[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FFN.jpg]]

''[[http://ffn.nodwick.com/ Full Frontal Nerdity]]'' is a weekly webcomic by Aaron Williams (also the creator of ''Webcomic/{{Nodwick}}'' and ''ComicBook/PS238''). It focuses on the roleplaying sessions of four tabletop gaming friends, all of them typical nerds in bad need of a life. The characters are:

* Frank, the GameMaster. Overweight and socially awkward.
* Lewis, gamer. [[ButtMonkey Chronically unlucky]] and often dog-piled by the other players.
* Nelson, gamer. RulesLawyer and power gamer.
* Shawn, gamer. Participates in the games via webcam from Alaska. Troll.
* Emma (full name Empusa Resipunus), demon. [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1118 Introduced about a decade into the strip]], only participates in the games tangentially, and enjoys Earth food (especially junk food) just a little too much.
* Game shop guy. Runs the local game shop "The Goblin Hole". Real name unknown.

Apart from tabletop gaming, the comic references various staples of the geek subculture, from collectible card games to SF series.

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!!Contains examples of:

%%* AcidRefluxNightmare
* AfterTheEnd: The gang run post-apocalyptic campaigns all the time. Often after they've [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroyed the world in the previous campaign]]. Or when Frank feels the urge to replay ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld''.
* AnchoviesAreAbhorrent: When Shawn rejoins the table, remotely, via webcam, Lewis points out that the by-laws state everyone has to chip in on pizza, regardless of how little they eat. Shawn quickly counters by stating his preferred toppings are pineapple, anchovies and onions, and encourages them to chow down.
* AndIMustScream: Invoked by Nelson [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1408 here]].
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking
--> '''Frank''': "Due to rampant thefts, field destruction, zombie cattle, poisoned wells, attempted murder, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=470 and a relatively mundane aphid problem,]] your town can expect to suffer fifty percent population loss."
* AttackBackfire: In the Halloween 2014 arc, a demon tried eating Lewis's soul, only to discover that he has such a large "soul debt" due to his contract with Emma that Lewis ended up sucking souls out of the demon!
* BadAssSanta / AnAssKickingChristmas:
** [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=308 Check it out]].
** Much later on, they play a game where Shawn, Lewis, and Nelson [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1134 are different would-be Santas]] with unique powers and paradigms competing to see who wins and determines the course of Christmas. The winner ended up being [[spoiler:Shawn, playing a Heavy Metal Krampus version of Santa]].
-->'''Shawn: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1137 Shred the Halls, baby!]]'''
** [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1233 Ragnarok Klaus.]]
* BaitAndSwitch: One storyline begins when Frank, looking at ''Franchise/HelloKitty''[=/=]''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' dice in the Goblin Hole, also discovers some eldritch dice with strange symbols and AlienGeometries, which Emma explains as being the "weird code" of a machine built by Elder Gods. Shortly afterwards, a sign appears on the lawn saying "Return the Dice" and a figure in a hooded robe with glowing green eyes appears at the door. [[spoiler: He turns out to be a Techpriest cosplayer who'd dropped the ''Hello Kitty'' dice so other ''Warhammer 40K'' fans wouldn't see him with them]].
* BasementDweller: According to Nelson, everyone but him (although Shawn hadn't joined by then).
* BatmanGambit:
** Frank runs a campaign featuring multiple factions interlocked in a power struggle for the throne, each of whom having their own plot hooks. Nelson and Lewis decide [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder to accept as many plot hooks as they possibly can to maximize their XP and loot]], thus ending up playing multiple factions against each other. They end up having to do a ''lot'' of political maneuvering, actual role-playing, and careful reading of the campaign notes to accomplish this without being detected and cut off from doing more adventuring... [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=393 Which turns out to have been Frank's plan all along]].
** In an earlier strip, Frank decides that "ComicBook/{{Superman}} [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=236 was always Superman]]", letting the players pick out overpowered spells and abilities... but at the cost of PowerIncontinence. HilarityEnsues.
* BedlamHouse: One ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' campaign had the players as "responsible adults" running an asylum for the inevitable victims of cosmic horror, getting paid to treat and contain them. They immediately start abusing their patients and dealing opium for profit.
* BigEater: Emma. At one point she says her favourite ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' character is Dean Winchester because he's a "pie-eating machine".
* BlandNameProduct: "Land Of Barysinister", a product with things like Shaolin mech pilots, ridiculously bad combat rules, and extremely clumsy FantasyKitchenSink worldbuilding, is a pretty clear parody of the famously SoBadItsGood (on a good day, anyway) ''TabletopGame/WorldOfSynnibarr''.
