Embric of Wulfhammer's Castle

Embric of Wulfhammer's Castle is a fantasy Role Playing Game done with RPG Maker 2003.

From the game's manual, ''The Duchess of the fair land of Elstwhere comes by carriage to the Marque of Wulfhammer, presumably to marry its lord, Embric of Wulfhammer. Embric, however, is nowhere to be found. The Duchess, not being the sort to sit around idly, embarks on her own quest to get to know the body of the eccentric populace of Castle Wulfhammer, among them the ladies and dwarves of the Awesome Fellowship, those rescued on the Fellowship's grand adventures, a bevy of mysterious townsfolk, monsters, nobles, demons, and devils, waitresses, clerks, clerics, and more.''

''But there is something strange about this castle and its people. As the mysteries begin to unravel, and the real lives and futures of the people of Wulfhammer come into question, who can rescue those who are so used to doing the rescuing?''

Primarily a comedic and heavily Yuri/ShoujoAi story (having originally been released to the /u/ board of 4.chan), the object of the game is not to fight monsters with a band of heroes to save the world from some cataclysm, but to explore the stories of the people of Castle Wulfhammer. There is almost no traditional combat and the game is packed with scenes and endings, and lots, and lots, of characters.

A sequel is in the works entitled "A Marquess of Notoriety" which involves the next generation.

