The Adventure Zone

The reason your little cousin/sister is now into D&D.

The Adventure Zone is a podcast series run by the McElroy Brothers and their father (of Monster Factory and My Brother, My Brother and Me fame) detailing their myriad Tabletop Gaming campaigns, most notably Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, but also stuff like Monster of the Week. The show began 3 months after the North American release of 5e's Starter Set on MBMBaM, and eventually became one of the most popular "Actual Play" (as the genre has apparently been called now) podcasts, and have just as much to do with 5e's resurgent popularity, especially among younger people, as Critical Role, even if Critical Role would inevitably eclipse it in terms of actual impact on the game. Now has a graphic novel based on the Balance arc.

While normally that would tee up The Adventure Zone for just as much derision and vitriol that CR gets, The Adventure Zone largely gets ignored by /tg/ for a few reasons:

1. Almost all four of the guys were relative noobs at DnD when they first started (and one is an old man), so any fucking around on their part is at least understandable, if not forgivable.
2. It's still primarily a comedy, so even the dramatic stuff that the campaigns have still have room for jokes, and even if things get especially bad, it's still never that serious.
3. Wizards of the Coast has never once asked the McElroys to write their homebrew stuff into official sourcebooks, most of their stuff is just made in-house by them and is largely contained within their little bubble of the internet.
4. Being a bi-weekly podcast, it's easier to just remain a fairly casual listener (or back out if the show disinterests you).
5. The Balance arc is so ubiquitous to the show that it might as well be the only one you actually listen to, the others ones can effectively be skipped.

The DM(s)

For much of The Adventure Zone, DMing duty has rotated a bit, but it has principally fallen on the youngest brother, Griffin. Griffin is alright. He clearly had some hiccups over time as his three murderhobos attempted to make their way through his story, but largely managed to keep the group on track, and even with a weird change at the end of Balance to mostly do story bits, he managed to make scenarios in both Balance and Amnesty that were fun, suspenseful, and ultimately quality that the fans love dearly.

The current campaign is Graduation, and the DM is the middle brother Travis, and his style is...less well received. We'll get to that later.

The Settings

Each campaign, even the experimental ones, are radically different from each other and do not share continuity.

• Balance: Faerun on a combination of pixie sticks and cartoon logic, with a tiny bit of Spelljammer stuff for a garnish. While it apparently happens in a 500 mile span around Neverwinter, most of it is effectively homebrewed to be a more or less original setting by the end. The graphic novel basically just sands off all the official names for the sake of copyright.
• Amnesty: Run in the Monster of the Week system. A fictional town in the US Radio Silence Zone of West Virginia named Kepler, where a portal to another world shits out bad things. The other side goes to a fantasy kingdom going through it's own version of the End Times. Also some Aliens at the end.
• Graduation: A world very much created in the same way Discworld might organize the idea of "Heroes" and "Villains" as official, recognized entities under the law that are trained at a hogwarts-like school. The hogwarts school is the main setting. It is also a world fucking loaded to the brim with NPCs. Just a ridiculous fucking number of them.
• Ethersea: A world created by the boys while playing A Quite Year and played in 5th Edition D&D. Life on the surfaces has moved underwater after the natural disaster to end all natural disaster destroys everything.

The Characters

Balance - Tres Horny Boys

The PCs as they appear in the graphic novel.

Three adventurers from different parts of Faerun meet on Craigslist, and by far the most popular of any of the TAZ characters. All of them together receive the most fanart. Three adventurers asked to clear out a cave get roped into saving the world by collecting seven grand artifacts that are literal avatars of a certain kind of magic by a secretive organization. Also some secret stuff for later, but that's spoilers.

• Magnus Burnsides: Travis' character. A Human Battle-Master Fighter. Previously lived in a town of crafters named Raven's Roost, picking up a skill of carpentry, and eventually led a revolution against Raven's Roost's corrupt governor; Kalen. He eventually hooked up with a girl and things were fine for the most part, until Kalen came back, blew up most of the infrastructure as well as his girlfriend. Since then, he's basically been your typical human fighter: dumb as a post, good to a fault, rushes in at literally every opportunity, and has a deep love of animals. Your bog-standard hero in most respects, but a damn good one most of the time and honestly gets the nicest ending out of all of the PCs; dying surrounded by friends, and reuniting with his girlfriend in the afterlife.
• Taako: Justin's character. An Elf Transmuter Wizard. An egotistical, almost amoral dipshit/ex-cooking show host (they say he's "From TV", but he's basically a popular road show in-fiction.) who grew up on the streets, basically becoming the cook for a circus troupe before he could self-teach himself magic to spice up his performance. His actual character motivation is to create the perfect delivery method of corn, salsa, ground meat, lettuce, and cheese (AKA: a taco. It's a comedy series.). He's by far the most acceptant of the murderhobo lifestyle, and is usually known for accidentally coming up with good ideas during combat. He has a secret sister he was basically mindwiped to forget. By FAR the most popular character due to A) being in a gay relationship with death, and B) for being generally either the funniest or the most easy to mock character on the show. Is usually shown with dark skin in fanart, but the brothers decided to avoid getting dinged with the cancel card by making the biggest murderhobo in the entire campaign a mexican and made him blue in the graphic novel, effectively pleasing nobody, even if it's actually a pretty smart homage to the Ralph Bakshi elves from his version of LOTR.
• Merle Highchurch: Clint's Character. A Dwarf Nature Cleric, dedicated to the god Pan. Loves casting Zone of Truth a half-dozen times even when it wouldn't matter. Previously living on the beach with a wife he didn't love from a marriage he was arranged into, he went out for cigarettes one day and never came back, turning to adventuring. While he is in every way a deadbeat dad, he's usually the most willing to try and talk his way out of problems, which culminates in him having a series of chess games with the big bad eldritch thing, giving it a weird sense of humanity. Still is in touch with his kids, loses an eye and an arm, and eventually starts a summer camp to train adventurers. All in all, a pretty cool guy.

