RPG Mechanics Verse: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Weaponsmith''': I.. uh.. estimate a 25% increase in attack accuracy, with a corresponding enhancement to damage.<br />

'''Roy''': It's okay, you can just say ''+5 sword'' here. [[No Fourth Wall|We do stuff like that all the time]].|''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]''}}

Initially, it looks like a standard [[Role Playing Game Verse]] -- but—but then the characters explicitly start referring to spot checks, hit points in [[Stat -O -Vision]], roleplaying, [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] monsters, and other [[Role Playing Game Terms]]. Is this an [[RPG]] in which the characters' players are weaving in and out of character and this is [[Deep -Immersion Gaming|represented by the characters themselves speaking]], or perhaps a video game which breaks the [[Fourth Wall]] more often than usual?

Nope - or at least it is not shown. [[The Verse]] this takes place in really does work exactly like a tabletop or video RPG.

Because of the [[Fourth Wall]]-breaking implications, this usually happens only in comedies.

* The anime ''[[Beet the Vandel Buster (Manga)|Beet the Vandel Buster]]'' (started in 2002) which features experience levels printed on the characters' chest and [[Money Spider|money for killing monsters]].

* And even older than that is ''[[Dragon Pink]]'', ana hentai OAV series from 1994 based on a manga from 1990.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' contains numerous [[Shout -Out|Shout Outs]] to video games, and includes two REAL''real LIFElife'' massive-multiplayer role-playing games used to deal with the [[Mooks]] of both the [[Anti -Villain]] and the [[Big Bad]] without breaking [[The Masquerade]]. Eva even refers to herself as a "boss" character.

* On ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', whenever the "shadow realm" is mentioned? This is what's happening.

== Comics[[Comic Books]] ==

** It's based on the mechanics from ''[[River City Ransom]]'' specifically. So if it isn't a full [[RPG Mechanics Verse]], it's at least an [[RPG Elements]] verse.

* Not a true example, but the 1984 thriller ''[[Cloak and Dagger (Filmfilm)|Cloak and Dagger]]'' briefly flirted with this in its opening sequence. It begins with superspy Jack Flack infiltrating an embassy and dispatching a bunch of colourful ethnic archetypes with an arsenal of James Bond gadgets, then escapes down the street when a gate closes in front of him. Suddenly, a pair of giant [http://www.synthtopia.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/d12-dungeons-and-dragons-die.jpg numbered dodecahedrons]{{Dead link}} roll towards him. Cut to two kids playing a board game, the boy yelling triumphantly, "Jack Flack escapes!"

* Being an adaptation of the graphic novel, ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'' also runs on video game logic.

* ''[[The Intercontinental Union of Disgusting Characters]]'' (IUDC) is an entire novel (with two sequels) set in this type of world. The RPG in question is 1st and (later) 2nd Edition AD&D.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130926021144/http://www.ulillillia.us// Ulillillia's] book ''[[The Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters]]'' [[Up to Eleven|pretty much pushes this trope to its limit]].

* The ''[[Fate Zero (Literature)|Fate /Zero]]'' [[Light Novel]], being a prequel to ''[[Fate/stay Stay Night (Visual Novel)|Fate Stay Nightnight]]'', also makes use of the stat sheets found in the [[Visual Novel]]. Several of the passive skills and stats listed there also come into play in the plot.

* ''[[Mogworld]]'' is a novel ttoldtold from the perspective of an NPC in an MMORPG, who has developed sapience.

{{quote| They all jumped upon us ''because we were lawful good.''}}

* ''[[Disgaea]]'' characters are fully aware that they're in a turn based-strategy RPG, and thus will occasionally make comments about character levels, critical hits, save points, and whether or not the final boss has an [[One -Winged Angel|additional form]] that grants him stat bonuses.

{{quote| '''[[Disgaea 4: aA Promise Unforgotten (Video Game)|Valvatorez:]]''' That wasn't his full power! We can expect at least three levels of transformations, with additional power multipliers every time!}}

* Subverted for laughs in ''[[Touhou]] 11: Subterranean Animism''. If you play as Marisa with Alice's assist, they spend the entire storyline sassing each other and discussing the quest in terms of RPG tropes. They're also ''[[Wrong Genre Savvy|hilariously wrong]]'', since SA is a [[Bullet Hell]]-style [[Shoot 'Em Up]] like most ''Touhou'' games.

== [[Visual Novel|Visual Novels]]s ==

* Actually played completely serious in ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]''. All Heroes get a viewable [[Character Sheet]] that explains their skills, stats and abilities, all in [[RPG Mechanics Verse]], even how many turns an area spell lasts for,

** In-game as well, more than once the characters quantify mana, and then spend the rest of the scene treating it literally like MP.

* The [[Trope Codifier|most well-known]] example is, of course, ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'', which operates more or less according to the ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' rules. As a matter of fact, the very first strip takes place when the ''D&D'' rules change from 3rd to 3.5th Edition.

** Besides the page quote, it's also lampshaded in a dream/hallucination Belkar has about Lord Shojo telling him he needs to play "The Game" (basically that he needs to at least pretend to go along with people's rules) and Belkar briefly thought he meant the whole webcomic is a [[Deep -Immersion Gaming]] of some players' campaign.

