With This Herring: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"You must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest... [[Trope Namer|wiiiiith... a herring!]]"'' ([[Scare Chord]])|'''The Knights Who Say Ni''', ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]''}}

 

 

Oh, did we mention that you've got five bucks and a butter knife to your name?

Fairly standard setup for the classic fantasy [[Role Playing Game]] and all sorts of [[Adventure Game|Adventure Games]].

 

 

[[Survival Horror]] has a form of this trope, but there it tends to work a little better, as it's less about deliberately being shafted and more about not getting a chance to prepare (in the original ''[[Resident Evil]]'', for example, the main characters have standard-issue gear for a police special unit -- it just doesn't help much when faced with [[Zombie Apocalypse|the walking dead]]). This still doesn't explain why shop keepers [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/01/14 demand full price] for products when there are zombies wandering around outside; mind you, nine times out of ten you won't be doing any shopping in a [[Survival Horror]].

 

 

Often the first step in a [[Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness]]. [[A Taste of Power]] subverts this trope... At first.

 

== Anime & Manga ==

 

 

== Literature ==

* Done in the novel ''Heroes Adrift'' by Moira J. Moore. The hero and heroine are professional weather-tamers (organization known as the Triple S) and live on a continent where the weather frequently tries to kill you. All Triple S employees live off the largesse of the government and have free housing provided for them, and they never have to pay for food, clothing, etc--they just walk up with their professional identification and get what they want. The queen sends the two of them to another continent to do a secret job for her. On this continent, weather-tamers aren't needed and the Queen's dictates are pretty much ignored... leaving the hero and heroine stranded with no money ''and'' no job skills in order to make money.

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* The two-man British improv show ''S&M'' did a skit once where the Yoda-like mentor (Mike McShane) was preparing the local Skywalker-surrogate (Tony Slattery) for battle against the [[Big Bad]]. As Tony prepares to leave: "Do I get a ''lightsaber''?" "No, just one of these naff sticks," handing him the flimsy prop cane he's holding.

* ''[[Reaper]]'': The Devil provides Sam with an object capable of retrieving the escaped souls, such as a dust buster or a tennis ball. Funnily enough these are sometimes quite effective. The bad ones are when he gets given seemingly useful ones like a spear -- to fight a Mongol warrior with. Or a boxing glove when facing a champion prizefighter.

** He also sometimes gets strange powers to catch a particular soul. Of course, these usually end up completely useless and only serve as obstacles. Try catching a soul when anything you try to eat (even toothpaste) turns into an insect.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''Spycraft'' breaks from the "gather loot and save" setup in favor of "get stuff from quartermaster depending on mission": a low-level mission will give you a mundane 9mm pistol, and as things get worse you can ask for Uzis, AK-47s, Browning Automatic Rifles, and if the world is ''really'' going to hell, an [[BFG|M2HB heavy]] [[More Dakka|machinegun]].

* ''[[Paranoia]]'', of course, doesn't merely use this trope, it practically embodies it. Almost every piece of equipment given is not only useless for its intended purpose, but is guaranteed to be the cause of death of at least one player character. [[Rule of Funny|Thankfully, there's a reason for this.]]

* ''[[Gothic|Gothic II]]'' plays it damn straight. You, the acclaimed hero who freed the Colony, defeated the [[Big Bad]] etc... etc... materialize inside the friendly necromancer's tower. There's scarily ominous evil afoot (not to mention earthquakes if you have the extension), and you are to enter a city and get the [[MacGuffin]] that'll help defeat the new Eeeevil. There's also an army of orcs to contend with. Hmmm? Oh no, the friendly necromancer won't even give you a dagger, armor or basic training. Nor help you enter the city. Nor give you a note telling people that the [[MacGuffin]] is vaguely important. Shoo, go save the world or something! Even the former convicts who owe their lives and freedom to you won't give you the time of day -- what have you done for them ''lately''?<br />Mostly [[Justified Trope]] though. Said necromancer doesn't have much useful stuff in his tower (and you are free to take what you find there), and can't help you enter the town because he is, well, a necromancer and doesn't have any good authority. Briefly [[Averted Trope]] in the beginning when a guy who wants you to clear a cave of bandits gives you a nice knife and some potions if you ask.

* Perhaps referenced in pseudo-sequel ''[[Risen]]'' - one of the drowned bodies washed up on the beach at the beginning has a herring in his pocket. He didn't make it. You did, and you have even less.

