Update + New Cards + Caption This
14 days ago
– Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 02:50:17 PM
Hello Fellow Adventurers!
For many Canadians, winter is a quiet season of snow moons and peaceful contemplations. It’s a time to slow down and dream about the warm days to come.
Unfortunately, Canadian Adventurers don’t get to hibernate. Instead of hunkering down under warm blankets, we’ve been hunkering down in our development bunker to plug away at Dungeon Tryouts (and a whole new set of Story Engine Deck Expansions)!
Now that we’ve got a chance to catch our breath, we want to take care of some long overdue business. We’ve got six new Adventurer cards to share that we’ve been desperate to reveal! 🎯
And who are these dashing debutants, you ask?
Look, New Cards!
This trio includes a slick rogue and a crash test dummy who can’t catch a break. Which one of these maladjusted madcaps would you swipe right on? Which one would you introduce to your parents? And which one would you decapitate with a vorpal sword? ⚔️
Now you’re stranded on a desert island with one of these next three elegant eccentrics. What tool would you want to have in your bag of holding? A security earpiece, a never-ending supply of tissues, or a whetstone for sharpening axes? 🤔
Caption This
We've got another piece of art to reveal - but we're not telling you what this one is supposed to be!
Reply in the comments to give us your best guess for this Adventurer!
Don't forget that Dungeon Tryouts is now available for pre-order for anyone that hasn't made a pledge.
Here's why we changed one rule in Dungeon Tryouts
2 months ago
– Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 08:51:17 AM
Making a fun party game isn't always fun and games.
Sure, there's a lot of fun and games. But sometimes you have to take a step back to make sure you're cultivating the right kind of fun and games.
That became more and more apparent the deeper we got into the development of Dungeon Tryouts, and led to a slight tweak at the heart of the game. Keep reading to find out why we changed one of our most important rules!
The Pass/Fail Problem
Early versions of Dungeon Tryouts placed a strong emphasis on success. Can each Adventurer plausibly complete the assignment? We want every card be funny, but we also don't want cards to sit in your hand. That meant that every Adventurer needed enough utility to get pitched for a wide variety of Quests.
Unfortunately, we soon found ourselves cutting a lot of fun, funny, and/or interesting Adventurers for one of three reasons:
- The Adventurers were either under or overpowered for most of the Quests.
- It was easier to make a funny argument than a credible one.
- Their usefulness was a little too narrow and they stayed in your hand until you could match them to one specific Quest.
That led to a couple of design challenges. For one thing, it's more difficult to create 'playable' Adventurers when each one needs to have a high match rate with Quests. For another, it seemed at odds with the core purpose of the game.
Remember, winning is the secondary objective in Dungeon Tryouts. The primary goal is to have fun pitching zany characters. Why would we want to get rid of cards that facilitated that experience?
Pitch Perfect
To solve the problem, we looked at the instructions to see if there was a way to word things in a more open-ended manner.
The original rules read like this:
The quest giver decides which Adventurer gets the Quest and wins the round.
That language is deliberately vague because we didn't want to tell judges what criteria they should use to make their decisions. However, the broad phrasing ended up leading to a default interpretation that was much narrower. Most playtesting groups assumed they were supposed to pick the Adventurer who was most likely to succeed.
You can certainly use success as your primary metric (and some players will). But it's not the only option. As the judge, you're choosing your favorite pitch. Exactly how you determine that should be up to you.
That's why we tweaked the rules to put the emphasis on the pitches rather than the Adventurers. The new text reads more like this:
The quest giver chooses the pitch that impressed them the most (whether through persuasiveness, creativity, or sheer entertainment value).
You now have permission to laugh
The new rule makes it clear that judges are free to use their own criteria, and have permission to choose funny pitches over plausible ones. In doing so, it gives everyone more agency during gameplay. The game rewards players who pitch well instead of players who happened to have the right card.
Players are still free to pitch in whatever manner suits them. There are simply more avenues to victory if you prefer one style over another.
