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Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition
Acquisitions Incorporated
Explore a wealth of peril and personalities in this campaign book for the world’s greatest roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons.
Acquisitions Incorporated is a different flavor of Dungeons & Dragons. A fifth edition D&D book created in partnership with Penny Arcade Inc. and inspired by the podcast and web series, this book is full of madcap heists, hilarious moments, and all the ingredients you need to include the adventurers of Acquisitions Incorporated in your own fifth edition D&D campaign.
• Start up your own Acquisitions Incorporated franchise in the Forgotten Realms or anywhere in the multiverse.
• Live out your fantasy of climbing the corporate ladder of the most notorious retrieval agency in the Forgotten Realms—Acquisitions Incorporated.
• The 224-page book will give Dungeon Masters and players plenty of bits to play a D&D fifth edition game just as if you were on stage with the crew at PAX! New backgrounds, character options, franchise information and more.
• You'll also find an adventure that will take characters from levels 1 through 6, establishing your party's claim on a world they've just begun to explore—and to strip-mine for profit.
Dungeons & Dragons is the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Created in 1974, D&D transformed gaming culture by blending traditional fantasy with miniatures and wargaming.
Acquisitions Incorporated is a different flavor of Dungeons & Dragons. A fifth edition D&D book created in partnership with Penny Arcade Inc. and inspired by the podcast and web series, this book is full of madcap heists, hilarious moments, and all the ingredients you need to include the adventurers of Acquisitions Incorporated in your own fifth edition D&D campaign.
• Start up your own Acquisitions Incorporated franchise in the Forgotten Realms or anywhere in the multiverse.
• Live out your fantasy of climbing the corporate ladder of the most notorious retrieval agency in the Forgotten Realms—Acquisitions Incorporated.
• The 224-page book will give Dungeon Masters and players plenty of bits to play a D&D fifth edition game just as if you were on stage with the crew at PAX! New backgrounds, character options, franchise information and more.
• You'll also find an adventure that will take characters from levels 1 through 6, establishing your party's claim on a world they've just begun to explore—and to strip-mine for profit.
Dungeons & Dragons is the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Created in 1974, D&D transformed gaming culture by blending traditional fantasy with miniatures and wargaming.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published June 18, 2019
24 people are currently reading
430 people want to read
About the author
Wizards of the Coast
429 books429 followersWizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
December 18, 2019
I think I'll keep this on the list of published adventures I'd be willing to run. Not that I could necessarily run a campaign in this form, I don't think I can plot like this— I am rather amused by the fact that the comedy campaign is the wotc campaign that is most baroquely plotted, someone here has a mind like a mousetrap game— but the published adventure seems fun and not tripping too many of my "but why would you DO that" triggers.
September 27, 2019
Really fun. Great art. A lot of creative mechanics and events in the module portion.
August 10, 2020
Prior to reading this book I did not know much about Acquisitions Incorporated or Penny Arcade. I have a little understanding now and have even listened to a few of the early Acquisitions Incorporated live streams to get an idea of what kind of campaign was being played. This book would likely be appreciated by fans of that campaign, or perhaps those looking for a more light-hearted Dungeons & Dragons game. There is a humor to that campaign style which the book tries to capture. It’s not bad and I’m sure that many folks would like it, but it just wasn’t my thing.
I originally got this book because I was interested in the franchise rules. The book offers some fairly simplistic rules for running an adventuring company where staff and its base of operations expand at set experience levels that the party reaches. They could easily be adapted to represent a castle, guildhall, and more. Additionally, the rules offer additional rules for characters to take on notable roles in a franchise, which provides them with some special rules, abilities and items related to their role in the franchise. There are also some additional Background types geared toward a business-themed campaign (only in a sense as they can easily work in a regular campaign if you ignore some of the comedic references), some new spells (none of which are game-breaking and have some value for those seeking some magic variety) and some random tables and explanations for different classes (and archetypes) roles in a franchise (which I found almost worthless). There is a new character race, the Verdan, which is a goblinoid race that changes size as they increase in Experience level. Lastly, there are some expanded downtime activities, which can be added to the list of downtime activities included in the other published books.
