The Adventure Zone (podcast)

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Fandom
Name: The Adventure Zone
Abbreviation(s): TAZ
Creator: the McElroy Brothers
Date(s): August 2014 - present
Medium: podcast
Country of Origin: USA
External Links: http://theadventurezone.tumblr.com
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This is the page about the podcast. For the related graphic novel, see The Adventure Zone (graphic novels).

The Adventure Zone (TAZ) is a bi-weekly actual-play podcast of the McElroy brothers and their father Clint McElroy playing tabletop RPGs. The first campaign, titled Balance and played using the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, was completed in August of 2017. It spanned 69 episodes[1] and 8 arcs.

The podcast then continued with a series of shorter games using different role-playing game systems. After three separate mini-games using three different systems, the McElroys decided to resume Amnesty, which was played in Monster of the Week, for the full season two. Season two aired from 2017 to 2019 and in October of 2019 TAZ returned to D&D and entered its third season, Graduation.

The Adventure Zone: Balance

Balance is the first campaign of the podcast, and is what most of the fandom is centered around. Originally, all TAZ live shows were set in the world of the Balance Arc. As of 2020, many are now oneshots set in other universes and often played in different systems.

See The Adventure Zone: Balance for more detail.

The Adventure Zone: Amnesty

Originally one of the campaigns during the experimental phase between the two seasons of The Adventure Zone, Amnesty ended up becoming Season 2. It was played in the PbtA game Monster of the Week. Amnesty is now complete and ran from 1/4/18 - 9/23/19 for 36 episodes.

See The Adventure Zone: Amnesty for more detail.

The Adventure Zone: Graduation

Graduation is the third full-length TAZ campaign. It is played in Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition with Travis as DM.

Shorter Campaigns

The Adventure Zone: Commitment

After the completion of the Balance arc, the McElroys announced that they would continue the podcast with a series of shorter, experimental games played in the FATE engine, with each of them taking turns as DM, until they figured out what they wanted the next long term story to be. The first of the shorter arcs is Commitment. It is a superhero themed game with Clint as DM, and the brothers as members of the Do Good Fellowship, a benevolent organization, who are given superpowers through a new technology.

The Adventure Zone: Nights

Nights (Sometimes written as (K)Nights) is a bonus campaign that requires a donation to the Maximum Fun Drive to listen to. It is set in a completely different world from Balance, with new characters and Travis as DM. There is far less fan content for it due to the need to pay for it.Lin-Manuel Miranda was a guest player in the third episode.

The Adventure Zone: Amnesty

Amnesty employs the Powered by the Apocalypse system by playing Monster of the Week. Griffin takes over this limited run. Amnesty is set in the McElroy's home state of West Virginia, and follows Duck Newton, the Lady Flame (Aubrey Little), and Ned Chicane as they fight monsters and ghouls in the Mononghahela National Forest. This is the game that would later evolve into Season 2: Amnesty.

The Adventure Zone: Dust

This arc used the Urban Shadows system developed by Magpie Games, set in a fantastic Wild West. Travis McElroy conceptualized and ran the game, and originally intended to develop a full system from scratch. However, with input from Magpie Games, he tweaked a current system and wrote an intense mystery which focuses on rival Werewolf and Vampire families in the town of Dry River.

Liveshows

The McElroys also go on tour with live TAZ episodes. Originally, their live games only featured the characters from Balance in one-shot adventures, but they have since branched out into live shows featuring other characters and new games to keep things fresh. Some live shows are released along with the regular podcast. It is common for fans to come to live shows in cosplay.

Graphic Novel

There is a graphic novelization of the Balance arc, drawn by Carey Pietsch and adapted by the McElroys (but mostly Clint).

For further information, see The Adventure Zone (graphic novels).

Example Fanworks

Fans of the McElroys often enjoy many of their podcasts at the same time, but The Adventure Zone appears to have the most fannish following of its own, leading to fanart, fanfiction, plot speculation, etc. Fanart and fan animations are especially popular, as the Balance Arc characters have sometimes been described on the podcast, but do not have "canon" appearances, letting fans use their own imaginations.

For Balance arc specific fanworks, see the Balance Arc's Notable Fanworks subcategory.

Fanfiction

pan-TAZ twitter AU by @angus_is_my_son

Fanart

Animatics

TAZ Amnesty- The Worst Lie by Sea Spider

I Can't Decide - TAZ Animatic by MooselyBased

Let's see how far we've come - a taz animatic by Najsigt

TAZ:GRADUATION ANIMATIC - What's Your Name? by gearlic

Zines

Cosplay

TAZ characters are popular cosplay subjects both at cons and at TAZ Live Shows. Cosplay costumes are usually highly personalized. A Taako cosplay, for instance, can consist of just a pointy hat and umbrella. Fans can add whatever else they personally feel their character would wear.

"Canon" Appearances and Representation

For the fanon/fanart discussion for the Balance arc, see the Balance Arc's Fandom Controversies subcategory. For the graphic novel specific conversions, see the Adventure Zone graphic novels' controversies subcategory.

Further reading: On The Adventure Zone Graphic Novel, Blue Taako, and Representation, post on the official TAZ Tumblr by Griffin.

Fannish Links & Resources

References

  1. ^ Nice.
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