Balance Balance depicts a global war on
Faerûn catalyzed by the Grand Relics; seven powerful magical artifacts that compel their wielders to wreak havoc and destruction. At the end of the war, knowledge of the relics was erased from the population's minds, save for the Bureau of Balance which seeks to collect the relics. The narrative also explores the mysteries of the Red Robes, the magical faction that created the relics, and their relation to a cosmic threat. The campaign is broken into a series of quests to retrieve these relics, with "Lunar interlude" downtime episodes between. Atop the Bureau's moon base the characters can regroup, purchase new equipment, and prepare for the next quest. •
Here There Be Gerblins (Episodes 1–6) – The introductory quest is loosely based on the
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set adventure
Lost Mine of Phandelver, but quickly diverges into the primary plot of the adventure. Taako, Merle and Magnus help Merle's cousin Gundren find and reclaim his family's lost treasures, but are quickly dragged into a conspiracy involving the Bureau and the Phoenix-Fire Gauntlet, the Grand Relic of
evocation. •
Murder on the Rockport Limited (Episodes 10–16) – The party goes to reclaim a relic found by a Bureau operative killed after placing it in an impregnable vault on the Rockport Limited train. Finding a Rockport staff member murdered on the trip, the party must discover the murderer before the train arrives in
Neverwinter. During their mission, they meet and are aided by the World's Greatest (boy) Detective, Angus McDonald. The party discovers and retrieves the Oculus, the Grand Relic of
illusion. •
Petals to the Metal (Episodes 18–27) – The party is sent to retrieve the Gaia Sash, the Grand Relic of
conjuration, used to control nature and weather. This relic is currently being used by a master thief known only as the Raven. Through a series of events, the party find themselves allied with Hurley, a law enforcer and former lover of the Raven, and taking part in a mostly-illegal death race to claim the relic. The plot for the quest occurred to Griffin while watching
Fast Five. •
The Stolen Century (Episodes 60–66) – A prequel quest in which the party rediscovers their long-forgotten memories. This includes a century of adventures to keep the light of creation away from the Hunger, a cosmic devourer. The party, who are in fact the Red Robes, split the light into the seven relics to hide them but have their memories wiped. In the present day, the group reverse the memory wipe and learn the nature of the threat they face. •
Story and Song (Episodes 67–69) – The climactic finale quest, in which the Hunger arrives on Faerûn. Old friends and former foes join the party to stop it from consuming the world. As the
Dungeon Master, Griffin portrayed all
non-player characters (except for Garyl, Taako's summoned phantasmal binicorn).
Commitment The first experimental arc, Commitment is a superhero themed arc. The game was run by Clint McElroy using the
FATE system. The characters all work for the Do Good Fellowship, a "
cult adjacent" organization that uses technology and science to improve the world. This arc has a total of four episodes, not including the setup episode the McElroys used to establish their characters, etc.
