The Adventure Zone

The Adventure Zone
Hosts	Clint McElroy Griffin McElroy Justin McElroy Travis McElroy
Release	August 18, 2014 – present
Website	TAZ on Simplecast TAZ on Maximum Fun
Twitter	@TheZoneCast
Transcripts	Max Fun Dropbox

The Adventure Zone is a comedy/roleplaying podcast run by the McElroy brothers and their dad. It is hosted on the Maximum Fun Network and releases every Thursday.

The initial pilot aired on August 18th, 2014 as a special episode of MBMBaM, and it was launched as its own separate show on December 3rd 2014.

As of August 2024, the show has just concluded what fans consider its ninth full campaign.

Production

Throughout its history, The Adventure Zone most commonly released every other Thursday. Griffin has stated numerous times that producing one episode of TAZ takes significantly longer for him than producing one episode of MBMBaM or other podcasts he and his family make, necessitating a slower release schedule. The show moved to a weekly schedule during the experimental arcs of late 2017 through early 2018 (Commitment, early Amnesty, and Dust season one), but returned to its biweekly schedule for many years thereafter. At the end of Ethersea in 2022, the show moved to a weekly release schedule, largely due to listener support making it possible to hire more staff to help with production and editing.

The theme music for the first campaign, "Balance," was composed by Mort Garson, but later themes and other music were composed by Griffin McElroy. The music of The Adventure Zone is available for listening/purchase on Griffin's Bandcamp.

Structure

The Adventure Zone is arranged into several main campaigns, or seasons of the show, as well as dozens of live shows, some of which share universes with one another, and a much smaller (though still considerable) amount of member-exclusive bonus content.

Main Campaigns

The nine (so far) main campaigns of TAZ are all separate self-contained entities that require no knowledge of prior campaigns in order to understand and enjoy. These main campaigns range from 4 to 69 (nice) episodes, though most are in the 30-45 episode range. The average TAZ episode is a little over an hour long, though some (especially near the end of a campaign) can end up being much longer.

The longer main campaigns are often subdivided (by fans or by the McElroys themselves) into arcs, which are stories focused on a single plotline within a larger campaign. The first arc of Amnesty, for instance, is called "The Beast" by GM Griffin, while the Steeplechase campaign is often subdivided into arcs based around what job the boys are trying to pull off at the moment.

The Balance campaign is special in that it is not labeled as "Balance" in the podcast feed, but instead by its arcs, beginning with Here There be Gerblins and continuing through its final arc, Story and Song. It also differs from later campaigns in that some bonus episodes from early in the Balance campaign are member-exclusive bonus content (but are not necessary to understand the story). Otherwise, all episodes in or relating to the main TAZ campaigns are free for all listeners.

Experimental Arcs

Following the conclusion of the beloved and wildly successful Balance campaign, the McElroys took a step back and tried some new systems and new GMs for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th campaigns of TAZ, each of which initially ran for 4-5 episodes. Note that the McElroys themselves call these "arcs" and not "campaigns." One of these, Amnesty, was selected to become the second long-form campaign of TAZ, though Dust did get a mini sequel season several years later.

Live Shows

In addition to the main, studio-recorded, campaigns, TAZ has had dozens of live episodes and one-shots, some of which are spin-offs from prior campaigns and some of which are set in entirely unique settings.

The first TAZ live episode was set in the Balance universe, and debuted as a Max Fun bonus on New Year's Eve 2015. Since then, TAZ has had dozens of Balance live shows, continuing into at least 2024. Only two other main campaigns have spawned their own live shows: two set in the Amnesty universe and one (so far) set in the Vs. Dracula universe.

Several other one-off live shows have been successful enough to spawn sequel live shows, including Dadlands, Hootenanny, and Spirit Breakers. These typically are only loosely connected narratively from episode to episode, so you're probably pretty safe to listen to them out of order without fear of major spoilers.

Bonus Content

Like other Maximum Fun shows, most TAZ content is free for all listeners and available in the main podcast feed. Still, every year a few episodes are kept in private reserve for the discerning palates of Max Fun supporters. These are frequently one-off episodes with outlandish premises. A few have spawned sequels in their own right, including Elementary and Charlieverse.

The The Adventure Zone Zone

The McElroys have hosted several episodes of The The Adventure Zone Zone, an aftershow of sorts in which the McElroys discuss their thoughts about current and past campaigns and answer listener questions. These aftershow episodes commonly come at the end of main campaigns and/or during Max Fun Drives.

