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* TheScrooge: Brian. Its how he stays afloat, but its also leads to him shamelessly pumping cash out of his friends when he can get away with it.
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* TheScrooge: Brian. Its It's how he stays afloat, but its also leads to him shamelessly pumping cash out of his friends when he can get away with it.
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* JumpTheShark: [[invoked]] The title of issue #151, which features [[spoiler:Gary Jackson coming BackFromTheDead.]] What's funny is, they included this as an example of when you know they're jumping the shark in an earlier "Parting Shots" feature (a humor section on the back page.) The explanation they put forth actually makes a lot of sense given the character [[spoiler:He was in deep to the mob due to his compulsive gambling which had long since been an established character trait, so he turned states evidence and they faked his death with old airplane wreckage and forged reports to protect him. The evidence of the writers setting up Gary's return pretty much goes back to his "death." The only thing they haven't explained yet was how Gary faked his open casket funeral though they hung a lampshade on that in the latest issue (#152 as of this writing) suggesting they've thought of something.]]
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* JumpTheShark: [[invoked]] The title of issue #151, which features [[spoiler:Gary Jackson coming BackFromTheDead.]] What's funny is, they included this as an example of when you know they're jumping the shark in an earlier "Parting Shots" feature (a humor section on the back page.) The explanation they put forth actually makes a lot of sense given the character [[spoiler:He was in deep to the mob due to his compulsive gambling which had long since been an established character trait, so he turned states evidence and they faked his death with old airplane wreckage and forged reports to protect him. The evidence of the writers setting up Gary's return pretty much goes back to his "death." The only thing they haven't explained yet was how Gary faked his open casket funeral though they hung a lampshade on that in the latest issue (#152 as of this writing) suggesting they've thought of something.#152.]]
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* PlanningWithProps: ''The Bag Wars Saga'' demonstrates why you shouldn't use snack foods in place of proper minatures.
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* PlanningWithProps: ''The Bag Wars Saga'' demonstrates why you shouldn't use snack foods in place of proper minatures.miniatures.
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** The trope then ''literally'' happened in an zany attempt by gamers to bless their dice by rubbing it on Gary Jackson's dead body. Any such dice not only become ridiculously cursed but also infected other dice in the batch, too. Mainly because [[spoiler: that wasn't Gary Jackson's body they rubbed the dice on...]] Before [[spoiler:the reveal that Gary faked his own death]], Sara pointed out another fallacy in that plan: how lucky could a guy who died in a plane crash be?
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** The trope then ''literally'' happened in an zany attempt by gamers to bless their dice by rubbing it on Gary Jackson's dead body. Any such dice die not only become ridiculously cursed but also infected other dice in the batch, too. Mainly because [[spoiler: that wasn't Gary Jackson's body they rubbed the dice on...]] Before [[spoiler:the reveal that Gary faked his own death]], Sara pointed out another fallacy in that plan: how lucky could a guy who died in a plane crash be?
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* RandomNumberGod: Acts more like the Shinto spirits of individual dice. At the same time, occasionally combatted, like when Bob rolled one unlucky d10 and one lucky d10 to get a 01-05.
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* RandomNumberGod: Acts more like the Shinto spirits of individual dice. At the same time, occasionally combatted, combated, like when Bob rolled one unlucky d10 and one lucky d10 to get a 01-05.
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KODT has a spin-off strip called ''Java Joint'' that runs in the fantasy magazine ''Black Gate''. ''Java Joint'' centres around the (mis)adventures of a book club consisting of Sara, Patty and Tank.
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KODT has a spin-off strip called ''Java Joint'' that runs in the fantasy magazine ''Black Gate''. ''Java Joint'' centres around centers on the (mis)adventures of a book club consisting of Sara, Patty and Tank.
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* AnalogyBackfire: In ''Java Joint'', Tank says that he is "as serious as Garrison Keillor", apparently not realising that Garrison Keillor is a humorist.
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* AnalogyBackfire: In ''Java Joint'', Tank says that he is "as serious as Garrison Keillor", apparently not realising realizing that Garrison Keillor is a humorist.
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** And Weird Pete doesn't realise that Papua New Guinea is a real country.
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** And Weird Pete doesn't realise realize that Papua New Guinea is a real country.
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* TheHardHat: A throwaway gag in a filler strip has Newt claiming his character is crouching real low and taking cover behind his "kevlar watch cap".
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* TheHardHat: A throwaway gag in a filler strip has Newt claiming his character is crouching real low and taking cover behind his "kevlar "Kevlar watch cap".
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* LockedInARoom: Brian, Dave, and Bob once locked themselves in Brian's basement. This gave some insight into Brian's previously nebulous backstory.
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* LockedInARoom: Brian, Dave, and Bob once locked themselves in Brian's basement. This gave some insight into Brian's previously nebulous backstory.back-story.
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* MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: Patty actually '''is''' a kindergartern tecaher. However, she has difficulties turning the attitude off and ends up treating her gaming group like a bunch of preschoolers, including a "Time Out Corner" with "5 points to ponder".
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* MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: Patty actually '''is''' a kindergartern tecaher.kindergarten teacher. However, she has difficulties turning the attitude off and ends up treating her gaming group like a bunch of preschoolers, including a "Time Out Corner" with "5 points to ponder".