** The first game has this happen, but at least it is somewhat justified: your character has grown up all his life in a library; not exactly the place to expect magic swords being stored, even if it is a fortified one. Although your foster father is quite powerful and an ex-adventurer, he has long since retired and has no powerful magic items to hand you -- he wasn't really expecting you to have to do any fighting this soon, at any rate... or ever, if he had his way ({{spoiler|and not just because he wanted to keep you safe}}). During the prologue, he gives you enough money to get the necessities and heals you (if for example you've been injured in the prologue quests) before the start of the next chapter.

** In the second game, your character has motivation to keep one's head down rather than go to the corrupt authorities for help, and on top of that [[Bag of Spilling|had to break out of a magical prison at the start of the game, scrounging whatever equipment one could find]]. Towards the end, you can also convince various people to aid you -- [[Justified Trope|this makes a fair bit of sense]], as during the early game, your quest is pretty much your own personal problem (well, yours and some of your companions), not a threat to the kingdom or anything.

** The fifth game, ''Skyrim'', breaks the trend somewhat, as the events of the opening quickly leave you with a selection of dead guards to grab gear off of - low tier stuff yes, but comparable to any rank and file soldier. If you keep with the main quest line after you escape the father of the guy you helped escape will offer hospitality and free stuff, and by the time your status as [[The Chosen One]] is revealed you should have at least a full set of stuff.

* ''[[Dead Frontier]]''. "Hey there player, an infection has hit the city, and the place is crawling with deadly zombies! Here's a pocketknife and a handgun."

** [[Egregious]] in the first game, where the player is charged with his task, and given 120 G, enough to buy a wood club and a basic set of clothes. Times are tough, to be sure, but when you're given this task, there are two guards ''in the same room'' wearing full body armor and carrying spears.

* ''Witchaven'' originally started the main character, big badass with [[Designated Hero]] credentials, invading the eponymous Witchaven... with a knife. After complaints with the demo, developers just gave the main character every weapon in the game at the start (weapons eventually break).

* ''[[Ultima]]'' series:

** In ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'', you don't suffer from this trope, seeing as you start off with a M-16, a tranq. gun, a stun rod and you'll find some grenades near your first drop, but some of the Extra Ops side-missions require you to take over an enemy base armed with nothing but a banana.

** Hell, in the ''original [[Metal Gear]]'', you parachuted into Outer Heaven with nothing but a pack of cigarettes.

** The sequel to ''Enchanter'' does start you off with a reasonably-filled spellbook, as well as a potion to "obviate the need for food", as many players complained about having to [[Wizard Needs Food Badly|waste time in the first quest to get a meal]], rather than saving the world.

** Justified in the third game, ''Spellbreaker'', where magic becoming erratic has resulted in much of your spellbook being erased (and one spell added).

* ''[[Knights of Xentar]]'': Cleverly subverted; the hero-out-to-save-the-world actually starts the game with a fortune worth of gems, a set of Genji Armor and the legendary Falcon Sword, along with enough heroic strength to easily defeat an entire gang of thugs barehanded. However, during the intro, he loses all his money and equipment to thieves due to being drunk off his head, and shortly afterwards, his strength is drained by a deceptive foe, reducing him back to level 1... still, at least now we know ''why'' we start out naked and powerless, right? In a brief nod to reality, just about everyone in town refuses to have a proper conversation with you until you put something on...

** Alucard's starting level and general lack of abilities is explained as the result of his centuries of slumber. Much of the relics in the game are less for giving him brand new abilities but reawakening the old ones he should have by default. It would have helped if they actually explained it in-game...

*** Aria itself is justified as Soma is just visiting the shrine when he gets transported into Dracula's castle in an eclipse.

** One of the sidequests in ''Portrait of Ruin'' demands that you kill Gergoth (a big, ugly, bipedal creature that shoots lasers from its mouth) using a Blank Book. Thankfully, all you have to do is score the killing blow with the book- using your other weapons and skills to soften it up will still let you clear the quest.

* [[Overrated and Underleveled|Despite her reputed experience and fame]], Samus Aran begins ''[[Metroid]]'' with thirty energy units and a beam weapon that only shoots a third of the way across the screen -- and whatever upgrades she acquires in each game [[Bag of Spilling|disappear in the next]]. Several of the later games (''[[Metroid Prime]]'', ''Metroid Prime 2'') include an opening scene in which she [[A Taste of Power|has upgraded capabilities then loses them to a serious injury or whatever]] (though even her upgraded form lacks several of the abilities from the previous game). ''Metroid Fusion'' removes her abilities in the opening [[Cutscene]], then makes good use of them; the discarded parts of her suit become the [[Big Bad]] of the game, and she must occasionally flee in terror from the better-equipped SA-X. In a sense, ''Metroid Prime 3'' retroactively sets up the trope for the much older game, ''The Return of Samus'', as by the end of that game, Samus' existing suit has been severely corrupted (The ''Prime'' series is set between ''Metroid'' and ''Metroid 2''.