The franchise rules, character options, spells and such, as well as the background for Acquisitions
Incorporated and its foes takes up the first 78 pages of this 224-page book. In addition to some of the filler sections included in the previously mentioned material, this is my other main gripe with this book. Instead of offering the franchise rules and such as a reduced-price item, they are combined with an Acquisitions Incorporated-style adventure and priced as a standard book. I guess you could argue that this is mainly an adventure book (since it makes up the majority of the book) with some optional rules and reference materials in it, which is one of my main arguments for many of the 5e adventure books (Storm King’s Thunder for example is filled with a lot of material I have in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide).
The adventure (no real spoilers) is a fairly linear adventure where the PCs are starting up their own franchise and have to recover some items from some bad guys. They get to travel to different places, fight a variety of foes and solve some puzzles. There are parts of the adventure that I actually thought were interesting encounters that I might use in my own campaigns with some alterations, but there were also some (I’m thinking of the first part of Episode 5) that I felt were very lacking in justification and flow with the rest of the series.
Overall, I enjoyed a lot of franchise rules, especially the franchise development rules and the franchise roles. I wished this material were offered on its own without the adventure series (perhaps it is now). The adventure isn’t bad as written if your group is looking for that slap stick humor-style adventuring, and a good Dungeon Master (Game Master) can find something useful that can be adapted in almost anything. One of the weaker rulebook offerings of the 5e books published thus far.
I originally got this book because I was interested in the franchise rules. The book offers some fairly simplistic rules for running an adventuring company where staff and its base of operations expand at set experience levels that the party reaches. They could easily be adapted to represent a castle, guildhall, and more. Additionally, the rules offer additional rules for characters to take on notable roles in a franchise, which provides them with some special rules, abilities and items related to their role in the franchise. There are also some additional Background types geared toward a business-themed campaign (only in a sense as they can easily work in a regular campaign if you ignore some of the comedic references), some new spells (none of which are game-breaking and have some value for those seeking some magic variety) and some random tables and explanations for different classes (and archetypes) roles in a franchise (which I found almost worthless). There is a new character race, the Verdan, which is a goblinoid race that changes size as they increase in Experience level. Lastly, there are some expanded downtime activities, which can be added to the list of downtime activities included in the other published books.
The franchise rules, character options, spells and such, as well as the background for Acquisitions
Incorporated and its foes takes up the first 78 pages of this 224-page book. In addition to some of the filler sections included in the previously mentioned material, this is my other main gripe with this book. Instead of offering the franchise rules and such as a reduced-price item, they are combined with an Acquisitions Incorporated-style adventure and priced as a standard book. I guess you could argue that this is mainly an adventure book (since it makes up the majority of the book) with some optional rules and reference materials in it, which is one of my main arguments for many of the 5e adventure books (Storm King’s Thunder for example is filled with a lot of material I have in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide).
The adventure (no real spoilers) is a fairly linear adventure where the PCs are starting up their own franchise and have to recover some items from some bad guys. They get to travel to different places, fight a variety of foes and solve some puzzles. There are parts of the adventure that I actually thought were interesting encounters that I might use in my own campaigns with some alterations, but there were also some (I’m thinking of the first part of Episode 5) that I felt were very lacking in justification and flow with the rest of the series.
Overall, I enjoyed a lot of franchise rules, especially the franchise development rules and the franchise roles. I wished this material were offered on its own without the adventure series (perhaps it is now). The adventure isn’t bad as written if your group is looking for that slap stick humor-style adventuring, and a good Dungeon Master (Game Master) can find something useful that can be adapted in almost anything. One of the weaker rulebook offerings of the 5e books published thus far.
June 13, 2022
I'm excited to DM my next campaign using this as a basis. I like that it takes the same game mechanics and adds different angles to it to make a different playing experience. I liked the different "employee positions" and having a home base that the team works on in between adventures, just to give it change of pace and have multiple focuses and goals within the game. The adventure outlined in the book sounds good, but I probably will just pick and pull ideas from it in the beginning and then do my own thing.
March 7, 2024
A good kind of complicated if you want to play a tongue in cheek corporation in a D&D setting. Fun class roles and character choices. The adventure is roleplay heavy so that the humour can shine.