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* TheNewRockAndRoll: Many times, in reference to the roleplaying game genre's long history of being accused of corrupting and/or mentally unbalancing its players. Characters have been arrested being mistaken for criminals (dicebags look like drug paraphenalia, plotting an ingame robbery in public gets taken out of context etc). A long running subplot is Bob's dad's disapproval of the game first requiring Bob to hide his gaming, then get a job, then get kicked out of the house.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Shiela's unwitting purchase of "Doomsday" dice to use against the Knights in the grudge match tournament. She didn't realise that the Knights dice were actually cursed and, by using the same dice, she exposed her own team to the curse and levelled the playing field.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Shiela's unwitting purchase of "Doomsday" dice to use against the Knights in the grudge match tournament. She didn't realise that the Knights dice were actually cursed and, by using the same dice, she exposed her own team to the curse and levelled the playing field.
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* TheNewRockAndRoll: Many times, in reference to the roleplaying game genre's long history of being accused of corrupting and/or mentally unbalancing its players. Characters have been arrested being mistaken for criminals (dicebags look like drug paraphenalia, paraphernalia, plotting an ingame in game robbery in public gets taken out of context etc). A long running subplot is Bob's dad's disapproval of the game first requiring Bob to hide his gaming, then get a job, then get kicked out of the house.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Shiela's unwitting purchase of "Doomsday" dice to use against the Knights in the grudge match tournament. She didn't realise that the Knights dice were actually cursed and, by using the same dice, she exposed her own team to the curse andlevelled leveled the playing field.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Shiela's unwitting purchase of "Doomsday" dice to use against the Knights in the grudge match tournament. She didn't realise that the Knights dice were actually cursed and, by using the same dice, she exposed her own team to the curse and
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* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: Official Hard 8 policy is that any rule in one of their games stands as written unless an official erratum regarding it has been issued. Playtesters sometimes insert deliberate errors into games to create broken rules for players to take advantage of, until Hard 8 catches on and issues an erratum. One storyline centres around Bob acquiring a marked copy of ''Cattlepunk'' that identifies all these "special rules", and then badly overplaying his hand.
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* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: Official Hard 8 policy is that any rule in one of their games stands as written unless an official erratum regarding it has been issued. Playtesters sometimes insert deliberate errors into games to create broken rules for players to take advantage of, until Hard 8 catches on and issues an erratum. One storyline centres around centers on Bob acquiring a marked copy of ''Cattlepunk'' that identifies all these "special rules", and then badly overplaying his hand.
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* BrutalHonesty: Moe of Patty's Perps never lies or candy-coats her words. Stevil is also known for always speaking his mind, but his "observations" mostly stems from his JerkAss personality.
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* BrutalHonesty: Moe of Patty's Perps never lies or candy-coats her words. Stevil is has also known for always speaking been called out on this, but most of the time his mind, but "honesty" is just his "observations" mostly stems from his inner JerkAss personality.speaking.
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* AmbiguousDisorder: Brian. He has a job that involves running an online service from his home (which he is said to not clean) and painting model figurines. He has a savant-like memory of obscure roleplaying game rules, yet sometimes forgets his own phone number. He is stated to become very uncomfortable when any social group exceeds four to six people, especially when it happens away from the context of a shared interest. He rarely speaks unless dealing with gaming, and has a face and body language that is usually unreadable. And finally, some things that would annoy other people seem to have no effect on him at all, while something that others would take in stride can send him into a sudden and brutal fury, typically involving flipping over the gaming table in rage.
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* ReassignedToAntarctica: When Hard 8 reinstates Nitro's GM credentials, it is with the provisio that he is only allowed to GM the Pee Wee Hackleague.
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* ReassignedToAntarctica: When Hard 8 reinstates Nitro's GM credentials, it is with the provisio that he is only allowed to GM the Pee Wee Hackleague. This leads to a...
* ReassignmentBackfire: ... as Nitro takes his Pee Wee team 'The Forge of Heroes' all the way to the Garycon finals.
* ReassignmentBackfire: ... as Nitro takes his Pee Wee team 'The Forge of Heroes' all the way to the Garycon finals.
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* EskimosArentReal: Weird Pete doesn't believe Papua New Guinea is a real country.
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** And Weird Pete doesn't realise that Papua New Guinea is a real country.
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* AscendedExtra: This has twice happened to the Knights with their NPCs. First, they sent Sara's henchman Gilead into a heavily trapped room to try on an item they'd feared cursed. It turned out to be a Helm of Lordship, leading to Gilead being a benevolent monarch for years of storyline.
** The second instance is the Bag Wars. The Knights stored a massive list of supplies and NPCs in a BagOfHolding and forgot about them. When they finally checked on them again, they'd built a fortress inside the extra dimensional space and were living off the provisions. The Knights had to deal with their leader in order to store and retrieve loot from the bag.
** The second instance is the Bag Wars. The Knights stored a massive list of supplies and NPCs in a BagOfHolding and forgot about them. When they finally checked on them again, they'd built a fortress inside the extra dimensional space and were living off the provisions. The Knights had to deal with their leader in order to store and retrieve loot from the bag.
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* AscendedExtra: This has twice happened to the Knights with their NPCs.[=NPCs=]. First, they sent Sara's henchman Gilead into a heavily trapped room to try on an item they'd feared cursed. It turned out to be a Helm of Lordship, leading to Gilead being a benevolent monarch for years of storyline.
** The second instance is the Bag Wars. The Knights stored a massive list of supplies andNPCs [=NPCs=] in a BagOfHolding and forgot about them. When they finally checked on them again, they'd built a fortress inside the extra dimensional space and were living off the provisions. The Knights had to deal with their leader in order to store and retrieve loot from the bag.
** The second instance is the Bag Wars. The Knights stored a massive list of supplies and
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It Got Worse de-wicking.
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* LiterallyShatteredLives: After a long, ''long'' rules debate over who got turned to stone by a gorgon, B.A. decides it's Brian. The gorgon has a morning star. Piece it together. Also, ItGotWorse when all of the flesh-to-stone transformations were reversed.
