History Literature / TheDungeonmaster

* TheMentallyIll: Exactly what is wrong with the Dungeon Master is never explained. But it's clearly not just a mild AmbiguousDisorder.

* KleptomaniacHero: Cherninsky's characters are always thieves with poor impulse control, mirroring his player's perpetual restless energy and sticky fingers in the real world.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Being teenage boys, the topic comes up a fair bit, especially when the narrator thinks about his routine without the game to take up his time. His crush, Lucy Mantooth, is the usual subject.

''The Dungeon Master'' is a short story by Sam Lipsyte. It was printed in ''The New Yorker''.

* RejectedApology: The Dungeon Master attempts to make a peace offering by driving the narrator around in his car. Then he threatens to ram them both and kill them. Understandably, the narrator refuses to say "No hard feelings".

* DisproportionateRetribution: Cherninsky wants to steal from the other party members since his character is a thief. The Dungeon Master responds by having one of the shapeshifters impersonate his dead sister and showing NoSympathy when Cherninsky starts crying.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of having a KillerGameMaster that is TheKillJoy. As the narrator eventually points out, the Dungeon Master doesn't actually want anyone to have fun during the game by pulling out realistic consequences. He's just a {{Sadist}} and a bully getting his jollies off everyone's pain.

* NotSoDifferent: The narrator thinks to himself that the Dungeon Master and Cherninsky aren't so different deep down, both bad kids who've maladapted to their environments, and that that's probably why they hate each other so much.

* BeigeProse: The text is deliberately clipped and brief. The only exceptions are during the rare occasions when the game is actually good, and the team's imagination is stimulated. [[spoiler: And at the end, when the narrator pictures the Dungeon Master's suicide.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The narrator notes that if this were in a modern time period, the Dungeon Master would be in jail for assaulting him. Since no one wanted to report it, however, and the dad wanted no trouble because the Dungeon Master bullies him, all that happens is that the narrator refuses to go back, and the friend group splinters.

** The narrator's friend Eric, while not quite willing to express solidarity with him and become a bully target, keeps inviting the narrator to play with his group in the official club after school, and that Lucy, the girl he has a crush on, may actually like him. While the narrator eventually quits because he gets bored of the game and Lucy never warmed up, he admits it's what he needed at the time.

* ThisIsUnforgivable: The Dungeon Master thinks that because he gave the narrator a ride in his Corvette -- and he doesn't have a license-- that it means they're cool. As the narrator lampshades, the Dungeon Master not only badly injured him but ruined his fun of the game.
* {{Tsundere}}: Eric suggests Lucy's just cold to the narrator because she secretly likes him. The narrator is skeptical, and in the end leaves their group when she abandons his character to die.

* KleptomaniacHero: Cherninsky's character is a compulsive thief, mirroring his player's perpetual restless energy and sticky fingers in the real world.

* TheNewRockAndRoll: Downplayed, but the main character's mother says she's read "articles" and worries about him playing RPGs because she doesn't understand them. But she doesn't get ''too'' upset, and in her defense, worrying about your son hanging out with the Dungeon Master is a rational response.

* BatterUp: There are rumors that the Dungeon Master smashed up another kid with an aluminum bat. He admits that it's one of the few true stories about him when driving with the narrator.
* BeigeProse: The text is deliberately clipped and brief. The only exceptions are during the rare occasions when the game is actually good, and the team's imagination is stimulated.

* {{Delinquents}}: Cherninsky is a standard example, in that he's a compulsive thief who likes to try to sneak around smoking weed or peeping on girls. The Dungeon Master is aging out of it and has grown up to be a lot worse than that.

* DownerEnding: The story ends on a dour note with the narrator refusing to play again with the Dungeon Master after nearly getting strangled and having to recover from a broken wrist. He loses interest in the school's only other group because no one thinks he's funny and he misses the thrills of the reality check. Meanwhile, Cherninsky's father ends up in jail for petty thievery his son committed, and the Dungeon Master says his father is kicking him out of the house when he turns eighteen, for Marco's safety. The Dungeon Master implies he could go to Canada, but may kill himself in the new Corvette instead.

* GoodIsDumb: Brandon is singled out as the nice member of the team, and the narrator remarks that he seems dim.
* HopeSpot: During the last game the group ever plays, the Dungeon Master, after going to a mysterious "appointment," is in rare form, and actually puts some effort into letting the group have fun rather than just killing them off for kicks, with cool monsters and proper encounters. He even says he wants to try to help them have fun. But, when the group decides to grab a sensible amount of treasure and bolt instead of having a grand setpiece battle like he planned (against the narrator's objections), and when Cherninsky declares his intention to rob everyone else's share of the treasure, all his old venom comes pouring back, and he gets right to killing everyone, starting with having the narrator barbequed by the dragon when he tries to [[HeroicSacrifice stay behind to slow it down while everyone else leaves]] (and [[{{Retcon}} declaring his magic armor was phony all along]]), then begins trying to psychologically torture Cherninsky with a shapeshifter that turns into his baby sister as his character's dying.

* KillerGameMaster: Exaggerated, and played negatively. The Dungeon Master isn't very interested in actually letting the group have fun; he's out to torture the players, and not necessarily even their characters.

* NiceGuy: Eric is this. He keeps inviting the narrator to play with his group in the official club after school, and that the local {{Tsundere}} may actually like him. While the narrator eventually quits because he can't stand Lucy glaring at him, he admits it's what he needed at the time.

''The Dungeonmaster'' is a short story by Sam Lipsyte. It was printed in ''The New Yorker''.

