The Quarantine Games is a actual-play TTRPG YouTube series made by Watcher, and based on the 'Tales From The Yawning Portal' system. It features Shane Madej as DM, and Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Katie LeBlanc as players. Initially created during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to safely create content from home, it tells the tale of murderhobo adventurers Qezza (played by Katie), Stephanos (played by Steven), and Steve (played by Ryan).
The Quarantine Games contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Qezza. She doesn’t do everything, but she’s mostly the one to crush some heads while Stephanos and Steve are doing their slow burn tsundere romance. Less prone to torture than they are too!
- The Alcoholic: According to a slightly wine drunk Ryan, Steve loves his Chardonnay, and is pissed off when Stephanos brings him back from the dead, because he was promised beer.
- Ambiguously Gay: Nothing confirmed, but Qezza rejects Stephanos’s feelings, and only seems to have interests piqued by other women.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Stephanos finally tells Steve he loves him in Chapter 5, and Steve doesn’t really reject him even, just says they need to take it slower.
- Aroused by Their Voice: Within a minute of meeting each other, Steve likes Stephanos’s voice and calls it like butter.
- At Least I Admit It: Steve doesn’t regret being an Ax-Crazy jerkass, but is pretty certain Stephanos is deranged and was the one who killed his family.
- Ax-Crazy: Stephanos is Cute and Psycho, but Steve wears the crazy on his sleeve, wanting to keep Stephanos’s head as a volleyball. And that’s just the start of it.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Even though he’s Cute and Psycho and Steve also treats him badly, but Stephanos seems to get whatever he wants with Qezza and Steve (except romance).
- Badass Boast: Steve, first half in high pitched voice, second half in the usual growl. “it appears we have beef… luckily they call me the butcher”.
- Bait-and-Switch: After years of teasing Bergara Guitara, Steve promises to play his “lute” and even looks over at the guitar before… singing. He does play a chord next episode though.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Steve and Stephanos go between insulting each other and bonding over being Ax-Crazy, plus Everyone Can See It and the Watcher twitter teased more if a season two happens.
- Black Comedy: The sixth chapter of The Quarantine Games ends up a Bloody Hilarious gorefest and Steve/Stephanos going full murder boyfriends.
- Blood Knight: Qezza is perfectly happy to be offered up by Steve as the beatdown solution to every problem.
- Bloody Hilarious: Episode six of The Quarantine Games has Steve push his sword into a goblin’s heart, pushing a guy into an acid bath and cut another’s face off. Katie is almost crying because it’s so funny.
- Cute and Psycho: Stephanos looks and acts sweet and innocent, but it was his idea to cut someone’s face off. Steven’s admitted that Stephanos was 50% him just psychotic.
- Death Seeker: Stephanos revives a passed out Steve (with a cute “hi Steve!”), who is pissed because he wanted to stay dead in a heaven full of beer.
- Distressed Dude: Floon and Renaer in the DnD. The murderhobos find the latter tied up and plan to trade him in for Floon, while also making him think he’s joined the group, because outright “kidnapping the trust fund baby” is extra work.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Stephanos has a speech showing huge faith in the two angry people he’s just met.
- Even when he’s acting nice at first, Steve gets angry and defensive about DM Shane questioning his name choice.
- Qezza shows off being a no nonsense Action Girl when Steve annoys her and she threatens to grab his head and throw him across the room.
- Eye Scream: Played for laughs but Stephanos juggles the eyes from the sewer monster, and everyone else loves it apart from Steve, who’s certain Stephanos is a serial killer.
- Family of Choice: Stephanos, Qezza and Steve are decided this by Stephanos in the first episode, and they do develop a murderhobo kinship.
- Forgot About His Powers: Stephanos is more interested in healing his friends, and spends a few episodes low hit points before remembering he can actually heal himself too.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Slightly more bronze than gold, but Steve admits to feeling bad when Stephanos is knocked out, and looks upset when Stephanos transfers his crush to Qezza.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: Steve is terrible to Stephanos a lot of the time, but is mad for him when Volo makes him cry.
- Ignore the Fanservice: Despite Stephanos canonically having a “banging bod” who everyone has the hots for, he tries to seduce the city watch (played by Shane, who bonus points doesn’t even crack up) which just completely fails.
- Master of the Mixed Message: Steve, who either tells Stephanos to shut up or that he’s “his shawty”, and then Stephanos in later episodes, who clearly loves Steve but upsets him by saying he loves Qezza.
- Mr. Fanservice: Played for laughs as they make it canon that Stephanos has a “banging bod”. He does a striptease in episode four and both Qezza and Steve appreciate the gun show.
- Not Good with Rejection: Stephanos doesn’t take Steve’s “let’s take it slow” very well, still having a lot of Ship Tease, but insulting him more, backtracking and deciding he has a crush on Qezza instead, though he’s fooling nobody.
- Rousing Speech: In DnD 2, Steve does a mostly insulting passive aggressive speech to Stephanos to get on Qezza’s shoulders to save them, but Stephanos gets heart eyes anyway.
- Self-Made Orphan: Stephanos is the last of his family the Coffeebeans and Steve heavily assumes that he’s the one who killed them all.
- Shipper on Deck: Qezza calls bullshit when Stephanos (having declared his love for Steve most of the series) confesses Steve is his “best friend”. She also implies that they have some fun when she and Renaer go off and leave them alone.
- Squee: Stephanos gets very loud and high pitched at a hidden doorway. Steve tells him to keep his pants on.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Qezza, Steve and Stephanos talk a fair bit when they’re in battles, DM Shane tries to keep it in the laws of the game, saying to assume they’re all yelling at each other in a span of a few seconds.
- Team Mom: Qezza to Steve and Stephanos; protective, annoyed and shipping. Helps that she’s half giant and they’re short.
- Tsundere: Both Steve and Stephanos, as Steve goes between kinda nice and just insulting Steve, and Stephanos, after getting… not rejected but told to cool it with the love, starts calling Steve stinky.
