Line #55 Webcomic/ElfOnlyInn


1	[[quoteright:203:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elfonlyinn_645.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:203:Roleplaying: It's kinda like that. ROFL.]]
3
4	->''"You idiots! [[StopHavingFunGuys This isn't imaginary play time]]! This is ROLEPLAYING! This is {{SERIOUS BUSINESS}}!"''
5	-->-- '''Lord Elf'''
6
7	''[[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/ Elf Only Inn]]'' is a {{webcomic}} by Josh Sortelli.
8
9	The comic follows the events in a roleplaying chatroom, which often deviate from the intended roleplaying, and parodies some personality types one's likely to find online, from the uptight moderator to the annoying and oblivious [[{{noob}} newbie]]. Later on, the characters move to a MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame, which [[GenreShift slightly changes]] the previous character dynamics - for example, some actions can no longer simply be ignored as they were in the text-based chatroom.
10
11	The comic seems to have been set into an infinite hiatus on Monday, May 5, 2008 and has been discontinued since.
12
13	----
14	!!This webcomic provides examples of:
15
16	%% * AbortedArc: The comic was about to start a ''D&D'' game, went on hiatus for over two years, and the setting suddenly shifted from a chat room to an MMORPG.
17	%% * AlmightyJanitor: Lord Woot, the Eternal Sweeper.
18	* ArtShift: Eventually the author stopped using variations on the standard avatar images, and started drawing new strips completely from scratch.
19	%% * BrainlessBeauty: Lady.
20	%% * BreastPlate: Parodied with elvish swimwear early on, then later played straight after the GenreShift.
21	%% * ButtMonkey: Ben more than anyone.
22	%% * ClingyJealousGirl: Megan.
23	%% * CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Megan and Lady submit Duke and Woot to [[spoiler:''The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood''.]]
24	%% * {{Crossover}}: With ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''; Megan went on a date with the Fruit Fucker.
25	%% * CrossPlayer: [[spoiler: King Herman]]. First revealed in said crossover, interestingly enough, though little attention was drawn to it.
26	* CutShort: It seemed to have ended a few times, one of the latest times to remake itself to change the setting. It has now not since been updated since 2008, in the midst of a storyline dealing with multiple character interactions, including Duke and his father.
27	%% * DemonLordsAndArchdevils: Lord of Dorkness.
28	* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Though of course by the very nature of the premise nothing ''did'' happen, but just what exactly went on between Nimoy and Sweet_grrrl in the private chatroom is a mystery.
29	%% * TheDitz: Goku666 and Lady.
30	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything? There's plenty in the chatroom stuff, and then of course there's Barbivine railing against [[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20070129.html the Mods]]:
31	-->Hah! The ''mods?'' The mods have abandoned us! Where were the mods when the demon burned down the forest? Where were the mods when the Dorum brothers sacked their own city? The mods ''don't care''. Do the mods ever even answer when you call them?
32	%% * DumbMuscle: Duke Commando.
33	%% * FanService: A [[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20040512.html male example.]] Much rejoicing.
34	%% * {{Flanderization}}
35	%% * {{Griefer}}
36	%% * HandsomeLech: Duke.
37	%% * LesYay: Mainly for humor.
38	%% * PhraseCatcher: "Go away, Ben!"
39	%% * RedEyesTakeWarning: Lilith.
40	%% * ScheduleSlip
41	%% * SeriesHiatus: There's been a couple at least, one of them leading to the MMORPG setting.
42	%% * The latest, unannounced one has been going on for ''over fourteen years''.
43	%% * A recent journal entry of his has stated that he does not intend to start up the comic again any time soon, if ever.
44	%% * ShoutOut
45	%% * StopHavingFunGuys: [[invoked]] Lord Elf acts like this a lot.
46	%% * {{Stripperiffic}}: Different characters at different points.
47	%% * SoapboxSadie: Megan, though this usually doesn't turn out well for her.
48	* StrawmanPolitical:
49	** Megan can come across as a Straw Liberal at times. Her friend King Herman is also liberal, but more down-to-earth.
50	** Woot uses one to confuse people by claiming he's the victim of [[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20021120.html Republican propaganda]].
51	* TheRoleplayer: Lord Elf in a nutshell. He routinely criticizes the others for not being elves or properly roleplaying their characters, tries to enforce roleplaying (with threats of banning) and routinely sets up odd scenarios, usually for the purpose of cybering with M'Lady. After the genre change, he ignores most of the game in favor of roleplaying as an innkeeper, and, when killed, refuses to talk to people until properly rezzed. He also calls Lilith out (and congratulates her) on the same thing after she deliberately switches to a badly battered avatar after taking a beating (since hitpoint damage by default doesn't affect your appearance).
52	* ThrowTheDogABone: Twice. slave (lack of capitalization intentional), one of the annoying vampire fanboys, gets to think he beat Lord of Dorkness by dressing up like [[Anime/SailorMoon Tuxedo Mask]] and throwing a rose at him. Later, Lord Elf actually ends up marginally useful during the "Necromrun.icon" arc.