December 21, 2019
This is a book that has a lot of promise and does not end up quite being as enjoyable as one would hope. As a general concept, this book certainly does provide an interesting hook for an adventure, in that it provides an alternative to a class-based system that also adds a role-based playing for a corporate franchise of a fantasy business that is in competition with a variety of related firms. This added angle is certainly interesting and is something that I might consider worth trying in future campaigns if other players I happen to be playing with are similarly as intrigued in fantasy capitalism as I am. This obvious hook is one that can be easily celebrated and enjoyed, and the first part of the book was a great joy to read as the authors explored how it was that a party of different roles could involve not only fighting classes but also people with different jobs in a small office that deals with business interests involving the local area as well as different planes of existence, getting more and more complex in the affairs of business as characters and their offices level up thanks to success in missions.
This relatively short book of a bit more than 200 pages begins with a preface and a short look at how one can play a campaign that is just business (1) and that includes a wide variety of roles for growing one's franchise (2) through having an office that can contain various roles like cartographer, decisionist, documancer, hoardsperson, loremonger, obviator, occultant, and secretarian. This humor continues when the authors discuss how these job titles can be finessed based on the player roles, can add new backgrounds, and even add a new race of Verdan as well as spells and factions and rivals (3). After that the authors include a lengthy mission that involves six episodes, starting with how one runs an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign in general to an overview that begins with the wrong heroes and moves on to Phandalin and then a light house, and then a rivalry with Dran Enterprises, and then a deadly game of hide and seek that leads to a showdown with the Secret Six and a look at the campaign to come after that (4). The book then ends with various appendices that include the figures in Acquistiions Incorporated (a), monsters (b), vehicles (c), components (d), trinkets (e), and an index.
Even so, this book did not end up quite as much fun as I would have wished because of the nature of the missions discussed in the book itself. The campaign itself forced a certain progression from corporate rivalry to involvement in various planer horrors, and could have been handled better. That isn't to say that the idea of having multiple teams and locations and corporate rivalries involving business affairs can't be fun, but it appears as if the authors could have done a better job by making a more open-ended campaign that took advantages of the strengths of the idea of being part of a company working out some sort of corporate strategy and overcoming corporate espionage. Perhaps there are other quests involving this particular idea that would be more to my liking that I have not yet read, but this book had a bit more sizzle than steak when it comes to my own view of its materials. Perhaps others will find this book more completely to their liking if they appreciate how the authors handled the interesting setup by providing a full quest that could go from level 1 to 20, which would take a long time to sort out, obviously, and play to completion.
This relatively short book of a bit more than 200 pages begins with a preface and a short look at how one can play a campaign that is just business (1) and that includes a wide variety of roles for growing one's franchise (2) through having an office that can contain various roles like cartographer, decisionist, documancer, hoardsperson, loremonger, obviator, occultant, and secretarian. This humor continues when the authors discuss how these job titles can be finessed based on the player roles, can add new backgrounds, and even add a new race of Verdan as well as spells and factions and rivals (3). After that the authors include a lengthy mission that involves six episodes, starting with how one runs an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign in general to an overview that begins with the wrong heroes and moves on to Phandalin and then a light house, and then a rivalry with Dran Enterprises, and then a deadly game of hide and seek that leads to a showdown with the Secret Six and a look at the campaign to come after that (4). The book then ends with various appendices that include the figures in Acquistiions Incorporated (a), monsters (b), vehicles (c), components (d), trinkets (e), and an index.
Even so, this book did not end up quite as much fun as I would have wished because of the nature of the missions discussed in the book itself. The campaign itself forced a certain progression from corporate rivalry to involvement in various planer horrors, and could have been handled better. That isn't to say that the idea of having multiple teams and locations and corporate rivalries involving business affairs can't be fun, but it appears as if the authors could have done a better job by making a more open-ended campaign that took advantages of the strengths of the idea of being part of a company working out some sort of corporate strategy and overcoming corporate espionage. Perhaps there are other quests involving this particular idea that would be more to my liking that I have not yet read, but this book had a bit more sizzle than steak when it comes to my own view of its materials. Perhaps others will find this book more completely to their liking if they appreciate how the authors handled the interesting setup by providing a full quest that could go from level 1 to 20, which would take a long time to sort out, obviously, and play to completion.
July 2, 2019
Overall, it's a good sourcebook and there's a lot to love. Great art, cool ideas and monsters/characters/things for D&D players and fans of the Acquisition Incorporated series. That all said, I would recommend it for fans who are more into the past two years of Acq Inc. versus those who have followed them from the beginning.
