Line #96 VideoGame/TheSpellcastingSeries


1	A trilogy of text adventure games written by Creator/SteveMeretzky in the early 1990s, published by Creator/LegendEntertainment. Legend used some of the tools of the day to spice up the traditional text format, including a graphics mode and some light sound effects and music via Real Sound. Best described as [[JustForFun/XMeetsY a oddball combination of]] ''Literature/HarryPotter'' and ''Film/{{Porkys}}'', the series are [[SexSells adult in theme]] but relatively tasteful in that regard, and the primary aim is providing [[WorldOfSnark biting humor]] and [[GuideDangIt brain-tickling puzzles]].
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3	The games chronicle the adventures of Ernie Eaglebeak, an aspiring young wizard attending classes at [[WizardingSchool Sorcerer University]]. While Ernie spends the three games [[NerdActionHero embarking on wild adventures]] and [[KavorkaMan bedding a considerable number of beautiful women]], he is consistently viewed as a [[LovableNerd total dork]] by almost everyone around him. [[RuleOfFunny Just go with it.]]
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5	Each game features inevitable encounters with Ernie's [[AllLoveIsUnRequited lifelong crush]] Lola Tigerbelly; quasi-mentor [[EccentricMentor Otto Tickingclock]] and his young wife, [[LovableSexManiac Hillary]], and Ernie's [[WickedStepmother evil stepfather]] and [[ArchEnemy arch-nemesis]], Joey Rottenwood.
6
7	The three games are:
8	# ''Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All the Girls'' (1990)
9	# ''Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance'' (1991)
10	# ''Spellcasting 301: Spring Break'' (1992)
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12	A fourth entry, ''Spellcasting 401: The Graduation Ball'', was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen planned but never published]].
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14	----
15	!!Tropes:
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17	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Sorcerer University has a large and complex sewer system beneath it in ''201'', which Ernie must use for rapid and/or secretive transit. The tunnels are large enough for an elevephant to walk through without issue. Unlike a lot of video game examples of this trope, though, Ernie doesn't get the luxury of walking on nice clean ledges and pipes. The smell in some areas is said to be more than Ernie can bear, and occasionally, even more than a bear could bear.
18	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Ernie continues to be stuck on Lola throughout the series, despite her [[{{Jerkass}} insufferable personality]] and [[GoldDigger greedy disposition]]. It gets harder to swallow after Ernie meets plenty of other women who aren't nearly as self-centered, but that's love for you. Whether this would've been resolved in ''401'' -- with either Ernie becoming wealthy or Lola [[CharacterDevelopment dropping]] her GoldDigger tendencies -- is unknown.
19	* AncientArtifact: The Sorcerer's Appliance, which serves as the [[DismantledMacGuffin MacGuffin]] of ''101'' but becomes a vital tool in ''201''.
20	* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Reviving Otto with the Sorcerer's Appliance is the only way to stop Joey's plan in ''201''.]]
21	* BackToFront: One level in ''101'' begins with you leaving the island and ends with you arriving on the island.
22	* BadCopIncompetentCop: Sheriff Wormpoop in ''301'', who arrests Ernie about half a dozen times throughout the game (sometimes justifiably, sometimes not) but never seems to recognize him as a repeat offender. He also continues to lock Ernie into an [[CardboardPrison entirely inadequate cell]] with about ten different solutions for escape, without confiscating Ernie's spellbook or gear. Though he does take precautions to ensure the same escape plan will never work twice. Dig a tunnel and he'll install a concrete floor. Turn the bars to rust and he'll replace them with non-metallic bars, and so on.
23	* BagOfSpilling: Ernie drops back to Level 2 at the beginning of ''201'' and Level 3 in ''301'', as well as losing almost all of his learned spells between games. Semi-justified after ''101'', since [[spoiler: the final battle requires you to destroy your own spellbook with a flamethrower]], and because having a spellbook with more than 40 spells in it would make both the developers and players go insane from the sheer volume of possible puzzle solutions they would have to consider.
