Parties and Parodies

"Why? What do you mean 'why'? Why do we do anything around here? Because the plot demands it!"

—The DM explaining the show in seven seconds

In a world where an epic band of adventures roams the countryside, scouring dungeons and facing grave threats to all of existence with marvelous magic and massive might, these legends shall be forever engraved in the tomes of history.

THIS...is not their story.

Parties & Parodies is the ever-going tale of the Order of the Half-Priced Heroes, a radio drama that follows the adventuring party on an epic quest as they strive to force back the shadow creeping across the land. Hosted and DM'd on WUOG 90.5 FM by their very own DJ Ninjay (with a rotation of victims -- I mean other players), the show features 2-3 hours of comedy and heroism as the players try to foil the Dungeon Master's plans (after all, he IS the one controlling all the villains).

Tropes used in Parties and Parodies include:

Aerith and Bob: The Order of the Half-Price Hero has characters like Merthuvial, Kribnefka, Yaseilex...and Matt.
All Just a Dream: The K-Team seems to have been sent into the Ravenloft campaign setting (played like a Castlevania game), only to wake up from a dream.
Another Dimension: The heroes get flung into one when they talk to the shapeshifting party.
Back From the Dead: This is Dungeons and Dragons, so dead characters seldom remain so.
Cloudcuckoolander: Miserthal, the omnipresent magic shop owner, is exactly this.
Commie Land: Kobolarus, home of the Union of Kobold Communists.
Deadly Upgrade: Since the heroes did not get enough power to beat the Big Bad simply by becoming epic demigods, they had to consolidate their power in Kribnefka.
Deal with the Devil: The Order sign their souls over to Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells, in exchange for them going back in time to before they released Tharizdûn. Unfortunately, they players didn't Read the Fine Print, so he only sent them back one round.
Death From Above: Skullcopters can drop brown mold bombs (with alchemist's fire for automatic doubling its size), but they were absorbed by a sphere of annihilation the first time they were used.
Death Is Cheap: Rather expensive actually. Still little more than a temporary inconvenience.
- Also, Asifa Skullhunter kicked Sid into a poisonous-spiked trap, of course killing him. He then was reincarnated as a Phanaton.
Deus Ex Machina: When the players are forced to fight Tharizdûn, this is how they beat him every time.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Order attacks with, and is attacked by, tentacles on a fairly regular basis, always leading to Hentai references.
Earthshattering Kaboom: Singularity of Cheese, caused by noting that the True Creation spell has a volume requirement, but no mass requirement. used to destroy Atropus, the undead afterbirth of creation
Elemental Powers: Worshipers of the Elder Elemental Eye are divided up into elemental sects, except those that know the real identity of EEE as Tharizdûn, which so far this story only reveals as being Lareth the Beautiful.
Game Master: The DM wears all of the hats featured in the article.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: Not everything that transpires is FCC approved.
God Mode: The Order of the Half-Price Hero become epic AND gods.
Hentai: Matt Tenant and Lulu saying of the ubiquitous Naughty Tentacles in the story, "I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going."
Humongous Mecha: The Kobold War Engine (SYMBOL OF THE REVOLUTION!)
Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Miserthal, the cloudcuckoolander magic shop owner.
Kryptonite Factor: In an episode that only featured spellcasting heroes, the enemy simply surrounded themselves in an Anti-Magic field, rendering them helpless.
Lampshade Hanging: If it can be lampshaded, it will by someone. Frequently by naming the very tropes used. This is so omnipresent, it leads to:
- Better Than a Bare Bulb
Lazy Backup: The "In-Universe" explanation for why characters suddenly change in the middle of the fight. The real reason is that different people do the show at different times.
Lethal Joke Character: Somewhat subverted by the fact that he isn't truly lethal, but Kribnefka's Diplomat has two levels, but can achieve a 50 on diplomacy checks, making him able to stop all fights except against Tharizdûn, who was immune because of his portfolio and madness.
The Loonie: After the first few episodes, this ends up being pretty much EVERYONE except the DM, to various degrees.
The Munchkin: Kribnefka Terunterik is always trying to make broken characters. Also, the DM min-maxes about half of his villains, only for them to get killed off in silly ways (or the DM gets out-munchkin'd).
Naughty Tentacles: Thank you, Evard the Black, for giving use the most Hentai spell ever!
- Clearly, they do want a page on this topic.
Our Elves Are Better: Grey Elves, the race Yaseilex, Merthuvial, Rebecca, and Uthreth are members of, are even prouder and more arrogant than regular ones.
Our Gnomes Are Designated Butt Monkeys: For whatever reason, all the players seem to hate gnomes. Justified with the K-Team, who are all Kobolds; a race who canonically harbors Fantastic Racism against gnomes.
Real Life Writes the Plot: Who can or cannot be on the show has a huge impact on what happens that episode.
Reds with Rockets: The Kobolds have the Kobold War Engine (SYMBOL OF THE REVOLUTION), a space program, factories, and skeleton-based technology.
Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: This was the original motto for the show (which is now "Because the plot demands it!")
Running Gag: Kobold hatred of Gnomes. Dartak and Sid dying.
Rule of Cool: Not watching explosions is a sure-fire way of accomplishing this, as well as putting on sunglasses and screaming "Yeeeeeeah!"
Rule of Funny: Everything in this show tries, at least.
Shapeshifter Showdown: When threatened by the shapeshifting party, Kribnefka turns into a gold dragon...so does one of them.
Silliness Switch: Why cast spells when you have a Greater Rod of Wonder? Dressmar and Matt, both primary casters, prefer random effects to any semblance of law.
Soviet Supermagic: Kobolds have a teleportation network, spells that can create an entire city in a day, and of course research ANY magical items that come into their possession.