Tropes found in this game include:
"Duchess: Who is a delightful little nereid? That is correct! It is you!"
 * Abusive Parents: He was her uncle, but Greyghast's "training" of The Duchess.
 * Affably Evil: Carmina seems really nice and friendly for how evil she is, from treating the townsfolk of a Dark Elf city well in a flashback to her relationship with the Duchess.
 * In the new Deluxe Edition, it is revealed that
 * Always Check Behind the Chair: Just click on everything. You'll either get something important or funny.
 * Aristocrats Are Evil: The Duchess isn't, but Bad King Greyghast the Terrible and Duke Thermin are happy to take up the slack.
 * Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Falwithwier, Louni, and the Good Dwarf for the Fellowship, Arugula, Duchess, and Alice for "Rugie and her Happy Friends".
 * Black Comedy Rape
 * Bodyguard Crush: Alice towards the Duchess.
 * Boss Subtitles: Parodied with The Cow.
 * Broken Bridge: At one point; the Duchess finds a boulder in the path of the Lost Woods. She's absolutely delighted at finding such a cliche and calls Alice over and they make fun of it.
 * Can't Hold Her Liquor: Duchess.
 * Canon Ending: So far according to the demo of A Marquess of Notoriety, it's mostly a combination of
 * Cast Full of Gay
 * Chainmail Bikini: Elven Chainmail Bikinis are even better. (RPG joke. Elven Chainmail is traditionally much better than normal chainmail.)
 * The Chessmaster: Vecnathrax
 * Child Prodigy: Grettel
 * Crap Saccharine World: Sure, it's a lighthearted romp through lesbian sex and fourth-wall-breaking Dungeons and Dragons references.
 * Cute Bruiser: Alice doesn't have levels in Barbarian for nothin'.
 * Descriptive Ville: The Duchess comes from the land of Elstwhere. Where is Esltwhere, and what is it like? Who cares? It's just somewhere away from the story.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? Early in the game, climb the cliffs and look at the castle. The Lich Vecnatrix walks up and makes conversation. If one immediately selects "Shove", the Duchess pushes him off the cliff and gains "disproportionate experience" for "defeating" him. "I have heroic exploits to talk about at parties! How thrilling!" (No, it didn't destroy him.) Other choices result in running away or getting temporarily captured.
 * Distressed Damsel: Deconstructed; the Duchess is constantly being kidnapped and imprisoned whenever she leaves the safety of the castle, but she's been kidnapped and imprisoned all her life and has gotten very good at it; the Fellowship doesn't band together to help her and when Louni rescues her, she finds it just as annoying as most gamers do when being forced to rescue the hero's love interest.
 * Decoy Damsel and Becoming the Mask: Duchess, in the Black Duchess path.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Avoided like the plague with Falwythwier; she's a Jerkass, and she stays that way.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Female): Alice seems to think it's hot, anyway; and the Duchess is really forgiving. Compare with . The Duchess also seems traumatized during the Fucking Ghosts event-- she's afraid that she was raped by the ghosts after she wakes covered in what she can only hope is "oyster sauce"; obviously this is not a concern she has when she knows she was raped by Carmina.
 * Dungeon Maintenance: Our heroine can get to an empty treasure chest before the government official responsible for refilling them. She's outraged at this lapse in standards.
 * Dungeons and Dragons: It takes place in a D&D setting, with jokes and references made to monsters, spells, and items found in the books.
 * Emoticon: All of the guards "speak" using these... which the Duchess is somehow able to understand.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Subverted. The Duchess is just that, a Duchess, and very few things are improved with the presence of Princess Arugula.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Nobody asks what the Duchess' name is. At the end of her romance path, Louni asks, but Duchess is interrupted-- she does tell Carmina. The Good Dwarf is called the Good Dwarf because no one can pronounce his Dwarven name.
 * Eyes Always Shut: For a very, very, good reason.
 * Fantastic Racism
 * Foreshadowing:
 * At one point in the game, you can end up kidnapped by Vecnathrax -- the Duchess comments that on the way home she felt like she was Embric of Wulfhammer.
 * The manual establishes that it's not actually certain that the Good Dwarf is male -- people assume such because he/she looks like a short bearded man, but no-one in Aeresland actually knows enough about dwarves to tell the difference.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: The Duchess gets stripped all the time, but she always has all her equipment, including her dress!
 * Fal will still deride the Duchess's combat abilities when they are about the same level.
 * Gilded Cage: The Duchess's life when Greyghast was still alive.
 * Gag Boobs: Countess Knockersdale. Lady Backmoore has a Gag Butt.
 * Gainax Ending
 * Game Maker: Made in RPG Maker 2003, and cited by several players as being a prime example of what can be done with the program with time and effort.
 * Guide Dang It: A common reaction from players.
 * Harping on About Harpies: Alice was kidnapped by them as a child. They're obsessed with shiny things and not very bright, and had Alice polish mud.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: Two fights that seem pretty hopeless (and might be if you take them on without a lot of leveling) are actually winnable. First is ; Fal will save you if you lose. Then there's
 * Hot for Student: Raine.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Lady Falwithwier's excuse for how she imprisons Carmina. Carmina could easily break free and kill them all with her magic if she were physically fit.
 * It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It: The Duchess is only temporarily miffed at Carmina; she even wrote the entire thing in her dream diary for Alice to...enjoy.
 * I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Alice;
 * I Know Madden Kombat: Whenever the Duchess has to actually fight, her combat style involves much of what gets her through aristocratic life. Most of her "weapons" are rings; her "armor" categories include dresses, undergarments, and perfume; her "accessories" are her acquired titles, and her special techniques reek of non-combat.
 * I Know Your True Name: The Duchess forces a Devil to fail a Question test ala Monty Python and The Holy Grail by asking her for this; the one thing it will not tell her. The Duchess mentions that telling Carmina her true name would give her power over her; but she tells her anyways.
 * Jerkass: Lady Falwythwier, full stop.
 * King Incognito:
 * Lady Land: The areas the game takes place in do have men in them, but most of them exist as threats to the main character's safety or are laughable, useless idiots;  It's a Lady Land with Man Hazards.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Too many instances to list here. Suffice to say, most of the characters are very aware that they're in a D&D style world. Especially Fal.
 * Lost Forever: Annoyingly, some scenarios are no longer available after a certain point.
 * Luke, I Am Your Father: Uttered by the Anti-Paladins regarding one of them to Louni. She blows it off.
 * Man Behind the Man: Vecnathrax is the oft-spoken of Arch Enemy of the Awesome Fellowship; a very old Lich. It turns out, he's actually quite senile. The person who is really behind his schemes is
 * Mind Screw: The Alice ending and the Final Ending.
 * Mind Screwdriver: Invoked and Inverted, the new "Final Ex" ending explains it more. And the Natural Twenty ending gives more questions.
 * Mind Rape: Carmina rapes the Duchess in a dream.
 * Ms. Fanservice: The Duchess, who can and will end up in her undergarments at the drop of a hat (or a drop down a well). It's also a game mechanic; at least one story path requires her to be in her underwear before it will progress.
 * Money for Nothing: Played with. For the Duchess, funds are tricky to come by. For the Awesome Fellowship; it's nothing; and Falwithwier accidentally over-donates a church so much (enough to buy a county or collapse an economy according to the Duchess) they become the Church Militant.
 * Multiple Endings: Getting one ending does not end the game, you start over again right before choosing the final choice that ends the game. This often opens up other options.
 * Ninja Maid: Or rather, barbarian maid.
 * Only Mostly Dead: The plot goes into quite detail what it's like in a world where anyone can get resurrected for a price. Only one person really dies permanently not including the endings; mostly due to him being a Butt Monkey and getting eaten by a spider. It's implied even then that if anyone cared; they could do a full Resurrection. As it is, you have the option of shelling out money to reincarnate him into a dog.
 * Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Deconstructed.
 * Pamphlet Shelf: Lampshaded when the Duchess picks up the "Manual of Brevity" in one of the libraries.
 * Pragmatic Villainy: Word of God is that Carmina is really, really unrepentantly evil. She's also more than intelligent enough to know it's not in her best interest to push it. And she does love the Duchess.
 * Really Gets Around: The Duchess is quite open-minded. Very, very open-minded.
 * Rescue Romance: A few of the plotlines result in this.
 * RPGs Equal Combat: Almost not at all. Physical combat opportunities aren't available for much of the game and are rather incidental, so much of the Duchess's EXP gain actually comes from her attempts to interact with and integrate into the Marque of Wulfhammer and the Awesome Fellowship (and perhaps also shoving a lich off a cliff once). What few battles there are are introduced by the message, "Negotiations have failed!" In this respect, it's rather more like a tabletop RPG than a videogame RPG - which makes sense when you consider how familiar the game's creator appears to be with the latter.
 * Schrodinger's Gun: Many of the endings imply or state contradictory elements about the overall setting. A character lampshades this in her endings; stating that she doesn't really take anything to be real unless she encounters it stated three times in different instances. Incidentally, there are at least 3 endings with her as a romance possibility.
 * Word of God is even the  ending where the Duchess   is possible; because nothing to that point contradicts it.
 * Perhaps the biggest is that three different endings ... but two of them establish it in a way that's mutually exclusive with the third.
 * Shout-Out
 * Quite a few to Dungeons and Dragons.
 * One of the insults that the elves and dark elves have for humans is "Mon-Keigh."
 * The Dwarves in this game are the fortress type, complete with interrupt messages, incidents involving killer carp, and allusions to fey moods. On the other hand, one of them cheers "Lali-ho!" once. He is ignored.
 * Duchess' vocal warm-ups are the same as Daisy Adair's in Dead Like Me.
 * Examine a barrel and the Duchess will shout "Barrel!" just in the Atelier series.
 * The Blue Smith notes that dwarf bread is very hard to cut.
 * One of the peasants' Welcome to Corneria lines is "Times are tough."
 * laugh? GYORK GYORK GYORK.
 * Reading one of the Everbrook tombstones quotes "Carry On My Wayward Son" near-verbatim.
 * Another of the Everbrook graves is for Erdrick. This in itself is a reference to similar gravestone in Final Fantasy I. The Duchess thinks it gives him too little credit.
 * starts training as The Strategist by reading A Game of Crowns.
 * Elza comments that if the Duchess dies, the game's going to become Atelier Elza.
 * SEX: Is in this game.
 * Smarter Than You Look:
 * Spock Speak: The Duchess, with the excuse that she was conditioned that way in childhood.
 * The Blue Smith notes that dwarf bread is very hard to cut.
 * One of the peasants' Welcome to Corneria lines is "Times are tough."
 * laugh? GYORK GYORK GYORK.
 * Reading one of the Everbrook tombstones quotes "Carry On My Wayward Son" near-verbatim.
 * Another of the Everbrook graves is for Erdrick. This in itself is a reference to similar gravestone in Final Fantasy I. The Duchess thinks it gives him too little credit.
 * starts training as The Strategist by reading A Game of Crowns.
 * Elza comments that if the Duchess dies, the game's going to become Atelier Elza.
 * SEX: Is in this game.
 * Smarter Than You Look:
 * Spock Speak: The Duchess, with the excuse that she was conditioned that way in childhood.


