Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

The Basement

  1. All Episodes
  2. Episode 0008: "Wonder Twin Powers…ACTIVATE!"

Episode 0008: "Wonder Twin Powers…ACTIVATE!"

Jul 31, 2020

Introduction!

  • Thanks for the warm and overwhelming support on the return!

Chapter 007 Recap

Parzival has an epiphany that his home school planet of Ludus is actually the resting place of the Tomb of Horrors. After exploiting away to travel there without zero credits, he manages to find the entrance and makes his way in, ready for the perils that lie ahead.

Chapter 0008 Summary

With the help of a map from the Tomb of Horrors module, Parzival makes his way through the treacherous tomb avoiding traps and monsters and collecting a heavy amount of gold pieces along the way. He's eventually confronted by Acererak who challenges him to a best 2 out of 3 game of Joust, the classic arcade game. Parzival bests Acererak winning the copper key along with a clue to the first gate but before he's able to leave the Tomb of Horrors, he's stopped short of the entrance by a mysterious figure who making their way inside as well…

Chapter 0008 Narrative 

  • Parzival uses his map to navigate through the ToH and avoid most of the traps and monsters
  • Levels up like a few types of classes; monster xp vs GP xp; gp xp converts to OASIS credits
  • He eventually makes his way to the Pillared Throne Room where he sees a throne and Acereak sitting there which is a break from the D&D module
  • The voices inside our heads here - what did you hear when you read the booK?
  • "Not horses," he replied, stepping away from his throne. "Birds."
  • The rules to win a copper key, best two out of three.
  • Of course, Parzival had honed his skills over time and credits Aech as it was his favorite (and former) game used to settle asinine pop culture disputes, but did you ever take issue with just how good Wade/Parzival was at everything? I've seen some of the negative criticism from people who didn't paritcularly like the novel and it's a go-to for a lot of those people.
  • Parzival gets his arse handed to him in match #1; but then asks to play on the other side in order to win games 2 and 3
  • After the second win, Acererak pounds on the side of the cabinet smashing into pixles and graciously congratulates Parzival before taking the form of Anorak.
  • Anaorak hands him the copper key, and Parzival notice two lines of text etched into the key reading, “What you seek lies hidden in the trash on the deepest level of Daggorath.”
  • He immediately knows exactly what this hints refers to and has a hunch that he needs to travel to Middletown, a re-creation of Halliday's hometown as a boy. There, in Halliday's old home, he would find a "Dungeons of Daggorath" game and somehow that would lead him to the first gate to use the copper key on.
  • All he needed to do now was get out of the Tomb of Horrors and make his way immediately there, but just as he was leaving the tomb, he is confronted by the silhouette of another avatar…

The Pop! 

  • Reference: “My flashlight reached into the darkness ahead, flickering off the damp stone walls. My surroundings made me feel like I was in a low-budget sword-and-sorcery flick, like Hawk the Slayer or The Beastmaster.”
  • Hawk the Slayer (1980)
    • Directed by Terry Marcel
    • Starring Jack Palance, John Terry, Bernard Bresslaw
    • Movie Synopsis
    • Trivia
  • The Beastmaster (1982)
    • Directed by Don Coscarelli
    • Starring Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts, Rip Torn, and John Amos
    • Movie Synopsis
    • Trivia
  • Excalibur (1981)
    • Reference: “When I put on the suit of magical armor, it shrank to fit my avatar perfectly. Its gleaming chrome appearance reminded me of the bad-ass armor worn by the knights in Excalibur.”
    • Directed by John Boorman
    • Starring Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi, a bunch of other guys, but more importantly Liam Neeson and Patrick Stewart!  
    • Movie Synopsis
    • Trivia
  • Joust (1982)
    • Reference: “He waved a skeletal hand at his throne. There was a brief flash of light, accompanied by a transformation sound effect (which I was pretty sure had been lifted from the old Super Friends cartoon). ”
    • Developed by Williams Electronics
    • Designed by John Newcomer
    • Game premise.
    • Released on nearly every game system, ever.
    • World record holder and meeting John Newcomer in 2018.
  • The All New Super Friends Hour (1977 - 1978)
    • Reference: “He waved a skeletal hand at his throne. There was a brief flash of light, accompanied by a transformation sound effect (which I was pretty sure had been lifted from the old Super Friends cartoon). ”
    • Produced by Hanna-Barbera and aired on ABC
    • Based on DC Characters
    • Premise of the show and characters
  • Street Fighter 2 (1991)
    • Reference: “The last time we’d played (Joust), I’d rubbed his nose in defeat so mercilessly that he’d flipped out and vowed never to play me again. Since then, we’d used Street Fighter II to settle our disputes.”
    • Developed by Capcom
    • Produced by Yoshiki Okamoto
    • Trivia
  • Reference: “It suddenly occurred to me just how absurd this scene was: a guy wearing a suit of armor, standing next to an undead king, both hunched over the controls of a classic arcade game. It was the sort of surreal image you’d expect to see on the cover of an old issue of Heavy Metal or Dragon magazine.”
    • Heavy Metal (1977 - 1992) (1992 - 2014) (2014 - Present)
      • Founder: Leonard Mogel
      • Premise
      • Trivia
    • Dragon Magazine (1976 - 2007)
      • Created by TSR
      • Premise
      • Trivia
  • Star Wars: “The Throne Room and End Title” (1977)
    • Reference: “I recognized the music. It was the last track from John Williams’s original Star Wars score, used in the scene where Princess Leia gives Luke and Han their medals (and Chewbacca, as you may recall, gets the shaft).”
    • Directed by George Lucas
    • Stars Mark Hammill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guiness, Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, James Earl Jones,
    • Trivia
  • Dungeon and Dragons Cartoon (1982 - 1985)
    • Reference: “And before I could ask what I was supposed to do next, or where I could find the first gate, his avatar vanished in a flash of light, accompanied by a teleportation sound effect I knew was lifted from the old ’80s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.”
    • Co-produced by Marvel Productions and TSR
    • Voices of Willie Aames, Don Most, Katie Leigh, Adam Rich, Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Frank Welker (Megatron), and a number of others
    • Premise
    • Trivia
  • Lord of the Rings (elvish language - Quenya)
    • Reference: “Dagorath was a word in Sindarin, the Elvish language J. R. R. Tolkien had created for The Lord of the Rings. The word dagorath meant “battle,” but Tolkien had spelled the word with just one “g,” not two."
    • Started in 1910
    • Primarily made up of Finnish, but has some Latin, Greek, Welsh, and older Germanic languages as well.
    • Quenya, Sindarin, and the origins
    • Trivia
      • "May It Be" - Enya, 2002
  • The Tomb of Horrors (1978)
    • Written by Gary Gygax
    • For characters level 10-14
    • Premise
    • The Traps
      • The Sphere of Annihilation 
    • Magic Items
      • +1 Flaming sword
      • A gem of seeing
      • +1 Ring of Protection
      • +3 Full Plate mail armor
      • Bag of Holding
    • Areas of Interest
      • Chapel of Evil 
      • Pillared Throne Room 

The Scoreboard

  • iTunes Review:
    • 5 stars!
    • "Keep it coming. RP2 is on the way!" - JDR2000
  • Patreon:
    • Danny P - Crystal Key Holder

3-2-1 Contact!

  • Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Twitch: @TheBasementRPO
  • Facebook: /TheBasementRPO