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* LiterallyShatteredLives: After a long, ''long'' rules debate over who got turned to stone by a gorgon, B.A. decides it's Brian. The gorgon has a morning star. Piece it together. Also, ItGotWorse it got worse when all of the flesh-to-stone transformations were reversed.
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* ThePianoPlayer: A run-in with the piano player in the saloon in Brian's ''Cattlepunk'' game ends with B.A.'s character having [[AssShove his gun placed in a very uncomfortable location]].
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* BrutalHonesty: Moe of Patty's Perps never lies or candy-coats her words. Stevil is also known for always speaking his mind, but
his "observations" mostly stems from his JerkAss personality.
his "observations" mostly stems from his JerkAss personality.
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* BrutalHonesty: Moe of Patty's Perps never lies or candy-coats her words. Stevil is also known for always speaking his mind, but
but his "observations" mostly stems from his JerkAss personality.
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* BrutalHonesty: Moe of Patty's Perps never lies or candy-coats her words. Stevil is also known for always speaking his mind, but
his "observations" mostly stems from his JerkAss personality.
his "observations" mostly stems from his JerkAss personality.
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* TomeOfEldritchLore: When the Knights play ''[[CallOfCthulhu Scream of Kachooloo]]'', Brian advises burning every book because they are always one of these. Of course, considering what happened in the last game...
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* TomeOfEldritchLore: When the Knights play ''[[CallOfCthulhu ''[[TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu Scream of Kachooloo]]'', Brian advises burning every book because they are always one of these. Of course, considering what happened in the last game...
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* BrownBagMask: B.A. sometimes forces his players to wear paper bag masks if he's worried that their facial expressions will give away information the other players shouldn't know.
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* TenchcoatBrigade: The Whisper
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* TenchcoatBrigade: TrenchcoatBrigade: The Whisper
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** And considering that Stevil was left in prison for that extra 36 hours because Newt chose to bail everyone but him, Newt got off easy.
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* AscendedExtra: This has twice happened to the Knights with their NPCs. First, they sent Sara's henchman Gilead into a heavily trapped room to try on an item they'd feared cursed. It turned out to be a Helm of Lordship, leading to Gilead being a benevolent monarch for years of storyline.
**The second instance is the Bag Wars. The Knights stored a massive list of supplies and NPCs in a BagOfHolding and forgot about them. When they finally checked on them again, they'd built a fortress inside the extra dimensional space and were living off the provisions. The Knights had to deal with their leader in order to store and retrieve loot from the bag.
**The second instance is the Bag Wars. The Knights stored a massive list of supplies and NPCs in a BagOfHolding and forgot about them. When they finally checked on them again, they'd built a fortress inside the extra dimensional space and were living off the provisions. The Knights had to deal with their leader in order to store and retrieve loot from the bag.
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* NeverLendToAFriend:
** A RunningGag is for one of the characters, usually Dave or Bob, to show up to the game with some expensive extravagance, like a $75 electronic [[strike: GM screen]] "player advantage screen", or drop everything to spend a week at [=GaryCon=], with long-suffering B.A. or [[TheStraightMan Sara]] pointing out that he still owes money or that his car has urgent repair needs he's been putting off.
** One strip deals with all five characters dealing with an tangled web of World War I alliance-proportions' worth of owed money between them. The equally complex solution ''("Take the money you owe me, pay it back to him", etc.)'' clears up everyone's accounts except for [[ButtMonkey Bob]], who now owes money to everybody.
** A RunningGag is for one of the characters, usually Dave or Bob, to show up to the game with some expensive extravagance, like a $75 electronic [[strike: GM screen]] "player advantage screen", or drop everything to spend a week at [=GaryCon=], with long-suffering B.A. or [[TheStraightMan Sara]] pointing out that he still owes money or that his car has urgent repair needs he's been putting off.
** One strip deals with all five characters dealing with an tangled web of World War I alliance-proportions' worth of owed money between them. The equally complex solution ''("Take the money you owe me, pay it back to him", etc.)'' clears up everyone's accounts except for [[ButtMonkey Bob]], who now owes money to everybody.
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* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Knights act like this despite their characters being {{Complete Monster}}s in the gaming world.
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* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Knights act like this despite their characters being {{Complete Monster}}s in the gaming world.this.
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---> '''Timmy:''' Baalzebul and thurdy devils appear awound you!
---> '''Bob:''' [[CrazyPrepared I don my ring of Baalzebul slaying!]]
---> '''Dave:''' [[CompletelyMissingThePoint What... when did you get that?!]]
---> '''Bob:''' Oh, I think it was in the 'Ayplay Along-way Oo-Yay Idiotway.'
---> '''Dave:''' [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Where was I for that one?]]
---> '''Bob:''' [[CrazyPrepared I don my ring of Baalzebul slaying!]]
---> '''Dave:''' [[CompletelyMissingThePoint What... when did you get that?!]]
---> '''Bob:''' Oh, I think it was in the 'Ayplay Along-way Oo-Yay Idiotway.'
---> '''Dave:''' [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Where was I for that one?]]
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* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Bridgette Keating.
** Inverted entirely by Sara Felton, the strip's foremost female character. Although she has a certain level of attractiveness (InformedAttractiveness thanks to the quality of the art), she reacts [[BerserkButton very poorly]] to efforts to objectify her. Even most of her characters don't play those games.
** Inverted entirely by Sara Felton, the strip's foremost female character. Although she has a certain level of attractiveness (InformedAttractiveness thanks to the quality of the art), she reacts [[BerserkButton very poorly]] to efforts to objectify her. Even most of her characters don't play those games.