Naming Convention

From 2017 until about 2020, the McElroys made a loose attempt at arranging their campaigns alphabetically, following the realization that the names of their first four main campaigns began with the letters A, B, C, and D. They got somewhere around M before they apparently tired of this scheme; The Adventure Zone: Ethersea repeated a letter previously used and they have not mentioned this naming scheme since. Some campaigns from this period have two names in an attempt to shoehorn them into the alphabetical naming system (notably Nights being retroactively dubbed Knights and Dadlands also being called Inheritance).

List of Main Campaigns

No.	Name	Episodes	Aired	System	GM
1	Balance	69+	08/18/14 to 08/17/17	Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition	Griffin
		The first TAZ campaign. The majority of TAZ live shows feature the main trio from Balance, and as such it has had dozens of extra episodes.
2	Commitment	4	09/05/17 to 11/30/17	Fate Core (4th edition)	Clint
		Commitment, Clint's debut as GM, features a cabal of superheroes and their exploits. There is one extra setup episode not included in the episode count.
3	Amnesty	36+	01/04/18 to 09/23/19	Monster of the Week	Griffin
		Amnesty, Griffin's second run as GM, features a small West Virginia town where every cryptid and urban legend is real. It was picked up as the second full campaign of TAZ. There is one setup episode and two specials not included in the episode count.
4	Dust	8+	02/22/18 to 09/22/22	Urban Shadows	Travis
		Dust, Travis' second run as GM, features a dusty town in a mythical Wild West populated by ghosts, werewolves, and vampires - and the murder mystery occurring therein. The first season of Dust concluded on 3/22/18, but a second season began four years later on 9/1/22, also featuring guest player Erika Ishii. Both seasons ran for four episodes of play, plus one setup episode for each.
5	Graduation	38	10/31/19 to 04/15/21	Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition	Travis
		The fifth campaign and third full campaign of TAZ and Travis' first long-form campaign, featuring three very different protagonists enrolled at Hieronymous Wiggenstaff's School for Heroism and Villainy who overcome their own weaknesses, discover the power of capitalism, and maybe save the world if they get around to it.
6	Ethersea	44+	05/06/21 to 07/28/22	Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition & The Quiet Year	Griffin
		The sixth main campaign and fourth long-form campaign of TAZ features a wasted world beset by a magical storm that has driven many of its inhabitants to seek shelter within the magically-infused waters of the titual Ethersea. The 44-episode run of Ethersea proper was preceded by a five-episode prologue in which all four McElroys played a game of The Quiet Year to set up the game world collaboratively, plus one Prologue recap episode for a round 50 episodes in total.
7	Steeplechase	42	09/22/22 to 10/19/23	Blades in the Dark	Justin
		Steeplechase, the seventh main campaign and fifth long-form campaign of TAZ (and Justin's first full campaign as GM), is set in a massive theme park large enough to essentially be a city-state. Within, three park employees turn to crime to make a little money on the side and inadvertently get involved in the seedy underbelly and high-level politics of the park itself. One setup episode.
8	Outre Space	4	11/30/23 to 12/21/23	Marvel Multiverse RPG	Clint
		A mini-campaign set in the Marvel universe, featuring guest players Kate Welch and Gabe Hicks. It revolves around the efforts of five superheroes-turned-babysitters to bring a kidnapped god-toddler back home.
9	Vs. Dracula	30	01/11/24 to 08/08/24	Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition	Griffin
		The ninth main campaign and sixth long-form campaign of TAZ, The Adventure Zone Vs. Dracula, is set in the land of Angrave, populated by monsters of myth and legend such as the Invisible Man and the Chupacabra. In it, three people are united by the age-old desire to murder Dracula.