 * Spoiled Sweet: Princess Arugula. She may not be pretty, and she may be dumber than a box of remedial hammers, but Duchess is her best friend and she'll face down an angry mob to protect her.
 * The Duchess herself his a more low-key version (not that a childhood in Greyghast's castle is anyone's idea of being spoiled). She may not know how to "make chore upon a cow", but she's certainly willing to learn.
 * Stripperific: Duchess tends to lose her clothes a lot and end up in her underwear-- which includes panties, a brassiere, gauntlets and footwear, though it's hard to tell whether they're socks or boots or stockings because of graphic limitations.
 * Talking Is a Free Action: Mentioned word for word.
 * The Fog of Ages: Vecnathrax is rather senile.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Most of the pairings that the duchess can end up in.
 * The Unfought: Vecnathrax.  Duke Thermin. The Grey Elves. All possible Sequel Hook.
 * Verbal Tic: Wilhelm. Mmhm, quite.
 * The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The dialogue just before you enter a certain tomb certainly gives the player this vibe.
 * Victim Falls For Rapist
 * Villains Act, Heroes React: Inverted. ZEALOT is an Evil Self-Defense Force.
 * Villain Shoes: Fal at Duke Thermin's party; we get to see how she perceives social events with humans. It's not flattering for either party, but it is hilarious.
 * Welcome to Corneria: A limitation of the system. The dialogue's longer and funnier than most games, except when the Duchess needs to Hang A Lampshade on it.
 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Carmina is sealed inside a magic prison cell, kept naked, chained up, and starved to prevent her escape, and any of the Fellowship could just kill her whenever they felt like it. Considering how much EXP she's probably worth, why didn't they just do that...?
 * Embric wanted to spare her, Fal wanted to kill her, and imprisonment was a forced compromise.
 * Yuri Genre
 * Yuri Genre