Road Trip APs

Road Trip Session 0 – Ed’s Diner

• Description: Why is this session called “Session 0″? Because this entire adventure is non-canon. As I said, I wanted to playtest some scenarios for my other group, so this was going to be a set of disconnected one-off games. Shortly after we played this game, though, everyone agreed we should play the whole campaign. This session is remembered and occasionally referenced elsewhere in the campaign, and it’s the first game that we (The Drunk and the Ugly) ever played together.
• Episode Time: 2:22:07

Road Trip Session 1 – Prologue to a Travelogue

• Description: School’s out for kids at Casimir Polaski Junior High in the city of San Frandiago, CA!  As the kids are leaving school and getting ready for summer, they receive some bizarre messages scrawled on the walls of their school.  While discussing various summer plans at the local Dairy Queen (apparently unfazed by the bizarre graffiti) the kids contacted by Jack Blackguard, a mysterious young boy who has some urgent news to relay to them.  After a meeting at the museum and a few quick fights, the kids find out they are now on a journey to save the world from an evil cult.
• Episode Time: 1:34:15

Road Trip Session 2 – Sunny Vale (Part 1)

• Description: The kids have found out that their monsters will be sacrificed as tribute to some kind of ultimate monster.  Their only lead on the case was pulled through a black hole into another plane of existence.  Fortunately, the kids stumbled across five bizarre and unique postcards from their recent contact Jack Blackguard alluding to various machinations of the cult. One of the postcards mentions Sunny Vale, CA, a place apparently hounded by a team of monster fighting superheroes who call themselves the Sentai Rangers.  As it happens, Sunny Vale isn’t more than a 3-hour drive from San Frandiago, so after a few “air-tight” alibis and managing to coerce someone with a car to take them there, the kids are off!
• Episode Time: 3:32:39

Road Trip Session 3 – Sunny Vale (Part 2)

• Description: The kids managed to reunite Zoltron and the Sentai Rangers, but the meeting was not as sweet as they had hoped:  Zoltron was furious at the Rangers’ significant lack of effort to rescue him, and the Rangers became enraged at Zoltron’s lack of gratitude.  Zoltron and the Rangers split up and decided they all knew what was good for themselves. This did not, however, solve the problem that the kids came to Sunny Vale for in the first place.  They managed to rescue Zoltron from his kidnappers, but they have not stopped the Rangers from destroying the city.  With the Rangers being unwilling to talk, the kids decide to deal with them the only way they know how. (Hint: It involves punching)
• Episode Time: 2:54:50

Road Trip Session 4 – The Wizard

• Description: Following recovery time for Daniel in the Sunny Vale hospital (after he and everyone else got beaten up by the Sentai Rangers), the kids move on with the Road Trip to their next destination:  Sucrose Park in Las Vegas, NV.  On their way up, the kids find a hitchhiking kid holding only an aluminum briefcase and a sign saying “RENO OR BUST.” After Donny picks the kid up, they find out that he’s going to a video game tournament with a $50,000 prize.  He found out that there’s supposed to be a new BattlePets game revealed there.  When asked what happens if he doesn’t when the competition, the kid taps his briefcase and says that he’s got it covered. You’re gonna love this episode.  It’s so bad.
• Episode Time: 2:30:39

Road Trip Session 5 – Sucrose Park (Part 1)

• Description: Following the grace of Daniel saving BattleTonia from certain Battlemageddon, the kids awaken in the convention hall with some very confused and excited Japanese BattlePet players.  They manage to escape in the confusion and continue on their way to Sucrose Park, making a late-night stop at a small town hotel.  Following much hijinks (and attempted monster cannibalism?), the kids get to Sucrose Park the next day. The kids enter into the park looking for lost kids and secret underground robot factories, but mainly looking for fair food and park rides.  It’s not long before they run into the park’s main mascot, Coolrat.  He’s bright, cheerful, able to skateboard and juggle simultaneously, and always willing to throw candy to kids.  In fact, he seems a little eerily into our heroes. . . Note: I was in the midst of a terrible sinus infection when I ran this game, so it’s very short and kind of sloppy.
• Episode Time: 1:39:12

Road Trip Session 6 – Sucrose Park (Part 2)

• Description: Max and Charlie awaken in a barren concrete room and are greeted by a robotic nurse which goes by the name of Ratchet.  She answers their questions (and ignores their attempts at wit), and informs them they will be given a new life of perfect happiness.  After an extremely brief survey, she gives Charlie a cowboy costume and Max a ninja costume, and proceeds to take them to their new home. On the surface, Daniel hauls around the drugged and semi-unconscious body of Everett while running from park security and looking for an exit.  In a desperate attempt to escape, he breaks into one of the attractions and barricades himself.  What he doesn’t realize, though, is that Coolrat is watching and waiting.
• Episode Time: 2:39:00

Road Trip Session 7 – Sucrose Park (Part 3)