24	* BettingMiniGame: There's a casino in ''301'' featuring three games of chance, although they're unwinnable unless Ernie can make the casino less crooked. A player ''can'' complete the entire game without ever having to gamble by [[WeBuyAnything selling unneeded items at the pawn shop]], but this will likely require [[GuideDangIt knowing the game quite well]].
25	* BigBad: Joey Rottenwood in each game, who manages to hide his machinations through a series of [[RunningGag increasingly absurd disguises]].
26	* BondVillainStupidity: Joey has this, but is [[GenreSavvy fully aware of that fact]] and [[LampshadeHanging spoofs]] it accordingly. Telling the hero his plans in exquisite detail is just something a villain has to do.
27	* {{Bowdlerise}}: Each game features a 'Nice Mode' which edits out the adult content and replaces the sexual encounters with humorously wholesome activities like doing {{crossword puzzle}}s.
28	* ButtMonkey: Ernie, of course, but Otto has it even worse. Ernie is the only one of the two having sex with Otto's wife, after all.
29	* {{Calvinball}}: Pokkaball, which seems to be the national sport of Peloria. A player can watch an entire match and read various pokkaball-related stories in the student newspaper, but the game remains [[UnnecessaryRoughness hilariously dangerous]] and utterly incomprehensible.
30	* CardboardPrison: Ernie gets thrown into one half a dozen times in the third game. The local sheriff does fix every security vulnerability you exploit to break out, but since there are more gaps in the security than there are opportunities to get arrested, it's highly unlikely that the player will ever be stuck in that cell for more than fifteen minutes game time at a stretch.
31	* CardCarryingVillain: Joey Rottenwood. He even has a [[LampshadeHanging villainy handbook he follows]] to make sure he's doing his job properly.
32	* CensorSteam: Used to hide the showering girls at Barmaid University, until Ernie busts out the magic. The girls then each go for their [[ModestyTowel towels]], giving you two CensorshipTropes in one tidy sequence.
33	* ChekhovsGun: The popular book in ''101'', though some might argue it is more of a BrickJoke.
34	* ChivalrousPervert: Ernie, who refuses to take advantage of a drugged girl named Gretchen whom he rescued from a party, despite being willing to sleep with just about any other woman that walks by.
35	* CollegeWidow: In ''Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance'', Hillary Tickingclock becomes when Otto dies. However this has no noticeable impact on her mood or sex drive, as she's always had extramarital affairs with the students. She'll gladly sleep with Ernie [[RefugeInAudacity while wearing her mourning clothes]], for that extra touch of class.
36	* CoolBoard: The magical surfboard in ''101'' which Ernie uses to travel between islands.
37	* CopyProtection: Various kinds were used throughout the series, including inputting information from included registration forms, and maps that were required for navigation in certain areas. The most inspired method was in ''201'', which included a set of sheet music you needed to [[MagicMusic play the moodhorn]] properly.
38	* DistressedDamsel: Lola is one toward the end of ''101''. Ernie bravely defeats a dragon and scales a castle to free her... [[DidNotGetTheGirl which has no effect on her poor opinion of him]].
39	* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: The women at the Island of the Amazons will assault Ernie whenever they get their hands on him, to the point where they draw swords if he refuses due to increasing exhaustion. This will end up [[OutWithABang killing Ernie]] if he can't escape the island in time. This, of course, is played for laughs. Considering the irreverent tone of the game, though, the trope isn't particularly offensive in this instance.
40	* DudeWheresMyRespect: Ernie's reward each time he saves the University (or perhaps even the world) from certain doom? A trophy with his name misspelled on it.
41	* EccentricMentor: Otto, whose occasional moments of lucidity or physical dexterity prove to be crucial to Ernie's adventures. Because of the game's comedic nature, however, Otto tends to be more of a senile ButtMonkey than a mentor proper.
