History VideoGame / WintermoorTacticsClub

* {{Expy}}: The most obvious one is the game the Tactics Club formed around, Curses & Catacombs; it's a near beat-for-beat AffectionateParody of Dungeons & Dragons. Almost everything about the game is a reference in some way.
** Much later on, [[spoiler:the game Baphomet writes is ''very clearly'' an Expy of VampireTheMasquerade]], though the game never comes out and directly says it.
** [[spoiler:Colin's ultimate challenge for the party]] is also this- a C&C module called the Crypt of Impossible Terrors, a clear reference to the Tomb of Horrors.

* UsefulNotes/FurryFandom: In-universe, this is basically what the Animal Identification Club is. Weirdly, they're portrayed as one of the most powerful clubs in the school, despite consisting of literally only two people; they do scouting just like the main characters do, and are the penultimate challenge in the semifinals.

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* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: The very first opponents the Tactics Club battle are the Young Monarchists, a bunch of goofy flakes who think bringing back the ''monarchy'' is a good idea- and remember, this is an ''American'' school. Notably, they are the only club the Tactics Club defeats that [[spoiler:do not have '''any''' member join the Tactics Club]].

* RebelWithoutACause: Jacob, in essence. This is the major reason Baphomet holds him in such contempt. [[spoiler:Given that he became Banksy, this is apparently still an issue for him.]]

* KnifeNut: Alicia ''thinks'' Jacob is this, but he just has a Swiss Army Knife that he uses for other tasks; he himself states he barely uses the blade. Baphomet, on the other hand, not only has a switchblade, but expresses tremendous confidence in her ability to use it for self-defense.

* MadScientist: The Equestrian Club has evolved into this by the time the game starts, due to losing all their horses to school funding cuts; they've taken over the science lab and use it to build a combat-capable MechanicalHorse named Sleipnir (or Buttercup, according to Mindy.)

* MalevolentMaskedMen: And women. [[spoiler:And one non-binary person. The Clubless Club consists of every other student in the school, wearing creepy white masks, and determined to bring down the school. Jania outright calls them a cult. Ilemauzar's influence has warped them into both more powerful combatants, but also given them serious mental issues; the descriptions of their attacks and nature on the Examine screen make it ''very'' clear that the Clubless are in a bad place, mentally and spiritually speaking.]]

Inspired by the intro battle of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', Wintermoor Tactics Club alternates between Tabletop Role Playing sessions end of chapter snowball fights with other clubs.

But meanwhile, weird stuff keeps happening on campus... clearly the result of the main character's overactive imagination.

...Right?

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: The very first opponents the Tactics Club battle are the Young Monarchists, a bunch of goofy flakes who think bringing back the ''monarchy'' is a good idea- and remember, this is an ''American'' school. Notably, they are the only club the Tactics Club defeats [[spoiler: that do not have '''any''' member join the Tactics Club.]]
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Jacob. He's clearly not white, but it's also implied he's not black; the black member of the New Wave Appreciation Club identifies Alicia as one of the only other black people on campus alongside Septavia, but doesn't mention Jacob. This is as close to a statement on his ethnicity as we get. [[spoiler: The epilogue claims he grew up to become Banksy, which is interesting because Banksy is British and Jacob distinctively isn't.]]
* AmbiguouslyGay: Rare version where the ambiguous part isn't the ''gay'' part. [[spoiler: Jania and Baphomet, if you pitch in on their side quests, will eventually strike up a relationship with each other, one that the epilogue confirms lasted all their lives. It's not stated if both are lesbians, or if one or both are bisexual; the only thing known for sure is that both are wlw in some fashion.]]
* AnimalMecha: The Equestrian Club lost the funding for its horses sometime before the game started. This is their work around- a rocket powered, fully combat capable MechanicalHorse, officially named Sleipnir by the head of the Equestrian Club (and called Buttercup by another member, who liked that name better.) It charges forth and spreads fire behind itself in huge lines, making the battle with the Equestrian Club an almost literal firefight. [[spoiler: Sleipnir/Buttercup makes one last appearance in the Gatekeeper boss fight, damaging the beast so it can be harmed.]]

