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:
New Stretch Goals + Guest Art Cards + A Project We Love: Ducks in a Row
8 months ago
– Tue, Aug 12, 2025 at 09:38:55 AM
Uh oh! The Dungeon Tryouts campaign is going so well we're running out of stretch goals.
Guess we'll have to announce some new ones! This update has all the details, along with:
Dungeon Tryouts is rapidly approaching its last two stretch goals - but the party doesn't end when we unlock our guest card from Sarah Andersen!
We've announced six new stretch goals, including two more guest artists, more PDF resources, and MOAR PENGUINS. The full list is:
A guest card from Emory Kjelsberg
A guest card from a MYSTERY ARTIST
Free D&D character sheets for 3 Adventurers
An outtakes PDF featuring non-illustrated cards that were too silly to print
Adopting another 10 penguins through SANCCOB (x2)
Tell your friends they still have three more days to pledge and help us close out our campaign with a bang!
Check out these Guest Art Cards
We've been unlocking new guest cards for our Guest Art Booster throughout the campaign, and we're thrilled to be able to share some of the finished results!
Matthew J. Wills (Swords Comic) only agreed to draw a half-elf who's always writing embarrassing poetry on the condition that "I'm allowed to split them vertically down the middle" and we immediately said yes.
Because who doesn't love a visual pun?
This card was our $100,000 stretch goal, and Nick Seluk (The Awkward Yeti) absolutely NAILED the prompt. We couldn't be happier with this sticky little monstrosity of a bee-person who keeps vomiting honey!
Stay tuned for more from our growing roster of guest artists!
A project we love: Ducks in a Row
Can you get your ducks in order?
Find out in Ducks in a Row, a new game of deducktive reasoning from Graph Games! In Ducks in a Row, the Conducktor arranges the 7 Ducks of Legend in a secret line, and the rest of the players play cards to get clues and determine the true order. Players get more points for getting more ducks in position - but the game can end in an instant if someone draws the Goose!
We love the adorable art, engaging gameplay, and heavy use of duck-related puns. Go ahead and check out their campaign to get in on the quacktion!
Full deck unlocked + 2000 backers + Big Jobs Expansion + Project We Love: Shadowdark Secret Tomes
8 months ago
– Mon, Aug 11, 2025 at 11:17:43 AM
Dungeon Tryouts has passed 2,000 backers!
A huge thanks to everyone who pledged and got us to this point. The campaign wraps up this Friday, August 15 at 11:59pmET, so tell your friends they've still got four days to join the party!
In this update, we'll also cover:
The full main deck is unlocked
The story of the Big Jobs Expansion
A project we love: Three New Battlezoo Secret Tomes for Shadowdark from Roll for Combat
Quest entries due today
Full main deck unlocked
We crossed $160,000, and that means we've officially assembled the full version of Dungeon Tryouts! The main game will ship with 500 cards thanks to our latest stretch goal, which added the final 20 cards to the finished deck.
Up next is $170,000 and a set of interview questions, and $180,000 for guest card #16 from Sarah Andersen.
The Big Jobs Expansion (aka, "We're gonna need a bigger party")
The Dungeon Tryouts Big Jobs Expansion grew out of two design challenges:
We knew we wanted large groups to be able to play the game.
We knew we wanted quests that would require heroes to team up.
Pitching Adventurers is what makes Dungeon Tryouts fun, but it also puts a limit on the size of the game. Once you get above six, it can take a long time to get through a round when every player is making a pitch and going back and forth with the quest giver.
So what if players had to improvise pitches as a team?
Big Jobs is perfect for big groups of 7-10 players. You form teams at the start of the game. Each player has their own hand, and when a new quest is drawn, everyone has a short window to pick one Adventurer card before they have to improvise a pitch with their partner with almost no prep time. The results are hilarious, and it keeps the game running faster!
You can also play Big Jobs with groups of 3-6. Every player simply pitches a tag team of 2 adventurers drawn straight from their hand.
Team quests are a fun way to increase the number of possible interactions with the cards. Sometimes two Adventurers who don't seem like much on their own can combine in a unique (and ridiculous) way that makes them perfect for a two-person job.
The challenge was coming up with quests that felt worthy of that distinction. The regular quests are already zany, perilous, and ridiculous. How much sillier would things have to get to warrant a second hero? And how do you make those jobs stand out when every card already has a funny illustration?
It turns out that the answer was going bigger, in every sense of the word. First we stumbled across the name. What is a two-person job if not a Big Job? Then we followed that to its conclusion. The Quests in the Big Jobs Expansion are literally bigger than regular Quests, since they're printed on larger Tarot-sized cards. They also have art and content to match, with everything scaled up to epic proportions.