** Now in [[Other M]], Samus ''does'' start the game with all her abilities, but upon meeting up with Adam and his team, he has her disable most of her abilities, as they aren't sure what's happened or how many survivors there are. If she uses too much fire power, she could kill someone or blow a hole in the space station. As the game progresses, Adam authorizes your abilities as you need them. Okay, but why send Samus into the lava zone ''without'' her Varia suit?

* One could say that [[Metroidvania]] games thrive on this, and getting stupidly strong later on. [[Shadow Complex]] is another example, justified in that the protagonist is meant to be going on a climbing trip, not infiltrating an underground base. There is [[A Taste of Power]] section at the start, but it is with a different character who is killed off after it.

* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' toys with this all the time. While it has its moments where it holds true to the trope ("Sorry, all of our forces are busy elsewhere, so please take on that army with two Jegans and a ReGZ,") for the most part it gives some concrete excuse. For instance, in ''Original Generation'', you regularly receive shipments of equipment and items, but you're just one squadron out of the entire army in the war, so you don't get special treatment aside from some nifty new toys every so often.

** This makes less sense in ''Original Generation 2'', where everyone and their mum hails your guys as "The heroes of the L5 Campaign". Then again, the politicians all hate you and you've collected enough superweapons by now that you could bring hell on Earth with ease, so it sort of works.

** There's actually a conversation in ''Original Generation'' about you missing out on getting the original Huckebein--{{spoiler|you know, the one that blew off Rai's arm}}--your people remark that you already have the stupidly powerful R-GUN (and by extension the SRX... and the Giganscudo... and the Huckebein 009... and possibly the original-model Gespenst... and, yeah, the list goes on) and that the top brass won't trust you with another superweapon.

*** the main causes are two: 1. Huckebein 008L using Black Hole engine, the engine that pretty much warned entire Aerogaters army when activated on its full capability 2. Still risky enough for causing [[Superpower Meltdown]]

** Discounts in the first game come about legitimately, as a possible result of Shion's online-mutual-fund-investment savvy.

* ''[[Odin Sphere]]'' has a bizarre variation on the shopkeeper portion of this trope, as several shopkeepers ''say'' they'll give you a discount, but none actually do. A few greedier ones do actually charge a little extra, however.

* In ''[[Resident Evil]] 4'', Leon Kennedy is sent to rescue the president's daughter with little more than a knife and a simple 9mm handgun. Needless to say, Uncle Sam probably should have sprung for an assault rifle for Leon. Even if they didn't know the town had been infected by a [[The Virus|mind-controlling parasite]], this ''is'' [[The President's Daughter]] we're talking about. (Admittedly, he may have had the heavier hardware back in the car and not wanted to spook people by having an American walk into town brandishing an assault rifle. Or he expected to be able to call in backup in case anything came up.)

** In ''[[Resident Evil]] 5'', however, this is actually justified. {{spoiler|1=One of the CEOs of the companies you work for is setting you up.}}

* Lampshaded at the start of ''[[Prince of Persia]]: The Two Thrones/Rival Swords'', where the Prince laments early in the first level "why is it whenever disaster strikes, I find myself without a worthy blade?"

** Episode 1 of the [[Castle Wolfenstein|original computer game]] starts with you getting a pistol that a fellow prisoner stole from a guard.

** The first map of ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]'' has the player starting with a pistol he got from shanking a guard. No explanation for why B.J. infiltrates the five other castles in the game with nothing more than a knife and a Walther P-38, however; you'd think Uncle Sam could have at least given him his own country's sidearm.

** Played painfully, unjustifiably straight ''Doom 3'''s [[Expansion Pack]], ''Resurrection of Evil''. Aside from the unmitigated, [[Genre Blind]] stupidity required to head back to Mars after the events of ''Doom 3'', the company still doesn't equip the marines tasked with exploring ancient ruins with anything deadlier than a pistol. At least they've taped a flashlight to the gun.

** Played straight in ''Doom'' clone ''Fortress of Dr. Radiaki'', in which you start as a top-notch agent sent to investigate mysterious island... with a pistol and a ''goddamn baseball bat'' (no, not [[Goddamn Bats|that]] kind). Underfinancing, indeed.

*** Could be [[Hand Wave|hand waved]] in this case by saying his old chips and upgrades aren't compatible with his new PET.

*** This is Lan we're talking about here. For all we know he was transferring data to a new PET, and just lost it all in his room. He's not the neatest guy you'll meet.