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* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: IHaveBoobsYouMustObey:
** Bridgette Keating.
** Invertedentirely by Sara Felton, the strip's foremost female character. Although she has a certain level of attractiveness (InformedAttractiveness thanks to the quality of the art), she reacts [[BerserkButton very poorly]] to efforts to objectify her. Even most of her characters don't play those games.
** Bridgette Keating.
** Inverted
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** Subverted with Gilead, who only appears to be a VillainSue thanks to the Knights' extreme MoralMyopia.
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** Subverted with Gilead, who only appears to be a VillainSue thanks to the Knights' extreme MoralMyopia. [[invoked]]
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** Inverted entirely by Sara Felton, the strip's foremost female character. Although she has a certain level of attractiveness (InformedAttractiveness thanks to the level of KoDT's art), she reacts [[BerserkButton very poorly]] to efforts to objectify her. Even most of her characters don't play those games.
to:
** Inverted entirely by Sara Felton, the strip's foremost female character. Although she has a certain level of attractiveness (InformedAttractiveness thanks to the level quality of KoDT's the art), she reacts [[BerserkButton very poorly]] to efforts to objectify her. Even most of her characters don't play those games.
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** Inverted entirely by Sara, the strip's foremost character. Although she has a certain level of attractiveness (InformedAttractiveness thanks to the level of KoDT's art), she reacts [[BerserkButton very poorly]] to efforts to objectify her. Even most of her characters don't play those games.
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** Inverted entirely by Sara, Sara Felton, the strip's foremost female character. Although she has a certain level of attractiveness (InformedAttractiveness thanks to the level of KoDT's art), she reacts [[BerserkButton very poorly]] to efforts to objectify her. Even most of her characters don't play those games.
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* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Bridget
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* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: BridgetBridgette Keating.
** Inverted entirely by Sara, the strip's foremost character. Although she has a certain level of attractiveness (InformedAttractiveness thanks to the level of KoDT's art), she reacts [[BerserkButton very poorly]] to efforts to objectify her. Even most of her characters don't play those games.
** On the very rare occasions where the male Knights play female characters, they tend to exploit this trope.
** Inverted entirely by Sara, the strip's foremost character. Although she has a certain level of attractiveness (InformedAttractiveness thanks to the level of KoDT's art), she reacts [[BerserkButton very poorly]] to efforts to objectify her. Even most of her characters don't play those games.
** On the very rare occasions where the male Knights play female characters, they tend to exploit this trope.
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* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: Sara usually avoids the physical brawls at the table that often break out, either by being smart enough to avoid getting drawn in or by being scary enough that none of the guys want to mess with her. But sometimes she'll join in, and she'll be on both the giving and receiving ends. At least once, she was subjected to the "ultimate punishment" of being hung upside-down and left for B.A.'s cat to torment.
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It is also the name of the magazine in which it currently runs, and has run since the demise of its former publication, ''{{Magazine/Dragon}}'' magazine. The magazine also features various RPG related content.
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It is also the name of the magazine in which it currently runs, and has run since the demise of its former publication, ''{{Magazine/Dragon}}'' magazine. The magazine also features various RPG related content.
content. Blackburn also did a series of shorts for the first thirteen issues of PalladiumBooks' magazine ''The Rifter''.
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'''''Knights of the Dinner Table''''' (often abbreviated '''''[=KoDT=]''''') is an ongoing comic series about a group of [[TabletopGames Tabletop RPGers]], composed of:
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'''''Knights of the Dinner Table''''' (often abbreviated '''''[=KoDT=]''''') is an ongoing comic series by Jolly Blackburn about a group of [[TabletopGames Tabletop RPGers]], composed of:
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*** Another appeared during Blackburn's shorts in ''The Rifter'', with the infamous "Portal of Death" Both incidents even had the same setup: B.A.'s attempts to keep the party away from a dangerous place only convinces Brian, Dave, and Bob that the warnings are there to screw them out of a pile of treasure.
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Moving to proper Namespace.
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'''''Knights of the Dinner Table''''' (often abbreviated '''''[=KoDT=]''''') is an ongoing comic series about a group of [[TabletopGames Tabletop RPGers]], composed of:
* '''B.A. Felton''': The disgruntled GameMaster, always attempting to be one step ahead of the group and always winding up one step behind, due to either Brian's scheming or Bob and Dave's bumbling violence.
* '''Bob Herzog''': A seasoned gamer who believes that [[TheRealMan "monsters are there to be killed"]]. Often causes massive [[OffTheRails plot derailments]] by slaying important characters in-game (or even his fellow teammates). His main character in B.A.'s campaign is '''Knuckles''', a dwarven thief who carries a crossbow.
* '''Dave Bozwell''': Something of a starry-eyed newbie, but has become more and more like Bob in his [[TheRealMan love of violence]]. He plays '''El Ravager''', a human fighter who is a thinly veiled excuse to wield a [[InfinityPlusOneSword Hackmaster +12]] magic sword.
* '''Brian Van Hoose''': The textbook definition of a RulesLawyer. Frequently manipulates his less-intelligent allies into doing his bidding, and is able to cite obscure rules to wriggle his way out of just about any situation. When provoked, however, he can become violent, often flipping tables. His iconic characters are a series of wizards with the word "Lotus" in their names; most famously, '''Black Lotus''', better known as '''Teflon Billy''' for Brian's skills as a KarmaHoudini. He was the original GM of the group until a NoodleIncident drove him into retirement.
* '''Sara Felton''': B.A.'s cousin. The only one at the table who [[TheRoleplayer actually role-plays]], and the [[WomenAreWiser straight]] [[TheChick woman]] of the group. She tends to play non-{{Stripperiffic}} female barbarian characters, such as '''Zayre''' and '''Thorina'''.