Can you make this Adventurer a relatable underdog? Is your logic undeniable?Can you persuade the judge with an unexpected argument? Can you make a zany plan the judge WANTS to see happen, even if it has low odds of success?
It's all fair game thanks to the update!
Who's Quest is it Anyway?
The other nice thing about the change?
It means you're going to get a wider variety of Adventurers. You'll see more cards that may not have as much obvious utility, but will hopefully inspire you and your friends to make some truly ridiculous and memorable pitches.
You don't have to get into character if you don't want to, but the change should make the pitch process more unique (and more fun) for everyone at the table.
You can see six of the improv-forward Adventurers we greenlit after the change scattered throughout this update. Take a look so you can start practicing your skills for when the game comes out!
Dungeon Tryouts is currently available for pre-order through BackerKit.
You just adopted 60 penguins 🐧 + New Card Reveals + Caption This
3 months ago
– Thu, Dec 18, 2025 at 12:45:06 PM
The penguins are finally here!
After a bit of waddling, squawking, and naming drama, the paperwork has gone through and everything is final.
The 60 penguins you unlocked through stretch goals have officially been adopted, and are now living happier, healthier lives thanks to our good friends at SANCCOB!
We're absolutely thrilled to be delivering one of our original Dungeon Tryouts stretch goals, and can't think of a better way to celebrate the holidays.
It's cold, it's wet, and the ground is covered in snow - but those are just festive perks when you're part of a happy pack of penguins! 🐧
A huge thanks to everyone who made this holiday miracle happen, and to SANCCOB for leading the way on wildlife conservation! Scroll down to see some of the official paperwork for the penguin children you adopted, along with the full list of 60 names!
Hey look! New Cards!
Dungeon Tryouts development is continuing at a steady clip. We've got new art (and new cards) coming together every week, and we can even share a few of them with you now!
You'll want to keep a hand on your hat around one of our new Adventurers:
Meanwhile, two of these Quests are sure to be the banes of parents everywhere:
Caption This
We've got one final piece of art to reveal - but we're not telling you what this one is supposed to be!
Reply in the comments to give us your best guess for this Adventurer!
Don't forget that Dungeon Tryouts is now available for pre-order for anyone that hasn't made a pledge.
Meet the Penguins
Without further ado, here are some of the penguins you adopted through Dungeon Tryouts:
The Full List
- Piwu
- Moki
- Awoo
- E-Rock
- Zap
- Riwi
- Husein Pingu
- Rad
- Ify
- Jonny
- Sasha
- Unca Lar
- Lars
- Carson the Penguin
- Constantine
- Lessi
- $uprDee
- Bubbles
- Sparkle
- Nat 20
- Fairbanks
- Aurora
- Marshmallow
- Pistachio
- Puddles
- Pebble
- Snooter
- Tuxedo
- Duke
- Pen the Mighty
- Empoleon
- Puffle
- Fidget
- Disco Waddler
- Fiona
- Morgan
- Karl
- Penny
- Emperor Penguitine
- Pengwendolyn
- Flapjack
- M. Peror Penkwin
- Princess Wigglewings
- Commander Chillbill
- Sir Nibbles the Bold
- Dr. Eggfoot
- Waddlesworth
- Jeeves
- Bird Ferguson
- Dapper
- Peoples Champion
- Igloo von Flap
- Blitz
- Avalanche
- Juneau
- Muffin
- Boris
- March of the Penguins: A Movie Narrated by Morgan Freeman
- Thogg, Destroyer of Privies
- Benedict Cumbersnatch
About SANCCOB
SANCCOB is a South African non-profit that works to conserve the local seabird population. Its primary focus is on the rescue and rehabilitation of the critically endangered African penguin (you can adopt and name your own penguin here), in addition to cormorants and other sea birds.
SANCCOB also spearheads broader conservation efforts through a range of education, research, and advocacy programs. Most notably, it teaches people how to adopt more sustainable practices, and raises community preparedness for oil spills and other ecological disasters.
Visit SANCCOB's website to learn more about its efforts to maintain biodiversity and bring balance to the oceans of southern Africa!
