The Adventure Zone’s brand-new period steps from Dungeons & Dragons to something also much better

29.09.2022

A line-art render with green on black. The text reads Steeple Chase. To the left is an eye, showing a cone below it.

The Adventure Zone podcast, the preferred actual play collection including the McElroy family, begins its 5th complete period today. Called Steeplechase, the project is embeded in an imaginary amusement park in an alternating future Georgia. Unlike some previous TAZ periods, Steeplechase will certainly not make use of the fifth version Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. Instead, game master Justin McElroy is relying upon John Harper’s Blades in the Dark, one more seriously well-known tabletop role-playing game.

Blades in the Dark was initial released in 2017 by Evil Hat Productions. The game is embeded in the imaginary setup of Doskvol, a European-influenced city in the tosses of a commercial change and also afflicted by undead spirits. Players tackle the duty of lawbreakers, and also are motivated to play those personalities like they are “driving a stolen car.” Sessions commonly take the type of intricate break-ins, with gamers able to improvisate options in innovative means. From our review, released in 2021:

The 327-page rulebook offers gamers approval to develop their very own options on the fly to troubles that they experience at the table. It’s much less concerning having the right abilities at the correct time, and also much more concerning making use of the globe that you’ve developed around you as the inspiration for in-fiction ideas. Want to get involved in that expensive event yet don’t recognize exactly how? Flash back to previously that day and also play out a scene where you attempt to reward a guard to place you on the visitor checklist. A battle bursts out and also you require a side? Just wave your hand at the game master, go down some dice on the table, and also take out those brass knuckles you loaded previously in the day.

The Steeplechase project started Thursday with a “session zero,” in which Justin McElroy presents the setup and also the game’s technicians. Instead of a dark Victorian setup, the game occurs inside an upright pile of Westworld-design immersive amusement park. McElroy stated in an e-mail to Polygon that Ustaben, the project’s initial degree, is really a repurposed map of King’s Island in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“[It’s the same layout of the] theme park we used to go to all the time as kids,” McElroy stated. “It’s pretty low rent, but I think it’s a good representation of how I’m putting my stupid theme park obsession to good use.”

A map of King’s Island ne Ustaben, featuring a location called “Super Slumber Party” and “Prize Palace.”

The initial episode additionally presents the 3 primary personalities, played by Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and also their dad Clint McElroy. The project has no end day, and also is most likely to work on a normal basis for numerous years. Episodes are totally free to download and install.

This is not the very first time that The Adventure Zone has actually tipped far from the D&D ruleset. Following its inaugural Balance project arc, which wrapped up in 2017, Commitment relied upon the Fate system, Amnesty was based upon Evil Hat Productions’ Monster of the Week, and also Dust utilized Urban Shadows. Graduation, which premiered in 2019, went back to D&D as did Ethersea.

Blades in the Dark has actually seen a rise in appeal over the in 2014. The Glass Cannon Network just recently started a project embeded in Doskvol including Raised by Wolves’ Abubakar Salim; a BAFTA-winning manufacturing residence is servicing a TV adaptation; and also start-up One More Multiverse launches a virtual tabletop solution to sustain the game on Oct. 13.

[Disclosure: Justin McElroy and Griffin McElroy co-founded Polygon before going full-time as podcasters and content creators. Though they still occasionally collaborate on projects at Vox Media, they’re disconnected from all editorial decision-making.]