*** ''X6'' pretends to start you off with an armor from ''X5'', but all its useful functions are gone.

*** The X series justifies this by having X believe that absolute power corrupts absolutely, so at the end of each "war" he disposes of his weapons and armor. However, starting in X5, after disposing of his armor, the wars flare up again, and Alia manages to fix the armor up, though usually with the loss of some abilities. Given the fact that X is ridiculously powerful with all his weapons and armor, he's quite justified in fearing his own power.

* By the end of ''[[King's Quest I]]'', the titular hero has collected an all-seeing mirror, chest of infinite gold, and shield of invulnerability. On none of his other dangerous journeys in the many sequels does he take this shield along, or is it even mentioned. The only treasure that is seen again is the mirror, used as a [[Plot Device]] a few times.

** This gets a [[Hand Wave]] in the ''KQ1'' SCI remake, where the old king mentions that the fate of Daventry is linked to the treasures remaining in Daventry Castle. Most of the adventures of Graham and his family are in different lands.

** Justified for most of the KQ games by the fact that the adventurer in question usually doesn't have time to pick up supplies, or loses them en-route. In ''[[King's Quest III]]'', Alexander-Gwydion starts off as a slave, with the rags on his back and whatever he can steal from under his cruel master's nose. In ''[[King's Quest VI]]'', he's been shipwrecked due to a sudden storm. Rosella is transported to Tamir in ''[[King's Quest IV]]'' and to the Troll Kingdom in ''[[King's Quest VII]]'' rather abruptly. Graham has the whole palace stolen while out on a walk in ''[[King's Quest V]]''.

*** It still made folks at the ''Silver Lining'' forums [[Fridge Logic|wonder why Graham didn't pick up a sword and the Invulnerability Shield to fight the three-headed dragon in the third game]]. Perhaps he was just too crippled by grief. Lucky thing Alexander-Gwydion had just freed himself from Mannanan and whipped up a few useful spells.

** At the beginning of ''Far Cry'' the main character is an arms smuggler and former Navy special forces, who unfortunately has his boat blown to hell and back. Subverted in that the first equipment you get is a decently strong pistol, some grenades and a full set of body armor. The next firearm you obtain is the ever-trusty M4, which is a mainstay until better rifles are obtained quite a bit later.

** ''Far Cry 2'', averts this strangely. From how it looks, you came to a nondescript African country with no weapons (which is strange, since you were sent to kill someone), but after you get knocked out by a bout of malaria on your arrival, you wake up to a fire fight and you start off with a pistol and a machete that The Jackal leaves in your room, but you lose the gun when you're knocked out in your attempt to run away. When you wake up and get hired by whoever rescues you (the actual starting point of the game), you are given an assault rifle, a pistol and either an RPG or a flamethrower, as well as medical equipment and a car.

** You only have a limited supply of SCAR rounds in the first level of Crysis though, which will leave you relying on the weaker [[AKA-47|FY-71]] rather quickly.

* ''[[Quest for Glory|Quest For Glory IV]]'' begins with the hero being force-teleported from his last adventure to a dark cave far away, starting with literally nothing. Of course, he happens to find a money pouch on a nearby skeleton and a weapon on one in the very next screen...

** [[Hand Wave|Hand waved]] early in the watch quest, where the captain claims that the war at the end of the last game nearly bankrupted the city.

** [[Expansion Pack]] ''Mask of the Betrayer'' has an interesting take on this trope: the villiage of Mulsantir is a-ok with throwing you against the bear god Okku with little more than the clothes on your back and a single prisoner to fight alongside you because they ''really don't care'' if you lose. The god in question threatened to destroy the town specifically so he could get to you, and the villagers (which don't like you very much anyhow) figure that he'll go away once he gets what he wants -- namely, your head on a silver platter. The only reason you get ''any'' help at all is because they didn't want you complaining about it.

** Later in the game you are issued a silent pistol, various tools and ammunition, and a lot of bonus pay, but much of your equipment must be found, purchased, or taken from the cooling hands of dead men (or at least the slack hands of unconscious men).

** And even later {{spoiler|when you're escaping from the UNATCO base, if you visit the Armory, the general running it believes that you were set up, opens the door, and tells you to take whatever you can carry.}}

** Also averted a bit -- isn't there a black-market biomod available right in the first level if you know how to get it?

** Actually, that first (fully upgraded) assault rifle is Jensen's own personal weapon (Sarif never gives him anything there and Jensen is ex-SWAT), although it was lost after the attack. And in the later part? Go to Jensen's apartment, you'll find a small armoury which would explain why he never gripped about equipment needs to his boss. When you go to the LIMB clinics, you'll also find that Sarif made a substantial donation in Jensen's name so he could get easy access to their stuff, especially their Praxis Kits, which presumably cost much more than what you still have to pay for them.

