis), the genius Emerich Dreadway (Clint), and the mask-wearing Montrose Pretty (Griffin).
24	* '''The Adventure Zone: Versus Dracula''' (2024-) is a D&D campaign run by Griffin. Set in the land of Angrave in the town Lumineaux, a group has been formed to kill {{Dracula}}. They are monster hunter Mutt Muttner (Travis), religious guide Brother Phileaux (Clint) and the vengeful, reanimated corpse Lady Godwin (Justin).
25	!!Experiments
26	A series of short, "experimental" arcs using various systems and run by alternating [=GMs=], done to help decide what to do for Season 2 proper. Amnesty began as one of these before it was chosen to become the second season.
27	* '''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneCommitment''' (2017) is a ''MediaNotes/{{FATE}}'' campaign run by Clint, set in a world of superheroes inspired by ComicBook/THUNDERAgents. It follows the super-agile [[Series/AmericanNinjaWarrior ninja warrior]] Chris "Remy" Rembrandt/Springheel (Griffin), the genius shapeshifter Nadiya Jones (Travis), and the HR ace Irene Baker, who can become the host to the storm goddess Kardala (Justin), as they join an experimental program for a humanitarian NGO called the Do-Good Fellowship.
28	* '''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneDust''' (2018) is a ''MediaNotes/PoweredByTheApocalypse'' campaign run by Travis using the ''Urban Shadows'' hack. Set in the WeirdWest of Crescent Territory, it follows the late cashew baron Augustus Parsons (Justin), the traveling wizard Gandy Dancer (Clint), and the former-politician werewolf Errol Ryehouse (Griffin) as they investigate a murder while preventing the [[FurAgainstFang prominent vampire and werewolf]] [[FeudingFamilies families' feud]] from boiling over.
29	** ''Dust'' received a second mini-arc (2022), following Augustus Parsons (Justin), the stoic gunslinger Callan (Clint), [[Podcast/TheAdventureZoneAmnesty Indrid Cole the Mothman]] (Griffin), and possessed proprietress Lulu Kageyama (guest player Erika Ishii) as they track down Pearl Blackwell and try to return her to her family.
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31	!One-Shots
32	!!Live Shows
33	* '''The Adventure Zone: Hootenanny''' (2019) is a ''Lasers and Feelings'' one-shot run by Griffin. A [[SpaceWestern 'Space Opry']] following an interstellar country band with a constantly changing name, including arcade machine turned standup bass playing android Shoots [=McCracken=] (Travis), Benny Gene Esserit, [[Literature/{{Dune}} Prince of Marrakis]] (Clint), and deeply conservative, cryogenically frozen balladeer Pepsi Liberty (Justin).
34	* '''The Adventure Zone: Dadlands''' (2019) is a one-shot using an RPG of the [=McElroys=]' own design, featuring [[WebVideo/Dimension20 Brennan Lee Mulligan]] as a guest DM. Set in a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic wasteland]] inhabited only by dads, it features Briquette Hoggins (Griffin) of the Grill Dads clan, Chip Hugginsby (Justin) of the Vacation Dads, Coach Red Ruffinsore (Clint) of the Sports Dads, and Guy Ferrari (Travis) of the Car Dads, who go on a journey to recover the remote that controls [[Franks2000InchTv a miles-high plasma screen television]] in the middle of the Dadlands.
35	* '''The Adventure Zone: Just Us''' (2021) is a ''[[https://ursidice.com/supernormal/ SuperNormal]]'' one-shot run by Travis in 2019, featuring a group of superheroes at a company picnic trying not to blow their secret identities.
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37	!!Donor Exclusives
38	* '''[[Podcast/TheAdventureZoneKNights The Adventure Zone: (K)Nights]]''' (2016-2017) is a D&D campaign run by Travis. It follows half-elf warlock Tom Collins (Griffin), human bard Lenny Manolito (Clint), and Tiefling monk Troth (Justin) as they carry out missions as the new leaders for the thieves-guild-turned-resistance-movement The Beasts of the Ring. Available exclusively to those who donate to the podcast's publisher, Maximum Fun.
39	* '''The Adventure Zone: Elementary''' (2018) is a [[DenserAndWackier very silly]] one-shot run by Justin in a rules-light system called ''Four Sherlock Holmes and a Vampire (Who Is Also One of the Aforementioned Sherlock Holmes)''; it follows [[Film/SherlockHolmes2009 Sherlock Holmes]] (Travis), [[Series/{{Sherlock}} Sherlock Holmes]] (Griffin), [[Film/TheyMightBeGiants "Sherlock Holmes"]] (Clint), [[OverlyLongGag and]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes:_Consulting_Detective Sherlock Holmes]] (Justin) attempting to solve a mystery, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and also one or more of them might be a vampire]]. Available exclusively to those who donate to the podcast's publisher, Maximum Fun.
40	* '''The Adventure Zone: Fur''' (2019) is a ''Honey Heist'' one-shot run by Travis. It follows the unhinged polar bear "The Thomas Crown Affair" (Griffin), the incompetent sun bear Puka Malone (Clint), and the retired grizzly bear Gerrrf (Justin) as they pull off the heist of the century: stealing a briefcase of pure manuka extract worth five million dollars from the 2019 Sacramento Honey Con! Available exclusively to those who donate to the podcast's publisher, Maximum Fun.
41	* '''The Adventure Zone: Mercer''' (2020) is a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 5E one-shot featuring Creator/MatthewMercer as guest DM.
42	* '''The Adventure Zone: Lords of Crunch''' (2020) is a modified ''Lasers & Feelings'' one-shot run by Justin. It follows three breakfast cereal mascots, Weedy (Clint) of Buddz Hemp-Based Breakfast Cereal, Skipper Little Dipper (Travis) of Honey-Dipped Oats: Sugar Berry Blast, and Sylvester Stud (Griffin), of Flav-O-Corp's Nutrient-Enriched Fiber Squares, as they attempt to save their home dimension of the Keriopsis from being destroyed at the hands of the evil [[Advertising/CapnCrunch Horatio]]. (And his band of [[RefugeInAudacity murder perverts]].) Available exclusively to those who donate to the podcast's publisher, Maximum Fun.
43	* '''The Adventure Zone: 2tenanny''' (2020) is a sequel to the Hootenanny live show, run by Clint while Griffin joins the players as replacement band member 48.
44	* '''The Adventure Zone: Charlieverse''' (2021) is a modified ''Muppet Babies'' one-shot run by Justin and designed by his 6-year-old daughter Charlie.
45	----
46	!! Tropes common to multiple arcs include:
47	* AerithAndBob: To different degrees in different arcs, but you get things like characters named "Zoox" and "Devo"[[note]]Short for "Devotion"[[/note]] adventuring alongside "Amber".
48	* ArtisticLicense: Liberties are frequently taken with game mechanics for the sake of RuleOfCool, RuleOfFun, or RuleOfFunny.
49	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: "Balance" is the only arc to take place in a fictional world ''not'' original to ''The Adventure Zone'' ([[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Faerûn]]), although it becomes more original as time goes on.
50	* ReferenceOverdosed: The players make frequent references to pop culture, both in-character and out.
51	* SharedUniverse: The members of the family seem to have differing ideas about this. Griffin usually denies it, but the others seem to like the idea that all arcs take place in the same universe (or rather, multiverse).

Context Podcast / TheAdventureZone