Tales From the Table
Tales From The Table is a web series hosted by The Escapist about the adventures of a Dungeons and Dragons gaming group and their characters. Runs off of Rule of Funny, and is also character-driven.
It can be found here.
Tropes used in Tales From the Table include:
- Action Girl: Ceredwyn.
- Aerith and Bob: Falcore, Thordin, Ceredwyn...and Rufus.
- Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Falcore and Ceredwyn get moments like these.
- The Bad Guy Wins
- Bag of Holding: One of the MacGuffins.
- Barbarian Hero: Rufus matches up with this exactly.
- Beard of Evil: Cryson has one.
- Big Bad: Sorcerer Cryson.
- Big Eater: Thordin and Rufus.
- Bounty Hunter: Seen in episode 12.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The entire band of heroes in the final episode.
- Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: An eccentric elf's "tea cozy" is actually armor.
- Creator Breakdown: The DM slowly loses it as time goes on.
- Critical Failure: Falcore tries to run superfast to dry off his clothes, and Ceredywn tries to cast a heating spell to do the same...and they both roll 1s.
- The Dragon: Shows up at the end of the story as a robot that was Ceredwyn's father.
- Druid: Thordin.
- Dump Stat: Rufus has a Wisdom score of 2.
- Enthralling Siren: Seen in Episode 14.
- Everything's Better with Princesses: Ceredwyn; her player wears a crown.
- Evil Laugh: Whenever Cryson appears on screen, his evil laugh is sure to follow.
- Fallen Hero: Falcore, who cuts off his magic hair to get a stat-enhancing potion.
- Fandom Rivalry: In-universe; Rufus runs afoul of a group of LARPers. They settle the dispute by playing Realm Ball.
- Fantastic Drug: Hero Win, seen in real life as beer.
- Foreshadowing: In the very first episode, The DM says "Oh please, there are no robots in fantasy adventures." Might also double as him being a Straw Hypocrite.
- Green Thumb: Thordin, but only in the final episode.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Ceredwyn tries this but the others are too busy fighting to hear her.
- It's Up to You: The other players beg Ceredwyn to kill Cryson for them as they die.
- Kill'Em All
- Killer GM
- Killer Robot: Seen in episode 1 as a gag and for real in episode 16.
- Live Action Role Play: While we see the players rolling their dice and such, the characters are seen acting it out in reality.
- A group of more traditional LARPers are seen in episode 9.
- MacGuffin: There are four MacGuffin the heroes must collect before the final battle.
- Mind Control Eyes: Seen on the heroes in the last episode.
- Music Video: Seen at the beginning of Episode 14.
- No Name Given: The characters are named, but the players and dungeon master aren't.
- Off the Rails: Seen as early as the very first episode.
- Oh Crap: Falcore gets one when he sees the potion-seller is the Big Bad.
- Only Sane Man: Ceredwyn.
- Personality Powers: The characters' archetypes match up with their players' personalities. So does the DM, as he plays the Big Bad.
- The Power of Friendship
- Real Life Writes the Plot: All over the place. The DM based the Big Bad's backstory on his own, and Falcore's quest for redemption is juxtaposed with his real-life mundane activities.
- Rocks Fall Everybody Dies: The show ends with this, though not comically. The DM gets fed up and takes out his anger on the players, eventually causing them to all die.
- Screaming Warrior: Thordin in episode 16.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Between Ceredwyn and Falcore.
- Shock and Awe: Thordin can use lightning as an attack.
- Shout-Out: The Googolplex Gauntlet is one to the Infinity Gauntlet.
- Similar Squad: Ceredwyn's female friends, who also roleplay.
- Stripperiffic: Inverted with Rufus, funnily enough. He is just barely clothed. Justified in that he's a berserker and does better without armor anyway.
- Stylistic Suck: The DM's 'informative' video about the uses for a Bag of Holding.
- Sudden Downer Ending
- Three Minutes of Writhing: Rufus's Music Video idea of what the female roleplayers are like complete with Erotic Eating.
- Treacherous Quest-Giver: The potion seller and the minstrel.
- Tron Lines: Seen on the robot in the first episode.
- The Un-Reveal: Ceredwyn almost reveals her real name, but is cut off by her phone.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Thordin, though he can only turn into a cat.
- Wandering Minstrel: The group encounters a very campy one.
- Wanted Poster: Seen in episode 8; Rufus can barely read the "Wanted" portion of it.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Falcore's called out for using drugs to get ahead.
- Women Are Wiser: Ceredwyn's the only one to resist Cryson's brainwashing. By the time the others snap out of it they're dying.
- Wretched Hive: "Kreller's Keep is a hive for scum and villainy, known across the land for its brave adventurers and busty wenches."
- You All Meet in An Inn: A tavern, but close enough.