Amnesty Amnesty uses the
Monster of the Week system by
Evil Hat Productions, and is set in the fictional ski-resort town of Kepler in contemporary
West Virginia. Kepler is regularly invaded by eldritch monsters nicknamed "Abominations" from a mysterious otherworld called Sylvain. The abominations are opposed by a monster-hunting organization called the Pine Guard, headquartered at the titular Amnesty Lodge. Sylvain is a dying world, being consumed by an evil force known as the Quell, and the latter half of the series involves the cast attempting to stop it. These abominations arrive on a monthly cycle, which form the basis for a series of monster hunts by the protagonists. Like
Balance, Amnesty featured lunar or "lodger" interlude episodes for downtime between hunts. •
Hunt for the Beast (Episodes 1–5) – A bear-like monster is loose on Kepler, West Virginia. Duck Newton, Aubrey Little and Ned Chicane stumble across a gateway to the alien world of Sylvain, and learn of the monthly abominations that show up in town. They join up with the Pine Guard, a group of misfits attempting to keep the peace between the two worlds by dealing with these abominations quietly. They assist Mama in taking the beast down by luring it into a cave and setting it ablaze. •
Hunt for the Water (Episodes 6–11) – With a water monster attacking the town, the Pine Guard begin their second hunt. After saving a group of elderly swimmers, the Pine Guard lure the creature to local waterpark "H2Whoa, That was Fun!" to take it down. Outside of this, Ned launches a TV show named "Saturday Night Dead", and Aubrey continues to explore her magic and connection to Sylvain. •
Hunt for the Calamity (Episodes 13–19) – With a series of strange prophesied accidents taking place over town, the Pine Guard attempt to intervene with a pizza sign collapse and Ned is almost killed. The group meet Indrid Cold, the
Mothman, who has been
attempting to warn the townspeople of these accidents but is not the culprit. The Pine Guard eventually track down the anomalous giant tree that is warping reality. •
Hunt for the Countenance (Episodes 21–28) – A shapeshifting abomination attacks the local motorbike gang, the Hornets, causing the gang to learn of the gate. The secret swiftly gets out among a number of Kepler residents. After a battle in a morgue, Ned steals an art piece for a former thief colleague, only for the thief to turn out to be the shapeshifter. The shapeshifter later takes Ned's form and announces the presence of monsters and a gateway on his TV show. A final confrontation at the gateway sees Ned killed, and the destruction of much of Kepler. •
Finale (Episodes 30–36) – After Ned's death, Clint McElroy changes his character to Arlo Thacker, previously an NPC. The Pine Guard and their allies from town infiltrate a government compound around the gate, and break through to a third location separate from either world. The Pine Guard learn that Earth and Sylvain were linked by an alien race intent on
pairing aggressive civilizations up to destroy each other, in order to protect their own planet from potential future threats. The group desperately fight to save their world as well as Sylvain. As the Keeper (GM), Griffin portrayed all non-player characters, with the exception of Agent Hanes who is portrayed by guest star Hal Lublin. The voice of Duck's talking sword Beacon is also provided by Justin.
Dust Initially the third experimental arc, this setting was revisited for a second season in 2022. The campaign is set in the Crescent Territory, a fantasy-western territory divided between competing families and organizations. It is inhabited by the Fleshes (humans), the Fangs (vampires), and the Furs (werewolves), and there is great tension between these groups. •
Season One — After the politically sensitive murder of Jeremiah Blackwell, three detectives—Augustus Parsons, Errol Ryehouse and Gandy Dancer—are hired to solve the case before dawn in an effort to prevent fighting between the families of Dry River. •
Season Two — Augustus Parsons teams up with fellow detectives Indrid Cold and Callan after he is hired to bring Pearl Blackwell, now the heir to the town's mining business, back from Crescent City. Pearl in turn hires them to conduct a train heist as a condition of her leaving town with them.
Erika Ishii guest stars as Louise "Lulu" Kagiyama. As the Master of Ceremonies, Travis portrayed all NPCs, save for a comedic encounter in the first season where the family portrayed a series of townspeople coming out to see why the warning bell had been rung.
Graduation The players initially take on the role of students who have enrolled in the henchperson and sidekick program at Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy. The campaign focuses initially on their classes and misadventures at the school, but later moves to broader themes such as Order vs. Chaos, threats of Demon wars, mind control vs. free will, and rebellion against capitalism Unlike the other campaigns, Graduation is not formally split up into quests or other sections. Travis McElroy, as DM, portrayed all non-player characters.
