History Roleplay / WeaverdiceTongju

* SuperWeight: Tongju generally runs the gamut from -1 to 4. A 5-6 exists in the Wormverse but has no bearing on the Tongju plot whatsoever.

* ABirthdayNotABreak: Due to the length of the story and the amount of characters, happens repeatedly.

* BigDamnVillains: DOWNFALL takes down a lot of evil people and garners a surprisingly positive reputation over the course of the game.

* VillainsOutShopping: A lot of threads outside of the regular weekly sessions amount to this.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The game started with a huge variety of [=NPCs=], and has only resulted in more as the game goes on, like the originally Seoul-based House of Cards, the many new triggers created by the Maenglyeolhan attack, and other gang's [=NPCs=] with their second in the spotlight during massive catastrophes.

* AdultFear: Surprisingly common in a universe with superpowers; trigger events are still usually things that could occur in real life, featuring all manner of trauma, abuse, and horrible luck. Gears up when allies and teammates start dying and the city becomes a war zone.

* StockSuperpowers: Like in Worm, characters are sorted into one or more categories based on their type of power (and the type of trigger event that caused it).

* OnlyAFleshWound: Generally only in the case of Brutes; gunshots and the like can be fatal to pretty much anyone, as [[RealityEnsues Strychnine can attest]].

* RealityEnsues: Massive disasters lead to ongoing messes, having a bunch of traumatized superpowered people running around doesn't make for a stable world, being shot sucks whether you have powers or not, and having a [[CastFullOfGay normally disproportionate amount of LGBT characters]] makes sense when powers are based on trauma.

* FamousLastWords: The players even have a spreadsheet tracking the last words of named characters, thanks to all the homicide. While many never spoke at all, there are a fair few fun examples, from Jiral's "Feint" (noted on his death bingo as "my last words are calling bullshit") to Yudok Han's hilarious "Oh, you ''motherfucker.''"

* BetterToDieThanToBeKilled: At the Devourer fight, Senoeja mind-controls Kobeula Wangja into [[DeathIsTheOnlyOption killing him]] just before Devourer can do it, [[ColdEquation just to prevent Devourer from stealing his power]].

* GoneHorriblyWrong: Every group or gang that thinks it'll be easy to recapture Neidan ends up regretting it. Also applies to Nan Jun-ho, whose assembled team of killers (meant to destroy the "rot and poison" of Tongju) realizes her plan and turns on her.

* RelationshipUpgrade: Min-joo and Chosin, Jogabi and Neidan, Babo and Moonshine. Several other relationship developments are in the works, if no one involved dies first.

* TheReveal: Their mysterious benefactor is actually two: Jiral, an [=NPC=] met very early on, and the PJS Director, who is also a parahuman formerly known as Janggi.

* ScryVsScry: Invoked when crashing the Bright Future announcement; Daltokki's precog powers can't be completely trusted, both because of Byeolbit's interference and the presence of another precog on the hero's team.

* TruceZone: The ferry where the city's villains would gather to hold their meetings. Until the Fangshi and the Yuhaehanpa break that truce, the latter getting completely annihilated for it.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Averted. Capes, including the players, commonly get shot in-universe, but there's a Wormverse justification for why caps overwhelmingly use their powers to the exclusion of other weapons. Mainly if you're willing to go no-holds-barred on your enemies, everyone else will go no-holds-barred on you.

* WretchedHive: Tongju, especially after the Maenglyeolhan attack and even more so after the CUI invasion.

* FromBadToWorse: DOWNFALL go from taking out a gang of killers to taking on an entire army invasion.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: Every group or gang that thinks it'll be easy to recapture Neidan ends up regretting it.
* GoodIsNotNice: Could apply to both DOWNFALL, who take out killers and protect their own but also perform tons of other crimes, or the city's heroes, who tend to be ineffective egotists, namely Yuseongu.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The entire Mirae Group, the Fangshi as a facet of the CUI, or maybe even their mysterious benefactor?

* HellIsThatNoise: Shriek's shriek, which actually kills Daia by ''exploding his bones'' (who is only saved by Jisei's power).

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The escalating violence in Tongju asks for escalating violence from the players in return.

* InTheBlood: A prominent theme running through Tongju, with many characters afraid that they'll turn out like their terrible parents. Especially notable with Neidan's family and Daia's, where the parents' powers are remixed in their children.
* IWorkAlone: Very rarely, some powerful capes who can hold territory by themselves, like Jigol. Later this also includes Mireuk and Siegebreaker.
* KillOnSight: The Maenglyeolhan, though this is easier said than done.

* LethalHarmlessPowers: Ultraviolent could be described as this; her power doesn't actually make her more deadly, but it makes everyone around her ''think'' she is. Also includes Daia's instrumental role in killing Cordyceps by severing his connections from his minions, which would otherwise let him regenerate.
* LetsSplitUpGang: Becomes more common as problems get worse and the gang gets bigger, most notable in the Maenglyeolhan arc and the CUI invasion arc. Usually results in TwoLinesNoWaiting as it's rare for all four players to be doing their own thing.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Sure, people that can hit you really hard are scary, but the real things to fear in Tongju are the thinkers, masters, tinkers and trumps that make problems exponentially worse (such as Drone's massive group of mind-controlled capes, or Waidan's ability to mass-produce short-lived cape henchmen).
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The game started with a huge variety of [=NPCs=], and has only resulted in more as the game goes on, like the originally Seoul-based House of Cards, and the many new triggers created by the Maenglyeolhan attack.

* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: Chosin manages to turn the regenerating flesh tinker Dongmaek into ash, while a combination of powers takes out Cordyceps, who could theoretically regenerate infinitely from his mushroomed minions.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: Lots of horrific murderers have been horrifically murdered.

* PoliceAreUseless: The unpowered police forces of Tongju are either corrupt, ineffective, or suspiciously absent. This extends to the government hero team as well.
* PostVictoryCollapse: At pretty much every victory thus far, the characters are pretty maimed and have to spend a while recovering. Broken limbs, collapsed lungs, bullet wounds, and neurological backlash from Daia's power are common occurrences here.

* PowerMisidentification: Comes up with Daia, whose power is hard to pinpoint even when he uses it, and Ultraviolent, who messes with people's perceptions/emotions but isn't actually more dangerous than a normal person.

* PreserveYourGays: There are so many gay characters it is basically impossible to bury them all, and enemies are more likely to be straight than main characters are.

* PyrrhicVictory: DOWNFALL wins the fight on the ferry against the Yuhaehanpa, but at the cost of losing Munsin and kickstarting a CUI invasion, as well as Jiral's death. Later, they recover Munsin, distract Devourer, and kill Waidan in a targeted group effort by every gang in the city, but they lose a team member for the first time, Baesim.
* PutOnABus: Chosin and Geobu, which resulted in new characters Amugeosdo and Nun-esgasi and their cluster.

By the end of the game,

* ElementalMotifs: In this game, arcs are themed after poison, which ties into the main plot-inciting [=NPC=] Neidan and the deteriorating city itself. This echoes Worm (bug-themed arc titles) and Ward (light and darkness), as well as previous Weaverdice game Mizumiya (fire).

* ChekhovsNews: News stories about the Mirae Group or an upcoming Very Simple Secrets concert which heralds the arrival of the Japanese warlord Suisei.
* ChildSoldiers: On all sides of the conflict, with at the very least Downfall, the Fangshi Clique, the SYKD, and the GSB youth service sending minors to lethal battles. The KWJ is ''mainly'' minors, though at the very least their younger teens are kept out of the line of fire.
* ClarkKenting: Almost everyone has a secret identity to deal with. The strength of the secret identity varies, with some capes having very distinctive appearances (Bulldozer, for instance, has four arms and not much chance at stealth). Some capes like Jogabi create a 'Clark Kent' persona on purpose (despite being a shapeshifter and assumed dead).

* ContinuityNod: Former Weaverdice game Mizumiya takes place in the same universe, in 2008 Japan rather than 2010 Korea. Several characters reappear in Tongju, from ShoutOuts like Promise, who never appeared in person in Mizumiya, to main characters like Zeroday and Suisei.

* DarkIsNotEvil: The villains can be pretty upstanding people, aesthetics aside. Goes along with LightIsNotGood.

* TheDreaded: Pretty much everyone DOWNFALL has gone up against so far; currently the CUI and Devourer, but formerly even the SYKD were considered pretty terrifying.

* AdaptiveAbility: In a general sense, all capes have powers that respond in some way to their trigger event. Brutes result from physical damage, thinkers from mental strain, strangers from unwanted attention, and so on. Of course, the power usually 'solves the problem' at hand in a roundabout way at best, or the trigger ''would'' have solved the problem but now it's too late.

* AllUpToYou: Due to all variety of terrible circumstances, from personal relationships in the team to just being disbelieved by other gangs, DOWNFALL tends to take point on Tongju's escalating problems that should effect everyone. The fight on the ferry and the CUI invasion shatters this mindset for a lot of groups, though, even heroes.
* AlwaysABiggerFish: From small-time drug dealers to the SYKD, to the local branch of the Fangshi, to the Maenglyeolhan, to the massive invading force of the CUI...
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: Dogsuli (eagle), Pungsan (hunting dog), Dragonfire, and Daltokki (moon rabbit) are all examples.

* AnyoneCanDie: As a TTRPG, even the players are capable of dying at any point, let alone important [=NPCs=] (like former chessmaster Jiral).
* AssholeVictim: Most of them, since DOWNFALL's modus operandi is killing killers.

Weaverdice Tongju is a tabletop roleplaying group based on the ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', or Parahumans, universe, by John [=McCrae=], a.k.a. Creator/{{Wildbow}}. It officially began in November 2018 and is still ongoing.

* PostVictoryCollapse: At pretty much every victory thus far, the characters are pretty maimed and have to spend a while recovering.