53	* UnresolvedSexualTension: Throughout the entire series it is made very clear that Duke and Megan have a thing for each other, though nothing ever comes of it.
54	%% * WingedHumanoid: Lilith, sometimes.
55	* WordOfGod: According to some back-and-forth on the author's [[http://sortelli.livejournal.com/64605.html#comments Livejournal account]]:
56	-->'''Fan:''' Before the rude and the ungrateful chime in, may I simply pass on the desires of a longtime fan? An ending. Just let us know where they went from there. NONE of the characters were happy, and most of them deserved to be. Yeah.. they aren't real people, but they made me, and many others, happy for a while. Could you do your fans a favor and lay them to ease, if not rest?
57	-->'''Sortelli:''' Well... April and Percey never get together. Duke and Megan do, but only after [[UnresolvedSexualTension a lot of nonsense]] and Gothgrrl getting in the middle. Duke and his dad come to an understanding. Woot and Barbi have nasty sex. That's about as far as things got in my head.
58	----
59	!!Tropes before the GenreShift:
60	%% * AndThenWhat: Pointed out to Lord of Dorkness by [[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20021106.html Lady]], of all people.
61	* {{Animesque}}: When the chatroom gets the sponsoring of foreign company, the avatars all change to this style, with the exception of [[Franchise/{{Dragonball}} Goku666]] and [[Anime/{{Hamtaro}} Hambonetaru-Chan]] (who already fit).
62	* BreakingTheFourthWall: One comic references the shrink in strip size, along with the CutAndPasteComic style.
63	%% * {{Catchphrase}}: "It hurts and stings!" and variations.
64	%% * CloudCuckooLander: Dennis Kucinich.
65	%% * CutAndPasteComic: At first, but it grows out of it.
66	%% * DatingSim: Parodied.
67	* DemotedToExtra: By the time the comic stopped being cut and paste, Lord Elf had all but vanished from his own chat board for the longest time.
68	%% * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
69	%% * EmoTeen: Gothboi, Gothgrrl, and Slave.
70	%% * EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: [[invoked]] Invoked when comparing the conflict between elves and dark elves to racism.
71	* FantasticRacism: Although the titular inn is meant to be only for elves, this is the most often broken rule - human characters often drop by, although the [[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcan]] Nimoy goes around unidentified for quite some time.
72	** Hell, of all the characters in the entire comic, there are only three-and-a-half elves, one of them being an elf (half).
73	%% * FurAndLoathing: Megan attacks Herman for this when he dresses up as Santa.
74	* GirlOnGirlIsHot: [[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20031128.html According to Duke]], when he thinks that Megan is actually a lesbian.
75	%% * GodModders: Goku666 somewhat, but especially Lord of Dorkness.
76	* GratuitousJapanese: For humor in a few strips. Parodied [[http://elfonlyinn.comicgenesis.com/d/20030512.html here]], when Duke thinks that Japanese for "no" is "bye."
77	%% * HighlyVisibleNinja
78	* HypocriticalHumor: Lord Elf has a long list of reasons to ban people, but frequently breaks them himself (no out-of-character chat, for instance).
79	* InsultBackfire: When Lilith is dating Duke to make Megan angry (and also happens to be wearing an exact copy of Megan's outfit), Lilith smugly tells Duke that Megan is just jealous Lilith happens to fill out her outfit better than she does. It backfires when Megan retorts that when a girl brags about her chest online, it means she's really fat in real life, which judging by the look of shock and embarrassment on Lilith's face, may be close to the truth in this case.
80	%% * JustIgnoreIt: How Lord of Dorkness' chatroom antics are dealt with. Happens to Goku666 at times, too.
81	%%%% * {{Magick}}
82	* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: When Milady [[ExpressDelivery has babies with everyone]], none of the babies look like their putative fathers.
83	* OfficialCouple: The closest thing to a official couple the comic ever had was Megan and Woot. Though once he visited her offline and saw she wasn't exactly a nubile elven damsel, they broke up.
84	** Note that Woot says this in response to Megan being the first to shout "He is ''nothing'' like his character!" They do continue to meet offline several times after that, it's implied their personalities meant they made decent friends but clashed when trying to be romantic.
85	%% * OnlySixFaces: Parodied early on (in a way) with Goku666, who only has one face.
86	* {{Otaku}}: Lord Wootsayediditagyn goes beyond {{fanboy}} to this with his creepy obsession with Music/BritneySpears.
87	* OurElvesAreDifferent: Aside from Lord Elf and Megan Ayrwyn, Lady is a star elf (half). Then there's Geoph, who's a dark elf (though everyone treats him like he's Black).
88	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Lady is a ~vampyre~ (half). There's also the Vampire Chat.
89	** And [[http://elfonlyinn.comicgenesis.com/d/20021230.html this.]] It's possible to take vampire "immunities" ''too'' far...
90	%% * PaperThinDisguise: Lord Elf as the Blue Wizard of Forestdale, sort of.