Ethersea The Ethersea campaign was announced on May 3, 2021 The prologue tells the story of a group of survivors with one year to find a way to transport their society underwater, as a worldwide magical storm threatens to wipe out all above-water life. The prologue does not feature consistent characters for each player, with all at the table instead making decisions for the society, developing and occasionally portraying interchangeable characters. The campaign proper began the following week, detailing the lives of a group of adventurers making their way in the new underwater city of Founder's Wake. Like
Balance, the campaign is divided into a series of quests with interludes for downtime between. •
The Gallery Job (Episodes 1–5) – In order to succeed in a job interview, Amber, Devo and Zoox are told that they need a ship. The trio inadvertently help in the theft of one- and undertake a job attempting to loot a submerged gallery. The mission goes poorly, with an attack by pirates de-railing the operation. They do however net enough money to purchase their own ship, the
Coriolis. •
The Infinite Clam (Episodes 7–12) – Newly hired by the Bluespan Brokerage, the trio set off in search of a missing member of the Benevolent Parish, and tumble into a clamshell of infinite capacity. They investigate a city on the interior, and hunt down the anomaly causing the spatial distortion. •
The Abyssal Auction (Episodes 14–19) – The group are contracted to attend an auction on behalf of Old Joshy, encountering a mysterious collection of anonymous high rollers. With only a limited pool of cash, they are forced to engage in
strategies such as
bid rigging to achieve their goal. Shortly afterwards, the auction descends into violence and the party flees. • '''Cambria's Call''' (Episodes 22–30) — Founder's Wake is contaminated by a spore that was unwittingly carried in by the
Coriolis, resulting in a second epidemic of a disease named the Sallow. With the infrastructure of the city in peril, the party attempt to restore the memory of Finneas Cawl in order to repair it and save the city. By means of a drug-fueled shared dream, the party is able to explore Cawl's memories, and head out in search of a bubble city he had found on the seafloor. They return with fresh magical phytoplankton to produce oxygen for Founder's Wake. •
The Menagerie (Episodes 31–36) — The party are contracted to solve a theft at a local menagerie. This takes them to the headquarters of an organization called Crescendo at the behest of Aloysius Supreme. The crew destroys this base and, unfortunately, the Dreams of Deborah, and return to Founder's Wake with the animals. • '''Benefactor's Folly''' (Episodes 39–43) — The party alongside Ballaster Kodira attempt to track down and stop Benefactor Orlean. This leads them to a coral dome concealing a portal to another world. •
Finale (Episode 44) — A wrap-up episode covering the months after their confrontation at the coral dome. As DM, Griffin portrayed all NPCs during the campaign proper, with the exception of a flashback sequence in episodes 26 and 27. In these episodes the NPC Finneas Cawl is taken over by Clint, with Travis and Justin portraying new characters.
Steeplechase The Steeplechase campaign is set in an eponymous vast and all encompassing amusement park. It is not formally broken up into arcs denoted in the episode titles as previous campaigns were, but is naturally divided by the heists the players are involved in. These are interspersed by formal downtime periods in which the characters can engage in their vices. Each heist takes place in a different layer, though they return to Ustaben for a second heist later in the campaign. The story is framed by an enigmatic character known variously as the Nano Father or Creaky Man. •
Ustaben (Episodes 1–2) — The party conduct a heist in the Prize Pantry, an attraction based around opening boxes of cereal to search for prizes. They set out to retrieve an anniversary pin at its public showcase before it is placed in the box. •
Gutter City (Episodes 4–10) — Blackmailed by Sticky Fingers Paul Pantry, the mascot of Prize Pantry who has security footage of their previous, somewhat bungled heist, the party sets out to steal a getaway vehicle from Gutter City. They are aided by a roguish crew including a bizarre trickster named Funny Man. • '''Passion's Cove'
(Episodes 12–16) — Now pursued by robot assassins known as barristers, the party must keep moving. They are hired by Scott Boldflex, former employee of queer inclusive reality dating show Passion's Cove