There is like NO mention of Binwin Bronzebottom or Aeofel Elhromane. This is a huge let down from anybody who's followed the saga from the start. The only mention I saw of either character was just their names and their creator's names listed in the legal text in the footnotes in the credits after the title page. Seriously, there is more information about Splug, the NPC goblin from the very first adventure, than either of the other two arguably founding characters of the series.
There *is* one piece of art of a skeleton in an acid pit trap, so technically that could be Aeofel. But not having them in here feels like the revisionist history of the series and is just not fun. I understand that these characters are owned by their players and probably just decided not to be part of it for whatever reason. But it's sad to finally have this product and not have them in there in any way. That really took a lot of the pleasure out of it for me.
If you are a big fan of the C-Team and the more recent Acq Inc. stories, then you should definitely grab this book and enjoy! If you are a fan from the early days and was hoping to see more from that part of the series... you should definitely be aware that these two key characters aren't in here at all. It was like they never existed as far as this volume was concerned (and that really sucks!).
I understand that revisiting the history of the series is not the purpose of this book, it's more about giving you the tools to play in their universe and incorporate (no pun intended) their stuff into your own games. So for that, I feel that it excels and is a great supplement. It was just super jarring to see mention of the early days and even get stats for most of the main characters and NOT have these guys included.
There is like NO mention of Binwin Bronzebottom or Aeofel Elhromane. This is a huge let down from anybody who's followed the saga from the start. The only mention I saw of either character was just their names and their creator's names listed in the legal text in the footnotes in the credits after the title page. Seriously, there is more information about Splug, the NPC goblin from the very first adventure, than either of the other two arguably founding characters of the series.
There *is* one piece of art of a skeleton in an acid pit trap, so technically that could be Aeofel. But not having them in here feels like the revisionist history of the series and is just not fun. I understand that these characters are owned by their players and probably just decided not to be part of it for whatever reason. But it's sad to finally have this product and not have them in there in any way. That really took a lot of the pleasure out of it for me.
If you are a big fan of the C-Team and the more recent Acq Inc. stories, then you should definitely grab this book and enjoy! If you are a fan from the early days and was hoping to see more from that part of the series... you should definitely be aware that these two key characters aren't in here at all. It was like they never existed as far as this volume was concerned (and that really sucks!).
I understand that revisiting the history of the series is not the purpose of this book, it's more about giving you the tools to play in their universe and incorporate (no pun intended) their stuff into your own games. So for that, I feel that it excels and is a great supplement. It was just super jarring to see mention of the early days and even get stats for most of the main characters and NOT have these guys included.
January 21, 2020
"Você não precisa ser a pessoa mais esperta na sala.
Você só precisa ser capaz de matar todas as outras pessoas da sala, de forma se tornar a mais esperta."
(E tá errado?)
Você só precisa ser capaz de matar todas as outras pessoas da sala, de forma se tornar a mais esperta."
(E tá errado?)
Read
September 30, 2022Another public library borrow.
I have never been a regular reader of Penny Arcade, and certainly haven't read it in years, but I vaguely remember one blog post they did a long time ago detailing one big fight in their home D&D game: it involved the PCs being on a rock falling through space, and to represent this, the DM had attached toothpicks to minis and were using a ball of foam. It looked neat. Like, here was something inventive and exciting but still recognizable as D&D.
And you know what, I had some of the same thoughts with this book, which is the Penny Arcade campaign frame of Acquisitions Incorporated, their live/streaming D&D game. Or not to put too fine a point on it: the book overcame my initial reaction which was "this is going to be too silly" and also "why don't I get paid to do that!"
Now, to be clear, sometimes the humor is .... how to say this, not the most energy intensive. Or: rather than a joke, they'll be satisfied with a pop culture reference and/or just a juxtaposition: he's a lizard man, but he's wearing a bowtie, get it? (Get what?) I can't say I laughed at anything in this book, but those gestures do set the tone of mild ridiculousness.
Which fits the campaign premise, which is: you're not just an adventuring party, your franchisees of a business whose model is "kill things and take their stuff." So again: recognizable D&D, just with a little non-realistic twist. (The Adventure Zone podcast had a similar story arc a while ago, about a fantasy land where adventuring was set up like a business; all of which makes me wonder if there's a more interesting way to examine capitalism through medieval-esque fantasy.)
The first few chapters of this book are about that campaign frame, offering new character options to lay on existing character types, i.e., you can still choose to be a wizard, but now you can also be a documancer. This also means they have a few pages on building your headquarters and what your franchise is like, and as I've noted, I'm a sucker for that.