42	%%* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex
43	* EvilLaugh: Joey has an especially good one.
44	* EvilSorcerer: The BigBad and EvilSorcerer in ''Sorcerers Get All the Girls'' (And both of the other games, as well) turns out to be [[spoiler:the protagonist's [[WickedStepmother abusive stepfather]]]].
45	* FantasticFantasyIsMundane: In ''101'', one area of the dormitory at Sorcerer University is occupied by group of gamers playing "Malls and Muggers".
46	* FieryRedhead: Amazon leader Ursula Unquenchablefire from ''101''.
47	* FoulCafeteriaFood: Nobody at Sorcerer's U eats the cafeteria food if they can help it. In the second game, the casserole which has been generally untouched for days can used as a source of firefly larva (apparently part of the recipe) and squirrel vomit (produced by trying to feed the casserole to a squirrel), which are needed for puzzle solutions.
48	* FunctionalMagic: Spells are a major part of Ernie's arsenal and are required to solve a majority of the puzzles. There are spells for even mundane tasks, like Foy, which makes yummy daiquiris.
49	* GagCensor: While playing on censored mode, Ernie doesn't have sex with the women he manages to charm, he just does perfectly innocent activities with them such as "washing dishes" and "playing chess".
50	* TheGodsMustBeLazy: Ernie travels to the Island of the Gods on ''101'', where the various deities basically spend their time loafing around and engaging in petty squabbles. Their apathy has even led to a [[TrashOfTheTitans titanic garbage dump]] that Ernie is forced to clean up.
51	* GoldDigger: Lola Tigerbelly, who tolerates Ernie's presence only if he has a pile of literal gold on-hand.
52	* GoldenSnitch: After the last official contest in ''301'', the judge says that since the scores are so close, she'll have one last contest worth enough points to give whichever frat completes it victory. This happens even if one side won every contest hands-down, meaning that the score is totally lopsided. This is because [[spoiler:the judge is actually the BigBad, and the whole competition was a setup to get someone to complete this task, which will provide him with the means to enact his latest evil scheme.]]
53	* GravityIsAHarshMistress: "The cartoon figure who has no problem walking on air [[CentipedesDilemma until he realizes he's doing it]]" example is mentioned in a spellcasting professor's lecture.
54	* HijackedByGanon: No matter who the villain seems to be, you just know Joey Rottenwood will be your final obstacle.
55	* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Ernie is enduring one before he decides to escape to Sorcerer University.
56	* HurricaneOfPuns: The Island of Lost Soles puzzle in 101, based on recognizing a description of something and coming up with a homophone for it that's also a given name. For example, a passage in a document leaving somebody a pea contains the soul of Pierre (Pea Heir).
57	* ImmodestOrgasm: A trademark of Hillary Tickingclock, along with Otto somehow managing to sleep through it, sometimes while in the same room.
58	* InitiationCeremony: All of ''201''. The tasks assigned to Ernie are potentially lethal (Because the pledgemaster doesn't like him), while the ones assigned to everyone else are just highly amusing to watch.
59	* InterspeciesRomance: Ernie must make an elevephant fall in love with him in ''201'' so it will follow him around campus without stomping him into paste. Ernie, of course, keeps the relationship entirely platonic. Hillary, [[ReallyGetsAround on the other hand...]]
60	* ItCameFromTheFridge: The dire contents of Ernie's fridge seem to get worse with each game. Even opening it just a crack can make Ernie pass out.
61	* KavorkaMan: Ernie sleeps with a bunch of gorgeous women in his travels, including [[TheHighQueen Libido, the sexy young Queen of Peloria]] and even [[LoveGoddess Ocarina]], the in-universe pantheon's goddess of beauty. While the games take pains to provide some [[HandWave contrived rationale]] as to why these women find Ernie appealing, he still must have... something.
62	* KissMeImVirtual: In ''101'', Ernie can find a girl chained to a DeathTrap while engaged in a training simulation. If the professors aren't there to watch, then after he disables the DeathTrap, he can rape her.
