Line #284 VideoGame/RagnarokRoguelike


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ragnarok_001.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ragnarok_1.gif[[/labelnote]] to see the European version.]]
3	''Ragnarok'' (also known as ''Valhalla'' in Europe, not related to the earlier 8 bit game ''VideoGame/{{Valhalla}}'') is a freeware {{Roguelike}} DOS game heavily based around Myth/NorseMythology, and is notable for being one of the first {{Roguelike}}s to use graphical tiles rather than text-based graphics. Like ''VideoGame/NetHack'', it has an item-heavy focus, though luck still plays an important role, especially early on in the game. How much luck comes into things will also depend partly on your playing style.
4
5	As with most Roguelikes, it has a very steep learning curve and [[TheManyDeathsOfYou many, many ways in which you can die]].
6
7	There are six classes to choose from, which you can change every 10 levels:
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9	* Alchemist -- A master potioneer, able to create magical brews to empower yourself with.
10	* Blacksmith -- A crafter able to make many kinds of weapons and equipment.
11	* Conjurer -- A wizard who uses spells to trick and defeat his enemies.
12	* Sage -- A scholar capable of writing all manner of magical scrolls.
13	* Viking -- A melee class and master of weaponry.
14	* Woodsman -- A ranged class that focuses on attacking with bows and tamed monsters.
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16	The game can be downloaded [[http://www.download-central.ws/DOS/Games/R/Ragnarok/ here]], though you may also need to download an MS-DOS emulator such as UsefulNotes/{{Dosbox}} to get it to run.
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22	!!Ragnarok contains examples of:
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24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Tropes A-C]]
27	* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: You can become immune to poison by eating certain monsters, albeit at the risk of death and other debuffs. It also applies to [[CannibalismSuperPower several other immunities as well]], though there are other, less dangerous methods of gaining resistances.
28	* AllThereInTheManual: {{Averted\|Trope}}. The manual contains some information on various items and monsters, but misses out a lot of information, and deliberately provides some inaccurate details.
29	* AllYourPowersCombined: The player character can gain almost every power, skill, and resistance in the game at the same time.
30	* AmplifierArtifact: The amulet of might, which increases your strength by a full 15 points.
31	* AnachronismStew: Apparently the Norse had Katana-wielding swordsmen running around.
32	%%* AndIMustScream: See FateWorseThanDeath.
33	* AnyoneCanDie: Including the gods. And especially you.
34	* AntiMagic: A silver mantle makes the player immune to most wands and ray attacks. A player can also gain this ability without requiring a silver mantle if they get lucky with a scroll of wonder, and can also become resistant to other magical attacks.
35	* ArtifactOfDeath: Several evil artifacts that can only be gained by being greedy with the [[MakeAWish wand of wishing]]. As with ''VideoGame/NetHack'', wielding a dead cockatrice as a weapon comes fairly close to this.
36	* ArtificialLimbs: A magical arm that can be crafted for Tyr.
37	* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence:
38	** You if you help the gods win the battle of Ragnarok.
39	** You also do this ''literally'' whenever you use the power of dimension travel, as the Crossroads are stated to be located above the normal planes of existence.
40	* AutoRevive: What happens after drinking the aptly named [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin potion of second life]], if you create one as a master alchemist. You can only make it once, though.
41	* AwesomeButImpractical: Mimming, Gungnir, and Mjollnir are designed for the gods to use, not you. You ''can'' use them if your strength and experience level are high enough, but by the time you both have the weapons in question and the necessary might to wield them, you'll probably have Hela's Scythe, which is more powerful than any of them in your hands. Mjollnir is light enough that it's reasonably practical to have enough strength for it by the midgame, and [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang returns after being thrown]], so [[DownplayedTrope it's a little more practical as a throwing weapon]].
42	* BackFromTheDead:
43	** You need to bring Balder back from it as part of one of the quests.
44	** You can bring an entire species back from the dead if you've genocided them and then read a scroll of extinction while confused.
45	* BadassBystander: Shopkeepers are very powerful on early levels and can effortlessly slay monsters that give you considerable trouble, the ones in the bazaar even more so. Which makes you wonder why they hang around in their shops all day waiting for you to turn up and buy something, rather than saving the world themselves.
46	* BagOfHolding: Red bags, which allow you to store 127 items within. Thankfully, items are weightless while inside the bag, and they're also protected from damage.
47	* BanditMook:
48	** Nymphs can repeatedly steal items from you, but you can recover them without penalty if you can track them down.
49	** Despite the name, bandits only pick up items lying on the ground, rather than stealing from you.
50	* BareFistedMonk: Averted generally, as using your fists is one of the weaker weapons in the game. Using gauntlets with a high bonus multiplier works much better, and if you can find crystal gloves, it's one of the strongest weapons in the game.
51	* BazaarOfTheBizarre: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The bazaar]], located [[DungeonShop deep underground]] and magically sealed off. If you can find some way to get there, you can usually find at least one of every item in the game, including powerful and unique items.
52	* BearsAreBadNews: At least at the start of the game, where they're a frequent cause of death for new characters.
53	* TheBeastmaster: The woodsman class can tame monsters. Anyone with the power of mind control can achieve a similar result.
54	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: If you have sufficient luck, then with the exception of most unique items, you can wish for powerful items with no ill effects. If you're excessively greedy, however, then you will get an evil facsimile, or a cursed item instead.
55	* BeefGate: A significant one is at the River Gioll. The river is swarming with lorkesths, huge and nightmarish sea creatures that ''will'' shred you if you aren't an immensely-powerful badass, and on the other side of the river is the miniboss Harbard. These foes are a fancy way of saying that, if you're not strong enough to beat them, you probably aren't ready for Niflheim, since there's monsters down there that can eat lorkesths for breakfast. That being said, Hela (the main reason to visit Niflheim) is ''not'' that strong, so a devil-may-care attitude toward SequenceBreaking may yield dividends.
56	* BigBad: The evil gods, led by Surtr.
57	* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: Yetis show up as one of the monsters you can face.
