History Podcast / TrialsAndTrebuchets

''Trials & Trebuchets'' is an ActualPlay podcast using TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons 5th Edition, though our protagonists are not adventurers trying to save the world, but students at a [[WizardingSchool magic school]] dealing with grades, relationships, and occasionally accidental political ramifications to the greater world they live in.

The series takes place at Wildcliff, School of the Arcane, where a team of students consisting of the tiefling rogue [[WildCard Integrity Idleberry]] (Kharla), [[HalfHumanHybrid half-elf]] bard [[GenkiGirl Mira Marchand]] ([[WebVideo/SarahZ Sarah]]), gnome wizard [[DitzyGenius Winsler Wallaby]] (Ben), and human sorcerer [[OnlySaneMan Serinepth Sinderman]] (Sam) pursue an education in the magical arts under the care of their mentor [[TokenAdult Artis Artisian]] ([[GameMaster Luke]]). Unfortunately for them, they constantly wind up in the midst of dangerous scenarios ranging from [[MonsterOfTheWeek monsters loose in the school]] to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt powerful beings trying to kill them and everyone they love]].

** Mira and Integrity are fans of the young adult adventure novel series ''Diane Danger'' and its spinoff series aimed at younger audiences, ''Alyssa Adventure''.

* {{Goth}}: Delnys is a necromancer with a morbid sense of humor who, aside from her [[NiceHat Nice Hats]], dresses in all black.

* NiceHat:
** Winsler wears a large, somewhat tattered wizard hat.
** Delnys owns a number of unusual-looking hats, and is almost always seen wearing one, despite their often bright colors clashing with her otherwise {{Goth}} fashion sense.

* ChestMonster: [[spoiler:The Keeper of the Book of Warlocks, or "Keepsie", as SWIM nicknames them]], is an intelligent Mimic. Though they are friendly, Serinepth is still very uncomfortable interacting with them as she has [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes a phobia of Mimics]].

* CoolSchool: Wildcliff is a prestigious [[WizardingSchool magic academy]] built into the side of a mountain partially under a rocky overhang with [[GlowingGem luminous crystals]] growing on the ceiling, and it sits atop an ancient ruin. It's hard to get much cooler than that.

* WizardingSchool: Wildcliff, School of the Arcane, the main setting of the series.

** The frozen waters around Troisle are stalked by giant centipede-like monsters called Remorhaz.
* CreepyCrows: A murder of crows starts following [[spoiler:Integrity]] around campus after [[spoiler:she becomes a warlock.]]

* SnakesAreSinister: [[spoiler:[[BigBad The Progenitor]]]] has the head of a cobra, and [[spoiler:Neska]] has a giant serpent body.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Serinepth is afraid of [[ChestMonster Mimics]] due to a traumatic childhood experience of being locked in a room by bullies who tricked her into believing that there was a Mimic inside that was going to eat her.

* ArtifactOfDoom: [[spoiler:The Orbs of Reverence, Progress, Power, and Might, which if each placed into their slot in the Sunken Hatch will release [[BigBad the Progenitor]] into the world.]]

** SWIM's horrible luck with {{LockedDoor}}s.

* RunningGag: The fact that trains haven't been invented.

** Each member of the party has a name like this, being Serinepth Sinderman, Winsler Wallaby, Integrity Idleberry, and Mira Marchand. The same extends to their mentor, Artis Artisian, as well as many other [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]], including every high elf, who, like Artis, all have alliterative "A" names, and Bailey Blue.
** During the [[HeroicPetStory "of Pets and Prophecies"]] arc, [[CleverCrows Crowrigami]] dubs the antagonist "the Prickled Pest who Pursues".

* JerkassHasAPoint: After Mira does poorly on her midterms, she gets paired up with the rude Murundeen as a study buddy. He suggests that she should spend less time on extracurricular activities and more time studying, which Mira disagrees with and argues against. She does eventually drop the embroidery club [[spoiler:after [[AnArmAndALeg losing her arm]],]] however, and scores significantly better on her final exams as a result. This gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by [[GameMaster Luke]], who says "Murundeen was right in the end," which [[WebVideo/SarahZ Sarah]] responds to with a single [[PrecisionFStrike "Fuck!"]]

* PrecociousCrush: Chief Ax is a child who is obsessed with Serinepth, saying he deserves a "dragon wife," believing she is a dragon disguised as a human, mistaking the [[LittleBitBeastly scales]] she inherited from a [[DragonAncestry distant dragon ancestor]] for a GlamourFailure.

-->'''[[GameMaster Luke]]:''' [[MemeticMutation It does not budge.]]

* LogicBomb: "To be fair, we didn't know it was bottomless until about halfway."

* BigStupidDoodooHead: Integrity calls [[spoiler:[[BigBad the Progenitor]]]] a "bad snake" as a rebuttal to [[spoiler:them offering to grant any request in exchange for her opening the Sunken Hatch.]]

* NiceHat: Delnys owns a number of unusual-looking hats, and is almost always seen wearing one, despite her otherwise {{Goth}} fashion sense.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In early episodes, Winsler doesn't speak with a Southern accent, and is characterized as being timid and insensitive in contrast to his impulsive characterization in later episodes. Integrity is portrayed as aloof and mysterious in early episodes, whereas in later ones she's very outgoing and rambunctious.

* LittleBitBeastly: Though Serinepth is basically just human for all intents and purposes, she has small patches of blue scales on her face and body as a result of her draconic heritage. Her father has similar patches of scales.

* PrecociousCrush: Chief Ax is a child who is obsessed with Serinepth, saying he deserves a "dragon wife," believing she is a dragon disguised as a human, mistaking the [[LittleBitBeastly scales]] she inherited from a distant dragon ancestor for a GlamourFailure.

* AlliterativeTitle