There are several additional gaming groups in the [=KoDT=] universe, including the '''Black Hands''', a group of oddballs and outcasts who game together because no one else will have them. The Black Hands roster includes:
* '''"Nitro" Ferguson''', a black ex-Marine [[DrillSergeantNasty prone to running his game like a boot camp]].
* '''Newt Forager''', who began as a picked-on newbie but quickly became a sneaky player. Prone to whining and brown-nosing. Plays dark, angsty characters with pages of backstory.
* '''Stevil Van Hostle''', a cubicle drone who uses gaming to get out pent up aggression. Bitter and mean, with a mad-on for Newt. Enjoys playing grel (Grunge Elves, a drow-analogue).
* '''Gordo Sheckberry''', a sensitive, odd sort prone to playing (female) pixie fairies above all other character. Probably the nicest of the Hands. Wheelchair-bound in all his appearances; some years before the comic's beginning, he apparently provided help with a "chemical" experiment that earned Nitro his nickname and almost killed both of them.
* '''"Weird" Pete Ashton''', a grumpy old-time gamer who runs the local gaming shop. Fills in for Nitro when he can't make it -- a fate the other Hands dread, as Pete is a ''brutally'' fair Game Master who demands his players ''earn'' every new turn. Also enjoys playing grel. Keep in mind that grel eat pixies...
In addition, there are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of recurring minor characters]].
It is also the name of the magazine in which it currently runs, and has run since the demise of its former publication, ''{{Magazine/Dragon}}'' magazine. The magazine also features various RPG related content.
KODT has a spin-off strip called ''Java Joint'' that runs in the fantasy magazine ''Black Gate''. ''Java Joint'' centres around the (mis)adventures of a book club consisting of Sara, Patty and Tank.
----
!!''Knights of the Dinner Table'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AccidentalAimingSkills: Bob's dad displays these during his first (and only) game of ''Cattlepunk''.
-->'''Brian:''' Whooooah, dude. Yer dad shot 'im in the face.\\
'''Bob's Dad:''' I wasn't going for the face. He walked into it. That's all. The damn fool. Those were warning shots I was firing.
* ActualPacifist: Reese. An ER nurse, she refuses to condone violence in any way and so plays a cleric of a pacifist god.
* AerosolFlamethrower: Bob claims to have improvised one to drive of a feral dog (or possibly a coyote) in the strip "A Fish Story".
* AffectionateParody: Of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (2nd Edition in particular) and tabletop gaming culture. (The published {{TabletopGame/Hackmaster}} RPG, though, is a licensed version of '''1st''' Edition AD&D.)
* AfterActionReport: ''Knights of the Dinner Table: Illustrated'', which attempts to make a story loosely based on the Knights' campaigns. Naturally, most of the table banter is repeated in-character. Though it's translated into in game terms with in-game motivations to explain the OOC actions (i.e. you don't have Lotus asking for a Grape Faygo.)
* AggressiveNegotiations: A stabdard tactic of the Untouchable Trio.
* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: But the tabletop gaming community of Muncie's come to an understanding with them anyway.
* AluminumChristmasTrees
** Many foreign readers were surprised to learn that Faygo is a real brand of soft drink, and does have flavours like Rock & Rye.
** Hawg Waller's and Pizza-a-Go-Go were actual bars and pizza establishments, respectively. For bonus points, Waller's was actually in the real Muncie.
* AnalogyBackfire: In ''Java Joint'', Tank says that he is "as serious as Garrison Keillor", apparently not realising that Garrison Keillor is a humorist.
* AnalProbing: The ''Black Hands 2011 Special'' ends with the Black Hands characters being anally probed by aliens after Weird Pete decides to combine his ''Cattlepunk'' campaign with ''Scream of Kachoolu''.
* AnimatedAdaptation: Fan Andrew Babb did a series of nicely-produced Flash cartoons, currently preserved [[http://www.youtube.com/user/Kumeelyun on Youtube]].
* ArtifactOfDoom: Flak Jack Monty's infamous twenty-sider, "Fitz". [[CursedWithAwesome Cursed]] with vampiric luck (pretty much useless to a player, but a Doomsday weapon in the hands of a GM), this die goes through [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder quite the history]] after the Knights swipe it.
* ArtShift: In "Hounded" in #183, Sara has a dream about the Untouchable Trio Plus One. The dream is illustrated using art from ''Knights of the Dinner Table: Illustrated'' by the Fraim Brothers.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: In Nitro's campaign setting, deceased real life celebrities become deities with the most frequently mentioned being Andy Warhol. Bob managed to successfully argue for the promotion of one of his former characters to deity status to serve as the basis of the religion for his new PlayerCharacter, a priest.
* {{Autocannibalism}}: While playing Weird Pete's new game "Fairy Meat", Brian has his character eat its own arm to demonstrate that the rule for recovering hit points via cannibalism is broken.
* BathroomBreakOut: Bob does it to escape from Nitro's game when sitting in for Weird Pete in "A Man Out Standing In His Field".
* BerserkButton
** Do not touch Bob's dice!
** Also, ''never'' question the existence of Brian's "girlfriend" Alexis. And if you happen to think women can't/shouldn't be gamers, keep that opinion under your hat around Sara.
** Don't mess with Chelsie unless you want to experience the business end of a Hackmaster +12.
* BewareTheNiceOnes
** Don't push Sara too far... she'll push back hard. And then there was the time her character became evil...
** B.A. gets moments like this.
* {{BFS}}: The Hackmaster +12.
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: Tic Tac Taco and its giant sombrero.
* BlindingBangs: Newt and Brian.
