"The Outsider Who Loved Gensokyo: Touhou RPG Project", is a Touhou fangame created (and constantly updated) by Catboyjeremie. In this game, you play as a young nameless man who keeps having dreams of a mysterious woman during his trip in Japan. During a visit to an old shrine, he meets the woman from his dreams who lures him into following her. As he follows her, he somehow finds himself in a bamboo forest where he is attacked by a girl who wishes to eat him. After being rescued at the last moment, he is brought to a village where he sees all sorts of unusual things. While there, he is told that he is in Gensokyo; a land where youkai and gods live. Fascinated by these wondrous beings, he expresses a wish to explore this strange land.
After being told about the dangers of Gensokyo, he is persuaded to go visit the Hakurei Shrine, where he meets its shrine maiden. With her help, he goes to meet the mysterious woman who soon reveals to him that he has been chosen as the emissary of the outside world. This duty is part of a long tradition that occurs every 200 years which brings an outsider from outside Gensokyo to bear gifts to many of it's important figures. In exchange for this task, the people of Gensokyo works to keep incidents from their land to affect the outside world. The outsider accepts this duty, thinking it'll allow him to explore Gensokyo and meet it's people as he pleases but he'll soon discover how complicated his duty truly is due to the actions of his predecessors.
- A God Am I: Abyss Cloak's influence on Japan long ago unwittingly caused him to gather faith. During the Normal route, it is implied that he's merely boasting when he calls himself a God of Retribution. The True route however reveals that he is speaking the truth. 400 years ago, after he possessed Kiyoko, he took advantage of her by using her to wish to become a God. This unwittingly caused them both to become gods due to the fact they were sharing the same body.
- Anti-Villain: Tyrannos, the Lord of the Abyss, is revealed to have no connection to the earthquakes and the sudden surge of vengeful spirits that are affecting Gensokyo. The reason why he didn't do anything about it was because he was too busy renovating the Abyss to notice what was going on. When Koishi somehow finds her way inside his world, he welcomes her, feeling sympathy for her. However, as soon as he finds out that the people of Gensokyo opened the entrance to the Abyss, he decides that he'll attempt to take over their world because it'd be easier than to make the Abyss a better place to live in.
- Tyrannos: Do you have any idea how much work it is to change this dump?! I've been working for thousands of years to improve the condition of this world! The Abyss is the deepest part of Hell so it's quite a daunting task.
- Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: How Mystia feels toward The Emissary as time goes on; she admits that she dislikes him (the first youkai attempting to prey on him) yet she keeps looking for him around Gensokyo land. Depending on The Emissary's later choices and his relationship points with Mystia, she will fall in love with him and if she does, she will defend him from Chiyuri's attempt of guilt-tripping him.
- The Cavalry: Happens several times throughout the game.
- While fighting Cirno in order to get her to stop freezing frogs and go back home, Cirno blindsides the Emissary and freezes him in place. Just as it seems that she's going to win, frogs from the nearby lake attack her and help the Emissary, allowing him to win.
- If the player did not recruit any characters, Sanae comes to the Emissary's rescue when Chiyuri tries to capture him while he's visiting the highest regions of Youkai Mountain.
- Just before the battle with Abyss Cloak, Reimu, Marisa, Mokou, and Futatsuiwa come to help the Emissary and Alice against him.
- Co-Dragons: The Subjugator and the Liberator are this to Abyss Cloak. The former strongly agrees and sympathizes with Abyss Cloak's genocidal plans while the latter is an emotional noble demon who eventually stops following Abyss Cloak's goals, wishing to find a peaceful solution instead.
- Clones Are People, Too: A silent clone of Meiling is found alive while exploring the Scarlet Devil Mansion's Tower Basement. She was originally a lifeless homunculus that was created by Patchouli, believed to be lost during a collapse in her underground laboratory. She was brought to life and raised as a daughter by the Grim Reaper who inhabits the dungeons found under the tower.
- Defeat Means Friendship: A staple of "Touhou Project" and it is just as pronounced here, as with Tyrannos and the Liberator, with the former being a part of the celebration of his own defeat, while the latter leaves his master in order to find a more peaceful solution about Gensokyo and the youkai.
- Deity of Human Origin: Kanako and Suwako invites the Emissary to join the Moriya Shrine as a god of travel. Their reasoning is that they could take advantage of the fame of previous emissaries to allow him to gather faith that would strengthen the shrine's influence even further while he's still be able to travel Gensokyo as he pleases. The standard normal route concludes with the Emissary making the wish of becoming a god of travel with the implication that he might accept their offer to join them after all.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: While traveling through the Scarlet Devil Mansion Tower Basement, you find the Western Grim Reaper in there.
- Fix Fic: More like "Fix Game". This is one of several Touhou fan-made materials that attempt to redeem Lunarians in the eyes of the fandom, mainly Eirinnote and Watatsuki siblingsnote .
- Girl of My Dreams: Yukari plays this role, being the one the Emissary sees in his dreams and that causes him to fall into Gensokyo in the first place, kick-starting the game.
- Harmful Healing: While in Makai, Mai and Yuki are weak to fire and ice respectively. When they "team-up," they attack each other to make themselves resistant to their weaknesses.
- Immune to Fate: Thanks to the Gem of Boundary given by Yukari, emissaries are essentially immune to most supernatural attacks. The Emissary however soon learns that such protection doesn't apply to him if he takes part in spell card battles. Gensokyo sages like Okina Matara are also exempt from this.
- Insult Misfire: While arriving at Eientei for the first time, Yorihime mistakes the Emissary for an intruder causing him to call her a lunatic when she decides to attack him.