* BoobsAndButtPose: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1138 Poked fun at here]].
* BornUnlucky: It's not just that Lewis is [[ButtMonkey the target of everyone's jokes]] frequently. If there's bad fortune around, some of it is going to splash on him. There's a running gag about just how often he gets a critical failure when he rolls a [=d20=]. Naturally, when there is a cursed [=d20=] that only rolls a 1, guess who owns it?
* BrainBleach:
** [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=81 "Must... dump... Clorox... in... ears!"]]
** And again regarding [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Dr. Octavius and Aunt May]] [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1141 having a...]] "[[UnusualEuphemism crossover event]]".
--->'''Shawn''': That's worth a universe reboot right there, people.
** While playing ''{{TabletopGame/Deadlands}}'', Lewis is describing how his new "graft" will work, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=366 prompting Nelson to]] ''eat'' Ghost Rocks in the hopes that the [[HearingVoices voices in his head]] will drown out Lewis'.[[note]]May double as DrivenToSuicide, given that Deadlands isn't too kind to characters that consume Ghost Rock like that.[[/note]]
* BrilliantButLazy: Emma is capable of warping space and time but just try and get her to use her powers for anyone else.
* BroadStrokes:
** The first strip to mention [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=52 a guy named Shawn who moved to Alaska]] says he's a guy at Lewis's work. Lewis barely knows him and the others have never met him. Two months later he's [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=61 a former member of the group]].
* ButtMonkey: Lewis, to such a degree that [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1253 he labels himself]] [[AGodAmI the God of Anti-Luck]].
* CallBack: One of Entropo's (offscreen) riddles is based on the very first comic.
* CatchPhrase: Most of the comics begin with Frank's bemused and sarcastic "congratulations, you [insert heinous player crime here]" regarding his players' latest butchery of his game.
* CharacterAlignment: InUniverse, the source of endless complaints from Frank, who ''will'' point it out when the other three commit alignment violations. (The other three are almost always Evil, whatever their character sheet says.)
* ChekhovsGun: In 2013 Emma mentioned something about a [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1220 "Disputed covenant cumulative client soul darnation clause"]] in regards to Lewis' deal with her. It becomes plot-relevant in [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1325 2014]].
* TheChrisCarterEffect: InUniverse, the characters discuss ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time Syndrome]], where [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=176 any remaining fans become homicidal]] after fantasy comics based around TheQuest fail to resolve the central conflict for long enough.
* ChristmasCreep: After complaining about the Christmas creep, the boys decide to deal with it by combining Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas into a single holiday called Thanksmasoween. Its traditions promise to be interesting, as one of the characters carves the turkey with a chainsaw while wearing a hockey mask and Santa hat.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: If there's a game where the player group (or members thereof) ''haven't'' turned on each other or betrayed an outside group at least twice, it was a dull game.
* ComedicSociopathy: Abounds during the game sessions (see above), but [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=570 Lewis and Nelson prove]] that they're willing to take it into reality by over-analyzing ''WesternAnimation/WallE'', tallying up how many little kids they make cry while doing so.
* ComicBookDeath: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=229 Does not apply to all comic book characters.]]
* ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping: Nelson 're-gifts' presents from his office Christmas party (such as a hot cocoa sampler pack) to his fellow gamers.
* ConversationalTroping: Indulged at multiple points, as Lewis, Nelson, and Shawn recognize the tropes used in Frank's games (particularly ones he repeatedly uses) and discuss how to deal with them. Exaggerated when they play a game set in an 80's detective show, they start noting just how many tropes come up, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1441 and Frank admits to cross-indexing a random plot device table to TV Tropes]].
* {{Curse}}: Lewis's cursed die that rolled only 1 soon messed up every number in the world. They broke it by making a D&D edition where rolling 1 is changed from a CriticalFailure into a CriticalHit.
* CrackIsCheaper: Many strips feature jokes about just how much money the guys spend on trading cards, D&D sourcebooks, collectable figurines, or other forms of nerd merch.
* CrazyPrepared: Nelson plots betrayals [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=28 three weeks in advance.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Nelson.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=507 Nelson and Lewis' reaction]] on having heard that Creator/KarenGillan was spotted wandering naked in her hotel in NYC, and they weren't there to see it.
--> '''Lewis:''' It's like... "Hey, they put the wrong address on one of your biggest fantasies and someone else got it instead. Sorry about that."