* BreakTheHaughty: Stevil being forced to dance for 36 hours straight in prison. When he finally gets back to his game, Newt plays ABB.A.'s "Dancing Queen" through a pair of portable speakers attached to his walkman. Newt is promptly wasted and is made to wear "the Hubcap of Shame".
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Brian is a socially awkward man with a made-up girlfriend, but is incredibly good at being a RulesLawyer.
* CantHoldHisLiquor: Brian. He is the reason why the Knights no longer allow alcohol at the gaming table. Any time this rule is relaxed, his behaviour quickly reminds them why it was instigated in the first place.
* TheCaper: Switch, and a number of other criminals attempt to rob a warehouse. Bob helps them out, thinking it's an RPG.
* CasanovaWannabe: Jonny Kizinski
* CatchPhrase: "Hoody Hoo!". Also quite often: "I waste him with my crossbow!" or "Foul! I cry foul!" (Bob) and "Prepping a couple of fireballs here, B.A.!"/"Fireball coming online!" (Brian)
* CatsAreMean: B.A.'s cat, Colonel Prowler, has a habit of assaulting players and stealing their dice. He does, however, sleep with B.A. which is sort of cute...
* CavemenVsAstronautsDebate
* CharacterAlignment: Seeing as how ''Hackmaster'' is a homage/parody of ''D&D'', it has a standard axis. Of course, the Knights (with the exception of Sara) aren't known for actually ''playing'' their listed alignment.
* TheChessmaster: Brian. Occasionally, Stevil and Pete will come up with a devious plan, as well.
* TheChick: Sara
* ComedicSociopathy: Only done partway. Invoke this trope all you want to in the actual games; the KillerGamemaster expects you to and there's no hard feelings on anyone's part for being bastards. Doing this ''outside'' the game or in-game to the point of making people genuinely upset is a very good way to get shunned, as Stevil and Crutch have found out.
** Sara has had her objections to it at times, and when Bob's dad tried ''Cattlepunk'', this element of it bothered him immensely and he lectured everyone present.
** Then there was the time that Newt was in a position to have to bail the Black Hands out of jail and chose to bail out ex-con Crutch instead of Stevil.
* ComicTrio (plus One): Bob's the navigator with the half-baked schemes; Dave's the clueless driver; Sara's the Only Sane Woman who's ultimately powerless to do more than avoid ground zero; and Brian's the scheming backseat driver who either makes things worse or [[XanatosSpeedChess turns the disaster to his advantage]].
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: [[invoked]] Every character in the strip. When forced to break out of this trope, Dave's mage showed signs of CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass until he was allowed to play his old character again.
** Averted with Sara, who frequently plays new kinds of characters. Though usually she will hover around the "fighter with benefits" archetype due to party composition, with her iconic character being a NobleSavage ranger.
* CrackIsCheaper: [[invoked]] Part of the reason why B.A. and Bob are perpetually broke is because they use what little money they earn from their minimum wage jobs to support their hobby.
* CrazyPrepared: Brian
* CutAndPasteComic
* DarkChick
** Sara again, when she's playing for the forces of evil.
** Gordo, if you look at The Black Hands as a FiveBadBand.
** Also Sheila, who suffers from ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. To make things more interesting, she's dating short-fused Bob whom she once forced to eat grass until he threw up.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Newt's preference in characters tends towards dark mysterious assassins with tortured souls and troubled pasts.
* DeadpanSnarker: Stevil, sometimes Sara and B.A.
* DiggingYourselfDeeper: Chad from "Patty's Perps" is a master of this.
-->'''Chad:''' Awwwwh, c'mon Patty! When I said girl gamers were lame I wasn't referring to you! You're just like one of the guys.\\
'''Patty:''' Like one of the guys? Your character suddenly hears a rustling in the underbrush. Roll for initiative.\\
'''Tank:''' Careful, Chad. You're digging that hole deeper and deeper.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: GARY JACKSON?!]]
* TheDitz: Dave, though he does have (very) occasional flashes of brilliance. One such flash leads him to countering ''every one of Brian's strategies'' during the Doomsday Pack arc.
* TheDogBitesBack: Happens to every NPC that's unfortunate enough to work with the Knights and live. Somehow the Knights [[{{Genre Blindness}} are completely blind to this]]. Most often due to AlternativeCharacterInterpretation and InsaneTrollLogic. They tend to treat their [=NPCs=] poorly, then the [=NPCs=] turn on them making them feel justified in doling out the abuse.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Nitro
* DrivingStick: Weird Pete discovers that Gordo can't drive stick during a road trip to [=GaryCon=] when he wakes up to to find Gordo is still driving in first gear. By the end of the trip, Gordo has mastered driving stick (with the aid of Squirrely) and is ecstatic.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Knights act like this despite their characters being {{Complete Monster}}s in the gaming world.
* DungeonmastersGirlfriend
** Discussed. The male players often accuse B.A. of showing favoritism to Sara who is his cousin, though he actually runs the game fairly for all and cuts Sara no slack.
** A straighter example is Chad's girlfriend. She's a pacifist and plays her cleric that way (in fact she can't even heal the party from their injuries because that would enable their violence so she's just an observer.)
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The Knights had much less distinctive personalities in the early episodes and you'd sometimes see the characters exhibiting traits you'd now associate with other characters. They were whatever was needed for the gag in that particular strip. The self contained format of the early strips is itself a form of early installment weirdness.
* {{Egopolis}}: Newt's campaign world is called "Newtonia".
* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: Hunter
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Hard man Crutch's real name is Leslie.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Crutch
* EvenEvilHasStandards : In one issue of ''KODT Illustrated,'' Knuckles captures a member of the cult that tortured Thorina. Knowing that Knuckles intended to kill him, and knowing also the Untouchable Trio's notorious reputation for greed and selfishness, the cultist tries to persuade Knuckles to join his cult instead, offering lavish rewards. Knuckles mentally pictures himself torturing Thorina, and then promptly kills the cultist, saying, ''"Sorry, bud, but even I've got standards."''
* EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt: The "Limited Edition Haulin" Ass And Ammo "Meals Ready To Eat" Snack Pouches':
-->'''Weird Pete:''' I bought half a pallet of that crap two years ago... Didn't sell a single pack.. Squirrely wouldn't even touch 'em.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Apes, anyway, considering EnsembleDarkHorse Squirrely.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: The Knights assume this about B.A.'s dungeons and his [=NPCs=]. This partly justifies their ComedicSociopathy. More often actually the case when Weird Pete [=GMs=] -- his whole campaign setting is made of this trope. Nobody has made it above 3rd level in that setting.
* EvilRedhead: "Red" Gurdy Pickens
* EvilWeapon: Carvin' Marvin has existed in B.A.'s campaign world for close to ten years. Nobody in the party could control it, and every attempt at trying failed horribly, resulting in the deaths of over forty party members. Eventually, they kicked it into a ditch along with the last NPC to die wielding it, buried it, and called it a day. This became a ChekhovsGun when the party needed to find an intelligent sword to match against ''another'' intelligent sword, Tremble, who had taken control of Dave's character.
** Dealing with Carvin' Marvin is considered to be NightmareFuel among the party members who've dealt with it. When they retrieved it in order to deal with Tremble and the Doomsday Pack, Sara (the only player not to have seen Marvin before) complained afterwards that the others should have told her what she was in for. Not only was her character inflicted with chronic nightmares and a nervous tic, but she herself said that she wouldn't be able to sleep for a week on account of nerves.
** Speaking of Tremble, while he doesn't carry the same kind of ominous mystique that Marvin has, the fact that B.A. recruited [[DrillSergeantNasty Nitro]] to guest-play as Tremble's personality more than makes up for it.
* TheFaceless: "Hawg" Waller
* FellOffTheBackOfATruck: Anything that Switch tries to sell you.
* [[Main/{{FlippingTheTable}} Flipping The Table]]: Brian does this when upset too much. Bob has done it upon occasion, too.
* FormallyNamedPet: B.A.'s cat is Colonel Prowler.
* FourOneNineScam: One strip deals with the results of the Knights receiving a FourOneNineScam email.
* GameBreaker: [[invoked]]
** Brian himself counts, not to mention the many characters and schemes he cooks up.
** Dave's Hackmaster+12.
** A notable mention goes to when Brian manipulated B.A. into handing out a hammer that could duplicate spells, and then let Brian get ahold of a scroll of Wishes, to which Brian pulled out an ironclad legal document so B.A. couldn't screw up his wish to become a god.
** Played to the hilt with the legendary [[http://www.kenzerco.com/Operiodicals/kodt/jackson_document.pdf Jackson Document]] which formed the basis for the Bagworld campaign storyline; managing to be a game breaker not once, but ''twice'' in the course of the campaign.
** B.A. brings it on himself sometimes such as when he invoked obscure mob overbearing rules to reign his players back in over the objections and warnings of Brian himself. After the HumiliationConga, Brian simply had the party hire their own beggar mobs to overbear monsters, including a dragon.
* GargleBlaster
** During a ''Hackmaster'' campaign, a particular bar requires first-time patrons to order Gut Busters. They use it to weed out low-level characters; drinking a drink of it does 1d10 damage, which is more than most first-level characters have. Bob's character, after being assaulted by certain patrons, gets a double, forgetting both that he's been injured and that each shot does 1d10 damage. He dies from the drink, to the shame of his party members.
** And Mojo Dave's "mojo juice". Sipping it causes "Hawg" Waller to pass out.
* GenerationXerox: The male Knights continually abuse the offscreen training rules so that when their characters die they can easily introduce [[{{Expy}} identical clones]] of their previous ones with the level adjusted a little bit.
* GeodesicCast
* TheGhost: ''[=KodT=]'' has several:
** Bob's sister (who is the mother of Croix and Hunter)
** B.A.'s father
** Crutch's 'old lady', Casey Mae
** Crowbar, Switch's partner-in-crime (although he does become TheVoice for a couple of panels in one strip)
** Brian's uncle (and former guardian)
** B.A. and Sara's Aunt Nudra
* GirlfriendInCanada
** Brian's imaginary girlfriend Alexis Marie. [[BerserkButton I...Imaginary?!]] [[FlippingTheTable GRAHHHH!]]
** Bob also claims to have been in a ''FatalAttraction'' style situation with a woman at the Harness & Hoe Insurance Company; a claim which Dave finds hilarious.
* GlobalIgnorance: Dave. He is convinced that Canada is behind the Iron Curtain, and thinks that the language of Israel is Orcish. His grasp of history isn't much better.
* {{GMPC}}: Generally averted or inverted. The rare occasions when B.A.'s [=NPCs=] become this trope they end up getting [[PutOnABus written out]] [[DroppedABridgeOnHim of the story pretty quick]], since they're only there to [[FixerSue put the story back on the rails]]. Most of the time when B.A. plays [=NPCs=] for the party they're a {{Redshirt}}s who only exist to be CannonFodder for the [=PCs=].
* GodModeSue: [[invoked]] Timmy Jackson [=GMs=] his campaigns this way, throwing damage every which way without even rolling. It doesn't help that his father created ''Hackmaster''. The Knights "defeat" him by playing by his rules.
