History VideoGame / KingOfDragonPass

* {{Permadeath}}: Your nobles can die in battles or random events, or of old age. There are circumstances where they can be resurrected, unless they're devoted to Humakt, the god of death.

* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler: You can invoke this If your tribe turns against you and you have the Earth Clod, which is essentially a magic weapon of mass destruction that causes a catastrophic earthquake. The rest of the tribe will still successfully dethrone and destroy your clan, but the losses you make with the Earth Clod ensure the other clans are just as beat up as yours which leads to the tribe as a whole to dissolve. This still results in a NonStandardGameOver, so it mainly serves as a way of getting back at the tribes who turned on you.]]

* FinalDeath: Your nobles can die in battles or random events, or of old age. There are circumstances where they can be resurrected, unless they're devoted to Humakt, the god of death.

* ReligionIsMagic: Just about all magical power is granted by the gods, though there are some exceptions; A clan's ancestors will also give magic if they are pleased by the behavior of the clan, and shamans gain their power from spirits unaligned with any pantheon.

* Befriending the Ducks, helping them by either sending warriors or initiating a sucessful ritual to help them in their fight against the undead, treating them as equal Orlanthi despite the cultural differences between your races and even managing the difficult task of convincing your tribe to accept their membership.

* VideoGameCaringPotential: Towards nobles. And [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Earthshakers]]. And your people will become immensely happy if you protect them, hold feasts, and win battles.

The gameplay itself is a strange mix of strategy, [[RolePlayingGames RPG]], and VisualNovel; the usual macromanagement of the clan is spiced by individual decisions of the nobility and story choices made in a ChooseYourOwnAdventure-like format. Should Voskandora the war-leader engage her opposite directly using her axe and battle magic, or try to keep herself safe behind her thanes? Should the clan pay the extra five cows worth of goods to try to find a wife for one of the ugly carls? These are all in the player's hand and might have seemingly unrelated long-term consequences.

!!This video-game provides examples of:

* AmazonBrigade: The Worshipers of Vinga, the Orlanthi goddess. [[spoiler: Kallyr]] is a particularly notable example with her own dedicated event chain. There's also a clan known for being led by Vingans.

** To the extent that it's perfectly legal to storm into someone's clan hall, brazenly say you will murder the entire clan in their sleep, and then do so. It would actually be considered worse to murder the clan without telling them first.

** BeastMan: Yinkin, a minor god of cats, resembles a grey-furred human with a lynx's head, tail, and digitigrade legs with paws (though he has furry human-esque hands). He's also a brother of Orlanth, who appears completely human. There is also Urox, who is essentially a minotaur.

** Played straight however In the endgame of the long game, where you get a large amount of story events and if you fail even one you can’t get the best ending. If you built your king/queen well you don’t have much to worry about, but even then RNG is in play and can still screw you over for no real reason. The game’s manual even''encourages'' save scumming to get this part of the game done.

* OmnicidalManiac: Wakboth the Devil, the greatest of all the Chaos beasts who desired nothing less than the destruction of existence and even managed to conquer the whole world to try and accomplish this. Fortunately the player will never have to deal with Wakboth as the gods have already killed him... [[NotQuiteDead Hopefully.]]

* OmnicidalManiac: Wakboth the Devil, the greatest of all the Chaos beasts who desired nothing less than the destruction of existence and even managed to conquer the whole world to try and accomplish this. Fortunately the player will never have to deal with Wakboth as the gods have already killed him... Hopefully.

** Played straight however In the endgame of the long game, where you get a large amount of story events and if you fail even one you can’t get the best ending. If you built your king/queen well you don’t have much to worry about, but even then RNG is in play and can still screw you over for no real reason. The game’s manual outright encourages save scumming to get this part of the game done.

** BeastMan: Yinkin, a minor god of cats, resembles a grey-furred human with a lynx's head, tail, and digitigrade legs with paws (though he has furry human-esque hands). He's also a brother of Orlanth, who appears completely human.

* ActionGirl: Worshipers of Vinga, the Orlanthi goddess of {{Action Girl}}s. [[spoiler: Kallyr]] is a particularly notable example with her own dedicated event chain. There's also a clan known for being led by Vingans.
** Female Humakti and Odaylans aren't too shabby, either.
** Vinga's ''Fyrdwomen'' blessing turns your [[NeutralFemale famously gutsy but otherwise passive housewives]] into [[ActionGirl Action Girls]] when you're being raided, allowing them to defend the tula.

* BadassGrandpa / NeverMessWithGranny: Because of the way the stat system works, it's entirely possible that your most fearsome War Leader will be a sexagenarian.

* FieryRedhead: All [[ActionGirl Vingans]] seem to have red hair, even into old age. It's possible that they dye their hair for religious reasons, making this an InvokedTrope.

** In general, this is a dumb idea. You're not at the top of the food chain in Dragon Pass, and attempting to oppose the surrounding powers is likely to lead to one of several events labeled [[NonstandardGameOver Clan Destruction]]. Furthermore, to become King of Dragon Pass, you need an ''alliance'', which can't be won by violence.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The forces of Chaos.

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Do everything right in the long game, and your leader becomes [[TitleDrop King or Queen of Dragon Pass.]]

* BerserkButton: Dragonewts have been known to calmly watch Orlanthi looting their temples while only appearing mildly agitated, only to flip out and kill everyone out of nowhere for doing something as innocuous as stepping on a mushroom or humming.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Orlanthi have some odd preferences and customs, and you're advised to not bind yourself to a modern moral system. You have to think like an Orlanthi, and even more so think like an Orlanthi who follows his or her clan's history. Dragons also have a very strange moral system as well; for dragons, particularly dragonewts, they very strongly desire to recover their bodies after death, but won't be bothered if you sold that body to another clan or made a suit of armor out of it. They also have utterly bizarre {{Berserk Button}}s (i.e. clearing one's throat, slapping a mosquito, or humming).