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Both Justified ''and'' played straight. The Principal, upon realizing the Tactics Club has been recruiting, bans them from using more than three members, since he views adding more students to the club after the competition's start as cheating. Thus, it makes sense that the player can't bring more than three people to each snowball tournament fight. Now, why this applies to their games of C&C, [[spoiler: or the more obvious life-and-death battles against the Clubless Club and the ''actual demon'']], on the other hand...
* ArtifactOfDoom: [[spoiler: the Gatekeeper statue, which is trying to open a portal for its master to destroy the world.]]
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Principal Enfield sees himself this way, atoning for the mistakes he and his friends made in allowing the Gatekeeper statue to influence their minds.]]
* BarrierMaiden: Gender Inverted, and central to the plot. [[spoiler: Principal Enfield has done this for years, self-inflicted, to save his friends and the world from the Gatekeeper's master. The snowball tournament, and everything he does, is to find a new BarrierMaiden- an entire ''set'' of them, in fact, who will have to give up all their futures in order to contain the beast.]]
* BigBad: Principal Enfield seems a shoe-in for the position at first. [[spoiler: He's not. The Gatekeeper and its master, Ilemauzar, are the real villains of the piece.]]
* BlackBossLady: Septavia, to such a degree that she openly unnerves Alicia, who won't go near her from sheer intimidation. Notably, Septavia never says a harsh word to Alicia in the game; Alicia's just a socially-nervous sort and Septavia is simply that imposing. [[spoiler: Septavia is, in fact, quite kind to Alicia when the Tactics Club leader finally manages to work up the nerve to talk; it's apparent that Alicia holds Septavia up on a high pedestal, and Septavia is very gentle with her, encouraging her to find a third option to defeat the demon.]]
** Alicia doesn't quite fit this trope, even though she is clearly the leader of the Tactics Club and their strongest advocate, mostly because she's way nicer than the general trope implies. [[spoiler: Colin resents this about her, since he's technically the leader of the Club, and it plays a part in his temporary breakdown.]]

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The Tactics Club members are not actually warriors and mages, but by using their imagination, they can channel their fantasy selves and treat the SnowballFight competition like one of their games. [[spoiler: Given the statue's real, observable power, this... might be less strange than it seems.]]
* CloakAndDagger: The Tactics club is able to engage in activities resembling this genre to scout out the competition beforehand, gaining an advantage in the ensuing snowball battle from their espionage work. [[spoiler: This doesn't work on the Student Council, who prepare multiple fake-outs and even a trap for the Tactics club... but finding all of them earns their respect and gives the party bonus Tactics points during their first combat encounter with the Clubless.]]
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: The girl in the Quad who talks about insects.]]
* DeconstructedTrope: Done gently, but pointedly, to SadisticChoice and BarrierMaiden. [[spoiler: Alicia refuses to go along with Enfield's plan, pointing out that she would much rather take some time to come up with a new way than simply give up her future forever to guard the statue. Sure, it ''sounds'' noble... but she points out that doing this is just a stop-gap measure at best; her and her friends sacrificing themselves in this manner wouldn't actually ''solve'' the problem, it'd just punt it down the road. She'd have to pass the responsibility on to someone else ''eventually.'' She'd rather try for a more permanent solution, even if it's less heroic than just sacrificing herself, and she's proven right when the option to simply battle the damn thing is revealed to be on the table. Enfield didn't have the strength to do it... but the Tactics Club ''does'', and thrashes Ilemauzar and its forces, fixing the problem instead of hurling it down the road into the future.]]
* DefeatMeansFriendship: One member of each of the disbanded clubs you defeat will join Tactics Club, though not always the member given the most spotlight... [[spoiler: Batu is the most surprising, as he literally has no lines of dialogue before he joins the party.]]
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler: Bizarre example; the demon Ilemauzar appears to have possessed ''every single Clubless Club member'', all at once, draining and feeding off their pain and loneliness. On a more light-hearted note, Scarlet has apparently been demonically possessed ''multiple'' times, as she mentions when Junia breaks her out of it.]]
* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler: Colin, after running off during the meeting with Enfield. He didn't do any real harm, and Ilemauzar was messing with his head, so this is fairly well-justified.]]