• Description: On the park surface, Daniel, Prince Bos, and Everette have reunited and start to make a game plan to attack the heart of Sucrose Park and attempt to find / free their friends.  After a veritable gauntlet of challenges, they run into an old friend much sooner than they expected. Meanwhile, in the secret level, Charlie is released from the Coolrat Funtime Chillout Zone (TM) and is escorted along with Talia and Max to see Coolrat’s DAILY FUNTIME COOLSHOW!  Forced enjoyment is had by all. But first, Buttz the Battlefrog finally awakens in a mysterious cell and no idea where he is.  Only a piercing and somewhat radical voice comes over the crude loudspeaker in his cell, and a familiar figure appears on the screen.
• Episode Time: 2:28:25

Road Trip Session 8 – Sucrose Park (Part 4)

• Description: Everett, Daniel, and the Monsters are finally nearing the end of their journey, guided by Robbie Drake, when they come up against a quite unexpected obstacle. Max, Talia, and Charlie are released from their stay in the Coolrat Funtime Chill-out Zone, and begin looking at options for escape. All kinds of chaos breaks out in the barracks (mostly nerd-bashing). Adventure, madness, and epic samurai duels await you in this, the conclusion to Sucrose Park.  Sit back and relax, *puts on sunglasses* because this is gonna be one bumpy ride.
• Episode Time: 3:40:07

Road Trip Session 9 – Smile (Part 1)

• Description: Following yet another week in the hospital, the kids start making their way to the Florida Everglades.  Cash has started to get tight, though, and the kids have to make a stop in Summerset Valley and spend the end of their cash on a Super 8 room in the meantime.  Following a few weird antics, the kids head to sleep, only to be awakened by a knock from a mysterious stranger.  He doesn’t have much to tell them, other than the fact that their lives are in danger. . .
• Episode Time: 2:41:18

Road Trip Session 10 – Smile (Part 2)

• Description: The children start getting tormented by the Grinning Man, as he slowly but surely makes his presence known.  New allies are discovered, and plans are made to possibly stop the Grinning Man once and for all.
• Episode Time: 2:10:46

Road Trip Session 11 – Smile (Part 3)

• Description: As the night rages on, Doug, Charlie, and Max have a very “fun” car ride on their way to complete the ritual to seal away the Grinning Man.  Additionally, the kids continue to see more and more “friends” along the way. Everett stays with the less able members, but quickly finds that her friends are not all that surround her.  As party members continue to vanish, the kids really start to lose their cool.  The sky grows red, but the sun still does not shine.  Will the kids reign in this new hell, or will they simply vanish like the others?
• Episode Time: 3:37:22

Road Trip Session 12 – “. . .For the Camera!”

• Description: Following an epic struggle wherein the Grinning Man was dealt with, there is a lot of destruction and panic left in his wake:  Large portions of the town were damaged by the Grinning Man, people can’t account for lost time, many people are wounded, and some are missing. On the player side, 4 kids were checked into the hospital, Donny’s car (their sole mode of transportation) was destroyed, and they now have no money for anything.  The worst of it?  A strange police officer has arrived at the hospital and has a few questions for Donny Chang. . .
• Episode Time: 3:08:56

Road Trip Session 13 – Jim’s Puck Band

• Description: In an effort to save Everett from a mysterious and powerful shadow the previous night, Daniel managed to worsen his injuries much further.  Additionally, people seem to be packing up and leaving from Summerset Valley following this bizarre black rain.  The kids need to get to the next destination as soon as possible, but Daniel is still injured far too badly to be discharged.  They need a plan to sneak him out of the hospital. On the other side of town, Donny’s insurance payment has come in, and he’s looking to get something cheap, semi-reliable, and big enough to finish taking the kids around the country.  He stops off at Crazy Jacques’s Used Car Emporium to try and find something in that category, but finds that Jacques’s prices aren’t the only thing that’s insane.
• Episode Time: 2:16:36

Road Trip Session 14 – Swap Meets and Swamp Things

• Description: After the kids awake in the morning, they realize that their current wardrobe is in dire need of replacement (e.g. most of it is covered in blood).  Fortunately, they happen to come upon a local swap meet, which fits both their budgetary and aesthetic concerns.  The kids walk in with $10 and leave with some very “unique” goods. A few hours of driving later, the kids arrive in the Florida Everglades, the approximate area of their next adventure.  Unfortunately, it is early evening when they arrive, and searching through an enormous swamp during the night doesn’t sound like a fun time, so they find one of the many campgrounds in the area and settle in for the night.  Just after Charlie’s riled everyone up with some ghost stories, the kids hear a mysterious rustling off near the edge of the campsite. . .
• Episode Time: 2:14:46

Road Trip Session 15 – The Eternal Glades (Part 1)