Amnesty - The Pine Guard

Kepler, West Virginia's only hope: A con-man, an ADHD wizard, and a Park Ranger.

Three individuals end up suddenly finding a portal to another world called Sylvain in the woods just outside Kepler, West Virginia, finding the secret group of hunters that protect the inhabitants of both worlds from the machinations of abominations that appear every 2 months with the full moon.

• Wayne "Duck" Newton: Justin's character. Uses the Chosen and Mundane playbook. A forest ranger for the Monongahela National Forest park, who was chosen by a warrior alien to prevent a great catastrophe while he was in grade school. Was given a cool whip sword when he was in high school, but basically decided to tell her to go fuck off by the time he was in college so he could try and have a normal life. Obviously, he failed. By far the most skeptical of the whole "fighting monsters" thing and just wants to live a relatively normal life, and routinely tries to weasel his way out of doing it and being cool, but is inevitably dragged back into being cool whenever he fights an abomination. Ends up hooking up with the warrior alien by the end. Would end every person he knows for french onion soup.
• Aubrey Little: Travis' Character. Uses the Spell-Slinger playbook. A kid who gave up her cushy life to become a magician after her family house burned down with her father in it. While she starts thinking she can do stage magic, she inevitably finds out she can do real magic in the real world, and usually uses that to fight monsters. Either the most liked character or the most obnoxious character, think of her as the "Jester" of TAZ. Hooks up with a vampire.
• Edmund "Ned" Chicane: Clint's character. Uses the Crooked playbook. Former Cat burgler who ended up in Kepler after a job went bad, effectively getting picked up by the former owner of a cryptid museum called the Cryptonomica. A bellicose con-artist with a flair for the dramatic, and is actually kind of good at fighting monsters once he starts. Becomes a late-night b-movie show host halfway through. Initially thinks he's getting away scott-free for his crimes, goes through the mother of all bad weeks as he ends up handing an abomination something to further it's plans, is impersonated, is revealed to have stolen Aubrey's family necklace, and finally dies from being shot in the side by a terrified woman. Generally a well-liked character.
• Arlo Thacker: Clint's other character. Uses the Searcher playbook. A man who went into the portal to Sylvain ten years ago and never returned, until an NPC found him; crazy and disheveled. He spends most of the time in a basement being fed until the group finds a way to unfuck his brain. Is a studious but loner type, the kind that would browse /tg/ purely for mechanics questions. Eventually decides to stay in Sylvain after the campaign's conclusion.

Graduation - The Thundermen

Heroes and sidekicks in training.

A trio of prospective heroes/villains/sidekicks at Heronymous Wigginstaff's school. They initially train to be sidekicks, but one of them ends up on the Villain path, and they all basically set out to build their name and graduate to achieve different ends. Due to them not being written by Travis, they are the most nuanced and fleshed out characters in the entire universe.

• "Sir" Fitzroy Maplecourt: Griffin's character. A snooty half-elf wild soul barbarian who eventually starts taking levels in sorcerer to better take advantage of his magical skills. Initially comes off as the snooty, rich bratling exchange student, is revealed to have gotten his knighthood from a night school that's pretty obviously a scam, and he's the only one who hasn't noticed. Or rather, he would have been considered a knight had he not turned his instructor into a catfish. Now he's mostly trying to just plow through the system so he can return to Knight school. Eventually ends up on the "villain" track because he is a grade-A douchebag. Sucks at swearing. Has a crab for a familiar.
• Argonaut Keene: Clint's character. A swarthy and citrus-obsessed Water-Genasi swashbuckler Rogue. who wants to be the sidekick to a famous naval hero named The Admiral, but in fact wants to kill him due to his place in his mother's death. Not a great liar, but tends to get away with things due to good charisma rolls. Has a killer mustache.
• The Firbolg: Justin's character. Is not, in fact, a fae cow-man, and so automatically better than whatever it is Caduceus is doing. Has no actual name due to Firbolgs in this universe not having given names, as they are a purely collectivist group of primitive people. He is naturally given a dozen nicknames. He was exiled for hoarding food in lean times, and ended up at the Wigginstaff school while searching for a place to be. Is very simple and slow, and has a very slavic accent. Gets very into economics before realizing he's a fucking caveman who can do druid shit so he immediately tries to forget it.

What's up with Graduation?

Unlike Balance and Amnesty, Graduation has by far the most polarizing fan response of any campaign. While most TAZ stuff takes a couple of episodes before it gets good or at the very least funny, Graduation is glacially paced, uneven in terms of story, and generally less funny or dramatic than the previous arcs. Part of the problem is that the new DM; Travis, is new to DMing (at least 5e DMing), so rookie mistakes are abundant in a five year old podcast about tabletop games, and he is the epitome of an "ideas guy": his problem packing his world to the fucking brim with NPCs and story beats and secret organizations and worldbuilding without a fucking shred of deeper thinking put into any of it. Most characters are poorly fleshed out and locations barely given more than a passing mention, and concepts in the world are barely discussed as to when and why they were implemented. It takes a good long-ass time to even get up to the level of passably listenable, but by this point most people have already given up on it.