Our nameless narrator says that the local Dungeonmaster is TheKilljoy {{Jerkass}} who invokes realism to kill the party members in various ways. He hears rumors that said Dungeonmaster is a troublemaker and has been committed. Things come to a head when the OnlySaneMan Brendan tries to be sensible for once and try to not get killed during a campaign.

* AdultsAreUseless: Dr. Varelli doesn't know how to be a parent to either of his boys. He lets the Dungeonmaster swear at him, and just tells him to play nice with Marco. It's shown most prominently when he hears the commotion and walks in to see Brendan rescuing the narrator from the Dungeonmaster. His only response is to yell at them to play nice again before walking away.
* BatterUp: There are rumors that the Dungeonmaster smashed up another kid with an aluminum bat. He admits that it's one of the few true stories about him when driving with the narrator.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Brendan is the nicest member of the group and the only one who doesn't get into trouble. He bites the Dungeonmaster to stop the latter from strangling the narrator, actually drawing blood.
* BigBrotherBully: The Dungeonmaster is this to his little brother Marco.
* BigBrotherWorship: Marco adores his older brother, at least when he's not the Dungeonmaster. That doesn't last after the Dungeonmaster nearly kills the narrator; from what we hear, they aren't getting along.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of having a Dungeonmaster that is TheKillJoy. As the narrator eventually points out, the Dungeonmaster doesn't actually want anyone to have fun during the game by pulling out realistic consequences. He's just a {{Sadist}} and a bully getting his jollies off everyone's pain.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The narrator notes that if this were in a modern time period, the Dungeonmaster would be in jail for assaulting him. Since no one wanted to report it, however, and the dad wanted no trouble because the Dungeonmaster bullies him, all that happens is that the narrator refuses to go back, and the friend group splinters.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Cherninsky wants to steal from the other party members since his character is a thief. The Dungeonmaster responds by having one of the shapeshifters impersonate his dead sister and showing NoSympathy when Cherninsky starts crying.
* DownerEnding: The story ends on a dour note with the narrator refusing to play again with the Dungeonmaster after nearly getting strangled and having to recover from a broken wrist. He loses interest in the school's only other group because no one thinks he's funny and he misses the thrills of the reality check. Meanwhile, Cherninsky's father ends up in jail for petty thievery his son committed, and the Dungeonmaster says his father is kicking him out of the house when he turns eighteen, for Marco's safety. The Dungeonmaster implies he could go to Canada, but may kill himself in the new Corvette instead.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Dungeonmaster has only one regret: that he's not a good influence on Marco.
* InsaneEqualsViolent: The Dungeonmaster admits that he has been committed a few times, and he nearly killed the narrator by strangling him if not for Brendan biting him.
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: At first, the Dungeonmaster suffers no punishment for nearly killing the narrator. Even his father doesn't reprimand him. Then it turns out after the narrator left, the DND group splintered, Marco has lost faith in him, and the Dungeonmaster's father says he needs to get out of the house after graduation. The narrator also refuses to forgive the Dungeonmaster for ruining his fun.
* KickTheDog: The Dungeonmaster makes Cherninsky cry by making a shapeshifter turn into his dead sister. He then has the gall to mock him about it. This is when the narrator hits his RageBreakingPoint and reveals the Dungeonmaster's notes are covered in vaginas with angel wings and calling him a "mental case".
* NiceGuy: Eric is this. He keeps inviting the narrator to play with his DND party, and that the local {{Tsundere}} may actually like him. While the narrator eventually quits because he can't stand Lucy glaring at him, he admits it's what he needed at the time.
* OnlySaneMan: Brendan is the only one who knows that the Dungeonmaster won't let them fight a dragon and win. He suggests they sensibly take a little bit of gold that the dragon won't miss and avoid a confrontation. The narrator thinks that's no fun. When Cherninsky accidentally riles up the dragon by attempting to steal from his party members, the narrator says he'll stay behind and buy them time to escape.
* RejectedApology: The Dungeonmaster attempts to make a peace offering by driving the narrator around in his car. Then he threatens to ram them both and kill them. Understandably, the narrator refuses to say "No hard feelings".
* TemptingFate: The dungeonmaster runs on this trope. He says that if you steal from a bakery, the thief is likely to get killed. Ditto for taking on a dragon with a sword, and not being fireproof.
* ThisIsUnforgivable: The Dungeonmaster thinks that because he gave the narrator a ride in his Corvette -- and he doesn't have a license-- that it means they're cool. As the narrator lampshades, the Dungeonmaster not only badly injured him but ruined his fun of the game.
* YouShallNotPass: The narrator pulls a HeroicSacrifice to save his party from the dragon that Cherninsky accidentally angered, taking it on alone. Even with this nobility, the Dungeonmaster doesn't let him enjoy it, saying it was stupid to believe he could defeat a dragon.

Our nameless narrator says that the local Dungeonmaster is TheKilljoy {{Jerkass}} who invokes RealityEnsues to kill the party members in various ways. He hears rumors that said Dungeonmaster is a troublemaker and has been committed. Things come to a head when the OnlySaneMan Brendan tries to be sensible for once and try to not get killed during a campaign.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of having a Dungeonmaster that is TheKillJoy. As the narrator eventually points out, the Dungeonmaster doesn't actually want anyone to have fun during the game by pulling out RealityEnsues. He's just a {{Sadist}} and a bully getting his jollies off everyone's pain.

* RealityEnsues: The dungeonmaster runs on this trope. He says that if you steal from a bakery, the thief is likely to get killed. Ditto for taking on a dragon with a sword, and not being fireproof.