Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon Adventures: The Heroes
Hank, Sheila, Presto and the gang are all here!
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When I planned my return to my adopted hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for GaryCon six years ago I wanted to offer my players a unique and special game event that was both a D&D adventure and a tribute to Gary Gygax himself. A fun little idea quickly turned into a project–a game event where convention attendees could play an episode of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon from the 1980s. It was such a hit that my first table offered a literal standing ovation, and I’ve now run a few different scenarios featuring Hank, Presto, and the gang that have always been popular with my tables.
And while I won’t claim to have started the trend, I was certainly ahead of the curve—as the cartoon kids started making cameos in art, game products, and movies in recent years. The 50th anniversary of the game last year featured Venger and Warduke on the cover of the Dungeon Master’s Guide and offered adult versions of the cartoon gang as default characters on D&D Beyond, and finally an official adventure intended to continue the story featured in the show.
It was “Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn” that inspired me to update and write out the material I’ve been using at conventions for the past six years. I think the adventure and the characters as presented do a good job of giving a short, whimsical adventure for the new 2024 edition of D&D. But it’s not intended to “feel” like an episode of the cartoon, especially with adult characters bristling with weapons and lethal attacks.
The following isn’t a criticism of the official material, but rather a supplement for people who want to go all the way and play adventures that embrace the sensibilities and silliness of a cartoon from the 1980s.
Today we are looking at the characters we’ll be using for these adventures, offering replacements for the official versions on D&D Beyond. Next installment will include guidelines and house rules to embrace the style and tropes of the cartoon, along with specific changes I recommend for the adventure “Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn” to make it feel right at home with the show that inspired it. The third and final post in this series will be an original adventure inspired by the cartoon’s creative team: “The Land of Nowhere.”
Note: This unofficial fan-created material has not been thoroughly playtested. If you spot an error or have a suggestion, please leave it in the comments!
Carnival Kids
If you want to play Dungeons & Dragons cartoon adventures, the first place to start is our heroes. The characters as presented with the “Uni” adventure on D&D Beyond are good examples of standard D&D 2024 characters that follow standard character creation rules and use the classes and subclasses from the new Player’s Handbook. But they aren’t very close reflections of the characters we see on screen.
>> Click here to download the revised Dungeons & Dragons cartoon heroes! <<
These revised characters are intended specifically to play in the style of 1980s cartoons and would not perform well in vanilla-flavored D&D. Normal expectations and game balance have been thrown out the window in the goal of reflecting the source material more closely.
When do the adventures happen?
The TV show episodes were quite episodic, so the exact timeline and order of things doesn’t matter all too much. The adventures at your game table take place in an imagined fourth season of television series, following the events of “The Winds of Darkness” and sometime before the unproduced finale, “Requiem” (in which the villain Venger is redeemed). And a new season is a great way to explain away things such as Uni exhibiting new powers.
The following are notes on the design of each hero.
Bobby
While a Berserker barbarian is certainly on-theme for Bobby’s personality, I felt that his connection to Uni is one of his defining characteristics. Enter a subclass called “Path of the Horn” that allows Bobby to have Uni as a sidekick in the style of a beastmaster ranger. So while Bobby is raging with his club, Uni can act to support and help their friends.
Diana
The most physically gifted member of the team, Dungeon Master dubbed Diana “Acrobat” in the opening credits of the show. Back in the 80s there was a subclass called “Thief-Acrobat,” but game adaptations going back to the DVD box set have made her a Monk. I just don’t think the Bruce Lee-style “Warrior of the Open Hand” fits for her, so I instead created a “Warrior of Acrobatics” subclass inspired by a design by Mike Mearls. While reducing her raw combat potential she becomes the most ridiculously mobile 4th level character I’ve seen. I also called her magical artifact a Javelin Staff to match the weird way it was named in the show.
Eric
Most of our heroes don’t have straightforward weapons, even if that’s how they refer to their magical items. The Griffon Shield is good for defense but can also be used to bash and knock opponents back or down. Eric is once again a Cavalier (straight out of Xanathar’s), and while he likely won’t get much use out of the mounted combat advantages, a Cavalier’s dedication to protecting his friends is perfect for Eric.
Hank
Hank’s Energy Bow is the most iconic weapon in the cartoon, even if he rarely uses it for straight-up attacks. The D&D Beyond version includes a teleporting feature that’s not seen in the cartoon, but since we’re in a “new season” I say it can be a recently-unlocked power. I also gave Hank the Inspiring Leader feat since it reflects his “captain of the football team” vibe in the show.
Niko
There is no such character in the original show, so the most accurate thing to do is toss Niko out entirely. But there’s also no reason why she can’t be a new member of the cast or a guest character for a single episode, so I’ve included and revised her for anyone who’d like to play someone new. I switched her to a Life Domain cleric to focus on healing instead of blasting enemies with radiant damage. I also felt that a Mace that summons angelic warriors didn’t seem to match the other heroes’ magic items very well, so I went back to the source! “The Dragon’s Graveyard” showed other magical objects, including a Net with magical healing powers. I wrote it up and decided Dungeon Master gave it to Niko when he abducted her from Earth. I also included background and personality information so she’s not just a bunch of numbers on a sheet.
Presto
Dungeon Master named the nerdy Albert as “Magician,” which reflected the character class of Magic-User in the D&D books on the market in the early 80s. But Presto doesn’t spend time studying magic and casting spells from a book, he grabs his hat and makes up a two-line poem and hopes for the best. If that’s not a Wild Magic Sorcerer I don’t know what is, so I changed him and simplified the Hat of Many Spells since the Wild Magic Surge table already has us covered for a bunch of random effects. I also gave him a negative feature called Nearsighted to reflect that he is very much the Velma of the group.
Sheila
While she uses her magic purple cloak to sneak around invisibly, Sheila isn’t really a Thief no matter what Dungeon Master calls her. I gave her the Scout subclass as it matches what she often does thematically and the subclass also gives her an extra ability to avoid enemies–something Sheila is all about.
Next Time: Guidelines and House Rules for running cartoon-style adventures, along with specific recommendations for “Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn.”
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