In the misty past of Decmber 2008, on /tg/, a drawfriend named "Weaver" offered to run an adventure
RPG. All of Anonymous could make suggestions on what action to take next,
and he would draw the results. It's true he cherry-picked the answers,
but it's also true that the momentum of the mob derailed his anticipated
plot, which changed the climax and denoument that the author expected
to have.
The main character's name is quickly established to be Ruby and the story in it's entirety was called Ruby Quest. It was so successful that it spawned a new genre of collaborative storytelling. It inspired plenty of crap, and many drawfriend wanna-bes forcing attempts at being the next big thing, but some cream has risen to the top to become Dorf Quest ("dwarf quest"), Maid Quest. (update: Ruby Quest makes a reference to Andrew Hussie's Problem Sleuth, so maybe that and Hussie's Jailbreak are the progenitors of this genre.)
Below are some flash cartoons that tell the Ruby Quest story, made by TekStation, collecting the story from the multiple forum threads where they appear, with some of the shout-outs from the crowd suggestions.
The author, Weaver, has a Patreon where you can be a sponsor, and a blog on tumblr. Weaver has completed another story named Nan Quest that is no less epic.
Ruby Quest; the episodes
You will need Macromedia Flash...
Preserved from the Flashapocalypse of 2021 by Ruffle (version 2021-07-25)
- RubyQuest: Part 01 "It is very dark here. Hardly anything can be seen."
- RubyQuest: Part 02 "Tom is free from his cell, but both he and Ruby are still stuck in an unfamiliar place."
- RubyQuest: Part 03 "Ruby wakes up."
- RubyQuest: Part 04 "Ruby re-emerges into the room with the cell."
- RubyQuest: Part 05 "Ruby and Tom enter the room Tom was trapped in earlier."
- RubyQuest: Part 06 "The large figure stands in the doorway, blocking Tom and Ruby's exit."
- RubyQuest: Part 07 "Tom is scared and angry. Ruby fumbles for an explanation, an apolgy -- anything."
- RubyQuest: Part 08 "The light fades from the room and darkness envelops Ruby and Tom."
- RubyQuest: Part 09 "He says he will cut them until they are clean."
- RubyQuest: Part NEIN Shennanigans with not-Tom. Weaver & readers blowing off steam. Spoilers so read this last if at all.