** [[spoiler: Much later on, the game Baphomet writes is ''very clearly'' an Expy of VampireTheMasquerade, though the game never comes out and directly says it.]]
** [[spoiler: Colin's ultimate challenge for the party]] is also this- a C&C module called the Crypt of Impossible Terrors, a clear reference to the Tomb of Horrors.
* FatBastard: One of Colin's bullies is quite stout. [[spoiler: Colin himself, repeatedly whenever Alicia brings someone new into the group, and then at the game's end, as the statue influences him to take a stand against the others.]]
* FightingYourFriend: [[spoiler: How the party gets Colin to give up.]]
* FriendlyGhost: One you don't know about until the epilogue. [[spoiler: The girl in the Quad who keeps the same three lines of dialogue for the entire game- the ''only'' character who never changes dialogue- turns out to be the ghost of a girl who died hunting insects on the school grounds forty years beforehand.]] You get an achievement for figuring this out.

* FutureBadass: The epilogue states that multiple characters become this; while many fade into the background, others ascend to take their place in history. [[spoiler: Some become famous jewel thieves and scientists, but of the side characters, Armando fits this best- despite his curse, he ends three wars, raises millions to fight hunger, and even briefly brings back opera.]]
* FramingDevice: One that's not revealed until the epilogue. [[spoiler: The entire game is Colin telling the story to Alicia's daughter, Danielle, in the future.]]

* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: Junia and Baphomet are a realistic take on this for the time period; it's clear they stayed a happy couple, and even raise foster kids together, but they're never said to be married. The game takes place in 1981, after all, and marriage between people of the same gender was not legalized in the United States until 2015. Assuming Baphomet and Junia were 18 during the game, they'd be 52 before they could legally get married.]]
* TheHeartless: [[spoiler: Ilemauzar feeds off of loneliness and suffering; in particular, its ability to hurt people can be at least partially negated by reminding its victims that they are not alone, and that others care about them. Isolation seems to be the main gimmick Ilemauzar feeds on.]]

* HordesFromTheEast: Batu, who is a Mongolian, is annoyed that this is all Americans know about him and his people. He points out that Mongolians also gave the world great philosophers and artists. [[spoiler: This misunderstanding forms the basis of his sidestory with the Historical Re-Enactment Club.]]
* HowWeGotHere: [[spoiler: The entire game turns out to be Colin, now Wintermoor's principal, telling the story of Alicia and the Tactics Club to Alicia's daughter, who is fretting over which clubs to join.]]
* InstantDeathRadius: [[spoiler: The final boss has one, which is made worse by the fact that he can "grab" characters and drag them into the Abyssal zones around himself. Most characters can't do anything about it, though Jacob can use his grappling hook to rescue those characters if he's not been grabbed himself, and Batu can save himself by using Trample to move out of the attack's radius.]]
* KidDetective: Basically what the Psychic Detectives Club is, combined with PolicePsychic. It's clear that Scarlet, at least, has some real power, though it's up in the air if the other two do. [[spoiler: They do. Jania is probably the ''weakest'' member of her club, and she can mind-control her enemies!]]

* MalevolentMaskedMen: And women. [[spoiler: And one non-binary person. The Clubless Club consists of every other student in the school, wearing creepy white masks, and determined to bring down the school. Jania outright calls them a cult. Ilemauzar's influence has warped them into both more powerful combatants, but also given them serious mental issues; the descriptions of their attacks and nature on the Examine screen make it ''very'' clear that the Clubless are in a bad place, mentally and spiritually speaking.]]
* MindControl: What [[spoiler: Jania]] brings to the table for her Tactics Power- confusing enemies to attack each other. Upgrades make this even deadlier; it's one of the best forms of crowd control in the game.