** It's a [[Deconstruction]] of life as RPG fodder characters, so it (partially) breaks the rule about comedies.

* ''[[Erfworld (Webcomic)|Erfworld]]'' has a main character recruited from the real world to become a general inside a world that looks like a fantasy themed [[Turn -Based Strategy]] game. Many of the various mechanical simplifications of a turn based strategy game are literally true in Erfworld (for instance, the two sides of the war take turns, and each side's units instantly recover hit points and movement when their turn begins). One of the few places where it is not played for laughs. Well, okay, where it's only sometimes [http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F115.jpg played for laughs].

* ''[[Eight Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight 8-Bit Theater]]'' does this, although it's generally only Red Mage who thinks this way. For example he was once able to survive an otherwise fatal fall by "forgetting" to record the damage. However, it appears Red Mage is only right [[Rule of Funny|when it makes for a better joke]].

** A one off joke horrifically subverts part of this concept. All Red Mages believed the world ran on RPG rules. Because they considered themselves scientists this had to be tested empirically. Sadly they began by trying to determine hit points and ended up slaughtering each other [[For Science!]].

** At first, even Black Mage seemed to minorly operate on this (well, more [[Video Game]] mechanics than anything else, really), and had him reading a game guide to ''[[Final Fantasy I (Video Game)|Final Fantasy I]]'' (the game upon which the comic is based). He got over this relatively fast, though, leaving RM as the only "metagamer" in the series.

* ''[[Adventurers (Webcomic)|Adventurers!]]'' is another webcomic that, like ''[[RPG World]]'', takes place in a console RPG with characters that are well aware of the game mechanics, and one [[Only Sane Man|repeatedly complains about how ridiculous they are]].

* ''[[Will Save World Forfor Gold]]'' is set in 4th Edition ''D&D'', and makes fun of many different RPG Tropes.

* ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'' uses the rules and setting for [[Exalted]] Second Edition, with some house rules thrown in, in a similar manner to [[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]].

** The author specifically states that ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'' inspired the creation of ''[[Keychain of Creation]]''. There is at least a unique art style and a significant difference in main characters to [[Ko C]]'s credit.

** It even goes further : some items allow characters to carry over ''their'' RPG mechanics to other worlds. For instance, when [[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Crono]], who can battle on the overworld thanks to a [[Applied Phlebotinum|Reality Stabilization Belt]] and has a really fast ATB gauge, came to the ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]]'' world, [[Game Breaker|he became essentially a killing god.]]

* ''Yamara'' has [[Dungeons and& Dragons|AD&D]] mechanics (not surprising, as it was published in ''[[Dragon Magazine(magazine)]]''):

{{quote| '''Blag''': Cause ya see, girlie, nobody cares if ya got an 18 Intelligence. Nobody'd care if you were one o' th' lucky broads with a 18 '''Wisdom!''' All that counts is a nice, round 18--<br />

([http://www.yamara.com/yamaraclassic/index.php?date{{=}}2005-06-02 see the right answer]) }}

* The world of ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'', while otherwise being the Text-Based Adventure Game's equivalent to this trope, has a [[Call a Hit Point Aa Smeerp|strife]] system that appears to be based on turn-based RPG combat. The [[Game Within a Game]], Sburb, also features an "echeladder" that seems to parody an RPG's level system-- andsystem—and since the lines between Sburb and reality are so blurry as to be nearly nonexistent, this could be said to apply to the story's "real world" as well.

** Its predecessor, ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'' is probably a straighter example with both Adventure games and RPG's. Most of the first part is dedicated to [[Lampshading]] Adventure game mainstays (''especially'' [[Solve the Soup Cans]] puzzles and [[You Can't Get Ye Flask]]), but the fight with [[Big Bad|DMK]] borrows a lot more from RPG tropes like [[Turns Red]], [[One -Winged Angel]], [[Stat -O -Vision]], [[Eleventh -Hour Superpower]], [[Super Move Portrait Attack|Super Move Portrait Attacks]]s, etc, etc.

* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120520122952/http://www.hellsoft.net/hmp/index.htm Hael me Plz!!11]'' happens inside a "non-official" [[Ragnarok Online]] server, and all the cast are [[Genre Savvy|very aware of it]], even if one of the characters managed to bring with him a Flame spell from Lineage 2.

* ''[[Rumors of War]]'' uses an [[RPG Mechanics Verse]] according to [[Rule of Drama]], of all things.

* ''[[A BeginnersBeginner's Guide to Thethe End of Thethe Universe]]'', though the protagonist is the only person aware of this.

* ''[[Turn Signals Onon a Land Raider]]'' has elements of this, only with tabletop wargaming instead of tabletop RPG.

* ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]'' features an adventurer going out on quests for the hell of it, dungeons, weird monsters, magic items, and mentions of levels and [[Character Alignment]]. It's obvious that someone involved was a ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' fan.

== [[WebReal OriginalLife]] ==

[[Category:RPG Mechanics Verse{{PAGENAME}}]]