The other nice thing? AC Stuart's art really pops in the larger format. We absolutely love the Big Jobs Expansion. Hope you've got the right team to get the job done!
Projects we love: Three New Battlezoo Secret Tomes for Shadowdark
The full set consists of three hardcover books designed by legendary third-party Shadowdark designer Michael Putlack, each one with a distinct standalone theme. Monster Hunt showcases massive nightmare beasts. Strange and Unusual features monsters that twist the rules of magic. Elemental Storm introduces creatures spawned from storms and other natural disasters.
Together, the three books clock in at more than 1,000 pages, with 15 new character classes, 12 one-page dungeons, and hundreds of unique monsters. Those monsters also come with original lore and abilities, and can even be turned into new gear thanks to the Battlezoo Monster Parts crafting system!
The three third-party books are fully compatible with existing Shadowdark rules. Go ahead and check out their Kickstarter to dive into a deeper, deadlier, shadow darkness!
Contest entries due today
Today is the last day you can enter our Dungeon Tryouts Quest contest!
To enter, just pick an Adventurer from the hand above and send us a 60-second pitch to tell us why we should hire them for the quest. We'll announce our favorite pitch during our closing night livestream on Friday, and the winner will get a Party Time t-shirt and an alpha copy of Dungeon Tryouts. Read the full rules in our previous updates. Submissions will close at 11:59pm ET tonight.
Thanks so much!
The Story Engine Team
Caption This + $150,000 stretch goal + A Project We Love: Living Minis
8 months ago
– Sat, Aug 09, 2025 at 01:19:45 PM
We're entering the last week of the Dungeon Tryouts campaign, and we've still got lots of exciting news to share including:
Our fantasy-themed party game just passed $150,000 - and we're not done yet!
The Dungeon Tryouts Kickstarter campaign ends on Friday, Aug. 15 at 11:59pm ET, which means you have less than a week to make a pledge and help us unlock a few more stretch goals. We've still got another 20 cards and guest art from Sarah Andersen left to unlock, and we can't get there without your support!
Artist AC Stuart is drawing new Dungeon Tryouts characters every week - and even we can't seem to keep all these applicants in order!
That's why we're turning to you to help!
Who is this Adventurer - and what are they saying in this image?
Reply in the comments to let us know what you think!
Projects we love: Living Minis
Wish your RPG miniatures were a little more lively?
Our friends at Hit Point Press are here to help! They're running a Kickstarter campaign for Living Minis, a collection of physical, animated miniatures for TTRPGs! Each one of these flat miniatures features 8 frames of looping animation on the front and back, so the players will know exactly what they're up against when the monsters start converging on the party!
The minis are waterproof, portable, and compatible with any TTRPG that uses a 1-inch square grid, including D&D, Pathfinder, Gloomhaven, and more.
Don't forget that Dungeon Tryouts contest entries are also due before midnight ET on Monday!
We're giving a Party Time t-shirt and an alpha copy of Dungeon Tryouts to the player who makes the best hero pitch using the quest and hand above. Just submit your 60-second video using the entry form here to tell us who we should hire.
The winner will be announced during our campaign wrap-up livestream on Friday night!
The Story Engine is on TikTok
Follow us @storyenginedeck for creative tips and original content featuring our storytelling decks and (of course) Dungeon Tryouts!
More stretch goals + Contest Extension + Retailer Pledges + Your All-Ages Questions
8 months ago
– Thu, Aug 07, 2025 at 01:51:25 PM
We had a fantastic Gen Con, and are excited to be back at our desks for the home stretch of the Dungeon Tryouts Kickstarter campaign. Today we've got a packed update that includes:
More stretch goals unlocked, including new guest art
Answering your questions about all-ages content
Answering your questions about adding on specific expansions
Extending our quest audition contest
The new retailer pledge tier
Our new penguin friend
Stretch goal update: the Guest Art Booster is almost complete!
We unlocked guest cards from Rob DenBleyker and Shen while we were at Gen Con, along with another 20 cards for the main game (bringing the total to 480).
Here's a sneak peek at the sketch art for Shen's guest illustration!
Our next stretch goal will push us past $150,000 and bring us to 50 penguins on our Big Jobs Quest card, so help us spread the word to continue the expansion!
Answering your questions about all-ages content + adding on specific expansions
We've had a few questions about the age range for Dungeon Tryouts. The NSFW expansion lived up to its name on our latest livestream, and party games in general often skew toward more mature friend groups with hits like Joking Hazard and Cards Against Humanity.
So who is Dungeon Tryouts for? And more importantly, is this a game you can play with your kids?
We're thrilled to say the answers are 'everyone' and 'yes'!
Dungeon Tryouts is all-ages. We playtested with families, including players as young as 9, as well as with teens and adults. Everyone can play Dungeon Tryouts, and that includes your kids, your parents, and anyone else who wants to come to the table!
