Dungeon Tryouts: The Party Game of Fantasy Misadventure
Created by Peter Chiykowski
Adventure fantasy meets unhinged all-ages party game! Pitch wannabe heroes for hilarious quests to make your friends laugh and win!
The premise? You run an adventuring agency where you try to find quests for wannabe adventurers.
The problem? The heroes in your roster all have "quirks" that make them hard to hire. They aren't exactly the cream of the crop–and neither are the gigs you have for them.
Dungeon Tryouts is designed for 3-6 players of all ages (or up to 10 players with the Big Jobs Expansion).
Latest Updates from Our Project:
You just adopted 60 penguins 🐧 + New Card Reveals + Caption This
7 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
8 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
8 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!
The Pledge Manager smoke test is live!
8 months ago
– Thu, Nov 13, 2025 at 09:14:32 AM
Hello fellow dungeoneers!
We're thrilled to announce that the Pledge Manager smoke test went live today!
The smoke test is a trial period where we send reward surveys to roughly 5% of backers to make sure our configurations are all correct. This lets us triple-check for errors, inconsistencies, issues, and points of confusion in the survey before sending out mass invitations.
Assuming the test goes well, we'll follow up by sending the reward surveys to the remaining 95% of initial backers within the next 48 hours. Late pledges will get their surveys two weeks after that, on December 1. For now, check your email to see if you're part of the smoke test. You can complete your survey early, and do us a huge favor by helping us catch any issues!
The surveys themselves are sent through Backerkit, which we're using for Pledge Manager and our pre-order store.
Here are some common questions we get during the pledge manager release:
Will my early bird bonus/returning backer incentives show up in my rewards?
Yes! If your original pledge qualified you for any of our three incentive pins (for early birds, returning backers, and large pledges), they will appear in your rewards by the end of this survey. However, if you make a change to your pledge that affects which pins you qualify for, you may not see that change reflected immediately. We'll be doing another pass in Pledge Manager prior to shipping rewards.
When will you charge my credit card for any balance owing?
We plan to charge credit cards in BackerKit for any add-ons in mid 2026 when final PDFs are delivered. We will post an update before we do so you can double-check any charges.
Are shipping/tax charges final?
We refined shipping estimates further and the shipping costs provided in the pledge manager are now close to final. If any regional shipping costs go significantly down in the coming months, we will decrease charges accordingly, but otherwise, assume the figures in BackerKit are final.
Can I update my reward survey after I complete it?
Yes! We will not be locking surveys until we deliver PDFs in spring/summer of 2026. Until then, you can always edit and update your reward survey (and add or remove add-ons) via the survey link you were originally sent. If you want to change your initial pledge level, you can do that using your survey link until November 30, 2025. After that, you'll need to reach out to our team directly.
Does X pledge level or add-on include Y reward? Are PDFs included?
If you have any questions about your reward survey, check out the BackerKit FAQ and the project FAQ. In the Backerkit FAQ you can find links to contact BackerKit customer support (if you have questions about the platform). You can also contact The Story Engine team at [email protected] if you have questions about the project. Both teams are here to support you and answer questions throughout the survey process and beyond!
Thanks so much, and as always, feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have!
Art Livestream + Thank you for voting!
9 months ago
– Tue, Oct 14, 2025 at 11:51:33 AM
Want an inside look at the Dungeon Tryouts development process?
Along the way, we'll share some updates on the project, along with some insights from our design team. What makes an Adventurer a good fit for Dungeon Tryouts - and why do some hilarious heroes get left on the cutting room floor?
Join us on October 16 to find out!
The final penguin has been chosen
The results of our final vote are in, and as always, the polls went down to the wire. In fact, our last vote was too close to call. We tallied our third tie, with Bubbles and Sparkle picking up the same number of votes from our community.
That means both names will be going to penguins when we complete the adoption through SANCCOB. Thanks again to SANCCOB, and to everyone who voted and supported Dungeon Tryouts!