List of Bonus & Live Campaigns, One-Shots, and Other Content

Name	Episodes	Aired	System	GM
The Hogsbottom Three	2	10/08/15 and 12/29/16	Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition	Stuart Wellington
	The McElroys have turned over the helm of TAZ to the boys from The Flop House, where they have an adventure of their own loosely set in the Balance universe.
(K)nights	3	03/03/16 to 03/30/17	Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition	Travis
	Travis' debut as DM. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a guest player. Features briefly as an Easter Egg in the Balance campaign's Stolen Century arc.
Elementary	2	04/02/18 and 03/27/19	Four Sherlock Holmes and a Vampire (Who Is Also One of the Aforementioned Sherlock Holmes)	Justin
	A pair of special member-exclusive episodes released a year apart. Justin's debut as GM. The second of these features Patrick Rothfuss as a guest player. We could explain the conceit of the game here, but given the title of what they're playing, that seems unnecessary.
Fur	2	03/06/19 and 03/05/21	Honey Heist	Travis
	A pair of special member-exclusive episodes released two years apart, in which three literal bears must team up to steal some honey.
Hootenanny	5	10/03/19 to 11/23/23	Lasers and Feelings	Griffin
	A space western setting filled with corruption, wrongdoing, and a loveable band of misfits. No literally, they're a country music band. Episodes 1, 3, and 5 of Hootenanny have appeared in the main feed; episode 2 is bonus content for Max Fun members. Episode 4 may or may not exist, somewhere out there in the inky blank void of space.
Dadlands (aka Inheritance)	3	11/28/19 to 10/26/23	Dadlands (custom-made game similar to Lasers and Feelings)	Brennan Lee Mulligan
	In a post-apocalyptic world inhabited only by Dads (don't think about it too hard), four Dads of different tribes must unite in order to find the mythical object that will bring peace to the world: The Remote. All three episodes are free for all listeners, and feature Brennan Lee Mulligan of CollegeHumor's Dimension20 series.
Holiday Brawl	1	12/27/19	The Fight Before Christmas (a hack of Lasers and Feelings)	Griffin
	Three shady characters travel to the North Pole, united in their desire to beat Santa Claus' ass.
Mercer	1	03/12/20	Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition	Matt Mercer
	A member-exclusive one-shot bonus episode featuring Matt Mercer of Critical Role fame as guest DM.
Lords of Crunch	1	07/26/20	Lasers and Feelings	Justin
	A member-exclusive one-shot bonus episode concerning the existential dread of cereal mascots.
Just Us	2	02/25/21 and 08/25/22	Supernormal	Travis
	A pair of raucous live shows that are free for all listeners, featuring three superheroes trying to do everyday activities without blowing their disguises by, say, squeezing a ketchup bottle way too hard with their super strength.
Charlieverse	2	05/03/21 and 03/19/23	Action Babies (a modified Muppet Babies RPG / Lasers and Feelings hack)	Justin
	Though GMed by Justin, all elements of the setting and game world have been designed by Justin's daughter Charlie, age 6, resulting in a fully unhinged affair. Both episodes are member-exclusive bonus content, as is one behind-the-scenes making-of episode.
The Zone of Adventure: Imbalance	3	11/10/21* to 11/24/21*	Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition	Aabria Iyengar
	This spin-off of the Balance universe, DMed by Aabria Iyengar, features a post-Story and Song adventure of Taako, Merle, Magnus, and one special friend, played by Griffin. The series was first released in video format on the McElroy Family youtube channel, and only later appeared on the main podcast feed, with all three episodes going up on 11/9/23.
Spirit Breakers	2	10/27/22 and 05/11/23	The Beast	Travis
	A pair of free live episodes set around the turn of the century, featuring four ghost hunters who valiantly fight the prejudices of the era and not-so-valiantly fight the very real monster that wants to eat them or whatever. Features guest player Aabria Iyengar.
The Adventure Bone	1	06/22/23	Adventure Skeletons	Travis
	In this free one-shot live show, three long-dead adventurers are reanimated as skeletons to do battle with en evil dragon and hopefully keep all of their bones along the way.
Plato's Rave	1	03/17/24	Roll for Shoes	Justin, Travis, and Griffin
	In this unusual one-shot Max Fun Drive bonus episode, all three brothers collaborate running Clint through a world they designed in the 2024 MBMBaM Max Fun Drive bonus episode, based on the legendary Plato's Rave bit from Episode 674 of MBMBaM.

Adaptations

The first campaign, Balance, is currently being adapted into a series of graphic novels, illustrated by Carey Pietsch and published by First Second Books. Many of these graphic novels have gone on to become New York Times Bestsellers.

In January 2020, an animated TV pilot of Balance was announced to be in development for NBC's streaming service Peacock. As of 2024, the series is rumored to still be in development, but no formal news has been announced for some time.

Trivia

• Garfield the Deals Warlock is a "Balance" character that first appeared in Episode 255 of MBMBaM.
• Davenport is a "Balance" character named after the level 9000 YaDrew Druid Drew Davenport.