58	* BigGood: The pantheon, led by Odin.
59	* BlindfoldedVision: Not vision per se, and the game doesn't actually have a blindfold, but you can see monsters whilst blind with a certain skill, or if you're telepathic.
60	* BlobMonster: Red ooze, which eats your weapon if you try attacking it. Then your gauntlets. [[EatenAlive Then you.]]
61	* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Scyld can slam you into walls with his [[ShockwaveClap shockwave ability]], potentially killing you if you're sufficiently low on health.
62	* BodyHorror: In addition to having eyes and limbs grown or ripped off, players can be turned into monsters such as a corpse through polymorphing. Then there's what [[ChestBurster gorms do to you]]…
63	* BoltOfDivineRetribution: Possible if you act extremely immorally, but this is extremely hard to achieve unless you're deliberately going for it.
64	* BorderPatrol: Jormungandr guards the ocean and will kill you in a single hit if you don't immediately escape from the area. He's also completely unkillable, even if you use a memory editor to cheat and take his health down to 1 HP.
65	* BoringButPractical: In a game where you can make enemies explode by creating mountains on them, mind control them, set things in a radius on fire, psionically attack your foes, cast spells, and so on, generally the best strategy is to just hit things. Preferably with an InfinityPlusOneSword. Or possibly a bow, if your character is built for it.
66	** Compared to certain items, scrolls of blessing, identification, and cartography are not too much to write home about. Scrolls of blessing just increase the quality of an item, scrolls of identification simply identify items, and cartography reveals the map. Blessed identification will identify all items in your pack, and blessed cartography shows the entire map as well as traps. Simply knowing what items you have, and where traps are on the map will get you a long way.
67	* BossInMookClothing: Several, many of which are actually harder than most bosses.
68	* BottomlessBladder: While characters [[WizardNeedsFoodBadly have to eat]] to stay alive, you never have to worry about any of the consequences of your constant gorging on food or chugging of potions. You also slowly recover from your wounds without needing to rest (though you can choose to skip turns in a safe area to let them regenerate without fear of taking further damage), and the only way to sleep in the game is to be hit by a wand of sleep, giving other monsters free attacks at your helpless form.
69	* BreakableWeapons: All projectile weapons will break if you use them enough.
70	* BreathWeapon: Dragons and basilisks are fond of this.
71	* CannibalismSuperPower: Several abilities and resistances can be obtained by eating the corpses of dead monsters.
72	* {{Cap}}: Mostly averted. Only luck and constitution have a hard cap of 100 and 1500, respectively. Most other values are limited only by how much memory the game uses to store them, though levelling up becomes progressively more difficult.
73	* CherryTapping: Both the player and monsters can be killed in this way, if you weaken them enough and use certain weapons.
74	* ChestBurster: Gorms.
75	* ChestMonster: A variant. While treasure chests don't exist in the game, chameleons pretend to be items until you try and pick them up, with even a telepath being unable to detect them.
76	* ClingyMacguffin: Cursed weapons and armour can weld themselves to you until destroyed, stolen, or you remove the curse with a scroll of dispel hex or by blessing them.
77	* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Played with. While you can gain many abilities by wearing various amulets, armour, and {{ring\|OfPower}}s, it's almost always possible to gain the effects without wearing anything ''(including the armouring)'', albeit harder.
78	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The colour of monsters on the mini-map is a good indicator of certain characteristics.
79	* CombatPragmatist: You need to be one if you want to win. No one ever saved the world by playing fair.
80	* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Jormungandr doesn't have any ranged attacks, but will auto-kill you if you attack him from any distance. Same with the other evil gods at Vigrid, but a case could be made that they don't normally notice you — Jormungandr ''does'' [[BorderPatrol notice you if you enter the ocean around the world]].
81	* ContinuingIsPainful: The [[AutoRevive potion of second life]] will kindly relocate you so that you avoid certain deaths twice such as drowning, but it won't stop an enemy from blasting you with the wand of death again, or ripping you apart.
82	* ConvectionShmonvection: Played straight with regular lava, but averted with fire giants, which cause anything that gets near to burst into flames.
83	* CoolBoat: Skidbladnir, which as in the myths folds up into the user's pocket. The developers lampshade this in their official guide with a NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer.
84	-->"Skeptics please note: the writers of the game did not make this up. It is an actual mythological boat."
85	* CrazyPrepared: You, if you want to achieve victory.
86	* CriticalExistenceFailure:
87	** Fall in a pit with 1 HP and see where that gets you.
88	** Vanishers cause you to quite literally fade from existence.
89	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Several of the ways you can die are extremely painful. And unusual. From having your chest [[ChestBurster torn open by a parasitic species]], being devoured by [[BlobMonster red ooze]], ripped apart by a rockstorm, having the flesh torn off your body by a gale, having your heart pierced by a sapient plant, having your mind crushed by a telepathic species…
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Tropes D-F]]
93	* DamageDiscrimination: Averted. Certain attacks will damage every being in an area, friend and enemy alike. Monsters can also be hit by projectile attacks aimed at you from other monsters. Wands and rays can hit multiple monsters in their paths.
94	* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Wielding a dead cockatrice when you're not petrification resistant certainly comes close. If your gauntlets are destroyed or stolen, or if you temporarily lose control of your character, then it will end badly.
95	* DeadlyGaze: The gaze of the cockatrice, basilisk, or sentinel [[TakenForGranite will turn you to stone]]. A few others simply damage you instead.
96	* DeathByGluttony: The game even lists this by name if you eat something that kills you. Usually something poisonous, though it can also be something that does elemental damage if you don't have a resistance to it.
97	* DeathByFallingOver: If you fall down a pit with low HP. Strangely averted when trying to use stairs while drunk.
98	* DeathByMaterialism: You can drown if you carry too much weight around with you and try to swim. Also applies if you attempt to go for some treasure and get yourself killed, usually by triggering a hidden trap.
99	* DemBones: Corpses.
100	* DemonLordsAndArchdevils: The various demon lords of Niflheim, who are some of the most dangerous enemies in the game.