** Similarly, [[TheSmartGuy Nelson's]] [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1183 reaction to]] the [[WhamEpisode infamous "Red Wedding"]] episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones''
* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Lampshaded [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1308 by Shawn during a corpse-retrieval run]].
* DiscreditedMeme: Jokes about ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'''s lethality rate [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=78 need to be allowed to die already]]. [[invoked]]
* DoomyDoomsOfDoom: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=374 Meet the "verbal meme trigger"]].
* DreamSequence: Technically flu- and fever-induced hallucinations, but [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=380 close enough]].
* DuelsDecideEverything: Parodied [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=179 here]].
* EmbarrassingTattoo: Lewis, apparently.
-->'''Frank:'''Then I guess someone will be saving up to have a map to Milwaukee's "Safe House" bar lasered off his tattooed butt, huh?\\
'''Lewis:''' We agreed that topic was '''off limits'''!\\
'''Nelson:''' For aesthetic reasons alone...
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Many, many of their campaigns end with the game world uninhabitable in some fashion.
* EnforcedMethodActing: [[InvokedTrope Nelson knows when to invoke a trope]], [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1100 oh yes]].
* EskimosArentReal: Nelson insists that anyone who functions as a corporate mascot doesn't exist. [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1186 He includes Steve Jackson among them.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** One of the gang's game-breaking schemes manages to [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1222 disgust even the undead monstrosity they (accidentally) created]].
--->"I may be a monster...well, [[BodyOfBodies several monsters]], but there's only so much even I can take. You people are animals, and not ones I would care to dine on. Good day!"
** Lewis gets called by a hacker blackmailing him with data stolen during the 2016 Yahoo data breach. When the hacker actually looks at the data to try and force Lewis's hand, he's horrified.
--->'''Hacker:''' You signed up for ''that'' forum? And this one with the... wasn't this stuff ''banned by international treaty''? ...You disgust me! ''[hangs up]''
* EveryoneHatesMimes: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/ffnstrips/2012-04-03.png These guys do, anyway.]]
* EveryoneIsSingle: And every time Lewis manages to avert this, it doesn't last very long... unless he actively lies about himself to the woman in question. Then again, given [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=60 this exchange]] between him and Nelson, it's surprising he gets that far to begin with.
* ExecutiveMeddling: InUniverse. The comic takes a shot at Creator/MarvelComics' editorial staff in [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=180 this comic]].
* ExposeTheVillainGetHisJob: Lewis does this...sort of. He gets to be assistant manager at Kool Kopies after turning the incumbent in for piracy. Specifically, for printing off copies of pirated D20 material ''for him''.
* ExpoSpeakGag: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=449 Used to hide the fact that]] [[spoiler:it's a Christmas-themed game.]]
* TheFaceless: Shawn is never seen in person.
** Interestingly, the webcam is sometimes treated as if it were his actual body, and he fulfills most aspects of the SnarkyNonhumanSidekick. This could have [[BrainUploading interesting implications]], or it could just be [[RuleOfFunny authorial silliness]].
** It gets to the point where even in situations where he ''should'' be seen, he still appears as the webcam, such as at conventions or when everyone creates online avatars that resemble themselves.
* FandomHeresy: InUniverse: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=35 Frank never read]] Literature/TheLordOfTheRings...
** Frank later turns the tables on Nelson and Lewis by reading ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' before watching Series/GameOfThrones, which they [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1182 hadn't done]]. [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1270 And makes up stuff]] when Lewis asks for spoilers.
* FanWank: InUniverse, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1756 fans do topographical analysis]] on a ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' game to determine where in Tamriel the game would be set. And uploading hours-long videos on their methodology.
* GenreShift: Frank occasionally pulls these out either to try to salvage the world-shattering antics his players often get up to, or planned ahead of time to trick them into playing a different campaign than they thought they were getting into. Neither variety tends to go over well.
* TheGhost: Frank's sister is mentioned occasionally. She is probably quite cute to judge from Lewis and Nelson's reaction to the news that she is going bikini shopping.
* GoneHorriblyRight: Frank, in an effort to get his players more involved in the "RP" side of {{RPG}}s, developed a system where they'd roll to "hit" in conversations. [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1189 They didn't even make it out of the Inn before he regretted this]].
* GroinAttack: Lewis' ''{{Series/Deadwood}}'' character "[[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=365 lost some... ah, functionality]]" as the result of a zombie attack.
* HauntedTechnology: The radio in "Creator/StephenKing: The RPG".