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Your ring members might be hyper-competent stat-wise but still exhibit certain eccentricities, such as an obsession with cows or an inexplicable hatred of elves.

** Ultimately what the prophecies say the player's chosen king/queen will be.

* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: In the tutorial of the iOS version, the game recommends that you never keep a trickster on your clan ring. However, there are plenty of events that you CAN'T solve in a reliable manner without a trickster on your ring. Also, having a Trickster in your ring makes heroquesting (something needed to win the game) easier.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: You can send nobles on Hero Quests, wherein they step into the shoes of a god and beat the hell out of Chaos.

* DinosaursAreDragons: The relationship between Earthshakers (triceratops) and dragonkin is hinted at, speculated upon, and occasionally stated outright. Some of the Dragonnewts even look like anthropomorphic dinosaurs, such as the hadrosaur mage who asks you which of your values is the most valuable.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Though it never uses the r-word, one event has two young married men being abducted by two outlaw women on horseback. It's up to the player whether the trope is played straight, where the men are charged with ''adultery'', one of the worst crimes the Orlanthi have and practically guaranteeing they'll be outlawed, or averted, by declaring that they were forced and are therefore not guilty of anything. There is no option to punish the women though.

* ElectiveMonarchy: Orlanthi tribes are ruled by elected kings or queens, don't have to chiefs or even ring members of their own clans. Once a monarch dies or steps down, it may be a while before another member of their clan becomes king or queen of the tribe--it's famously hard for a clan to produce two monarchs in a row. In order to win either the Short or the Long Game, you must first form a tribe and then get one of your nobles elected as the king or queen.

* ElvesVersusDwarves: Both species are connected to the earth, but dwarves represent inorganic stasis, while elves represent life and growth. Somewhat more on-point, the dwarves can give you the treasure called Necklace of Axes, which "helps those who hate elves", and they describe that it "Kills Elfs. Dead."

The game was originally released in 1999, but received an [[{{iOSGames}} iOS port]] in 2011, featuring new scenes and tweaked gameplay. In 2012, [[http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/king_of_dragon_pass GOG.com released a patched 1999 version]] compatible with modern PC operating systems. In 2015, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/352220/King_of_Dragon_Pass/ Steam released a remastered PC version]] that includes the iOS changes and additional bonus content. GOG.com finally caught up in 2017 and updated their release to the remastered version as well, though the 1999 version is still available as an extra download.

* DontFearTheReaper: Humakt isn't the cheeriest god in the pantheon, but he's decidedly one of the good guys.

* GuideDangIt: It'll take a lot of experimenting to figure out how to play the first few times unless you have help.

* KubrickStare: One of the trickster portraits does this.

** Specific examples include sufficiently-alienating the Trolls, Dwarves, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Telmori]], and ''[[BewareTheSillyOnes Ducks]]''. Likewise, even though he was your sworn enemy, alienating the Pharaoh's emissaries and scouting parties too much can also lead to a swift end. And if the Uroxi cult decides that you're tainted by Chaos, they'll purge you (though you really have to go out of your way to get this to happen).

** Played straight however In the endgame of the long game, where you get a large amount of story events and if you fail even one you can’t get the best ending. If you built your king/queen well you don’t have much to worry about, but then RNG is still in play. The manual actually ENCOURAGES save scumming to get this part of the game done.

** Among the gods there is Eurmal. He may be one of the Lightbringers and encourages people to be open-minded, but he is still a thoroughly ChaoticStupid deity who incites discord and even introduced death into the world because he thought it would be amusing.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the event where the ducks ask to join your tribe, hiding the text reveals a random guy imitating a duckbill with his hands.

** PettingZooPeople: Yinkin, a minor god of cats, resembles a grey-furred human with a lynx's head, tail, and digitigrade legs with paws (though he has furry human-esque hands). He's also a brother of Orlanth, who appears completely human.

* DumbassHasAPoint: Eurmal, and by extension his Tricksters, are quick to question less reasonable Orlanthi laws and think some old traditions must be discarded in order for peace to truly reign. [[spoiler: Considering what happens in the best ending, they were right all along]].

** Uroxi warriors are famed as staunch hunters of Chaos and are some of the most powerful warriors in all Dragon Pass... They are also unruly, demanding, short-tempered, arrogant, and slow to forgiveness. [[TeethClenchedTeamwork Most clans tolerate them for usefulness in eliminating Chaos,]] but it is made very clear almost no one can stand them.

** Specific examples include sufficiently-alienating the Trolls, Dwarves, Elves, and ''[[BewareTheSillyOnes Ducks]]''. Likewise, even though he was your sworn enemy, alienating the Pharaoh's emissaries and scouting parties too much can also lead to a swift end. And if the Uroxi cult decides that you're tainted by Chaos, they'll purge you.

** Among the gods there is Eurmal. He may be one of the Lightbringers and encourages people to be open-minded, but he is still a thoroughly [[ChaoticStupid]] deity who incites discord and even introduced death into the world because he thought it would be amusing.

** At game's spawn, there is a pre-made [[TheAlliance]] tribe called Colymar. Depending on circumstances, a few other clans might conspire to assassinate their king. They might try to get you involved. If you agree but the attempt fails, and the Colymar find out you were involved, it ''[[AwakenTheSleepingGiant will not end well for you.]]''