63	* KleptomaniacHero: Ernie, big time. A spellbox on someone's table in their home? Grab it. A key item in someone's desk in their office? All yours. [[RefugeInAudacity Breaking into the school president's office using a key you found on his unconscious daughter]]? Sure, why not!
64	* LovableNerd: Ernie and his Phart fraternity brothers.
65	* LovableSexManiac: Multiple characters:
66	** Ernie
67	** Hillary
68	* MagicMusic: The moodhorn in ''201'', which can [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin alter people's moods in a number of ways]]. Only one song is required for one puzzle, [[DevelopersForesight but almost every character in the game has scripted responses]] for each song in the book.
69	* MagicalGirlfriend: Eve in ''201'', who Ernie [[WeirdScience creates via the Sorcerer's Appliance]], with settings for [[WishFulfillment whatever measurements and hair color the player chooses]]. Of course, the game's premise [[StatusQuoIsGod doesn't really work]] if Ernie has a full-time girlfriend, so Eve promptly [[PutOnABus takes off for seamstress school]] while Ernie is asleep that night.
70	* TheManyDeathsOfYou: A good selection, which is typical for the [[AdventureGame genre.]] You can [[TimeCrash rend the fabric of space and time]], get [[BreathWeapon blasted to cinders]] by an atomic dragon, get [[OutWithABang humped to death]] by love-crazed amazons... you name it.
71	* MayDecemberRomance: Otto and Hillary, to the point where Otto is over 100 while Hillary is still in her 20s. The "romance" bit is a stretch, though, as Otto is too far gone in every regard to really enjoy his sexy young wife, and Hillary spends her days with [[ReallyGetsAround any other man that can find her room]].
72	* MentorOccupationalHazard: Poor Otto dies of a heart attack in ''201'' after witnessing his wife carousing with an elevephant, a prank [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Ernie himself causes]]. [[spoiler:His resurrection is the game's final challenge, however.]]
73	* MermaidProblem: Ernie temporarily becomes a merman in ''301'' and, unsurprisingly, meets a very beautiful and eager mermaid. Merfolk sex isn't explicity described, but it's apparently 100 times better than human sex.
74	* {{Mooning}}: Ernie's final hazing task in ''201'' is to moon [[TheHighQueen Queen Libido]] during a parade. Of course, the player can moon anyone else at any time he likes, [[HilarityEnsues to humorous effect]].
75	* MrExposition: Otto serves this role in the first two games, although there's not all that much plot to go over.
76	%%* NerdActionHero
77	* NerdGlasses: Ernie has a classic set. These can be magicked in 301 to appear more stylish, if the player so chooses.
78	* NerdsAreVirgins: Not here, they are not! Ernie gets laid at a ridiculous frequency despite his stereotypical skinny nerd appearance and social awkwardness.
79	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The Sorcerer's Appliance, which gains new abilities whenever you slap on a new attachment. And wouldn't you know it - after every successful mission in 201, you find a new attachment that [[ContrivedCoincidence just happens to have the power you'll need]] for the next task.
80	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Ernie gets bitched out by his fraternity brothers for losing all of their luggage and valuables during their flying carpet trek to Fort Naughtytail, even though he had to push off the excess weight just to keep their [[AllegedCar third-rate carpet]] from [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished crashing into the ocean]].
81	* NobodyPoops: There's a spell for that. And for the [[PottyFailure reverse]], too.
82	* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]; Ernie likes Amazons just fine and would've probably had a great time on their island if they'd have given him time to rest and recuperate between encounters.
83	* NoMoreForMe: One of the Tappa Kegga Brus decides this (and then changes his mind) after seeing the frat mascot (an elephant) shrink down until he can fit under a levitating manhole cover. Why he doesn't consider magic to be involved when he's at a school for sorcerers isn't mentioned (maybe he's just that drunk).