(a parody of Bachelor in Paradise''). Boldflex has been replaced by an artificial version of himself, and hires the party to disable his hard-light replacement and steal his old guitar Sympatico. The party must compete in the show in order to reach him. •
Ephemera (Episodes 17–24) — Having succeeded in Passion's Cove, the party are hired by Kenchel Denton to steal the spire from Ephemera, the fantasy themed layer. Ephemera parodies various fantasy franchises including
Shrek and
The Adventure Zone: Balance. They face the mechanical dragon Geltfrimpen on behalf of arms merchant Dave Ballista, and then enact a heist for the spire itself. •
Ustaben (Second arc, episodes 25–31) — After returning from Ephemera, the group find that Sticky Fingers Paul Pantry has been murdered, and must find his killer. The investigation is interrupted by Funny Man's abduction of Kenchel Denton. The party rescue him, only to learn that the abduction was Funny Man's pitch to join Steeplechase formally, and that Kenchel Denton had killed Paul Pantry to tie up loose ends in light of the party joining his employ. •
New Kidadelphia (Episodes 32–42) — The party are dumped by Kenchel in New Kidadelphia, a western-themed layer which was formerly a creche for the park. The children there have been abandoned by parents having too much fun elsewhere, and over the years have built their own society. The group search for a way out of the isolated layer, encountering a jungle populated by "Metamals", discarded
animatronics. After killing one in a panic, they are forced to stand trial for their actions by the Metamals. Desiring to escape through a waste chute in the ceiling of the layer, they agree to seek out the area's expert, the Nano Father. He turns out to be an artificial replica of Carmine Denton, intent on destroying Steeplechase with a missile. As GM, Justin portrayed all NPCs during the campaign, with the exception of Krystal, a character present in the introductory vlogger segments that act as recaps for previous episodes. Krystal is portrayed by Autumn Seavey Hicks.
Outre Space As a shorter campaign, Outre Space is not divided up into arcs. The campaign is set in the
Marvel Universe and is a non-canon follow-up to the 2019
War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery comic miniseries written by the McElroys. After
Thor's baby sister Laussa is captured by the
Black Order, the Babysitters (
Thori,
Sebastian Druid,
Wonder Man,
Kate Bishop &
Miles Morales) reunite to travel into space and find her. They resupply at
Knowhere, and are confronted by
Silver Surfer impersonator The Samarium Sweeper. They make their way to the Flinnux cluster, a stellar storage unit set up by Glabella Flinnux of the
Nova Corps, and confront the Black Order.
Versus Dracula The
Versus Dracula campaign was announced on December 28, 2023 and began on January 11, 2024. The campaign again uses the
Dungeons & Dragons 5E system, with Griffin McElroy as Dungeon Master. The campaign is not formally split into arcs, and follows a group of adventurers in the gothic realm of Angrave, intent on killing Dracula. In order to achieve this they must associate with werewolves and a variety of other monsters. The party undertakes a lengthy journey to reach Dracula's castle, only to determine that he is actually in the city of Lumineaux, back where they started.
Abnimals Abnimals features a number of animal themed heroes in the vein of
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The arc featured many guest voices for NPCs who appear in pre- or post-episode segments- at other times these characters are portrayed by Travis. These include: • Paul Foxcroft as Krilliam •
Erika Ishii as JJ August •
Aabria Iyengar as Special Agent Crane •
Jason Charles Miller as Jeff Leopard • Sarah Moore as Majestica the Dragon Rider •
Brennan Lee Mulligan as Sgt. Salamander •
Sandeep Parikh as Spike Splosion • Laser Webber as himself
Royale In the
Royale campaign, players compete in a 64-person Squid Games-like battle royale on top of a floating island. The victor of this conclave will join an immensely powerful group of wizards known as the Octave and inherit their arcane power. The campaign uses the new
Dungeons & Dragons 5E (2024) rules, with Griffin McElroy as Dungeon Master. Clint, Justin, and Travis play characters who come from all corners of the Fold, a small land surrounded by a mysterious wall of fog. The conclave begins with 64 wizards, but through each trial of arcane ability there will be fewer and fewer, until only one remains. ==Characters==