UPDATE: Free Shipping Clarification
4 months ago
– Mon, Nov 24, 2025 at 10:02:46 AM
The surveys are away, responses are coming in, and we're so excited to be moving one step closer to fulfillment!
There's just one issue that has caused a bit of confusion, so we wanted to jump in with a quick update to clear everything up.
The Free Shipping Thing
Free Shipping is not applied automatically in the Pledge Manager. We have to go through and apply it manually to every order that meets the requirements.
That means that if we think you qualified for free shipping with your original pledge - which is to say, if you pledged more than $175USD in one of the eligible countries during the original campaign - then we went through and applied free shipping to your order before we launched the Pledge Manager.
That also means that your shipping rate might not be up to date if you made any changes to your order. We still need to update everything manually. If your original pledge was less than $175 and you've since upgraded to a higher pledge tier, you'll still see a shipping fee attached to your order.
By the same token, if your original pledge was over $175 and you've downgraded to a lower tier, you may not be seeing a shipping fee that will be applied later. This is also true if you live in Hawaii or Alaska. Free shipping was applied to all eligible US orders before we had your final shipping information, but it is not available outside the contiguous states.
Rest assured that we will be doing a new pass every few weeks or so to try to keep everything up to date. However, the only shipping rate that matters is the one there when we charge cards in mid-2026. We'll share another update before we get to that point. Check in then to make sure you're being charged the proper rate, and we can update everything manually if there are any errors.
Thanks in advance for your patience as we sort everything out. We will ensure that everyone pays the right amount for shipping, and will always work with our customers to sort out any issues and answer any questions!
That's all for now! Until then, enjoy some more Dungeon Tryouts art from AC Stuart!
Surveys Sent + Pre-orders Open + BackerKit Holiday Market
5 months ago
– Mon, Nov 17, 2025 at 12:56:51 PM
The project surveys are away!
The smoke test we mentioned in our last update went smoothly, so we went ahead and sent reward surveys to all primary backers!
This is your chance to upgrade your pledge and grab any add-ons you may have missed the first time around (you can only upgrade your pledge using the survey until November 30, but you'll still be able to upgrade after that date if you reach out to our team directly). You can also provide your shipping information, which you'll need to do if you want to get your rewards.
If you're not sure how to find your survey link, you can recover it by entering your backer email here. Late Pledges will get their surveys on December 1, two weeks after the regular surveys go out.
In the meantime, we have a few more updates to share!
Pre-orders are Open
Know someone who missed our campaign? Our BackerKit pre-order store is open, and we're now accepting pre-orders for Dungeon Tryouts at www.storyenginedeck.com/dungeontryouts.
The BackerKit Holiday Market is here
Want to get one of our other decks of storytelling prompts?
The Story Engine will soon be available as part of the BackerKit Holiday Market, which kicks off tomorrow (November 18)! The Market features finished projects from 150+ BackerKit creators, covering everything from games to pins to our own Lore Master's Deck.
Our storytelling prompts won't be available as add-ons through the Dungeon Tryouts Pledge Manager. Some of you asked during the campaign, and while we did look into the possibility, it was a little too complicated to be feasible.
However, the Holiday Market is the next best place to get them, with the added benefit that you won't have to wait until 2027 to get your decks. We'll be ready to charge cards and start shipping when the Market closes at the beginning of December, so head on over to get your holiday shopping done early!
Production Progress
Our guest writers have submitted hundreds of Quests and Adventurers, and we're going through every single one to avoid any overlap, and to ensure that only the funniest heroes make it into our game. We're also balancing the cards as we go to ensure we have a diverse array of Quests that create opportunities for different kind of heroes.
Dungeon Tryouts is funny. But we also want it to be fun to play, and that's why we'll be playtesting at every step of the process.
In the meantime, AC Stuart is flying through the art for pitches that have already been green lit. You can even get a sneak peak at some of them in this post!
Who, exactly, are these B-list heroes? Reply in the comments to give us your best guess for any of the Adventurers in this post!
We'll have more details in the months ahead, as we get closer to the release of the beta PDFs.
Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to reach out with any questions you may have!