But the bulk of this book, about 100 pages or so, are devoted to a mini-campaign. And while the overarching premise of the mini-campaign is bog standard -- you have to gather a bunch of magical pieces for a big artifact and/or to prevent the evil guys from getting it -- the individual adventures in the campaign show a bit of that inventiveness that I remember from the foam ball and toothpicked-minis. Like, yes, the initial adventure is literally a dungeon crawl where they find the artifact, but later adventures feature hopping between places with a bunch of portals, being shrunk and hunted by a house cat, and (my favorite) being mind-swapped with a bunch of dwarves at a wedding. There is a lot of combat, but there's also a lot of skill checks and space for the PCs to be inventive. (As this is a 5th edition product and one maybe intended for new DMs, there's also a bunch of sidebars about how to keep things going, which I appreciate.)
Of course, this being a sort of media tie-in, there's also several pages devoted to the original characters and cameos from them, and probably a bunch of other inside jokes that I didn't get, but it's fine--it doesn't necessarily take away from my enjoyment that much.
All in all, maybe not something I would need to buy, but I'm happy enough to flip through it. Good job library!
I have never been a regular reader of Penny Arcade, and certainly haven't read it in years, but I vaguely remember one blog post they did a long time ago detailing one big fight in their home D&D game: it involved the PCs being on a rock falling through space, and to represent this, the DM had attached toothpicks to minis and were using a ball of foam. It looked neat. Like, here was something inventive and exciting but still recognizable as D&D.
And you know what, I had some of the same thoughts with this book, which is the Penny Arcade campaign frame of Acquisitions Incorporated, their live/streaming D&D game. Or not to put too fine a point on it: the book overcame my initial reaction which was "this is going to be too silly" and also "why don't I get paid to do that!"
Now, to be clear, sometimes the humor is .... how to say this, not the most energy intensive. Or: rather than a joke, they'll be satisfied with a pop culture reference and/or just a juxtaposition: he's a lizard man, but he's wearing a bowtie, get it? (Get what?) I can't say I laughed at anything in this book, but those gestures do set the tone of mild ridiculousness.
Which fits the campaign premise, which is: you're not just an adventuring party, your franchisees of a business whose model is "kill things and take their stuff." So again: recognizable D&D, just with a little non-realistic twist. (The Adventure Zone podcast had a similar story arc a while ago, about a fantasy land where adventuring was set up like a business; all of which makes me wonder if there's a more interesting way to examine capitalism through medieval-esque fantasy.)
The first few chapters of this book are about that campaign frame, offering new character options to lay on existing character types, i.e., you can still choose to be a wizard, but now you can also be a documancer. This also means they have a few pages on building your headquarters and what your franchise is like, and as I've noted, I'm a sucker for that.
But the bulk of this book, about 100 pages or so, are devoted to a mini-campaign. And while the overarching premise of the mini-campaign is bog standard -- you have to gather a bunch of magical pieces for a big artifact and/or to prevent the evil guys from getting it -- the individual adventures in the campaign show a bit of that inventiveness that I remember from the foam ball and toothpicked-minis. Like, yes, the initial adventure is literally a dungeon crawl where they find the artifact, but later adventures feature hopping between places with a bunch of portals, being shrunk and hunted by a house cat, and (my favorite) being mind-swapped with a bunch of dwarves at a wedding. There is a lot of combat, but there's also a lot of skill checks and space for the PCs to be inventive. (As this is a 5th edition product and one maybe intended for new DMs, there's also a bunch of sidebars about how to keep things going, which I appreciate.)
Of course, this being a sort of media tie-in, there's also several pages devoted to the original characters and cameos from them, and probably a bunch of other inside jokes that I didn't get, but it's fine--it doesn't necessarily take away from my enjoyment that much.
All in all, maybe not something I would need to buy, but I'm happy enough to flip through it. Good job library!
August 30, 2019
I had only a vague notion that the Penny Arcade guys had d&d Livestream thing but I hadn't really investigated further. (I'm still catching up with Critical Role.) But when this volume crossed my path, I had to check it out.