91	%% * PurpleProse: Gothboi does this [[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20040813.html once]].
92	%% * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Herman plays one.
93	%% * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Lord of Dorkness quits the chat a lot early on.
94	%% * StealthParody: The others can't tell if Goku666 is this or the real thing, sometimes.
95	%% * StockingFiller: Lady.
96	* StrawHypocrite: Lord Elf's stint as Reverend Strawman [[spoiler:who eventually tries to ''ban God'' -- actually the [=SysOp=] -- from the chat]]. Megan sometimes come off as this, as well.
97	* SuperDeformed: Hambonetaru-Chan bought the chat room when they were running out of funds to run it. As a new rule, [[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20020822.html everyone got new Super-Deformed avatars]], except Goku, who was already anime, and [[spoiler:Megan, who rebelled against it]].
98	** Lord of Dorkness was ruining the fun of the Elf Only Inn room, with permission from Lord Elf. Duke and Nimoy went to Demon Citadel to try to recruit a demon to fight Lord of Dorkness. When they were laughed at, they decided to ruin the dark mood by being silly for as long as it took to get someone. One of their stunts was [[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20021025.html Duke bringing back his Super-Deformed avatar]].
99	* TakeThat: There's jabs at a number of things.
100	** One could argue that the primary TakeThat jab is the existence of the webcomic itself (pre-genre shift, at least), mocking roleplaying chatrooms at large. In particular, the comic takes a shot at Illusionary Minds Chat, a chat site dedicated to roleplaying. Sortelli used to host a room on this site and various issues with the site's management led him to create a website called "We hate IMC," (now defunct and 404) summing up his issues with the site's administrators. Many of the early gags used in Elf Only Inn first made their appearance on this website.
101	** The above-mentioned Reverend Strawman was a pretty blatant Take That at ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', being a holy man who claims to be in search of God to "grab him by the balls" and demand to know why he hasn't fixed the world and made everything perfect. [[spoiler:God shows up and points out that fixing mortal problems is supposed to be the Reverend's job.]]
102	%% * TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Female Eternal Sweepers.
103	* TheFaceless: SysOp and users with no clearly defined avatar appear as blocky, featureless dummies. The various [=NPCs=] Lord of Dorkness victimize does as well, although they only exist in his imagination since everyone real ignores him.
104	%% * VoluntaryShapeshifting: Lilith can do this.
105	%% * {{Yandere}}: Megan has shades of this.
106	* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Nimoy tells Geoff he's very well spoken for a dark elf. Geoff does not approve, less for the insult and more for getting fed up with the whole race issue.
107	%% * YoungerThanTheyLook: Goku is played by a ten year old and Duke is only 18.
108
109	!!Tropes after the GenreShift:
110
111	%% * ArtifactTitle: With the MMORPG plot shift, the action no longer took place in the titular Inn chatroom.
112	%% * CatGirl: Lady has cat ears on her character model.
113	* CerebusSyndrome: The comic's got longer plot arcs, which tend to be much more serious, than it had when it was set in the Elf Only Inn. Goku666 and Lady are still idiots, though.
114	* DiplomaticImpunity: [[ThePaladin Paladins]] in Marauders of Gaia get the ability to turn combat on and off at will as "diplomatic immunity mode." It's supposed to be used for negotiation, but instead it made paladins into the ultimate {{griefer}} class.
115	%% * DoubleEntendre: One-Eyed Willy, Harry Ars. {{Lampshaded}} in the latter case.
116	* GambitPileup: Barbivine's plan causes her opponents to start counterplanning, a couple of demons left over from the Beta Days get involved, and a GM is brought in to clean everything up.
117	%% * TheHeart: April.
118	%% * {{Jerkass}}: Barbivine Thunderjugs. (And Lord Elf, same as always.)
119	* TheLoad: Lord Elf is about as useless as ever--even more so now that he has no mod powers. He's only level 2, because he never does anything beyond sitting around in his inn, roleplaying being an innkeeper.
120	%% * MacGuffin: The Nexromrun.icon.
121	%% * MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRoleplayingGame: Marauders of Gaia, the setting of this part of the comic.
122	%% * TheMedic: Lady.
123	%% * OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame
124	%% * OurOrcsAreDifferent: Kami
125	* OutOfCharacterAlert: April is the first to figure out that [[spoiler:Barbivine isn't Woot]] because [[spoiler:Barbivine]] thinks she has a crush on Megan. [[spoiler:Woot had previously met Megan and April offline and would know better]].
126	%% * ThePlan: [[spoiler:Barbivine's plan to get an Eternal Sleeper character model.]]
127	%% * PlayerVersusPlayer
128	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: [[spoiler:[[http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20070326.html GM_Percey arranges a fake account termination]] in the wake of Barbivine's plan going off the rails. He admits that it's corrupt and an abuse of his authority, but by the rules, the only ones who ''wouldn't'' get banned for it would be the demons, who were trying.]]
129

Context Webcomic / ElfOnlyInn