* NotJustATournament: The driving action of the plot is a SnowballFight tournament, with the survival of the clubs on the line. [[spoiler: The tournament is just a side-effect of the ''real'' main issue of the plot- it's Enfield's attempt to find a successor.]]
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Baphomet, beyond namiing herself after a demon once she discarded the name [[spoiler: Sarah]], writes a backstory for her character Hecate that deals heavily with Hell, demons, and their particular quirks. [[spoiler: Ilemauzar is apparently a real-world demon, crossed with EldritchAbomination, that feeds on fear and pain and uses hatred to make its victims into weapons; Colin at one point calls it a demon god, though Scarlet and Enfield, the two characters with the most understanding of the situation, only refer to it as a demon.]]
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Downplayed example. Alicia is remarkably open-minded about [[spoiler: Baphomet and Junia being a couple]], something that would not be expected of a highschool girl from 1981... but it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility, either, particularly for someone so well-read.
* PsychicPowers: The Psychic Detectives claim to have them. [[spoiler: They're right. Their youngest, in particular, is stated in the epilogue to have literal world-breaking power, though he doesn't use it for evil- he just takes comfort in knowing he ''could.'']]
* PsychologicalTormentZone: [[spoiler: Ilemauzar throws all of its cultists into the deep end of this trope, convincing them that their lives are meaningless, no one loves them, and everyone else is out to get them. Its Gatekeeper uses the same tactics to hurt the party during their boss battle with it, inflicting bizarre status effects like Isolated and Paranoid, which have ''very'' non-standard effects.]]
* RebelWithoutACause: Jacob, in essence. This is the major reason Baphomet holds him in such contempt. [[spoiler: Given that he became Banksy, this apparently is still an issue for him.]]
* RunningGag: The (almost certainly terrible) picture the game has you draw to distract Jessie during the Scouting mission against the Equestrian Club shows up three times in-game; first in its intended purpose, [[spoiler: second during an otherwise serious conversation with Jessie when they're a Clubless Club cultist, and third when Jessie has it during the epilogue.]]
* SatelliteCharacter: The last party member, interestingly. [[spoiler: Duncan has no lines of dialogue that ''don't'' revolve around Avery, and even his epilogue states that he mostly spent his life backing up Avery. Fittingly, he's the last Tactics Club member, and the one with the fewest connections to the party; even Baphomet, who joined the chapter beforehand, finds a girlfriend in Jania and has had a few scenes even before she joined. Duncan hasn't. Jacob even jocularly states that he "just joined half an hour ago" when the party arrives for the final confrontation with Principal Enfield.]]

*** Given later events, [[spoiler: Colin's inability to accept new fantasy literature, and that the Lord of the Rings has flaws, is foreshadowing his eventual rage at Alicia for bringing in new club members, and his betrayal.]]
** As to tabletop gaming, not only is C&C a fairly spot-on AffectionateParody of Dungeons&Dragons, but there's a fairly GeniusBonus joke in the epilogue; [[spoiler: Baphomet is stated to have been one of the original writers on "that other game", one popular with theatre kids and drama students that's about tortured fallen angels. It's abundantly clear they're talking about White Wolf and their flagship title, Vampire: the Masquerade- this even fits the real-world timeline, since the game takes place in 1981 and the first VtM edition came out in 1991.]]

* SourSupporter: Colin slowly grows into this role, since he ''hates'' the new additions Alicia keeps bringing in. [[spoiler: The statue capitalizes on this to make him betray the party at the last minute.]]
* SuckySchool: Wintermoor, which only has the funding for one extracurricular club (including sports teams and the Student Council), and will only give that funding to the SnowballFight tournament's winners. [[spoiler: This is not actually the case.]]