* ''Shining in the Dark'', a SEGA game in the [[Shining Force|"Shining" Series]] tells you to save the king's daughter, your father, and... the kingdom's budget, with how much they give you.

* The ''[[Contra]]'' series. The entire world is in danger from a massive alien invasion force? What do they do? Send one or two soldiers in with minimal weapons to take care of the whole thing!

** ''[[Metal Slug]]'' plays this out as well, but at least they gave their special soldiers 10 grenades with their pistol.

* In ''[[Too Human]]'' you're a cybernetic god who can cut a swath through enemies like a hot knife through butter... and yet you start the game with weapons and armor so pathetic that you'll be replacing as soon as it's possible ([[Handwaved]] by the notion that apparently, not long before the events of the game, you were [[Immortality|dead]]). Furthermore, even as a god you'll still be paying for things in shops.

** Potentially justified as you are buying weapons and armor from other "gods", or (in the case of blueprints) paying for the materials to construct the potentially powerful designs. The armor you got for pre-ordering the game though attempts to avert this.

* Averted in ''[[ADOM]]'': characters get whatever starting equipment is appropriate to their race and class. Monks begin the game virtually empty-handed, for instance, while paladins arrive already kitted out with weapons and armor of fairly good quality. Merchants get a sackful of items in one category, and necromancers (you guessed it) get one undead slave.

* In ''Lennus II'' (the sequel to the game released as ''Paladin's Quest'' in the US), you start out ''worshipped as a god'' and still must pay for your equipment and items outside a few dinky little chests in the temple (of you). Later, the leader of another continent has his guards bring you into his office and asks you to save the entire world. They then take you back to where they got you. Problem: you lack citizenship papers for his empire at the time. Or travel documents, or a bus pass, all of which are very very hard for you to get (you don't get the full mobility to do what he asked you to do for quite a while), all of which are necessary for you to get about saving the world, and all of which are things that you'd expect a leader to be able to grant with a wave of his hand.

*** Later on in ''Earthbound'', this trope is justified when you take control of {{spoiler|Jeff, after Ness and Paula get trapped.}} He starts out with just $2--but he can't get any more money since he doesn't have the ATM card!

* In ''[[X-COM (Video Game)|X-COM]]: UFO Defense'', the titular alien-fighting organization is ''painfully'' under-funded by the Council of Funding Nations, each of which offer usually less than a million dollars a month.

** Though initial resources (including first base with everything inside) are paltry but not that bad. On the other hand, for some reason you have to R&D things that don't need alien input (like laser weapons) on your own and cannot even sell absurdly advanced technologies you found... other than by building ready goods in workshop.

* ''[[Phantom Brave]]'' justifies the weak starting weapons by having Marona [[All of the Other Reindeer|be ostracized for her powers]], but everything you can pick up and use to attack has the potential to become the [[Infinity+1 Sword]], including, of course, fish.

* ''Spellforce''. The clothes on your back and a sword are your main equipment. As an additional perk, it will cost you a small fortune to upgrade your weapons and/or spells every level.

* Especially ridiculous in ''Hinterland''; the king is sending you off alone to colonize a hostile region of his kingdom, and depending on your chosen background, you ''might'' start with enough money to hire ''one farmer''. But on the other hand, backgrounds with combat experience start with reasonably good (for the early game) combat equipment.

* ''[[Fallout]]'' series.

** Played a bit oddly in the first two games. In the first game, the character starts out with a pistol, knife, and a few medical items. It's not very much, but the Vault has limited supplies and is pretty clueless about the outside world. It is possible to return to the Vault to get more equipment, including a shotgun. In the second game, you start with a spear and a knife, which is pretty much the best weaponry your little tribal village can provide.

*** Averted somewhat (as well as averting the [[Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness]]), since you can easily get [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/A3-21%27s_plasma_rifle one of the best weapons in the game] if you know how. Getting ammunition for it early on is much harder.

*** Equally averted by the Sniper Rifle hidden in a hollowed-out rock round the back of Megaton. At the point you get it, it's a one-hit kill on almost everything though again, ammo is short.

*** The ''Gun Runners' Arsenal'' DLC adds a few challenges to kill a number of ridiculously hard enemies with ridiculously unsuitable weapons. Like killing [[Demonic Spiders|Deathclaws]] with .22 Pistols, Switchblades, Boxing Tape, Recharger Rifles, or Dynamite.