Basically this gives you the rules and setting info to recreate your own Acquisitions Inc. style campaign. For those who might not know, AI basically combines the type of office comedy (a la the Office and Parks and Rec) with the medieval high fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons. If it sounds like an odd match, you're not wrong. At first it took a little digging to get into the particular flavor of this concept, that and watching a bit of an AI livestream (which I recommend as it is a lot of fun.) The books contains some basic rules to set up your own AI franchise to acquire adventure and coin across... whatever world you are venturing across. There is also an AI campaign for levels 1-5 for those who want to jump right into a new story, along with some background for the AI
characters.
On the whole, I liked this. It is a slim volume like most D&D campaign books but it full of information. Coming as I did as a player but not an AI fan, it took a bit for me to get into. The rules set was interesting, as it could be used for creating a similar company for your game. The campaign itself, I just skimmed over. It seemed like a pretty general gateway campaign for new players. There were a lot of maps and cool art (something the book has a lot of and not just the cartoonish Penny Arcade inspired art that usually accompanies AI material.) I also liked the appendix that gave stats and backgrounds for the regular characters. It didn't give a detailed blow by blow timeline of the characters, just enough to give you the flavor of the character along with the stats if you want to use them in your own game.
I would say that this book is more for the D&D player who wants to incorporate Acquisitions Inc into their game. Casual fans of the show and non-players/ fantasy fans who might come across this might be left wanting.
Basically this gives you the rules and setting info to recreate your own Acquisitions Inc. style campaign. For those who might not know, AI basically combines the type of office comedy (a la the Office and Parks and Rec) with the medieval high fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons. If it sounds like an odd match, you're not wrong. At first it took a little digging to get into the particular flavor of this concept, that and watching a bit of an AI livestream (which I recommend as it is a lot of fun.) The books contains some basic rules to set up your own AI franchise to acquire adventure and coin across... whatever world you are venturing across. There is also an AI campaign for levels 1-5 for those who want to jump right into a new story, along with some background for the AI
characters.
On the whole, I liked this. It is a slim volume like most D&D campaign books but it full of information. Coming as I did as a player but not an AI fan, it took a bit for me to get into. The rules set was interesting, as it could be used for creating a similar company for your game. The campaign itself, I just skimmed over. It seemed like a pretty general gateway campaign for new players. There were a lot of maps and cool art (something the book has a lot of and not just the cartoonish Penny Arcade inspired art that usually accompanies AI material.) I also liked the appendix that gave stats and backgrounds for the regular characters. It didn't give a detailed blow by blow timeline of the characters, just enough to give you the flavor of the character along with the stats if you want to use them in your own game.
I would say that this book is more for the D&D player who wants to incorporate Acquisitions Inc into their game. Casual fans of the show and non-players/ fantasy fans who might come across this might be left wanting.
July 28, 2019
Love this book!
Office satire cross ye old adventuring party! Give it to me now basically.
Absolutely hilarious read, the new mechanics are amazing, and I can't wait to start my own adventuring franchise. The humour reminds me a lot of Terry Pratchett in way, which is a major awesome point in my eyes.
It also has little sticky notes from Head Office throughout the book which I love.
The campaign itself, the Orrey of the Wanderer is also really good. It's the most engaging adventure I've ever read, and I honestly can't wait to start playing it. It's really quirky (and I'm sure everyone needs to see a picture of a Mind Flayer with a handlebar tentacle moustache right?) and it really gets the players involved.
Content wise: I would say this adventure would be pretty much appropriate for ages 12+, it does have a bit of a satirical perspective on things, so it would vary on the person. I know the kids I'll be playing with will find it hilarious. It also has a slightly creepy series of trials at one point, but you could play it down or up as much as you like. The whole thing is meant to be more funny than scary so you're basically all good. From a Christian perspective it gets a tick from me as well ;)
For a DM, it gives the adventure a bit of perspective to watch the Acquisitions Inc. team DM'd by Chris Perkins, there's a series on YouTube. But the content warning for that would be a little more extensive.
Overall, I would highly recommend this handbook/adventure! It's a lot of fun, and would even make a good start for newer players and DMs.
Office satire cross ye old adventuring party! Give it to me now basically.
Absolutely hilarious read, the new mechanics are amazing, and I can't wait to start my own adventuring franchise. The humour reminds me a lot of Terry Pratchett in way, which is a major awesome point in my eyes.
It also has little sticky notes from Head Office throughout the book which I love.
The campaign itself, the Orrey of the Wanderer is also really good. It's the most engaging adventure I've ever read, and I honestly can't wait to start playing it. It's really quirky (and I'm sure everyone needs to see a picture of a Mind Flayer with a handlebar tentacle moustache right?) and it really gets the players involved.