* TakeAThirdOption: Alicia's good at these. [[spoiler: This is actually why Septavia stepped down as the Ultimate Club and gave the win to the Tactics Club; she thought Enfield's option, of becoming the Gatekeeper statue's guardians and giving up their futures to stop it, was a no-go, but couldn't figure out a way around it herself. She hoped Alicia could... and she was right.]]
* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler: Baphomet gets ''enraged'' if you call her Sarah- well, even more enraged than she normally is.]]
* TheQuietOne: Batu is a realistic take on this trope- he's quiet at first because he's shy and doesn't know any of the Tactics Club members. Once he gets to know them, he talks as much as anyone. Armando of the Student Council, however, is an ExaggeratedTrope version of this; he ''never once'' says a word in the entire game. [[spoiler: The epilogue reveals that it was because he was cursed to die on saying his 1,001 word.]]
* TheUnfought: [[spoiler: Frustratingly, you never get a chance to put the Student Council to the test; the fight is interrupted by the Clubless Club cult first.]]

* WelcomeBackTraitor: Justified example. [[spoiler: Colin, for all his dickery, was under the influence of Ilemauzar, and goes out of his way to apologize and "work on himself" after his betrayal. It probably helps that he didn't do any real harm with his last-minute treachery.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Principal Enfield always intended to give the clubs back to the school; he just needed to find one with willpower strong enough that it could take over as a BarrierMaiden for the Gatekeeper statue. Given how tired and exhausted he admits to being, and his plans to make things right afterwards, the snowball tournament and the sheer amount of dickery he gets up to in the meanwhile can be chalked up to desperation and to his attempts to keep the tournament going.]]

** As for where the party ended up... [[spoiler: Alicia became a world-famous writer whose daughter attends Wintermoor. Colin becomes Principal, succeeding Enfield, and is the one who tells Alicia's daughter of her mother's great feats. Jacob became Banksy. Junia and Baphomet stayed a couple, raising foster kids together; Junia continued her psychic endeavors, while Baphomet was one of White Wolf's early writers. Duncan assisted Avery in their political endeavors, and Batu returned home to Mongolia, where he stays involved in art.]]
* YourMindMakesItReal: [[spoiler: The justification for why the party can use their C&C abilities in real life against the demons and the Clubless; their imagination and spark of creativity is, in fact, the one weapon they have against the demon.]]

* AnimalMecha: The Equestrian Club lost the funding for its horses sometime before the game started. This is their work around- a rocket powered, fully combat capable robot horse, officially named Sleipnir by the head of the Equestrian Club (and called Buttercup by another member, who liked that name better.) It charges forth and spreads fire behind itself in huge lines, making the battle with the Equestrian Club an almost literal firefight. [[spoiler: Sleipnir/Buttercup makes one last appearance in the Gatekeeper boss fight, damaging the beast so it can be harmed.]]

* FurryFandom: In-universe, this is basically what the Animal Identification Club is. Weirdly, they're portrayed as one of the most powerful clubs in the school, despite consisting of literally only two people; they do scouting just like the main characters do, and are the penultimate challenge in the semifinals.

* MadScientist: The Equestrian Club has evolved into this by the time the game starts, due to losing all their horses to school funding cuts; they've taken over the science lab and use it to build a combat-capable RobotHorse named Sleipnir (or Buttercup, according to Mindy.)

* WakeUpCallBoss: The Equestrian Club. The Young Monarchists were a joke, and most of the C&C stuff up until this point were just all fun and games... but the Equestrian Club shows up with a non-combatant RobotHorse that spreads Fire panels everywhere, and they're a WolfPackBoss, each of them with high movement and multi-hit Trample attacks. Winning is a matter of the player realizing that they ''don't'' have to beat the Robot Horse, just the Club, and concentrating fire on the Club while paying attention to formation so they don't eat multiple attacks to multiple party members at once.

* FurryFandom: In-universe, this is basically what the Animal Identification Club is. Weirdly, they're portrayed as one of the most powerful clubs in the school, despite consisting of literally only two people; they do scouting just like the main characters do, and are the penultimate challenge in the semifinals.]

* FurryFandom: In-universe, this is basically what the Animal Indentification Club is. Weirdly, they're portrayed as one of the most powerful clubs in the school, despite consisting of literally only two people; they do scouting just like the main characters do, and are the penultimate challenge in the semifinals.]