- Make a Wish: Emissaries who succeed in completing their duty are granted a wish. The emissary is granted the right to have it fulfilled by the people of Gensokyo if they decide to stay or to have it fulfilled by the people of the outside world. However, Kiyoko's original wish to turn all humans into youkai was declined by the youkai elders due to the fact of it being impossible and that it would've been harmful for all youkai.
- Man Behind the Man: Abyss Cloak, an ancient demon with great power, decided to fight other youkai after seeing their bloodlust. He's responsible for the incident with the previous Emissary from 400 years ago and for the Abyss incident which involved an attempt to create an earthquake that would've devastated Gensokyo and the Former Hell.
- The Medic: Some characters can be recruited by The Emissary to be this. Eirin Yagokoro and Shizuha Aki are two of the best example.
- Combat Medic: Eirin, Reimu and Sanae. Three characters with powerful attacks and healing ability. Eirin is probably the strongest healer in the game as of the latest update.
- Men Don't Cry: Averted with most male characters. The Emissary's stress and guilt about being separated from his family and loved ones gradually grows as the story goes along while most villains are moved to tears by the kindness of other characters or when they express sympathy and concern for humans who have been hurt, harassed or killed by youkai.
- Monstrous Cannibalism: The first youkai the Emissary meets, Mystia, attempts to eat him but is rescued by Mokou's intervention at the last second. This incident is often brought up to remind the Emissary how dangerous youkai can be for humans.
- Multiple Endings: There are many endings that are affected by the actions and decisions of the player. Each routes involves a bad, a normal and a true ending.
- My Greatest Failure: Lord Tenma sees what happened with the previous emissary, Kiyoko, as a great shame because he, along with other youkai elders took her threats lightly. Unfortunately, Kiyoko, possessed by Abyss Cloak made good on her threats, resulting in the death of many youkai and humans.
- Noodle Incident: Something nasty happened between Yorihime and her husband which affects her psychologically. If The Emisarry tries to ask her about it, Yorihime will not answer and this results in penalty for relationship point with Eientei folks. Eventually The Emisarry will have to discover it on his own once he is on the Moon for an errand.
- Out-Gambitted: Yumemi is subjected to this by Yukari who deliberately allowed her to waste the resources from her Probability Space Hypervessel in trying to fuse Gensokyo with the outside world because the boundaries between the real world and Gensokyo weakens when the emissary is allowed to make their wish. Yumemi however is fooled into thinking that the emissary would immediately get to make his wish after Abyss Cloak's capture but Yukari gleefully tells her that she and other authorities in Gensokyo need to make sure he truly fulfilled his duty. Ultimately, Yukari did this to Yumemi to make her an example of those who'd disrupt the boundaries. Things takes a turn for the worst when Yumemi's despair about the situation angers Chiyuri, which allows Abyss Cloak to break free and ally himself with her with the goal of fusing both worlds to suppress all youkai even more.
- The Power of Love: Despite Abyss Cloak being seemingly invincible during his rampage 400 years ago while he was controlling Kiyoko's body, he was still defeated by Yuuka thanks to what she calls "the most powerful force in the universe". She did this by using her love of the first emissary to use Master Spark against him, killing Kiyoko and forcing him to retreat.
- Record Scratch: Happens whenever serious moments are killed such as the fight with Yorihime being stopped so that the Emissary can call her out for insulting Mokou, when the Emissary accidentally compliments Tenshi or when Tyrannos is revealed to have been renovating the Abyss.
- Schmuck Bait: On one ocassion, the game put The Emissary in the middle of Momiji and Nitori's quarrel regarding Kiyoko's past deeds and he will be given the chance to voice his opinion. The player is allowed to make The Emissary say "Humans are superior", but that will damage his relationship with both characters and eventually lock him on Bad Ending.
- Sliding Scale of Linearity vs. Openness: The game initially begins around Level 2, allowing the player to visit a few optional areas. Once the player talks to Eirin and Tewi, leaving Eientei turns the game to Level 4 which opens numerous areas, sidequests and events while also allowing the player to follow the main story or to simply head straight into Makai in an attempt to get a Normal ending.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Yuuka Kazami. She uses polite speech but saying mean words to The Emissary. Yuuka will only stop demeaning him and acknowledge his status as The Emissary only if he completes all her quests.
- Time Skip: In the default Golden Ending after beating Abyss Cloak for good, 2 years pass, the Emissary having left Gensokyo temporarily.
- Training from Hell: ie. 500 laps running, etc. According to Yorihime, this is the only acceptable method of training because it will keep people in shape.
- Veteran Instructor: Yorihime is this, she always encourage people to train in The Spartan Way. And she doesn't like anyone questioning her methods. See the Training from Hell trope above.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist:
- Long ago, Abyss Cloak, a demon witnessed the aftermath of a youkai raid on a human village where most of it's residents had been killed. The sight caused him to be overwhelmed with guilt to the point he grew a hatred of youkai and a love of humans. He believes that all youkai who interacts with humans must be eliminated and that humans who sides with them were corrupted by them. Because of Gensokyo's nature, he wishes to destroy it with all of it's residents.
- Yumemi seeks to merge Gensokyo and the outside world together for the sake of proving that her theories are true. She hopes that her researches will bring many wonderful things that'll benefit the people of the outside world. Yuuka notes that Yumemi sounds just like Abyss Cloak when she decides to carry on with her plan even though she knows the consequences could result in the death of many humans and youkai.
- Worf Effect: The first youkai the Emissary meets is Mystia, a night sparrow that looks like a little girl, and she knocks him down, a young man, in one punch, before nearly eating him. This shows the Emissary that despite appearances, youkai can be dangerous.