* ''[[No More Heroes]]'': Played straight, justified and somewhat averted. Travis begins the game fairly broke money-wise. Why? To buy your trusty <s>lightsaber</s> [[Laser Blade|beam katana Blood Berry]] of course. While Blood Berry is a powerful weapon, it pales in comparison to the later weapons you can get (especially The Tsubaki Mk. 3). The shops DO charge you full price on everything and Sylvia explicitly tells you you gotta do part-time jobs ("as a third-rater", so the job guy said) to pay the entry fee to the next matches, beam katana upgrades, accessories, etc., etc. You're hardly saving the world though, just killing a bunch of guys for money.

* Averted in ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]: The Lost and Damned''. Since your Motorcycle gang's business is gun-running, the Sergeant-at-Arms will come when you call and provide guns at a discount over the standard underground gun stores in the city. {{spoiler|In the last mission, your character flat out tells him that he's taking all the guns for free in order to raid the prison and kill the snitch.}}

* Averted in the ''[[Exile]]''/''[[Avernum]]'' series, for the most part: your party has just been thrown in prison, or are right out of training but the only ones available, or the second group out, after the first one went missing (and had already been carrying the best equipment), etc.

* Both justified and averted in ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]''. You begin the game as a man running from the law and throughout the game very few people know of your role in saving the world so no one would actually offer you a discount. However as your friends bundle you out of your hometown ahead of the Imperial soldiers, they press on you all they can spare including food, a map and money. The protagonist was particularly upset about the last one as they all had little money to go around in the Lower Quarter.

* Averted in a big way in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' where your entire squad has access to the best weapons R&D can design as soon as they are designed (technically you have to fund their research, but the cash comes easy especially if you do your missions well). What's more, shortly after rescuing the princess she starts giving you weapons from the Royal Armoury (for free!) which are almost always better than your R&D equivalents.

* Neither of the two ''[[Captain Comic]]'' games give you a weapon at the start. In the first game, there's one right in front of you at the beginning, but you have to search for it in the sequel.

* Pretty much every Scenario in ''[[Treasure of the Rudra]]''.

*** Parodied in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OydCKdKlbM this] Dorkly video. Perhaps Link beat them to death with his "smashing board."

*** At least in the ''Oracle'' games, upon starting a new game with a password you get from beating the other game, you start with a basic sword and an extra heart. [[Bag of Spilling|Where all the ''other'' equipment from the beaten game goes]] is anybody's guess.

* This ''can'' easily happen in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', if you fail to properly prepare your seven-dwarf expedition with the needed skills and material before setting out for the selected fortress site. Some people [[Self-Imposed Challenge|deliberately take it on as a challenge]], trying to build a fortress with a bunch of soapmakers and animal dissectors (you normally don't get those until later) instead of miners and woodcutters. In Adventure Mode, having the highest skill in swords, maces, hammers, axes, spears, or whips gives you a shield and a bunch of leather armor, having the highest in pikes, crossbows, or bows gives you leather armor, and wrestlers are lucky to get much more than some sandals and a loincloth. Good luck killing dozens of bandits and night creatures!

* A commercial for the video game version of ''[[The Jungle Book]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this trope. A guide tells the viewer (or an unseen listener) about the dangers of the jungle and then says, "But you ain't getting nothing; you're just getting bananas and underwear. Ever get to level 10 in your underwear, boy?!"

* In both ''[[Icewind Dale]]'' games, your party starts their quest in one of the most inhospitable regions of the [[Forgotten Realms]] with nothing but their clothes and quarterstaves. This is particularly ridiculous in the second game, as your party just signed up to be mercernaries.

** Hilariously referenced in a [[Let's Play]] of the game, where the female monk repeatedly comment on how she's freezing all the time, having apparently forgotten to bring ''pants'' on her journey to the frozen hellhole that is Icewind Dale. (Admittedly, she did start with low wisdom until someone else pointed out how important it is for monks, so it is in character for her...)

** Not really that egregious; the narrator makes it pretty clear that Cipher was a nobody before he was hired by Ustio- just because he's a mercenary doesn't mean he's wealthy, and Ustio was pretty desperate at the time. In contrast to Cipher's humble beginnings, Pixy is tooling around in an F-15C and already has a solid reputation.

* Played with in ''[[Diablo]]'' and ''Diablo II''. In both games, you don't start out with much, but your initial equipment isn't terrible. It'll do for a bit until you can get better stuff. Justified in both games because A) you're not really all that special of an adventurer and B) the areas you're in are typically going through hard times.