* GeoEffects: Combined with StandardStatusEffects. As there is no such thing as a status effect that can be applied to a person, those are instead applied to ground tiles, and whoever steps on them gets the effect.

* FutureBadass: The epilogue states that multiple characters become this; while many fade into the background, others ascend to take their place in history. [[spoiler: Some become famous jewel thieves and scientists, but of the side characters, Armando fits this best- despite his curse, he ends three wars and saves many lives, inspires others, and lives life to the fullest.]]
* FramingDevice: One that's not revealed until the epilogue. [[spoiler: The entire game is Colin telling the story to Alicia's daughter in the future.]]

* TokenBlack: Alicia is one in the Tactics Club, and is damn close to one on campus in general. This is both lampshaded and Discussed; there is a black member of the New Wave Appreciation Club, and he openly states to Alicia that he's glad there's at least one other black person on campus. Alicia brings up [[BlackBossLady Septavia]], but he demurs, pointing out that the almost inhumanly skilled and perfect Septavia comes across more like a robot than a person.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: The very first opponents the Tactics Club battle are the Young Monarchists, a bunch of goofy flakes who think bringing back the ''monarchy'' is a good idea- and remember, this is an ''American'' school.

* MalevolentMaskedMen: And women. [[spoiler: The Clubless Club consists of every other student in the school, wearing creepy white masks, and determined to bring down the school. Jania outright calls them a cult. Ilemauzar's influence has warped them into both more powerful combatants, but also given them serious mental issues; the descriptions of their attacks and nature on the Examine screen make it ''very'' clear that the Clubless are in a bad place, mentally and spiritually speaking.]]

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Jacob. He's clearly not white, but it's also implied he's not black; the black member of the New Wave Appreciation Club identifies Alicia as one of the only other black people on campus alongside Septavia, but doesn't mention Jacob. This is as close to a statement on his ethnicity as we get. [[spoilers: The epilogue claims he grew up to become Banksy, which is interesting because Banksy is British and Jacob distinctively isn't.]]

* DeconstructedTrope: Done gently, but pointedly, to SadisticChoice and BarrierMaiden. [[spoiler: Alicia refuses to go along with Enfield's plan, pointing out that she would much rather take some time to come up with a new way than simply give up her future forever to guard the statue. Sure, it ''sounds'' noble... but she points out that doing this is just a stop-gap measure at best; her and her friends sacrificing themselves in this manner wouldn't actually ''solve'' the problem, it'd just punt it down the road. She'd have to pass the responsibility on to someone else ''eventually.'' She'd rather try for a more permanent solution, even if it's less heroic than just sacrificing herself, and she's proven right when the option to simply battle the damn thing is revealed to be on the table. Enfield didn't have the strength to do it... but the Tactics Club ''doess', and thrashes Ilemauzar and its forces, fixing the problem instead of hurling it down the road into the future.]]

* TokenBlack: Alicia is damn close to one. This is both lampshaded and Discussed; there is a black member of the New Wave Appreciation Club, and he openly states to Alicia that he's glad there's at least one other black person on campus. Alicia brings up [[BlackBossLady Septavia]], but he demurs, pointing out that the almost inhumanly skilled and perfect Septavia comes across more like a robot than a person.

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Both Justified ''and'' played straight. The Principal, upon realizing the Tactics Club has been recruiting, bans them from using more than three members, since he views adding more students to the club after the competition's start as cheating. Thus, it makes sense that the player can't bring more than three people to each snowball tournament fight. Now, why this applies to their games of C&C, [[spoiler: or the more obvious life-and-death battles against the Clubless Club]], on the other hand...

* BigBad: Principal Enfield seems a shoe-in for the position at first. [[spoiler: He's not. The Gatekeeper and its master, the demon, are the real villains of the piece.]]

* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler: Bizarre example; the demon appears to have possessed ''every single Clubless Club member'', all at once, draining and feeding off their pain and loneliness. On a more light-hearted note, Scarlet has apparently been demonically possessed ''multiple'' times, as she mentions when Junia breaks her out of it.]]