• Description: Following a little night-time adventure, the kids are ready to get out into the Florida Everglades and start looking for “The Heart of the Glades”.  Some quick research from their robot friend turned up a story about some kids missing from a summer camp deep in the Everglades. After a quick airboat rental (and plans to get the money back in a COMPLETELY LEGITMATE FASHION), the kids head out to investigate the park.  Hopefully they’ll find the answer quickly; the sky’s looking a little dark today.
• Episode Time: 3:13:38

Road Trip Session 16 – The Eternal Glades (Part 2)

• Description: The kids spent the night in a fort constructed by the Monsters of the Glades.  Well, most of them did, at least.  It seems that Talia, Daniel, and Max disappeared during the middle of the night. When the kids awake the next morning, they find that the Glades Monsters have departed, and also that the sky has grown darker.  They need to get the Glades Monsters out of here before they try anything. Black water seems to be getting closer to them.   However, the kids know that they can seal the door to the Glades for a century.  Maybe they can seal it away?  But can they escape in time? Whatever the kids are going to do, they need to do it quickly.
• Episode Time: 1:56:58

Road Trip Session 17 – Let Loose the Frogs of War

• Description: Just as the kids thought they were on their way to fun beach times, Donny turned on the headlights of the Westfalia to illuminate a few dozen gunmen who proceeded to destroy their newest mode of saving the world. The kids need to figure out what’s going on and fast before they suffer the same fate as their vehicle.
• Episode Time: 2:50:49

Road Trip Session 18 – Le Persistencia de le Memoria

• Description: After dealing with Swamp Guardians, pocket dimensions, and crazy frogs, the kids are finally able to catch a break. Donny gasses up the van and the kids head away from the Florida Everglades on down to its many miles of coastline, hit up the boardwalk shops, and have some fun for the first time in this whole vacation. Max and Talia enjoy the waves, Charlie spends his ill-gotten money, Daniel takes Everette to the local movie theater, and Doug gets some delicious ice cream on the boardwalk. Surely nothing will go wrong today.
• Episode Time: 3:12:56

Road Trip Session 19 – Le Degradacion de le Memoria

• Description: The gang has emerged (mostly unscathed) from their strange experience with drugs and the Manor. Everette found strange dopplegangers of the gang and led them on a quest. Then, she met her father. The session starts in medias res, as Everett’s father welcomes her home. Then the kids ruin everything.
• Episode Time: 3:12:56

Road Trip Session 20 – Pastoral Manor (Part 1)

• Description: The Summer Road Trip continues, now with more Cool Rat! An evil queen was killed, and now the gang is hitting the beach. Things will calm down, if they have anything to say about it. (Hint: they don’t. ) Because the cult is still in motion. And the postcards are still pointing in strange directions. From the beaches of Florida, they must trek north to New England, where strife is in full sway on a country farm.
• Episode Time: 2:41:13

Road Trip Session 21 – Pastoral Manor (Part 2)

• Description: The road trip swung north last session, heading up to Maine to visit some wilderness. There’s a war going on for Pastoral Manor. During lunch, a crow came down to talk to the group. They proceeded to try and catch it. They wound up in traps and made contact with the Animal Resistance movement. Their leader is named Blackbriar and the kids want to punch him out. Can all of this mayhem be sorted out? Will Coolrat continue to be rad? Will frogs somehow be worked into this adventure? FIND OUT NOW
• Episode Time: 3:09:37

Road Trip Session 22 – The Lone Streetlamp

• Description: Daniel’s in the hospital, so it must be Thursday. Suddenly, everyone realizes that they can’t remember the last time they had a proper meal. Their immediate choice? Steak and Cheese House. Can the gang survive the food coma from eating too much steak and cheese? Will they resume their quest? Or will they be caught up in the strange goings on in the local Mercy Hospital?
• Episode Time: 2:28:05

Road Trip Session 23 – Are You There, Witch? (Part 1)

• Description: Donny’s terrible van is quickly busing the group way out of that crazy hospital horror scene. Straight out of the fire and into the frying pan. Their next postcard is apparently leading them straight to Oz, and the Emerald City. Someone’s stirring up a revolution, and the sitting leaders of Oz are helpless to stop them. The kids will have to uncover who’s behind the movement, and stop them before it’s too late.
• Episode Time: 2:24:34

Road Trip Session 24 – Are You There, Witch? (Part 2)

• Description: The Road Trip crew survived their cross country drive, and arrived in the horrific state of Kansas. Daniel whipped up a tornado and the crew arrived in Oz. There they discovered an abandoned kingdom, filled with trash and the detritus of a new, modern age. The cult is attempting to gain control over Oz. The crew has to stop them before it’s too late!
• Episode Time: 4:00:30

Road Trip Session 25 – Candle Cove

• Description: Having capered their way through Oz and created a new Witch, the kids have decided to head home. Their postcards are exhausted, and it seems like the Road Trip is coming to an end. Unfortunately, terrible motel rooms are still a requirement (as well as floor sleeping and bed sharing). Of course, things aren’t what they seem. A strange tape is played. An adventure awaits.
• Episode Time: 3:34:53

Total Length: 3:00:35:40