Content wise: I would say this adventure would be pretty much appropriate for ages 12+, it does have a bit of a satirical perspective on things, so it would vary on the person. I know the kids I'll be playing with will find it hilarious. It also has a slightly creepy series of trials at one point, but you could play it down or up as much as you like. The whole thing is meant to be more funny than scary so you're basically all good. From a Christian perspective it gets a tick from me as well ;)
For a DM, it gives the adventure a bit of perspective to watch the Acquisitions Inc. team DM'd by Chris Perkins, there's a series on YouTube. But the content warning for that would be a little more extensive.
Overall, I would highly recommend this handbook/adventure! It's a lot of fun, and would even make a good start for newer players and DMs.
February 15, 2021
There are some pretty great narrative purposes behind running Acq Inc. The actual book is rather 'rules light.' It is an odd blend of a campaign and players handbook supplemental. Sort of the same problem I see with Tasha's. WotC is in a weird place with a small fraction of the players base being DM's they have a hard time making manuals that appeal to their whole base, I think this is why they are so good at hiding information within a blended book.
The highlights are definitely the Acq Inc roles for within the adventuring party. Solid addition to any game, if not Acq Inc, then as inspiration for any group.
The push toward the importance of downtime is real nice. I think a large part of the game misses the importance of getting into character and beginning to understand that only a fraction of the character is the near death experiences of adventuring.
I'm stoked to see the adventure and the Acq Inc NPC's, but it really is a pretty cool looking adventure, 6 parts 1-7. Pretty solid. I am still interested in running a Acq Inc style game, it is a weird sort of 4th wall breaking DnD that I think could be a lot of fun with a more comedic group.
The highlights are definitely the Acq Inc roles for within the adventuring party. Solid addition to any game, if not Acq Inc, then as inspiration for any group.
The push toward the importance of downtime is real nice. I think a large part of the game misses the importance of getting into character and beginning to understand that only a fraction of the character is the near death experiences of adventuring.
I'm stoked to see the adventure and the Acq Inc NPC's, but it really is a pretty cool looking adventure, 6 parts 1-7. Pretty solid. I am still interested in running a Acq Inc style game, it is a weird sort of 4th wall breaking DnD that I think could be a lot of fun with a more comedic group.
February 1, 2025
I somewhat like this book, but I'm not much into it. Does that make sense? Maybe it's just not for me.
I appreciate that this was a clever and well-thought out book. The adventures are challenging, but well balanced (especially compared to some of the joyless certain death adventures of other published D&D books!). It gives some clever challenges to be overcome by thinking or role-play, and highly encourages the DM to allow players to come up with novel solutions.
The big downside to this expansion is, you're supposed to be playing members of a money-loving, underhanded corporation. I'd rather be playing a game where I was kicking money-loving, underhanded corporation types in the teeth. In addition, there are added powers and abilities for different jobs in the corporation, which is added rules and details to keep track of, something D&D already has too much of. And finally, some of the humor was pretty weak. I'm leery of playing any role-playing game that's humor heavy, it can be tiring, and not every DM and player is a particularly funny person. Trying to force the humor may end up just painful.
I appreciate that this was a clever and well-thought out book. The adventures are challenging, but well balanced (especially compared to some of the joyless certain death adventures of other published D&D books!). It gives some clever challenges to be overcome by thinking or role-play, and highly encourages the DM to allow players to come up with novel solutions.
The big downside to this expansion is, you're supposed to be playing members of a money-loving, underhanded corporation. I'd rather be playing a game where I was kicking money-loving, underhanded corporation types in the teeth. In addition, there are added powers and abilities for different jobs in the corporation, which is added rules and details to keep track of, something D&D already has too much of. And finally, some of the humor was pretty weak. I'm leery of playing any role-playing game that's humor heavy, it can be tiring, and not every DM and player is a particularly funny person. Trying to force the humor may end up just painful.
July 2, 2019
Brilliant humours tone throughout, love the franchise building options and can't wait to start our new campaign next week.
The release of this was perfectly timed for my group completing waterdeep dragon heist and they are really excited to set up there franchise.
We have had elements of the acq-inc universe incorporated into out games for a while now. In our previous campaign acq-inc occasionally showed up as rivals to the players own merc company so having the official rules for this is going to make for even better integration.