* GeekPhysiques: Jacob is the skinny, Colin the fat.

* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: Junia and Baphomet are a more realistic take on this, given the time period; it's clear they stayed a happy couple, and even raised foster kids together, but they're never said to be married. The game takes place in 1981, after all, and marriage between people of the same gender was not legalized in the United States until 2015. Assuming Baphomet and Junia were 18 during the game, they'd be 52 before they could legally get married.]]

* KidDetective: Basically what the Psychic Detectives Club is, combined with PolicePsychic. It's clear that Scarlet, at least, has some real power, though it's up in the air if the other two do. [[spoiler: Jania can use powers in combat, but it's hard to tell how much is genuine ESP and how much of it is simply her incredibly forceful personality confusing opponents.]]
* KnifeNut: Alicia ''thinks'' Jacob is this, but he just has a Swiss Army Knife that he uses for other tasks; he himself states he barely uses the blade. Baphomet, on the other hand, not only has a switchblade, but expresses tremendous confidence in her ability to use it.

* MalevolentMaskedMen: And women. [[spoiler: The Clubless Club consists of every other student in the school, wearing creepy white masks, and determined to bring down the school. Jania outright calls them a cult.]]
* MindControl: What [[spoiler: Jania]] brings to the table- confusing enemies to attack each other. Upgrades make this even deadlier; it's one of the best forms of crowd control in the game.

* SmokeOut: One of Jacob's tactics powers, and an ability he keeps in real life; he keeps smoke bombs on him in case the Tactics Club gets in over their head, to give them a chance to escape.

* ShownTheirWork: In two areas, fantasy novels and tabletop gaming.

* SnowballFight: The main plot arc is about a series of these, with each club that loses getting disbanded, all with the supposed goal of finding the Ultimate Club. It's clear from the start that something else is going on...

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Principal Enfield always intended to give the clubs back to the school; he just needed to find one with willpower strong enough that it could take over as a BarrierMaiden for the Gatekeeper statue. Given how tired and exhausted he admits to being, the snowball tournament and the sheer amount of dickery he gets up to can be chalked up to desperation.]]
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: And a surprisingly ''extensive'' one; every named character gets at least a line dedicated to their future success/failure, and more often several.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Rare version where the ambiguous part isn't the ''gay'' part. [[spoiler: Jania and Baphomet, if you pitch in on their side quests, will eventually strike up a relationship with each other. It's not stated if both are lesbians, or if one or both are bisexual, so the only thing we know for sure is that both are wlw in some fashion.]]
* AnimalMecha: The Equestrian Club lost the funding for its horses sometime before the game started. This is their work around- a rocket powered, fully combat capable robot horse, officially named Sleipnir by the head of the Equestrian Club (and called Buttercup by another member, who liked that name better.) It charges forth and spreads fire behind itself in huge lines, making the battle with the Equestrian Club an almost literal firefight.

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Both averted ''and'' played straight. The Principal, upon realizing the Tactics Club has been recruiting, bans them from using more than three members, since he views adding more students to the club after the competition's start as cheating. Thus, it makes sense that the player can't bring more than three people to each snowball tournament fight. Now, why this applies to their games of C&C, [[spoiler: or the more obvious life-and-death battles against the Clubless Club]], on the other hand...
* BarrierMaiden: Gender Inverted, and central to the plot. [[spoiler: Principal Enfield has done this for years, self-inflicted to save his friends and the world from the Gatekeeper's master. The snowball tournament, and everything he does, is to find a new BarrierMaiden- an entire ''set'' of them, in fact, who will have to give up all their futures in order to contain the beast.]]

* RebelWithoutACause: Jacob, in essence. This is the major reason Baphomet holds him in such contempt.