84	* NowDoItAgainBackwards: The only way to survive [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Island Where Time Runs Backwards]]. Failing to do so results in a brutal [[TimeCrash Time Crash]] that ends the game.
85	* OutWithABang: If you take too long trying to escape the Island of the Amazons, their constant jumping of your bones will literally kill you.
86	* PlotCoupon: The four magical seahorses in ''301''. Contrived, perhaps, [[RuleOfCute but pretty adorable]].
87	* PottyFailure: There's a spell that causes this. [[spoiler:Embarassing, yes, but it also saves everyone's lives at the end of 101]].
88	* ReallyGetsAround: Hillary Tickingclock is absurdly loose. Taken to its logical conclusion in ''301'': Hillary simply lies in a hotel room all day while an endless line of men [[TakeANumber take tickets outside her hotel room door to wait their turn]].
89	* RPGElements: In the first two games, Ernie gains points from solving puzzles, and goes up a level every time a new point threshold is reached to allow you access to higher-ranking spells. The only way to gain levels in ''301'' is to do complex chores for some [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold cranky wizards]], making level-gaining another set of puzzles unto itself.
90	* RunningGag: Plenty, including Hillary's [[ReallyGetsAround sexual proclivities]] and Otto's [[IdiotBall ignorance thereof]], and Joey inevitably being buried in a [[ToiletHumour mountain of poo]] during the finale.
91	* SdrawkcabName: [[{{Atlantis}} Sitnalta]], the lost city in ''301''.
92	* SelfDeprecation: At the beginning of ''101'', the hay you sleep on is "disgusting and riddled with thousands of tiny bugs (just like this game)."
93	* ShoutOut: The first game has the Restaurant at the End of the Ocean. Meretzky worked with Douglas Adams on ''VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1984'' computer game.
94	* SolveTheSoupCans: Pops up here and there. The first game features an island where you have to restore 80 lost souls by figuring out their names by looking at the object into which they were transformed. (A hot dog is actually a man named Frank, and so on.) You get a crucial key for saving everyone, but there's no way of knowing that beforehand (Fortunately, if you take long enough, the game will start dropping hints about the names you haven't guessed yet). 301 features a somewhat confounding 'color maze', but it can at least be skipped with a fair bit of gold.
95	* SpellBook: Ernie's most prized possession, as he can't cast a thing unless he has the book in his hands. Any new spells he finds automatically transfer right onto the pages -- unless you forgot to bring it, in which case, [[PermanentlyMissableContent the spell flies off into space]], and [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable you get to look for the "load save" button]].
96	* STDImmunity: Sexually transmitted diseases don't exist in Peloria, although this isn't mentioned until ''301'', where the narrator is presumably [[LampshadeHanging answering some of the lingering questions, criticisms or both]] regarding the lack of safe sex in the series. The possibility of Ernie having fathered kids all over Peloria is never addressed, though.
97	* StockNessMonster: The Lok Pik Monster in ''101'', who blocks your passage to Fort Blackwand. It shows up again in an aquarium in ''301'' (after Ernie rendered it harmless) but manages to escape back into the ocean, good as new, when the aquarium is destroyed during the rioting event.
98	%%* ThisLoserIsYou
99	* WackyFratboyHijinx: Featured in all three games to varying degrees. Going to fraternity parties is essential in ''101'' to acquire a few items, and the entire plot of ''201'' is Ernie pledging Hu Delta Phart and being placed in a series of [[InitiationCeremony increasingly dangerous hazing rituals]]. The core plot of ''301'' features Ernie and the rest of Hu Delta Phart squaring off against [[JerkJock Getta Loda Yu]] in a series of Spring Break-themed contests. Drunken carnage ensues.
100	* WetTShirtContest: One of the challenges in ''301''.
101	* WizardingSchool: Sorcerer University, of course. The games mention some rival schools, but SU appears to be the [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague elite school]] for spellcasting.
102	%%* WorldOfSnark
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Context VideoGame / TheSpellcastingSeries