* Averted almost completely in ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]''. The reason none of the Hidden Village guard except Danette joins you is because there's few of them to begin with and they need to protect Layna (who is two centuries old by now and needs to sleep for days on end to live), you can't buy items from anybody for various reasons except from [[Jerkass|Gig]] (and it's unlikely anybody else even ''has'' the stuff you get from Gig anyway, since the Items in the game are really you just using Gig's powers through the use of "Gig Edicts"), nearly every bit of civilization you go to that isn't against you will offer you their best soldiers to join your party, and the monetary unit you use in the game are "Gig Points", rather than an actual currency, which explains why nobody funds you.

** It's also worth noting that Danette and the main character both use [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity+1 Swords]] ''as their default weapons.'' The game doesn't feature any micromanagement of individual units beyond their experience level.

* A typical feature of ''[[Silent Hill]]'' games is that the protagonist will usually start the game with only a wooden plank or an iron bar to fend off the nasties with. Tends to be justified in that most people don't go to resort towns expecting to be attacked by deformed, rotting dogs or abominations wrapped in their own skin.

** The protagonists' arsenal, or lack thereof, are entirely justified in every game, considering the circumstances. [[Silent Hill 1|Harry]] accidentally crashes into Silent Hill. [[Silent Hill 2|James]]' already unbalanced enough to go looking for his dead wife. [[Silent Hill 3|Heather]] is having an everyday lunch at the mall, and she's already packing a knife on her. [[Silent Hill 4|Henry]] is just some bloke sitting around in his apartment. [[Silent Hill Origins|Travis]] is a trucker minding his business. Why would any of this average joes expect any of the ordeals the game has in store for them? If anything, [[Justified Trope|this trope is justified]].

* ''[[Dragon Age|Dragon Age: Origins]]'' does this, but by the time you're a full member of the Wardens and would expect to be equipped you're already as well kitted as everyone but the officers anyway (with variation depending on origin).

* In ''[[Faxanadu]]'', the king would provide you 1500 gold in order to help you start your quest to save the World Tree. 1500 gold was about enough to buy some basic equipment and a potion. Amusingly, because of how the game's logic worked, if you bought the right combination of items to use up all your cash, you could go back to the king and get another 1500 gold.

* The first ''[[Dino Crisis]]'' begins with cutscenes and an introductory area featuring Regina (the player character) and her fellow soldiers. The others have large automatic rifles, Regina is carrying only a pistol. What the heck, did she forget all her gear? Some cheat codes actually allowed you to begin the game with different weapons, so you could give her a riot gun just so she'd look suitably badass in those scenes.

* The cutscene before starting in ''[[Painkiller]]'' has an angel ask Daniel the protagonist point blank: "Do you need weapons?" Daniel responds angrily that he can take care of himself. To be fair, he does suspect that such generosity would come with a price he'd have to pay later. Following which, the game begins and immediately turns this trope on its ass. The eponymous Painkiller is a weapon and holy freaking God what a sign of things to come. It's essentially a handheld blender that can fire off its business end which can then anchor into any surface and act as a focus point for a vicious laser beam. It's one of the most devastatingly effective and creative weapons in a game that is basically all about devastatingly effective and creative weapons, and practically a [[Disc One Nuke]] compared to most other FPS that start you with a shitty pistol or melee weapon. It's one of the few FPS of its type in which you can go through the entire game using only this starting weapon without ever coming close to [[Self-Imposed Challenge]] territory.

* At the beginning of ''[[Aveyond]] 3'' (either Lord Of Twilight or Gates of Night, depending on which you got first) the King of Thais subverts this slightly by giving Edward Excalibur, but Excalibur's power depends on what stone it has equipped and the one he gives you sucks, so. Besides, he doesn't give you any armour or any gold or any equipment at all for the other team members.

* Averted in ''[[Advent Rising]]''; you're given a [[BFG|fifty-caliber handgun]] just minutes in, and it goes up from there. On the way to Aurelia you get the [[Magic and Powers]], and though the [[BFG|BFGs]] are still available, you probably wont be using them anymore.

* Justified in ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'': the reason you have to raise money yourself to buy weapons and equipment is to preserve the organization's secrecy and not have any funding trails linked to it. The process is actually what makes the organization so successful, as each agent is encouraged to develop their own bank accounts, safehouses, and contacts. Ultimately, this turns into Mike's greatest weapon when {{spoiler|he is forced to go rogue}}.

* Justified, roughly two-thirds of the way through ''[[Golden Sun Dark Dawn]]'', when {{spoiler|Eoleo}} joins the party with nothing but a Cotton Shirt and the cheapest axe. The justification? He didn't even have ''that'' until {{spoiler|you got him to his ship safely, since he'd been in prison awaiting execution}}. Still a little [[Incredibly Lame Pun|disarming]], since he joins right after [[It Got Worse]].

* Justified in ''[[Oni]]''. Konoko's first mission starts off as an intelligence-gathering infiltration, so she's equipped only with a standard TCTF sidearm. She's too busy running from one crisis to another for the next few levels to visit an armory, and later she goes rogue and ''can't'' get better equipment. It still doesn't justify her [[Bag of Spilling|losing them between levels]], though.

* While this would be justified in ''[[Albion]]'', seeing how Tom and Rainer are sent to explore a reputedly lifeless planet, and they have no idea what they're getting into, so it's understandable they would have nothing other then their clotes, the trope is completely averted, seeing how one of the game's most powerful weapons can be acquired in the prologue before any action would take place. One full set of rather decent equipment is also provided to the player in a shop in the very first town, for less than 10% of it's full price.

* Averted in ''Xenonauts''. Unlike ''X-COM'' you will at least start with elite troops and the laughable idiots will only start showing up if you lose any of your original men.

* Played with in ''Bunny Invasion'', where the gun salesman justifies charging you outrageous prices becaue if you live, he gets money, and if you die... well, he's not in any danger. ''He'' has all the guns.

* Averted in ''[[Sryth]]''. You do have some basic equipment and as soon as you arrive in Hawklor (the starting village) you can visit Irzynn the Outfitter, who gives you quite a lot of free stuff (though all of it is low quality) before moving to Durnsig. If your character has been upgraded to AG status (i.e. if you have subscribed) you can visit him in Durnsig and get Goblindoom (which is the best weapon available to AG members for quite some time) and Adventurer's Ring (one of the best rings early in the game). Also, in some of the early adventures, such as the River Pirates and the Secret of Stoneback Hill, you are given free items you can take. Later in the game you’re on your own, but by that time you likely have better stuff than any NPC except Tallys (who is the man to go to if you have somehow managed to collect a substantial amount of Adventurer Tokens, or if you just [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|donated a few hundred bucks and would like to buy some shiny new toys for your character]]).

* ''[[Might and Magic]] 6'', ''7'' and ''8'' all have the adventurers start off with substandard equipment, though only 8 lacks a justification for that: in 6, the party doesn't become the Famous Government-Backed Adventurers of Legend until later in the game, when they've very likely already had picked up nicer stuff, and 7 starts of with a treasure hunt ''contest'' run by a guy who underestimates the number of dragonflies in the area and thinks the locals' references to a dragon are just references to the dragonflies. In 8, your party starts off backed by an important trader ''and'' the local potentate for a mission important to the interests of the native culture and the trader, yet your characters still get the same rusty swords and cheap leather as in the earlier games.

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]''

** Speaking of, after Sarda depowered them and later imploded from [[Phlebotinum Overload]], the gang has to face up to taking Chaos out. They have to do this in twenty-four hours to avert Chaos' plot to destroy the world (which likely involves a [[Time Crash]]); needless to say, they're having a bit of trouble getting their act together after faffing about and ruining civilization up to this point.

* Averted in ''[[Tales of the Questor]]''. Although the organization forcing Quentyn, the titular Questor, to go on his virtually impossible mission give him literally nothing at all, his fellow villagers (who he is going on his mission FOR) equip him to their level best ability -- food, clothing, equipment, weapons, even an airship. Furthermore, a team of engineering students, sent by a school intrigued by Quentyn's expedition, come to make improvements to the airship and his other equipment.

* ''[[Goblin Hollow]]'' averts it for an in-comic RPG session, because [http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00067.html the GM thinks it makes more sense that way].

{{quote| "The ''Darned Good Reason'' rule. As in 'nobody becomes an adventurer without a darned good reason to think they'll survive it'."}}

 

 

* This was actually common up until the advent of standing armies. Many medieval or Roman era soldiers were expected to provide their own equipment, especially horses. In most cases it hardly fits the trope as knights were expected to pay all military expenses of themselves and their retainers, but it was the part of feudal contract. Not to mention that Roman equites and medieval knight were usually quite resourceful and more than often THEY were the authority responsible for adequate equipment, responsibility which was later transferred to centralized government.

** The term "[[Black Knight]]" actually comes from the practice of unbound knights (i.e. no fief to support themselves) covering their armor with pitch to prevent rust and generally cut down on maintenance.

** The Confederacy was plagued by logistics problems throughout the war. When it started they had no capability to manufacture artillery (and when they developed it the results were sub-standard and inaccurate), they lacked the rail system the Union used to quickly move troops and supplies, and for some reason they had a chronic shoe shortage for basically the entire war.

*** It's often stated by Confederate re-enactors that in hindsight, this appears to have been ''planned.'' The North had all the industries, and when the South began to trade agricultural products to the British for mill equipment, the North instituted a ''one hundred percent export tariff.''