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: When [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=992 Lewis tries to declare]] SpeaksFluentAnimal the worst superpower, Nelson interjects with how it ''could'' be awesome if comics writers took it up to eleven (including citing the page image).
* HeelRealization: Lewis has his paladin become an oathbreaker, converting his alignment to Evil. He spends some time working out how to behave in a way that is evil but not suicidal and realizes the method he needs is how he ''always'' plays, just without excuses for alignment violations.
* HorribleCampingTrip: Frank's family make him go these and his game inevitably suffers for it.
-->'''Frank:''' Okay, having gotten '''hopelessly''' lost, you're forced to spend the night in the forest. When your characters awaken, they discover that they'd been ravaged by '''dire mosquitoes''' to the tune of 3D6 worth of '''blood loss'''. As the vultures circle and the sun climbs, you begin to suffer '''heat exhaustion'''... Due to multiple '''insect bites''' and the fact that you had to sleep on the '''rocky ground''', all your feat and skill rolls will be at '''minus five''' for the next day and a half.
-->'''Lewis:''' I vote that our D&D game gets a week off after your parents make you go camping.
-->'''Nelson:''' Seconded.
* ICallItVera: Lewis calls one of his character's broadswords Betsy and a lightsaber Lucille.
* ImperfectRitual: Lewis tries [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1117 summoning a demon]], using beef broth mixed with red food coloring instead of blood and spraypainted candles because he didn't have any black ones.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1412 Lewis proposes]] the Stormtroopers were being issued shoddy weapons. The sales rep was a smooth-talker and convinced the Emperor himself that the inaccuracy was just due to inept clones and them passing on the same ineptitude to the conscripts.
* InstantDramaJustAddTracheotomy: Parodied in [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=192 one strip]] as a movie cliche that Aaron Williams hates.
* IntimateMarks: One strip suggests that Lewis has a map to Milwaukee's "Safe House" bar tattooed on his butt.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Nobody in the strip is exactly overburdened with compassion. At one point, when everyone but Shawn and Emma disappears from a table because of supernatural stuff going down, Shawn asks Emma to move him closer to the sourcebook Nelson was reading because his copy hasn't arrived in the mail yet.
* JuryDuty: Lewis was called up for one. The trial turned out to involve [[spoiler:a lawsuit by a game publishing company against his favorite gaming store.]]
* LateArrivalSpoiler:
** Frank wanted to avoid spoilers for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'', [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=35 causing Lewis]] to [[FandomHeresy declare him a heretic]] for not reading the books.
** Frank gets his revenge through ''Series/GameOfThrones'', thanks to having read ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' beforehand.
* LawfulEvil: Lewis, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=54 according to Frank and Nelson]]. After he lost his job, Lewis downloaded the newest D&D supplements from a pirate site, spent his unemployment check getting copies printed up for everyone, then turned in the assistant manager who ran the copies and was hired to replace that person. [[invoked]]
* LimitedWardrobe: Unless they make a point of dressing up, the characters are always depicted wearing the same clothes.
* LittleMissBadass: [[https://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=654 One of their PSA strips]] would like to remind you that, between ''Literature/TheRing'', ''Film/LetTheRightOneIn'' and ''Film/KickAss'', little girls are the deadliest thing you'll ever face.
* LogicBomb[=/=]MindScrew: InUniverse, the group [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=265 gets stuck on pondering]] whether Dragonborn females [[NonMammalMammaries would have breasts or not]].
-->'''Shawn''': So... would they be ''scaly''? Wait, why am I asking that?
* LoopholeAbuse: Playing a game so poorly designed that it seems impossible to actually complete it, Frank eventually draws a card declaring their souls have all been trapped by a demon to eternally play the game. Nelson reviews the rules and finds players are allowed to take breaks, but there's no limit on how ''long'' the breaks can be, so they bury the entire game.
* MacGuffinSuperPerson: The boy Falgen is being pursued by demons, angels, fallen gods, and all manner of lesser beings as they believe claiming his power when it manifests will secure their dominance.
* MandatoryTwistEnding: {{Discussed|Trope}} and mocked in [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1481 this strip]].
-->'''Nelson:''' I sense an M. Night Shyamalan plot twist rearing its ugly head.
* MedievalStasis: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=2341 This strip]] invokes the trope by name, as the players are pleased to note that their characters' actions have preserved a ''status quo'' which suits them just fine.
* {{Metagame}}: What the players are playing all the time, much to Frank's frustration.
* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: Nelson has a "Whoopsatrocity" list of the many times the guys have accidentally unleashed devastation on the world.
* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Emma. she's a demon from Hell, but she's too much of a lazy slacker to really care about actually doing evil things. She's stuck around with the gang because it means she can sit around streaming TV shows all day while eating chips and Twinkies. That's not to say that she doesn't understand how to be effective at being evil, because she does, but doing so takes work so she doesn't.
* TheMole: One of Nelson's characters, carefully planned in advance with a sealed (and notarized!) envelope [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=28 containing the details of his true allegiance]] (only opened after killing Lewis's character by ambush).
-->'''Frank:''' Wow. It's even ''notarized''!\\
'''Lewis:''' [[SophisticatedAsHell Words fail to describe the myriad ways you suck.]]
* {{Munchkin}}:
** Nelson. The Crowning Moment of Munchkinry was when he managed to finagle his way into ruling a fair chunk of the world and even ''[[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=178 appointed his character a god]]'', complete with PrestigeClass and [[CharacterAlignment Alignment Violation Coupons]].
** Shawn may be one as well. When the other players question how they can be certain his die rolls will be fair (they rely on him reporting the results, since he plays by webcam) he offers them each a [[InfinityPlusOneSword +5 vorpal sword]] [[BlatantLies that he randomly rolled]] as a show of faith.
** Really, all three players are Munchkins. Nelson is just the best one at it.
* MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: When Shawn rejoins the table, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=63 Lewis points out that the by-laws state everyone has to chip in on pizza]], regardless of how little they eat. Shawn quickly counters by stating his preferred toppings are pineapple, [[StockYuck anchovies]], and onions, and encourages them to chow down.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Lewis once played a character called Dark Lord Evisceratrix O'Kittensquisher.
* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: In the [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=116 May 19, 2005]] strip, where the boys are at E3:
-->'''Lewis:''' Can I have a T-shirt?\\
'''Booth Babe:''' Let me guess: '''mine?'''\\
'''Lewis:''' You've done this before!
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' + ''[[ZombieApocalypse All Flesh Must Be Eaten]]'' + ''VideoGame/{{Harpoon}}'' = ''[[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=451 Somali Pirates of the Caribbean.]]''
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Waffles back and forth on this. Real celebrities will get mentioned regularly, but sometimes Aaron Williams does this for affectionate parodies, such as with "acclaimed fantasy artist Andy [=DeLaTurzzi=]" (to make fun of a set of character sheets designed by Tony [=DiTerlizzi=] that featured PinUp style character art).
* NoNameGiven: Downplayed in that the main characters are almost exclusively known by their first names.
** In fact, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=29 a mini-arc from October 2003]] reveals they went several years without sharing their names and had been calling each other by their in-game characters' names instead. This arc also shows Lewis's name was originally written as Louis.
** [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=136 A September 2005 strip]] gives Frank's last name as Stortz.
* NoodleIncident: Not only has there been plenty, but the players keep an entire BOOK of them, including the incident regarding the [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=96 sunproof vampire.]]
* NotaryNonsense: One of Nelson's characters is revealed to be TheMole. He has the DM read a sealed and notarized letter he'd submitted prior, containing the details of his character's true allegiance.
* NotHelpingYourCase: While in the past, the party is confronted by chronomonks who declare the party must not return to the present as they'll cause ''another'' catastrophe there. Nelson asks why they're bothering since the party will create a catastrophe no matter what time period they're in. After a moment of realization, the chronomonks attack.
* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: At least twice, something has been mentioned to happen in RealLife, and a text box on the panel assures us that it's actually happening. The author also claims that some of the strips, especially the earlier ones, are based off actual roleplaying sessions with his gaming group.
* ObviouslyEvil: Lewis crosses this with StupidEvil when the group decides to [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=100 play an evil-aligned party]]
--> '''Nelson:''' Yeah, I love how we have to spend every 10 minutes explaining away your cleverly innocent name of "Dark Lord Evisceratrix O'Kittensquisher" to the town guard ....
* OffTheRails:
** Sort of the rule of any game we see them playing, rather than the exception.
-->'''Frank''': Subjecting plots to them is like giving children to a daycare run by the ''[[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson Manson Family]]''!
** Defied [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1430 here]], where Shawn says that they weren't planning to wreck the game, they just knew that at some point a BigBad EldritchAbomination would be released and planned to make a profit off that.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Seen [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=268 here]].
* OnlySaneMan: The characters usually take turns in this role... Except for Lewis. Frank fills it most often; Nelson is a close second.