I have read through the adventure but not yet run it. I'm looking forward to running as it seems like there is a strong thread to the adventure that the players should be able to follow without too much prompting or railroading
The release of this was perfectly timed for my group completing waterdeep dragon heist and they are really excited to set up there franchise.
We have had elements of the acq-inc universe incorporated into out games for a while now. In our previous campaign acq-inc occasionally showed up as rivals to the players own merc company so having the official rules for this is going to make for even better integration.
I have read through the adventure but not yet run it. I'm looking forward to running as it seems like there is a strong thread to the adventure that the players should be able to follow without too much prompting or railroading
October 26, 2019
I think that this is the most fun of all the D&D 5e books I have read so far. It is written with a strong voice and a fantastic sense of humor.
The content in the manual is great, though I didn't delve into the adventure in hopes of playing it one day, I did read all of the supplemental information. The information presented was in the same vein as the rest of the book. It was silly, fun and I am super excited to try some of it in a campaign. I have already made mental notes of certain tables I want to return too.
Acq Inc provides for some great role ideas that I think would add a great element of whimsical and chaotic fun!
The content in the manual is great, though I didn't delve into the adventure in hopes of playing it one day, I did read all of the supplemental information. The information presented was in the same vein as the rest of the book. It was silly, fun and I am super excited to try some of it in a campaign. I have already made mental notes of certain tables I want to return too.
Acq Inc provides for some great role ideas that I think would add a great element of whimsical and chaotic fun!
October 23, 2019
A large part of why I ended up diving into Dungeons & Dragons is The C Team and Acq Inc, so when I saw that this book was in the works, I knew that I needed it.
I’m happy to say that what was delivered is a dynamic and fun adventure with some interesting and flavorful additions to the world. I really like the “job” system. It is 100% on brand for Acq Inc, but it is almost like a Final Fantasy expansion pack for D&D as well.
Thus could be a good jumping in point for people new to the hobby or veterans who want to spice up their table. I highly recommend this book!
I’m happy to say that what was delivered is a dynamic and fun adventure with some interesting and flavorful additions to the world. I really like the “job” system. It is 100% on brand for Acq Inc, but it is almost like a Final Fantasy expansion pack for D&D as well.
Thus could be a good jumping in point for people new to the hobby or veterans who want to spice up their table. I highly recommend this book!
November 21, 2020
Actually read through the last year for the first time, but just now revisiting for ideas. I love the humor in this book, it's a fun idea, a fun setting, a fun campaign (although I've not played through it, there are a lot of neat aspects that I may eventually piece out into other games) and it has some really useful backgrounds, etc.
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June 9, 2025I thought the opening lore and mechanics chapters were rather uneven and sometimes unbalanced amongst themselves (the franchise roles, for example), but I rather enjoyed reading through the adventure and getting ideas for how the nature of a DnD campaign can be structured to produce tongue-in-cheek humor alongside adventuring on the levels of individual events or larger arcs.
Read
August 24, 2020The additions in this book are amazing. It can make for a wacky game filled with corporate espionage and the problems of everyday office life. A must for anyone who likes a company adventuring structure with a bit of wacky humor.
January 15, 2021
Ugh. Just....ugh. I get that this is a popular podcast. But codifying these ridiculous rules...just, ugh. This was an awful set of rules, and adds virtually nothing to any campaign NOT obsessed with the podcast.
July 20, 2021
An interesting idea to help set up D&D in a more comedic way as it looks like what you would get if you combined D&D with the office. While there have always been people who try to make D&D more comedic it is still nice to have a official guide to be able to do it.
July 6, 2019
Airship stats and a playable race? cool. The rest? kinda lacking as a resource overall.
Currently reading
September 17, 2020I didn't get to read it because I was misled. I will continue trying.
November 23, 2020
Just crazy enough to be intriguing to play/run in this world. A world of Dilbert, and an experience my group and I have had at own job. I am excited to see where we can take it.
October 27, 2023
Finally got a chance to read this properly. AI feels so fresh and delightful despite (or maybe due to) the fact that I dont really know the Real Play show.
November 11, 2025
Kind of different than others but very cool
January 13, 2025
While I hadn’t followed the Penny Arcade stuff, this was a great set of adventures and the franchise concept became the centerpiece of one of my most successful and fun campaigns. This was useful, funny, and got my players invested in the NPCs and world around them!
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