That was a deliberate decision. Games like D&D bring together people of all ages to tell stories together. We set out to create a more lighthearted version of that experience - and that meant that everyone needed to feel welcome.
It's also in keeping with the spirit of fantasy itself. We love the genre because we grew up reading books like The Hobbit and Redwall and playing Dungeons & Dragons. Today's kids are just as excited about Percy Jackson and, well, still Dungeons & Dragons.
The point is that fantasy is all about possibility. Our most beloved stories show us what we can do with the power of the imagination, and that's a key ingredient in our game. Fantasy is for everyone. That's why Dungeon Tryouts is, too!
As for the NSFW expansion? That's our way of getting it out of our system. We came up with lots of great NSFW jokes while we were writing the core game, and know there's an audience who enjoy that kind of humor. (It's us! We're the audience!) A self-contained expansion let us tell jokes for parents while still delivering a base game that's fun for everyone.
Adding-On Individual Expansions
We also got a couple of questions asking if it's possible for people to pledge for 1-2 specific expansions instead of the full set.
The answer is yes!
You can customize your pledge with "add-ons" (extra items you add to your pledge individually).
We're extending the Dungeon Tryouts giveaway for another week! Entries will now be open until Monday, August 11, so you've got a few more days to submit a pitch for a chance to win a Party Time t-shirt and an alpha copy of Dungeon Tryouts!
To enter, pick an Adventurer from the hand above and record a 60-second video to explain why they should get the quest. We'll select our favorite pitch and announce the winner during our campaign wrap-up livestream next Friday.
Want to see Dungeon Tryouts in your local game store?
This is the pledge you've been waiting for! At your request, we've created a new Shopkeeper pledge tier for vendors interested in stocking Dungeon Tryouts. The tier is exclusively for retailers, and offers the best wholesale price for our new party game.
See the project page for full details. Feel free to share the news with your local games purveyor, or pledge for yourself if you've got your own store!
Meet our brave new friends
We picked up some brave new party members at Gen Con!
We don't know how this happened. (No, seriously. We have no idea why people kept leaving animals at our booth.) But they're part of the team now and we're thrilled to have them on board.
Thanks to everyone who dropped by the booth at Gen Con! Hope to see you all at a future show!
Reddit AMA + Livestream TODAY + A Project We Love: Pinup Monster Girls
8 months ago
– Thu, Jul 31, 2025 at 06:48:54 AM
Dungeon Tryouts is coming to you LIVE from Gen Con!
Our whole team will be at booth #1217 in Indianapolis July 31 until August 3, and we'd love to see you if you're walking the show floor.
If you can't be here, there are other ways you can join in the fun. We've got two big events happening online TODAY - and we also wanted to let you know about another fun D&D project up on Kickstarter now.
A project we love: Pinup Monster Girls from Leopard Print Press
Reddit AMA @ 4pm ET
Our very first Reddit AMA will be happening on the r/boardgames subreddit at 4pm ET today. Dungeon Tryouts/The Story Engine creator Peter Chiykowski will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about game design, worldbuilding, storytelling, sword-fighting, and Dungeon Tryouts.
This is your chance to ask him, well, anything you want to know about our latest game, so head over to Reddit (and come prepped with a question) to make sure your voice gets heard!
Gen Con Afterparty @ 8:30pm ET
We're also hosting a Gen Con after hours livestream once we wrap up the AMA and close up shop on the show floor.
The Dungeon Tryouts After Dark livestream begins at 8:30pm ET, when we'll be joined by some special guests for a few rounds of Dungeon Tryouts with our NSFW and D&D Expansions.
Speaking of NSFW...
Projects We Love: Pinup Monster Girls
Leopard Print Press is Kickstarting a fully-illustrated collection of Pinup Monster Girls. Each one of these 15 sultry foes comes from a different part of the Pinup Plane, with original lore and stat blocks that are ready-made for 5e and 5.5e D&D campaigns
Pinup Monster Girls 5.5e combines epic pinup art, unforgettable monster girls, and polished 5e and 5.5e mechanics to make your next session stand out. This collection comes with dangerously fun encounters (CR 3-16), flirtatious pinup girl lore, seductive story hooks, and fully illustrated pinup art. Every girl is fully statted and ready to charm, crush, and captivate your table.
And the best part? No AI. Every word, stat block, and line of art was made by real humans who love DND, pin up art, and monster girls as much as you do.
Our own campaign just passed $120,000 and now has 1,500 backers (and counting). We also hit another stretch goal and added the 14th card to our guest art booster pack!
The most recent card will be drawn by the one and only Shen. The next stretch goal will add another 20 cards to the main deck, so spread the word to help us bring even more shenanigans to Dungeon Tryouts!