* PerverseSexualLust: The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' game started with the players wanting to [[UnusualEuphemism "open Hermione's Chamber of Secrets]].
* PornStash: Frank apparently [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1507 still has a physical one]], while Lewis (and most of the rest of the world) has switched to digital.
* ProductPlacement: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=419 Discussed when]] talking about how ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' would subscribe to the 1960's style of comics. [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1320 Later]], Emma claims that soul-sucking otherworldly entities actually do drop everything when you throw Advertising/HostessFruitPies at them. Justified as due to older rituals where something was given in offering in exchange for the entities' departure.
* ProudToBeAGeek: All of the characters are pretty strongly out and proud in their geekdom.
* PungeonMaster: Frank's [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1343 indulgence in the literal form of this trope]] (including a necromancer named "[[PunnyName Emba Lamer]]" and [[FunWithAcronyms MIT - Magician's Institute of Thanatology]]) [[LamePunReaction leads his players to declare]] a Pun War.
-->'''Nelson''': Dude, you're going to get the freakin' [[Literature/TheGunsOfNavarone Puns of the Navarone]]!
* PuppyDogEyes: Lewis [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=69 puts them on when confronted with the remainder of an Orc clan]].
* QuietCryForHelp: An instance of the trope appears in the TabletopRPG within the comic; [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=2244 the characters encounter what seems to be an alien machine controlled by an organic brain,]] and their UniversalTranslator reports a string of bureaucratic demands plus a '''''Help Me.'''''
* RageQuit: After the party use their allied soldiers as {{Bulletproof Human Shield}}s to save them from a nuke, and then Nelson shoves one teleport gate into another, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1806 Frank decides that he's got math to do]].
* RandomNumberGod: The group suffer from dice perversity quite frequently -- especially Lewis.
* RedShirt: Discussed [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=426 here, when they proposed strapping]] [[SuicideAttack photon torpedoes to their backs]], justifying it as a deterrant.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=335 here.]]
* RefugeInAudacity: Lewis went to a copy shop to illegally copy D&D books. Then he turned the guy in for illegally copying D&D books and [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt got his job]]. Frank and Nelson were both awed.
* RocksFallEveryoneDies: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=371 Frank's reaction when]] Lewis uses a stroke of extreme good luck on mending his character's "[[GroinAttack little friend]]" rather than ensuring the success of ThePlan.
* RuleOfCool: "So it's got nothing to do with [[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato seeing a giant space-faring battleship]] [[MoreDakka firing all of its guns at once?]]" "Granted, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=639 that's just awesome no matter how your brain works]]."
* RulesLawyer: Nelson.
* RuthlessModernPirates: "Somali Pirates of the Caribbean"
* SadisticChoice: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=582 Presented to]] [[Series/MythBusters Jamie Hyneman]] as the setup for ''Franchise/{{Saw}} [[RidiculousFutureSequelisation XXXIV]]'' - either tell kids there's no SantaClaus, or he loses his moustache.
* SaidBookism: Frank [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1081 goes on a writing forum]] where half of the users think using "said" is fine, and the other half decry it.
* TheScrappy: Discussed [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=171 with the trope namer himself.]] [[invoked]]
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Referenced InUniverse as [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=23 the "J. Michael Straczynski Table]]".
* SeenItAll: This is mixed with SerialEscalation in this [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=2040 strip]] where Nelson points out how hard it would be to make a new ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series interesting if it took place after the previous ones.
* SelfDeprecation: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=176 Right]] [[{{ComicStrip/Nodwick}} here.]] [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=140 And here]].
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: One of Frank's campaigns has the standard fantasy world setup but actually exists centuries after a peaceful society where all the races lived in unity was wiped out by a cataclysm. A time traveler attempting to avert the cataclysm accidentally strands the party in the past, where they proceed to ''cause'' the cataclysm by stoking racial tensions until the society tears itself apart. Notably, Frank ''didn't plan this outcome''.
* {{Shipping}}: InUniverse, Frank doesn't like a LoveTriangle that develops in a procedurally-generated world, and thinks that the guy having an affair with one lady would be much better off with another one.
* SocialSemiCircle
* ShoutOut:
** Multiple to [[Webcomic/GirlGenius Phil and Kaja Foglio]], RealLife friends of Aaron Williams.
** [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=762 "If that's not ''Girl Genius'', the MMO, I don't know what is."]]
** In a [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1230 moon base building game]] Shawn announces that he's "[[Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress pulling a Heinlein]]".