101	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: With a few in-game messages. Most apparent with drowning, where the game helpfully tells you after drowning that you've died.
102	* DepletedPhlebotinumShells: Several monsters can only be hit by magical or blessed weapons. If you take a normal weapon and bless it, you're good to go.
103	* DesignItYourselfEquipment: If you get your hands on the [[MakeAWish wand of wishing]], then you can ask for almost any piece of gear in the game, providing you've got sufficiently high luck for the bonus multiplier you want.
104	* DestroyableItems: Any item in the game can be destroyed, including quest items, though some are protected against forms of damage. This also applies to critical parts of the map, such as stairs.
105	* DevelopersForesight:
106	** Try picking up a dead cockatrice. You die. But if you're wearing gauntlets, you can! And if you wield the corpse as a weapon, it will turn anything else to stone!
107	** Jormungandr will regenerate even if you take his HP down to 1 with a memory editor and then kill him. There is no way to achieve this normally.
108	** The developers programmed in some very specific conditions for chameleons, monsters which pretend to be other items. Players can eat items directly off the ground without putting them in the inventory. If a chameleon is pretending to be a piece of food, they can be eaten in this way without revealing their true form, and the player will receive a message that the item tasted unusual. If you genocide chameleons while already on a level with one pretending to be an item, instead of it turning into a chameleon, the item will fade away, giving you a unique message.
109	* DiagonalSpeedBoost: As is standard for most Roguelikes.
110	* DisabilityImmunity: Blind players are [[NoEyeInMagic immune to the gaze of anssks]], and deaf players cannot be stunned by enchantresses.
111	* DisadvantageousDisintegration:
112	** Turning enemies to stone is a powerful ability, but prevents you from getting any loot. To offset this slightly, the resulting statue sells for a decent amount of gold, if you can carry it back to a shop.
113	** Blasting enemies with the wand of annihilation also prevents you from getting any loot, and unlike petrification, you don't even get a statue to sell.
114	* DiscOneNuke:
115	** Potentially possible if you get extremely lucky and find powerful items on an early level. It's even possible to find the sought after wand of wishing in the starting village, but extremely rare.
116	** Speaking of wishes, wishing for a dead breleor is a fancy way to catapult yourself into the midgame at maximum warp. Eating a breleor's corpse gives you the power of dimensional travel without resorting to alchemy, and that's not only a free escape from almost any tricky situation but the fastest (if least precise) form of travel in the game. Being able to d-travel can get you early access to many areas where you don't really have any business being in the beginning that can provide beneficial loot with less risk than getting there the "proper" way.
117	* DistractedByTheSexy: Nymphs seduce players and steal items before teleporting away. Male characters can also be lulled into a trance by an enchantress' song unless they've been deafened or wear a silver mantle.
118	* DoNotDropYourWeapon: Averted, but only for you. Powerful monsters can disarm you by stealing your weapons, or mentally compel you to wield worthless ones.
119	* DragonHoard: Dragons carry large amounts of treasure around with them, making them valuable targets if you can defeat them.
120	* DungeonBypass: Many ways, including digging through the ground, teleporting straight, reading scrolls of travelling whilst confused, or dimension hopping.
121	* DungeonShop: [[BazaarOfTheBizarre The bazaar]] is the biggest shop in the game (taking up an entire level), but getting to it requires getting lucky while dimension hopping, or finding a scroll of transport. Smaller shops can occasionally be found underground or on forest levels.
122	* EarlyGameHell: The initial levels of the game can be pretty unforgiving. You start with only a few supplies, and even if you come across useful items, you are limited in being able to identify them, meaning you either can't use these items until you are able to identify what they are, or have to use them blindly and hope they're useful. You're very vulnerable to dying from traps since you have low HP and few means of detecting or mitigating the threat. As you start to get more powerful and collect more items, the game becomes a lot easier because you gain more control over situations instead of being at the mercy of RNG.
123	* EarnYourHappyEnding: The result of winning the game and saving the world. [[AWinnerIsYou Just don't expect too much.]]
124	* EatenAlive: You, if you get eaten by red ooze. One of the demons in Niflheim will also rip your legs off and eat them.
125	* EnemySummoner: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Summoners]]. Magicians can also summon other magical beings, and both come fairly close to being {{Mook Maker}}s given the fairly low damage they put out.
126	* EverythingFades: Bodies rot away after a while, but any items a monster had on them remain until picked up or destroyed.
127	* EverythingsBetterWithSamurai: Several items of Japanese origin show up, including Katanas and Shuriken, which are some of the best weapons in the game. Averted with the closest thing the game has to a Samurai, swordsmen, which are very dangerous opponents.
128	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Well, almost everything.
129	* EvilDetectingDog: Not literally for the most part unless you tame a wild dog, but friendly characters will attack invisible or nearby monsters that you might not be aware of.
130	* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Literally. [[ToHellAndBack Nilfheim]] is freezing cold and instantly kills players who are not resistant to it. If you're unlucky, reading a scroll of pure evil will send you straight there.
131	* EvilWeapon: The black sword. Don't wish for it!
132	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Several items. Hey, the wand of wishing grants you wishes. Shocking!
133	* ExplosiveBreeder:
134	** Breeders can turn any monster into these by constantly cloning them.
135	** Several other monsters will multiply themselves if you don't kill them quickly.
136	* {{Expy}}: Gorms are very obvious {{Franchise/Alien}} expies: They are extremely fast, have acid blood, and they can implant you with an embryo which will explode out of your chest a short time later (with lethal consequences).
137	* EyeBeams: Several monsters shoot rays from their eyes. The player can potentially learn how to do this as well.
138	* EyeScream: Kalvins have a nasty habit of ripping out your eyes. Ouch.
139	* FakeDifficulty: As with most Roguelikes, ''Ragnarok'' definitely has its fair share of this. More details can be found under the various entries elsewhere on the page. Probably the worst instance of this in the game is regarding traps, which can only be detected with a blessed scroll of cartography, a ring of protection (which can give up to a 100% chance to detect nearby traps), or by stepping on one and hoping you get lucky and it doesn't trigger. Several traps are more annoying than anything else as they do little damage, but monster traps, lava traps, and water traps are highly lethal — and with water traps, it doesn't have to be yourself that triggers them either. You'll probably die several times early on to lava traps in the forest, when you have no way of detecting them.