* ShownTheirWork: Alicia is familiar with a fairly large number of real-world fantasy novels, all published prior to 1981. She repeatedly tries to get Colin, who is a bit of a stick-in-the-mud about fantasy and only really respects Lord of the Rings, to read ''Left Hand of Darkness''; he in turn has apparently decided she should read the ''Silmarillion''. Colin brushes off Alicia's complaints about the lack of women in his favorite books, but does, reluctantly, agree to give her suggestions another try if she'll do the same.
** Given later events, [[spoiler: Colin's inability to accept new fantasy literature, and that the Lord of the Rings has flaws, is foreshadowing his eventual rage at Alicia for bringing in new club members, and his betrayal.]]

* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler: Baphomet gets ''enraged'' if you call her Sarah- even more than she normally is.]]

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue

* FurryFandom: In-universe, this is basically what the Animal Indentification Club is. Weirdly, they're portrayed as one of the most powerful clubs in the school, despite consisting of literally only two people; they do scouting just like the main characters do, and are the penultimate challenge in the semifinals.

* MindControl: What [[spoielr: Jania]] brings to the table- confusing enemies to attack each other. Upgrades make this even deadlier; it's one of the best forms of crowd control in the game.

* ShownTheirWork: Alicia is familiar with a fairly large number of real-world fantasy novels, all published prior to 1981. She repeatedly tries to get Colin, who is a bit of a stick-in-the-mud about fantasy and only really respects Lord of the Rings, to read ''Left Hand of Darkness''; he in turn has apparently decided she should read the ''Silmarillion'', which is quite telling for his character.

* SuckySchool: Wintermoor, which only has the funding for one extracurricular club (including sports teams and the Student Council), and will only give that funding to the SnowballFight tournament's winners.

* SnowballFight: The main plot arc is about a series of these, but

* TransNature: Members of the Animal Identification Club don't ''identify'' animals. They identify ''as'' animals.

* AbsurdlyHigh-StakesGame: The snowball fights; those who lose, lose all club privileges, which can be pretty significant for most groups. They include the right to wear non-standard clothes instead of the traditional uniform (very important for the Animal Identification group in particular), the right to use certain rooms on campus as clubrooms, and seemingly even the ''right to hang out with each other''; Principal Enfield is seen repeatedly breaking up groups of students who were club members and banning them from each other's company.

* NotJustATournament: The driving action of the plot is a SnowballFight tournament, with the survival of the clubs on the line.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Principal Enfield always intended to give the clubs back to the school; he just needed to find one with willpower strong enough that it could take over as a BarrierMaiden for the Gatekeeper statue.]]

* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Members of the Student Council are allowed to carry swords and appear to be omniscient.
* AnimalMecha: The Equestrian Club lost the funding for its horses sometime before the game started. This is their work around.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The Tactics Club members are not actually warriors and mages, but by using their imagination, they can channel their fantasy selves and treat the SnowballFight competition like one of their games.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: One member of each of the disbanded clubs you defeat will join Tactics Club.
* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:Ilemauzar and its gatekeeper.]]

* ShownTheirWork: Alicia is familiar with a fairly large number of real-world fantasy novels, all published prior to 1981.
* SnowballFight: The driving plot arc is about these.

Wintermoor Tactics Club is a ''Main/TurnBasedTactics'' game set in a ''Main/BoardingSchool'' in 1981, about a ''Main/SnowballFight'' tournament and a not-''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' club, the eponymous Tactics Club.

* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil - Members of the Student Council are allowed to carry swords and appear to be omniscient.
* AnimalMecha - The Equestrian Club lost the funding for its horses sometime before the game started. This is their work around.
* DefeatMeansFriendship - One member of the disbanded clubs you defeat will join Tactics Club.
* EldritchAbomination - [[spoiler:Ilemauzar and its gatekeeper.]]
* NotJustATournament - The driving action of the plot is a snowball fight tournament, with the survival of the clubs on the line.
* ShownTheirWork - Alicia is familiar with a fairly large number of real-world fantasy novels, all published prior to 1981.
* SnowballFight - The driving plot arc is about these.
* TabletopRPG - The Tactics Club plays one of these, and a significant amount of character development occurs in them.
* TransNature - Members of the Animal Identification Club don't identify animals. They identify as animals.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue