The Adventure Zone
The Adventure Zone is a biweekly comedy and adventure actual play podcast based loosely upon the Dungeons & Dragons game series, along with other role-playing games. The show is distributed by the Maximum Fun network and hosted by brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy, and their father Clint McElroy. Regular episodes of the podcast feature the family solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and leveling up their characters in a series of cinematic and humorous encounters.
History
Origins and ''Balance'' (2014-17)
In 2010, the McElroy brothers launched their flagship podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me, an advice podcast which joined the Maximum Fun network in 2011. During the 97th episode in May 2012, the brothers answered a question about a Dungeons & Dragons game- which Justin called "The Adventure Zone".The McElroy brothers would ultimately begin playing with their father Clint in the summer of 2014, using the newly released Starter Set for the fifth edition of D&D, which was released that July. The set came with the module The Lost Mine of Phandelver, which served as the basis for the first few sessions. The first of these recordings was initially released as an experimental MBmBaM episode entitled The Adventure Zone on August 18, 2014, to cover for Justin's paternity leave. Starting that December, The Adventure Zone was then expanded into its own podcast on the Maximum Fun network, releasing biweekly. Griffin McElroy served as the show's primary host and Dungeon Master for the show's first campaign, later titled the Balance Arc. The campaign concluded with episode 69 in August 2017.
The McElroy family performed 13 live bonus sessions within the Balance setting from 2016-2019, with several of these continuing beyond the conclusion of the campaign's primary story. Additionally, three special episodes were released over the course of the campaign, humorously entitled The "The Adventure Zone" Zone, and these act as "an informal chat show" discussing the game.
"Déjà Vu" by Mort Garson served as the primary theme song for The Adventure Zone during the Balance Arc, as well as various interstitials and backing tracks. Griffin McElroy also created original compositions to enhance the show's production. Later arcs would use original themes for opening and closing. An officially produced trailer for the Balance arc was uploaded to YouTube on January 25, 2018.
Experimental arcs and ''Amnesty'' (2017-19)
Following the conclusion of the Balance campaign, the McElroys decided to work on smaller "experimental arcs", a set of shorter campaigns using other systems, in order to give themselves time to develop their next overarching storyline. Three experimental arcs were aired from October 2017 to March 2018. These included Clint's Commitment arc, Griffin's Amnesty arc and Travis' Dust arc. Each of these arcs takes place in their own game worlds, separate from those explored in the other campaigns. With the conclusion of these experimental arcs, McElroys announced that Season 2 of "The Adventure Zone" would continue the story introduced in Amnesty, and that it would become the next full campaign.Griffin McElroy again took on the role of game master. While the arc was inspired by monster of the week shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, Griffin stated that the arc is mostly based on the Persona game series. To replicate the less connected nature of the former's 1990s setting, Kepler is situated in West Virginia's section of the National Radio Quiet Zone. Hal Lublin provides a guest voice in one episode. The campaign ended after 36 episodes on September 23, 2019.
When performing live the McElroy family continued to predominantly used the Balance setting in this period, though one Amnesty live show The Ballad of Bigfoot was released on October 17th, 2019. Additional episodes of The "The Adventure Zone" Zone were released at the start and conclusion of the main run of Amnesty.
''Graduation'' (2019-)
Prior to the Amnesty finale, it was confirmed in a SyFy Wire interview that Travis McElroy would be running the next major campaign of The Adventure Zone. On October 18, 2019 a trailer was launched for the new campaign, which began on October 31, 2019 and returns to the Dungeons & Dragons system. Travis McElroy thanked a series of "DM mentors" at the start of the campaign, including Kate Welch, Brennon Lee Mulligan, Matt Mercer, Satine Phoenix, Chris Perkins, and Griffin McElroy.Format
Advertisements from corporate sponsors and paid messages from listeners are read by the Dungeon Master in the middle segment of the program. Fans tweeting about the show using "#thezonecast" may be selected to become the namesakes for various non-player characters in the story lines. This trend has continued with the experimental arcs. During the Balance Arc, fans could also suggest items to stock at "Fantasy Costco" for the characters to buy between quests. The Fantasy Costco system has been partially revived in each successive season to give fans a way to interact with the show.Campaign Structure
To date the podcast has had three "seasons", consisting of longer campaigns.Additionally, there have been several shorter campaigns without the season designation. These have variously been released as bonuses to Maximum Fun donors, as experimental arcs or as live shows which are released online later. Along with the main campaigns, each game corresponds with a letter of the alphabet. Some, such as Lords of Crunch were initially performed live, with the recording released as a donor bonus. The second season, Amnesty, originated as an experimental arc that was later extended into a full campaign. Several of these games also have special episodes for set-up and character generation marked as #0, which are not counted here.
Balance Arc
The overall plot of The Adventure Zones first campaign, the "Balance Arc", involves a global war catalyzed by the Grand Relics—seven powerful magical artifacts that each contain the essence of one of the schools of magic. These relics compel those who find them to use them, almost always in a chaotic and destructive manner. The relics have been erased from everyone's minds save for the Bureau of Balance, an organization that seeks to find and destroy the relics. The narrative also explores the mysteries of the Red Robes, the magical faction who purportedly created the Grand Relics, and the lost histories of the main characters that involve a shadowy, cosmic threat to the universe. The primary quests challenge the characters to retrieve one of the Grand Relics. In addition, interlude episodes exist which allow the characters to regroup, purchase new equipment, and prepare for the next quest. Griffin McElroy has confirmed that the ideas for some episodes occur when watching a film or a TV show. The Balance Arc takes place over the course of several quests:(K)nights Campaign
A campaign consisting of 3 episodes created as exclusive content for Maximum Fun donors. Travis DMs the adventure, which brings together an unlikely group of heroes: Troth, a tiefling monk played by Justin; Tom Collins, a half-elf warlock bartender played by Griffin; and Lenny Manolito, a human keytar-playing bard played by Clint. This campaign uses the Dungeons & Dragons system, and features a guest appearance by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who plays the bard Atreyus.Commitment Arc
The second campaign, and the beginning of a selection of "mini-arcs", was a superhero inspired RPG that does not take any setting or characters from the Balance arc into consideration. The game was run by Clint McElroy with Griffin now taking the role as a player, along with Travis and Justin. As opposed to Dungeons and Dragons, this arc uses 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. It was notably inspired by the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents series of comics.Amnesty Arc
Initially the second of the mini-arcs, Amnesty was later announced as season two's full length arc on March 29, 2018. The first five episodes, as part of the mini-arcs, began the series' temporary weekly schedule to get to a full second season more quickly. The Amnesty arc is based on 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, opposed by a monster-hunting organisation 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 partly involves the cast attempting to stop it.Dust Arc
Travis McElroy takes the role of master of ceremonies in the fourth campaign, using the Urban Shadows system by Magpie Games. Originally, the arc was envisioned with the making of a custom role-playing game in mind, but the task proved too large for the given time frame. The campaign is set in a fictionalized version of the Wild West, where creatures such as vampires and werewolves live alongside humans, and focuses on feuding families in the town of Dry River.Elementary Campaign
Elementary is a two-shot campaign created exclusively for Maximum Fun donors. The episodes use a special game system Four Sherlock Holmes and a Vampire , written by Andrew Young. What little plot there is involves Justin, Travis, Griffin and Clint each playing as a different version of Sherlock Holmes solving nonsensical, convoluted mysteries.Fur Campaign
Much like Elementary, Fur is a one off made for the Maxfun Drive 2019, the game system used is Honey Heist, a one-page RPG written by Grant Howitt, and Travis is the DM. Justin, Griffin, and Clint play three bears attempting to rob a briefcase of Mānuka honey from the Sacramento Convention Center during a screening of Bee Movie.Hootenanny Campaign
TAZ: Hootenanny was performed live in Nashville, TN at the Ryman Auditorium and is a country music themed space opera. The game used One Seven Design’s system Lasers and Feelings, inspired by The Doubleclicks’s album of the same name. The party consists of three musicians, all from different planets: Shoots McKrackin, Benny Gene Esserit, and Pepsi Liberty. The game ended with the four McElroys and Paul Sabourin performing a cover of Future Folk’s song “Space Worms.” A second episode was recorded but is currently unreleased.Graduation Arc
The players take the role of students who have enrolled in the annex sidekick program at Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy. The campaign focuses initially on their classes and misadventures at the school, and later on their adventures beyond its boundaries.Inheritance Campaign
TAZ: Inheritance was performed live at the Balboa Theatre in San Diego, CA during San Diego Comic Con 2019, based on an original system created by the players. The setting takes place in a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland, featuring groups of different stereotypical dads. The party consists of four dads, each from a specific dad tribe. They team up to defeat the evil Crafting Dads in order to obtain the legendary TV remote control. The game featured all four McElroys as players, with CollegeHumor’s Brennan Lee Mulligan, host of Dimension 20, as GM.Just Us
The Just Us campaign is GMed by Travis McElroy, and described by Griffin as "Travis' take on superheroes trying to pretend to be normal". It was recorded as a live show in Atlanta using the game Supernormal, written by Ursidice. It is currently unreleased.Mercer
TAZ: Mercer is a one-shot made for the Maxfun Drive 2020, marketed as a "modern day crime drama" set in an unnamed north-east American city in 2006 and based on Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. It was named after and guest DMed by Matthew Mercer of Critical Role.Lords of Crunch
Lords of Crunch was a one-shot performed at the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, OH. It was GM’ed by Justin, using an original system based on One Seven Design’s Lasers and Feelings system. Travis, Clint, and Griffin play as cereal-box mascots. It was released as bonus content for the 2020 Max Fun Drive.Characters
Reviews and criticism
The podcast has been well-received, especially among younger and LGBT+ demographics. It has sold out dozens of liveshows since 2014, and has been downloaded hundreds of millions of times. One of the creators, Justin McElroy, said truthfully of the podcast, " has a following." The Adventure Zone currently holds a 4.9 rating on Podbay, and a 5.0 rating on Apple Podcasts.The Adventure Zone: Balance received criticism from listeners for various reasons, including the apparent death of a gay couple in Petals to the Metal. Griffin McElroy subsequently apologized for this in a Twitter thread, and the couple was later returned to prominence in the finale of Balance.
Graphic novel adaptations
The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins, a graphic novel adapting the first quest, was released in July 2018. The book was written by the McElroys, illustrated by Carey Pietsch, and published by First Second Books. It quickly topped New York Times' best-selling trade fiction list, becoming the first graphic novel to do so. A sequel, which adapts the quest Murder on the Rockport Limited, was released on July 16, 2019. The third book in the series, Petals to the Metal, was released on July 14, 2020.| Title | Release Date | ISBN |
| The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins | July 17, 2018 | |
| The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited! | July 16, 2019 | |
| The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal | July 14, 2020 | |
Both The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins and The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited! became New York Times Bestsellers.