140	* FantasyKitchenSink: The game revolves mostly around Myth/NorseMythology, but it also includes several other fantasy elements such as [[KatanasAreJustBetter katanas]] or the [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Tolkienesque orcs]].
141	* FastTunnelling: Averted if using physical means like a pick axe, which takes several turns to dig through a barrier. Magical ways such as using a wand of tunnelling, or potion of phasing are instantaneous.
142	* FateWorseThanDeath: The result of [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wishing for the amulet of eternal life]], which [[AndIMustScream freezes you as a living statue]], ending your game.
143	* FetchQuest: Most of the quests play this one straight. Freeing Balder is mostly inverted as you start with the required item, and the vast majority of the quest revolves around travelling to Niflheim.
144	* FighterMageThief: The viking and conjurer class play the first two fairly straight. There's no thief class as such, though the woodsman class probably comes closest with its emphasis on ranged combat.
145	* FinalBattle: You spend most of the game preparing for this, but your main role is to [[FetchQuest retrieve the gods' items]] so they can win it.
146	* {{Fingore}}: A possible consequence of polymorphing while wearing rings.
147	* FishingForMooks: A useful tactic against more powerful monsters is to aggro a few at a given time, and/or force them to fight you in a choke point one-on-one.
148	* FlunkyBoss: Several of the demons in Niflheim fight by their minions and will spawn additional ones.
149	* ForcedTransformation: Can possibly happen to anything that gets hit by a polymorph ray, including yourself. The transformation is randomized, so it may be helpful or harmful to the transformee.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Tropes G-L]]
153	* GenderBender: One of the side-effects of polymorphing or encountering weird fumes.
154	* GenocideBackfire: What can happen if you read a scroll of extinction while confused. [[TooDumbToLive Or if you decide to wipe out your own species if reading it normally.]]
155	* GetBackHereBoss: Scyld is an interesting variant, as he teleports you away instead. [[OhCrap Usually to one of the most dangerous locations in the game.]]
156	* GrandTheftMe: A master sage can steal the body of a high level monster by reading a scroll of switch bodies.
157	* GrievousHarmWithABody: You can pick up any body and wield it as a weapon if so inclined, but wielding a dead cockatrice allows you to do insane damage by instantly petrifying most monsters.
158	* GuideDangIt: Good luck beating the game without reading one. In particular, freeing Balder requires that you know how the appropriate ring works.
159	* {{Hammerspace}}: While you can only carry a certain amount of items in your backpack, no provision is made for volume, only weight, allowing you to carry around items that could not possibly fit, especially items that can stack to take up a single slot. Exaggerated [[SuperStrength with a high enough strength value]], which allows you to somehow carry hundreds of corpses, or a bunch of anvils around. Though ''why'' you would want to do this…
160	* HaveANiceDeath: The game will tell you exactly how you died, and isn't completely above insulting you if you did something especially stupid.
161	* HealingFactor: Trolls regenerate hit points very quickly. The player can also gain this with a very high constitution, or by wearing several rings of regeneration. Draugr can also regenerate after being killed unless you quickly destroy the body.
162	* HellGate: The official stairway to Niflheim is just beyond the River Gioll, guarded by horrifying river monsters and the mystical Harbard. [[spoiler:[[DungeonBypass Or you can just dig straight down through the bottom of the dungeon.]]]]
163	* HitPoints: It's a Roguelike after all.
164	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Monsters can sometimes kill themselves by triggering a trap trying to attack you, but more often than not you'll be the one pulling this off instead.
165	* HollywoodAcid: Played with. Acid attacks can partially corrode items that have numerical bonuses, but it can also instantly destroy some items. If the player or a monster is hit by an acid attack when low on heath then they get completely melted.
166	* HollywoodChameleons:
167	** Chameleons. See ChestMonster.
168	** Morphs can shapeshift into other creatures and take on several of their special abilities. Worse, they can also still change into creatures you've genocided with a scroll of extinction. The only saving grace is that they usually won't remain in such a form for more than a few turns, and they're physically less robust than the creature they're pretending to be.
169	* HumanSacrifice: Three adventurers in Vidur's hall are trapped and waiting to be sacrificed; you can free them, or complete the sacrifices. [[spoiler:Sacrificing all three causes Vidur to give up Gungnir without a fight. Letting any of them live angers him.]]
170	* HyperactiveMetabolism:
171	** Generally averted, as food simply keeps you from starving to death, though your character can consume endless amounts of it with no ill effects.
172	** Rings of famine make you digest food twice as fast.
173	** Potions of speed are said to speed you up by increasing your metabolism, but you still grow hungry at the same rate.
174	* HypnoticEyes: Anssks, [[NoEyeInMagic but only if you fight them hand-to-hand]].
175	* IFoughtTheLawAndTheLawWon: Commiting evil acts such as genocide or stealing from a shopkeeper causes rangers to spawn. If they catch up to you, then they'll knock you out and steal items from you, and if you fight them hand-to-hand, it will spawn an increasing number of them.
176	* ImAHumanitarian: Eating your own species is possible but considered immoral. The gods can strike you down for your unethical behaviour if you do it enough, but that means ''a lot'' of cannibalism.
177	* ImpossibleItemDrop: Generally averted. Loot only spawns upon a monster's death, but you can only find treasure on the bodies of enemies that would conceivably carry it, typically humanoid enemies.
178	* ImprovisedWeapon: Almost every item in the game can be wielded as a weapon, from clay lumps and [[GrievousHarmWithABody corpses]] to anvils. Not that this practice is recommended…
179	* InfinityPlusOneSword: Several divine weapons. A normal weapon with a spectacularly high bonus modifier also becomes this.
180	* InstrumentOfMurder: The disruption horn can kill enemies by collapsing rubble on their heads when used underground. Be careful to avoid suffering a similar fate.
181	* {{Intangibility}}: Potions of phasing and the amulet of ethereality allows you to phase through solid objects. Except for other monsters, strangely enough.
182	* InterfaceScrew: Hallucinating causes all manner of random images to appear on the map and around your character.
183	* InventoryManagementPuzzle: You can only carry a finite amount of items and weight, and at some point are going to have to ditch items or stash them for later. While items will not degrade or get stolen while you're exploring a different level, they can be picked up or destroyed by monsters before you can get to them when you return to the area.
184	* InvisibilityCloak: Available in ring or potion form. It makes you more difficult to track and improves your armour. Some monsters are also invisible as well, unless you wear a ring of third sight, or gain the ability of telepathy.
185	* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: Played straight if you go deep underground or into the Halls of Grynr and have no way of teleporting out.
186	* JustAddWater: Some alchemical mixtures can require you to add water.
187	* KarlMarxHatesYourGuts: Items always sell for half their cost, and their price is fixed across all shops. The exception to this is with unidentified items, which you can potentially make a one-time profit on if you buy it, and sell it back after identifying it. If you're a sage or a blacksmith, then you can also buy cheap items and craft them into more expensive ones.
188	* KarmaMeter: A variant. There's no reward for good actions like saving an ally, but the game does keep track of the number of evil actions you perform and will kill you if you perform enough, though it requires a lot of effort. Several other items will also work better for those with a higher morality score.
189	* KatanasAreJustBetter: Being one of the best weapons in the game.
190	* KickTheDog: You can attack friendly characters if you want, even if there's no good reason to do so.
191	* KillAllHumans: It's possible to read a scroll of extinction targeting "humans." Rangers and traders can't be extincted, though. (It's also advisable to be polymorphed into something nonhuman if you're going to do this.)
192	* KillItWithFire: Wands of fire, the breath of a fire dragon, fire vision.
193	* KillItWithIce: Wands of ice, the breath of an ice dragon.
194	* LethalJokeItem: Literally with the wand of amusement, which does any number of bad things. The player can also use some very unusual weapons to lethal effect.
195	* LethalLavaLand: The Wasteland. If you're not quick enough or you can't terraform, then eventually ''the entire area'' will be flooded with lava.
196	* LevelDrain: Vampires and wraiths can drain your levels, killing you if they [[StatDeath reduce your level to zero]].
197	* LevelGrinding: There are a few ways to do this, but require a bit of preparation if you want to survive.
198	* LevelScaling: Averted. The level of the monsters you face is area-dependent.
199	* LevelUpFillUp: Partially averted. You gain some HP upon levelling, but the proportion compared to your maximum is kept the same.
200	* LifeEnergy: Vampires, wraiths, and spirits can kill you by stealing yours. Players can also improve their hit points by stealing it from others by using black gems.
201	* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: {{Inverted\|Trope}}. Magical attacks don't scale well, whereas you can get access to far better weapons and armour, and become much physically stronger as the game progresses.
202	* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday: A variant. One of the possible effects of reading a scroll of wonder is that it creates a new shop out of thin air. It does avert other aspects of the trope; however; once created, it'll stick around for the rest of the game.
203	* LogicalWeakness: Played straight with some monsters, like cold-based creatures, which are vulnerable to fire. Averted with others, which do not have any particular weakness to their opposing element.
204	* LoopholeAbuse:
205	** You can't wish for a Potion of Switch Dimension, which allows you to travel almost anywhere by magic (though not necessarily reliably). [[spoiler:But a breleor's corpse is at least as useful.]]
206	** Scrolls of time stop only work on certain levels. However, nothing stops you from reading it on a level where it does work, then ''immediately entering a level it doesn't normally work on'', with the Dimension Travel power being especially helpful here. The one exception is the bazaar, where time will instantly resume.
207	** While the Dimension Travel power will have a degree of randomness, nothing stops you from using it over and over until you get to your desired destination. If you combine this with the aforementioned scroll of time stop, you can freeze time, attempt to go for your destination, then immediately return to the crossroads if unsuccessful. Which also means that with the power, you more or less get a scroll of transport, because you can repeatedly select an underground area until you manage to travel to the bazaar.
208	** When human, you can only consume potions of speed safely up until a speed of 60. However, nothing stops you from doing this and ''then'' using an amulet of quickness to get your speed up to 70 (temporarily) — if you do this the other way around, you'll die when the potion of speed pushes you up to 70.
209	* LordBritishPostulate: You cannot kill the gods, either the good ones or the evil ones; even coming ''near'' the evil ones will get you annihilated. This doesn't apply to Hela or Vidur, though; just to the gods and giants who will fight at Vigrid (it does apply to Jormungandr on the ocean, but that's because he's the BorderPatrol).
210	* LuckBasedMission: Oh so much. Prepare to sacrifice your first born to the Random Number God if you want to win. In addition to being able to avoid the EarlyGameHell, getting lucky with items early on can make the game massively easier.
211	* LudicrousGibs: Read a scroll of recall in the wrong place, and watch as you get torn into chunks and teleported throughout the universe. Being ripped apart by a cloud of rocks or a gale probably counts too. And try terraforming a square a monster is standing on into a mountain…
212	[[/folder]]
213
214	[[folder:Tropes M-R]]
215	* {{Macrogame}}: Ghost files allow you to run into [[PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo the ghosts of your past characters]]. You can also find their loot too, minus any extremely powerful items, unless you [[GoodBadBugs take advantage of a bug]].
216	* MadeOfExplodium: What can happen if you randomly mix potions. Rather bizarrely, this can occur if you mix two of the same types of potion, leading to odd scenarios where adding two vials of water together can cause an explosion strong enough to kill you.
217	* MagicPants: Averted. If you polymorph while wearing armour and rings, then you can get crushed by your armour, or lose fingers.
218	* MagicWand: Lots of different types, and the primary offensive weapon of magical classes:
219	** AcidAttack: Wands of flaying.
220	** BioManipulation: Wands of evocation create monsters.
221	** HavingABlast: Wands of annihilation destroy anything in their path.
222	** HealingHands: Wands of healing.
223	** KillItWithFire: Wands of fire.
224	** KillItWithIce: Wands of ice.
225	** OneHitKill: Wands of death instantly kill non-undead who aren't ray resistant.
226	** ShockAndAwe: Mjolnir can let out an electric blast. A wand of wands (which acts as a random wand) also has a unique ability to do this if the game chooses it.
227	** SpaceMaster: Wands of displacement can teleport you, monsters, or certain terrain.
228	** TakenForGranite: Wands of stoning.
229	** WeakenedByTheLight: Wands of light can kill certain creatures, though their normal use is to light up dark rooms underground.
230	* MakeAWish: The wand of wishing.
231	* MagikarpPower: Writing probably fits the bill at first if you manage to acquire it at a low level, but it eventually turns into one of the most powerful skills in the game.
232	* TheManyDeathsOfYou: There are a huge number of ways to die, but some require extensive effort.
233	* MaximumHPReduction: Several undead creatures and cursed items can permanently drain your maximum HP, with no way to cure this other than by using one of the ways of increasing HP to offset the loss. As with [[LevelDrain level draining]] monsters, [[StatDeath you can be killed if your max HP is reduced to zero]].
234	* {{Metagame}}: Players can engage in dangerous or risky acts during the first few levels of the game hoping that the RNG works out. Your opinion may vary on the practice.
235	* MindOverMatter: Psionics, which allow you to mentally crush enemies with your mind. [[TooDumbToLive Just don't try using your own abilities on yourself.]]
236	* MoneyForNothing: What happens when you kill every shopkeeper in the game. I guess you could always animate it?
237	* MonstersEverywhere: Bar a few locations in the game. Several more start off devoid of monsters and have them appear later. You can actually see them spawn out of thin air potentially if you're in the right place, or if you're telepathic.
238	* MookBouncer: Several of them, [[GetBackHereBoss with Scyld being the worst]].
239	* MookMaker:
240	** Wands of evocation and rings of genesis serve no purpose but to spawn enemies.
241	** [[FlunkyBoss Several bosses]] spawn enemies to fight you.
242	** [[EnemySummoner Summoners and magicians]] both come fairly close to this as they put out very limited damage by themselves. Breeders play it straight, as they have no attacks and can only [[ExplosiveBreeder clone other monsters]].
243	* MushroomSamba: In addition to potions of hallucination, several mushrooms cause you to go insane and hallucinate.
244	* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Using the skill of precognition on unknown items results in this.
245	* NewGamePlus: Not officially an option, but it is possible to deliberately sacrifice a high level character on an early level to allow a new character to access his possessions.
246	* NighInvulnerability: The result of drinking [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin potions of invulnerability]]. It is still possible to die while under the effects, but only from instant death attacks.
247	* NintendoHard: Even as an experienced player, the game is very hard. Like ''VideoGame/NetHack'', [[PressStartToGameOver it's also possible to die without taking a single turn]], but only if you're extremely unlucky.
248	* NoBodyLeftBehind: Several monsters, particularly undead, do not leave any body behind when they die. The player can also suffer such a fate under certain circumstances.
249	* NoEyeInMagic: Anssks can only stun you if you fight them hand-to-hand [[DisabilityImmunity while you can see]]. Other gaze attacks in the game only require a monster to be able to see you, and can be avoided if you can break line-of-sight before they use them.
250	* NonHumanUndead: And lots of them too.
251	* NoodleIncident: Several deaths can fall into this territory. Examples include being killed by a food ration [[spoiler:(a scroll of wonder can animate nearby items)]], being killed by a tree [[spoiler:(you can accidentally bring the terrain to life while terraforming)]], or [[TooDumbToLive specifying "idiots"]] while reading a scroll of extinction [[spoiler:(read enough scrolls of extinction while confused)]].
252	* NoSell: All over the place, ranging from partial resistance to complete immunity. You can do this yourself if you play the game right, including making yourself invulnerable to all attacks by drinking potions.
253	* NonStandardGameOver: Wishing for [[SchmuckBait the amulet of eternal life]]. Also a possibility if you polymorph yourself into a plant and are unable to revert the change in time.
254	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: What you can do to monsters, if you put them to sleep or if you use a scroll of time stop. Expect the same treatment if you get stunned.
255	* TheNudifier: A cursed scroll of pure evil will destroy all of your possessions. Kiss that armour goodbye! [[BanditMook Nymphs]] can also steal items you're wearing.
256	* OffWithHisHead: Iridorns can decapitate you unless you wear a gorget.
257	* OneHitKill: The player can do this to almost every monster in the game if you become powerful enough. Several monsters also have attacks that can kill you in a single hit.
258	* PaperMaster: Practitioners of origami can fold scrolls into creatures and magically animate them.
259	* PermanentlyMissableContent: There's nothing stopping you from doing something stupid with one of the quest artifacts and thus being unable to deliver it to its rightful owner during Ragnarok. However, Balder is the easiest to lose. If you want to save him, you need to trap Thokk's soul in the appropriate ring, [[spoiler:and then take that ring off, never let it absorb another soul, and keep it safe until it's time to deliver it to Hela]].
260	* PlanetHeck: Niflheim. You need to go there for one main quest and (probably) to deal with several sub-bosses who might otherwise make it difficult-to-impossible to reach the plain of Vigrid (where the gods are fighting Surtur and his mightiest warriors).
261	* PointOfNoReturn: Once you cross Bifrost, there's no going back.
262	* PoisonMushroom: Lots of them, including several varieties of mushrooms.
263	* PowerFloats: {{Invoked\|Trope}}. Reading a scroll of knowledge can teach you the ability of levitation, which is very useful for avoiding traps or difficult terrain. Several monsters play this one straight.
264	* PowerIncontinence: Several powers can randomly backfire and harm you, such as mind control or terraforming.
265	* PowerUpFood:
266	** The corpses of several monsters can increase stats, and players can increase their strength, constitution, and maximum HP by eating urns, bleached roots, and green mushrooms respectively.
267	** Black mushrooms also temporarily grant you the ability to shoot fire from your eyes.
268	* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang:
269	** Unless it breaks on impact, a boomerang will always return.
270	** Mjollnir always returns after being thrown, but it's more understandable being a divine weapon.
271	* PressStartToGameOver: Only if you're extremely unlucky and spawn on a stun gas trap.
272	* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: You can occasionally run across the ghosts of previous characters, and take their loot.
273	* PsychicAssistedSuicide: Using the power of mind control on monsters allows you to command them to kill themselves by walking into traps or dangerous terrain.
274	* PublicDomainArtifact: It's based around Myth/NorseMythology. You didn't expect weapons like Mjollnir to not be in the public domain, right?
275	* PurelyAestheticGender: For the most part and [[YouALLLookFamiliar not even aesthetically]]. An enchantress can lull male characters into a trance, so technically female characters have a slight advantage. Otherwise there's no difference between genders.
276	* QuicksandSucks: If you don't escape from it in time, then you'll be sucked under and drown. It's also impossible to free yourself without a grappling hook, or by using magical means.
277	* RandomlyGeneratedLevels: As with most {{Roguelike}}s.
278	* RandomlyGeneratedLoot: Along with the [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels levels]], most loot is randomly generated. The exception is the village shop, which always has a grappling hook and pick axe to sell. [[BazaarOfTheBizarre The bazaar's]] stock is also random, but the chances are very high you can find a given unique item there, providing the game hasn't already created one.
279	* RandomNumberGod: It's everywhere.
280	* RareCandy: Several, including potions of strength, scaling, holy water, constitution, and experience. Certain corpses and food items will also increase stats.
281	* ReflectingLaser: The rays shot from most wands will bounce off solid terrain straight back at you if shot at the correct angle. Including ''mountains''.
282	* RetGone:
283	** Scrolls of extinction. If you genocide a certain monster, then it won't make the corpse disappear, but it will stop you from polymorphing into one, unless you bring the race back to life.
284	** Archmages do this to items, making them a popular target for scrolls of extinction. If you can nullify their ability to do this, however, then fighting them is very profitable.
285	* RingOfPower: All rings save for delusion, which pretends to be one of these instead.
286	[[/folder]]
287
288	[[folder:Tropes S-Z]]
289	* SaveGameLimits: Averted for the most part. ''Ragnarok'' allows you to save every 200 turns and you can use as many slots as you want.
290	* SaveScumming: Unlike various other roguelikes, ''Ragnarok'' doesn't erase your saved games upon dying, making this process even easier.
291	* SaveTheWorldClimax: The FinalBattle of Ragnarok decides whether the world is saved or destroyed.
292	* SdrawkcabName: A side-effect of turning yourself dyslexic is that all items you discover from then on become this.
293	* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: Phase traps will teleport you into these. Unlike other games, however, the only way you're getting out is if you figure out a way yourself.
294	* SeaMonster: Giant squid.
295	* ShapeShifterModeLock:
296	** You can get partially locked in if you're using a wand of polymorph and turn yourself into a creature that is resistant to rays.
297	** Hitting a morph with a wand of cancellation prevents it from changing form.
298	* ShopliftAndDie: A very likely result if you steal early on in the game and are unable to escape, though later on shopkeepers become an easy target if you feel like taking their considerable gold. The ones in the bazaar, however, are some of the hardest opponents in the game.
299	* ShockAndAwe: One of the few abilities you can't get in the game, unless you wield Mjollnir.
300	* ShockwaveClap: Scyld often [[BlownAcrossTheRoom uses this]] to slam you into walls.
301	* ShopFodder: Statues and rocks serve little purpose other than to be sold for a decent chunk of gold.
302	* {{Sidequest}}: Technically, all the main quests can be considered sidequests, as they're not required for victory, and the good gods can still win Ragnarok without you doing anything. It's just very unlikely…
303	* SilverHasMysticPowers: A silver sword is considered a magical weapon (which some monsters require you to possess in order to hit them), and instantly kills werewolves on contact. Unlike other games, it doesn't do any extra damage to other creatures.
304	* SinisterScythe: Hela's Scythe, the most powerful weapon in the game. Uniquely, it's ''not'' one of the divine weapons you need to deliver to the gods at Ragnarok.
305	* SpannerInTheWorks: The entire game revolves around you being one and foiling the prophesy that foretells the end of the world.
306	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Most of the names and places are anglicised from the original Myth/NorseMythology, including the eponymous Ragnarök. Baldr is also spelt as "Balder".
307	* SpikesOfDoom: Spike traps, which in addition to being poisoned, are above all, spiky.
308	* SquishyWizard: Initially played straight as conjurers start as the physically weakest class, but nothing stops you from drinking potions of strength and wearing powerful armour as one. You'll definitely need to avert this to survive later on.
309	* StatDeath: Can occur if a vampire drains your level to zero, or if your ''maximum'' hitpoints get reduced to zero[[note]]technically, your maximum HP can't be reduced to zero, because the game will crash; however, the ring of draining can reduce your max HP to 1, and the 1 HP of damage it inflicts on you will then kill you. In any case, the spirit of this holds true[[/note]].
310	* StatusEffects: Most of them appear in some form.
311	* StarfishAliens: The breleor, a sort of intelligent multidimensional plant creature.
312	* SuicideAttack: Gas balls and ice spheres try and kill you by exploding themselves next to you.
313	* SuperDrowningSkills:
314	** You, unless you've learned the ability to swim. Even then, if you're carrying too much, then you'll drown. And you'll always drown in quicksand if you can't escape in time. This is also played straight for most monsters.
315	** Inverted with aquatic monsters. If you force them onto land, then they'll suffocate.
316	* SuperSpeed: If you polymorph into certain monsters, you can move much faster than a normal human. As a human, you can also consume potions of speed to temporarily speed yourself up; however, if you reach an excessive speed, you'll die.
317	* SuperStrength: There's no limit to the amount of strength you can gain, though it becomes much harder to raise it once you hit 18. The [[AmplifierArtifact Amulet of Might]] will raise it by 15 when worn. Very high values can allow a player to do very large amounts of damage, as well as carry staggering amounts of weight.
318	* TakenForGranite: Just one of the many, many ways you can die.
319	* TakeYourTime: Averted, you only have so many turns before the FinalBattle starts anyway.
320	* TakingYouWithMe: Gas balls and ice spheres attempt to do this with a SuicideAttack. Bartoks also emit a damaging attack upon death.
321	* TimedMission: From the very start of the game, time is gradually ticking away towards the final battle of the gods… The time limit is reasonably lenient, given that you do not need to complete every single goal for the gods to win.
322	* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Any item can be thrown as a weapon, including items such as [[GrievousHarmWithABody bodies]], food rations, or [[AnvilOnHead anvils]], though unless it's designed as a throwing weapon, it won't be particularly effective. Conventional weaponry can make for a decent throwing weapon if you have a high enough strength or it's a powerful weapon.
323	* ThrowTheBookAtThem: Well, not books, but scrolls. Not likely to do much, but it could possibly save you if you're in a really bad situation. You can also throw pretty much any item in the game as well, in addition to wielding it as a weapon.
324	* ToHellAndBack: Niflheim, specifically. At least, you'll need to go there if you want to complete one of the six quests.
325	* TooAwesomeToUse: Scrolls of enchantment and knowledge can feel like this at times when you lack the ability to wish for more. Particularly so if you want to wait until you've learnt your class skill, or until you've obtained better weapons and armour before enchanting it.
326	* TooDumbToLive:
327	** You, potentially. Go on, feel free to genocide your race, walk off the edge of the universe, drink that potion of venom, blast yourself with the wand of death…
328	** A literal example if you read enough scrolls of extinction while confused. [[spoiler:You specify "idiots" and are wiped out.]]
329	* ToServeMan: If you're a nonhuman, humans are unusually tasty to eat.
330	* TreasureRoom: Menageries in underground dungeons are walled off rooms containing lots of treasure and typically guarded by very powerful monsters.
331	* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Emphasis on the error part.
332	* UnexplainedRecovery: Mostly explained away by the potion of second life, but rather amazingly, this even works after being struck down by the gods for unethical behaviour, walking off the edge of the universe, having faded from existence, or even after having genocided your own species.
333	* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Played with. Several monsters will drop the weapons they used upon death, allowing you to take them for yourself, whereas certain others won't drop any weapons or equipment if they die (or if they do, it's random loot).
334	* UnwinnableByDesign: It's perfectly possible to misplace or destroy items needed for your quests. If you fail a quest, the game will give no indication.
335	* UselessUsefulSpell: Magic, by and large, is pretty pointless. A couple of effects can be handy, but MP regenerates slowly, and in almost every case it would be quicker and easier to hit your opponent with a sword. Magical attacks have no scaling; meanwhile, your physical damage limit is practically unlimited in comparison. Wands are useful early on in the game, but short of some specific effects that target enemy weaknesses or are particularly useful, they mostly become obsolete. Why blast an enemy with a wand for 20 fire damage that only has a finite number of charges, when you can hit them with your InfinityPlusOneSword as much as you want?
336	* UselessUsefulNonCombatAbilities: Writing utterly averts this by being one of the most powerful skills in the game. There are several other skills that play this one straight, though.
337	** Ventriloquism causes enemies to move away from you by fooling them. However, this is extremely tedious to use, and the only way of obtaining the skill is reading a scroll of knowledge and getting (un)lucky. You only get experience by killing monsters (or drinking experience potions, to a point), so avoiding combat is generally not that helpful.
338	** Mind control has a high chance to backfire, and controlling a mind controlled opponent is so annoying that it's not worthwhile. Taming doesn't have a chance of backfiring, but manually controlling a tamed enemy suffers from the same issues.
339	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You can kill and even genocide friendly beings for no reason whatsoever.
340	* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Commit too many evil acts and eventually the gods will strike you down for it. You really have to be trying for this one, though.
341	* ViolationOfCommonSense: Certain scrolls that are otherwise harmful can be very useful if read while confused, and vice versa.
342	* WakeUpCallBoss: The lorkesths and Harbard at the River Gioll. They're far mightier than anything before them, they [[BeefGate guard the gate to Niflheim]], and they're a heads-up that you're leaving Midgard for realms where no mortal has any business venturing, and that avoiding enemies you can't beat is always an option.
343	* WasOnceAMan: You potentially, if you get polymorphed into a monster. Also can apply if you polymorph other human enemies.
344	* WeakButSkilled: Several classes start off this way. Like ''VideoGame/NetHack'', this is a good mindset to adopt at the start of new games.
345	* WeaponOfXSlaying: Ivory staffs do extra damage to undead.
346	* WeBuyAnything: Literally anything you pick up can be sold except for gold itself, though shopkeepers only have a certain amount of gold in which to pay you with. Averted for [[BazaarOfTheBizarre the bazaar]], which won't buy any items off you.
347	* AWinnerIsYou: Your only reward for beating the game is a picture and a line of text telling you you're a hero.
348	* WizardNeedsFoodBadly: If you don't eat, you'll eventually starve to death after growing progressively weaker from hunger.
349	* WorldOfChaos: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Chaos]]. Every turn, approximately 1/3rd of the level randomly changes, making it very difficult to navigate.
350	* WoundThatWillNotHeal: A jacchus can inflict a disease that prevents you from naturally regenerating HP over time until you cure it, though you can use other healing items such as rings of regeneration to offset this.
351	* WreathedInFlames: Fire giants, which cause anything nearby to burst into flame. Alchemists can produce a potion that allows the player to gain a similar power.
352	* YetAnotherStupidDeath: Just some of the many ways you can die.
353	* YouCantFightFate: Averted, and the plot of the game revolves around you doing so. It's just very hard!
354	* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Several bosses in Niflheim can teleport straight to you, as can hel dragons.
355	* ZergRush: The strategy used by most monsters.
356	[[/folder]]
357
358	----

Context VideoGame / RagnarokRoguelike