---> '''Nelson:''' "You're going to let Paul Verhoeven make a [[Franchise/StarshipTroopers really bad movie out of a novel you wrote]]?"
** Frank [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1364 made a list of plausible reasons for players to have failed various saving throws]], including one for Constitution because they "[[Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife should've skipped the salmon mousse]]".
* SoupIsMedicine: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=382 Invoked by Shawn]] during a story arc that had Frank, Nelson, and Lewis all sick with the flu. Shawn called a local-to-them Asian restaurant and ordered three large bowls of "Ho Shee Chit" hot and sour soup and "Emperor's Assassin" ginger ale to be delivered. It works.
* SpeakOfTheDevil: Entropo the Harlequin, one of Frank's original characters, will appear when his name is spoken or if somebody ''thinks'' about him too hard.
* SpottingTheThread: When all four characters are apparently simultaneously infected with a sapient cold, Lewis twigs that something's wrong when he points out Shawn, being ''several states away'' could not possibly have caught the same cold. Shawn admits a "sapient cold" certainly sounds like something created by a bunch of cold drug-addled people being manipulated by somebody healthy... [[spoiler:but the cold really ''was'' sapient; he mailed them a batch of contaminated brownies to spread it]].
* {{Squick}}:
** [[InvokedTrope Discussed]] [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1244 here]], with a side-helping of BileFascination.
** One of Frank's specialties, for the rare times he gets one over on his players. Such as the idea of [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} mind flayers]] crossbreeding with lizardfolk (which in truth is pretty gross but not in the way the players think), or during a "rise of the animals" apocalypse game when he demonstrates what's happening with a video of rats climbing up out of toilets.
* StatisticallySpeaking: Lewis' Charisma stat is usually high. Frank does not allow him to get through social situations through the power of his dice, however.
* TakeThat:
** [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1188 Towards modern-day politics]].
--->'''Shawn''': So I could "win" a conversation without knowing what I'm talking about?\\
'''Frank''': I got the idea from cable news and most of our elected officials.
** Nelson occasionally delivers them to Western anime fandom, though the other characters are less hostile.
** Defeating the Devil's Radio in the "Stephen King: The RPG" arc required Lewis and Nelson to sing a forbidden incantation, which turned out to be ''[[Music/BillyRayCyrus Achy Breaky Heart]]''.
** When Lewis mentions ''VideoGame/StarCitizen'' coming out next year (in a 2018 strip), the narration helpfully cuts in with "[[{{Vaporware}} Just kidding, it'll never be finished]]." [[invoked]]
* ThemeNaming: While playing an ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' RPG, their archaeologists' names are [[CaptainErsatz Arizona Smith, Wisconsin Johnson, and Wyoming Brown]].
* ThousandYardStare: Nelson's state after the Red Wedding in ''Game of Thrones''.
* ThrowTheBookAtThem: In the Nametags story arc, the DM Frank renders Lewis - who put "Zeus" on his tag - unconscious with a ''D&D'' rulebook.
* TimeyWimeyBall:
** Referenced when Frank [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1140 tries to come up with]] a new CharacterClass - [[WhateverMancy The Physicsomancer]], a character that would apply [[DeconstructedTrope real-world consequences to a fantasy setting]].
** Playing a space race game, Lewis is repeatedly hit with time travel-related events which cause his ship to duplicate. By the time the makers introduce a limit to how many times a player can be duplicated, Lewis has covered two tables and half the floor with ship markers.
* TooCleverByHalf: During the Wizzerween arc, the party received a locked mystery box early in the quest. During the final confrontation with the wizard, Nelson unlocks the box and throws it at their enemy. Frank then reveals the wizard disappeared because the box contained a teleport scroll that would have taken them home, along with various goodies to celebrate Wizzerween. Instead, they're now trapped in the wizard's tower of insanity surrounded by eldritch abominations.
* TooDumbToLive: Lewis tends to fill this role with his characters. Particularly [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=39 a Paladin with no survival skills]] wanting to approach the keep through the swamp while having no wilderness skills.
-->'''Nelson''': I was under a minus four penalty [to hit] because I was laughing my kiester off.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth:
** In the Halloween 2014 arc, they wind up in a house with a demon that tries to eat the souls of everyone present (using a "Now Serving Number X" ticker). [[RunningGag Lewis ends up with a 1]] and is therefore the first victim but the demon finds out that his preexisting contract with Emma means that he's got compound interest on his soul, meaning that he's "got a soul-debt so big that trying to eat it is like trying to suck a milkshake out of the guts of an industrial vacuum cleaner set to 'Black Hole.'"
** In a strip after the Yahoo hack of 2016, a hacker calls Lewis after getting his old Yahoo profile information in an attempt to blackmail him. Lewis merely asks for the urls to be forwarded to him, prompting the hacker to actually look at them and [[EvenEvilHasStandards refuse to have anything further to do with him]].
* UglyGuyHotWife: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=334 Discussed here]], with the couple described as "Arwen marrying Samwise in 'Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'."
* TheUnreveal: During the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic, they game via Zoom. It turns out that Shawn's webcam (as in the one with him in Alaska, not the one he usually talks through) was left in a leaking shed for ten years, and as a result, he's pixellated. We do learn he has dark hair and a beard.
* UrbanLegends: One storyline features Frank being stalked by the Slenderman. [[spoiler:Turns out he's mistaken all the NPC s slaughtered by the group in their sessions for real people. They get Frank out of it by making up a character based on Frank and killing him off in Frank's place. To be on the safe side each player also plays a character based on each other...except Lewis. ]]
-->'''Lewis''': So '' that's'' why you had me play a character based on Shawn. He's "dead" too now, so he's safe. .\\
'''Nelson''': Right and he played a version of me. \\
'''Lewis''': I see. Then screw the ''both'' of you.
* VideoGameCaringPotential: Over the years, the players have shown no issue with murdering their in-game allies and friends, to Frank's continual frustration. He finally manages to make the guys actually care about one of his characters with Falgen, a somewhat sullen young boy who thinks they are the coolest people ever.
* VikingsInAmerica: Frank [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=2576 finds]] a Viking axe buried in his backyard, somewhere in the continental United States. He gets possessed.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Though Frank was talking about their characters in a game (specifically ''[[VideoGame/SimCity Sim D20 City]]''), he was pretty spot-on describing the group as "a case study for abusive symbiosis." Shawn prefers the term "[[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1163 frenemies with benefits]]." It got to the point that Frank had spent an entire Con [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=416 complaining about the trio ruining storylines]], and was invited to do so again next year complete with {{Filk}} band and a web adaptation starring Creator/WilWheaton.
* TheVoice: Shawn
* WhatDidIDoLastNight:
** The main characters went to a [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=95 New Years Eve party]] at the "Goblin Hole" and look through their pockets to figure out what they did while under the influence of "Klingon War Nog". Frank finds a character sheet for the elf ranger from the ''[[Film/DungeonsAndDragons2000 D&D]]'' movie, Lewis finds a receipt for the ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}'' sourcebooks, and Nelson (who hates anime) found ''Anime/YuGiOh'' cards.
** When Frank's nephew entered a pine-box derby, Frank and Nelson drilled a hole "whose geometry looks straight out of the Necronomicon with a drill bit that may have gone through someone's skull" in the car. They blanked out at the pine-box derby; when they came to, they'd been dumped in a basement to scream themselves unconscious after tearing a hole in reality.
** After a cold sets in hard and fast, the chracters wake up feeling fine only to discover they lost a ''week'' of time. While Frank is upset they apparently filled in his vintage character sheets for a game they played by taping together every game board in his house, Nelson is horrified to find he apparently bought multiple visual novels and anime dating games and logged ''72 hours'' in them. Eventually they find a letter claiming their ''cold'' developed sapience and played the game before their immune systems kicked in, only to deduce that in their addled state they were just manipulated by Shawn... [[spoiler:except the cold ''was'' sapient and had made a deal with Shawn]].
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1355 A little girl is the worst nightmare of every adventurer]]. It's never just a little girl.
* WideOpenSandbox: [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=389 One storyline]] is set in one, with four major power players all dangling plot hooks for the players to take. Like any good sandbox players, the group [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder take all of them]].
* XanatosGambit: Frank started a game with about four major power players in the background, with dangling plot hooks for each so the group could go for any of them without derailing his planned game. They decide to take ''all'' the plot hooks, so that no matter what they come out ahead because they've been playing everyone off against everyone else to their own benefit. [[spoiler:It turns out to be Frank's own BatmanGambit because he fully planned for them to bite all the plot hooks in hopes of making off with the bait, tricking them into roleplaying and thinking through a campaign they normally would have just fought through.]]
* YourVampiresSuck: One of the many movie rants is about [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=602 Twilight and its "neutering" of the vampire genre]]. Suffice to say, Frank and co. are not amused.
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