* GoLookAtTheDistraction
* GoshDangItToHeck
** "Firk-Ding-Blast!" and "What the SAM FRICK?"
** Also, "god" is usually spelled "gawd". The latter is a reference to ''Dungeons & Dragons'' changing the names of some of their monsters to dodge heat from MoralGuardians. More directly referenced when Hard 8 remembers the time they were pressured into renaming their Demons and Devils as "Ne'er Do Wells."
* {{Goth}}: Newt to a limited extent.
* GoToAlias: "Weird" Pete's go-to alias is John Mephisto; the name of an old ''[=HackNoia=]'' character of his.
* GroupieBrigade: Knuckles acquires one in the "Sing For the Moment" storyline.
* AHandfulForAnEye: Bob once defeated Nitro by blinding him with a salt cellar before coldcocking him with a dinner tray (a trick he claimed to have learned from watching B.A's infamous fistfight with Sheila Horowitz). The man ''[[BerserkButton touched his dice!]]''
* HandInTheHole: One of these traps results in Knuckles and El Ravager losing three arms between the two of them.
* HangingJudge: Weird Pete when he is presiding over "Gamer's Court".
* TheHardHat: A throwaway gag in a filler strip has Newt claiming his character is crouching real low and taking cover behind his "kevlar watch cap".
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Brian once scammed Bob into selling him a rare, expensive mini dirt cheap. To settle the score, Brian gave Bob an IOU for in-game gold... and a thimble that [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway fixes sails and nets.]] B.A. counters by steering the party into a seaside town, making Bob the leader of a massive economical empire.
* HighClassCallGirl: Trish
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Trish
* HonestJohnsDealership: Weird Pete, in relation to his store. Brian also shows these tendencies.
* HumanNotepad: Brian carves his character's spells into the backs of Bob and Dave's characters so he could always have access to spells.
* HumiliationConga
** Rather than RocksFallEveryoneDies, this is B.A.'s preferred method of dealing out punishment. Of course, his players are usually the ones [[TooDumbToLive to hand him the knife]].
** Pixie runes of shame being tattooed on the party's buttocks are a common occurrence (along with the [[CherryTapping one point of damage]] that comes along with it).
** People on the wrong end of Bob's or Stevil's wrath will often end up going through one of these, as well.
** Don't forget "Dancing Queen" Newt. He & Stevil keep trying to one-up each other as revenge for the last one.
** The Knights did this to a rival group after Sara found out [[spoiler:her boyfriend dated her just to get her into his gaming group for extra points in a tournament]]. The humiliation conga the gang put them through on her behalf (complete with pictures) [[TrueCompanions proves they've accepted her as a Knight]].
* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Bridget
* IKnowMortalKombat
** The storyline in which Bob unwittingly helps plan a successful warehouse burglary based on his gaming experience.
** They've done this on several occasions, especially Bob, employing his in game roleplaying experience in the real world, dealing with his dad by hiding and bluffing.
** In Issue 162:
-->'''Brian:''' We have to find [B.A.'s cat's] hoard [of dice] and we know from past history that this can be a challenge. So, for that I need your eyes and know how. ''I need a'' '''thief.'''
* InfinityPlusOneSword: Dave's Hackmaster +12. Subverted in that he had this weapon since almost the beginning, becoming a mild Game Breaker.
* IResembleThatRemark: Bob ranting about how he'd like to kill all those media pundits who claim gaming promotes violent behaviour.
* {{Jerkass}}: Every character has held the "Jerkass ball" at some point or another, with Bob, Stevil, and Pete being the most common. Brian often falls into this trope as well though less frequently in later issues.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Every character, when not holding "Jerkass balls".
* JumpTheShark: [[invoked]] The title of issue #151, which features [[spoiler:Gary Jackson coming BackFromTheDead.]] What's funny is, they included this as an example of when you know they're jumping the shark in an earlier "Parting Shots" feature (a humor section on the back page.) The explanation they put forth actually makes a lot of sense given the character [[spoiler:He was in deep to the mob due to his compulsive gambling which had long since been an established character trait, so he turned states evidence and they faked his death with old airplane wreckage and forged reports to protect him. The evidence of the writers setting up Gary's return pretty much goes back to his "death." The only thing they haven't explained yet was how Gary faked his open casket funeral though they hung a lampshade on that in the latest issue (#152 as of this writing) suggesting they've thought of something.]]
* KangarooCourt
** Most of the trials the Untouchable Trio faces (although they usually bring these on themselves).
** And are not above staging one themselves when they find themselves in a position of authority.
* KillerGameMaster: B.A., Nitro and Weird Pete all share the philosophy that the GM is the enemy of the players.
** B.A. only exemplifies this trope partway. While he does not believe in giving the smallest amount of mercy to plays, his weakness is that he plays ridiculously straight; if the players find a way to [[OffTheRails derail the plot]] or come up [[GameBreaker with a cheese loop of power]], B.A. lets them get away with it without invoking Rule Zero. Oftentimes because he has a BatmanGambit or a HumiliationConga prepared.
** Subverted once with Weird Pete's Temple of Horrendous Doom which no-one has ever survived and which the Black Hands have to sign a waiver just to play. [[spoiler:Turns out dying is the first thing you do in this dungeon. The point is to navigate your spirit through the dungeon to reclaim your body. Also, Stevil learns at the end that his party is not the first to beat the dungeon -- but the waiver they all signed at the beginning has a non disclosure clause forbidding bragging, in order to maintain the mystique.]]
* KillerRabbit
** The squirrel as fifth level monster from "The Most Dangerous (Small) Game".
** Also B.A. seems to believe that llamas have antlers and gore people and his campaign reflects this. The magazine has occasionally published reprints of newspaper articles about people being injured in llama attacks further confusing matters.
* LavaIsBoilingKoolAid: Played with. When the GM tells Bob, "You've been skewered by a spear, you've fallen off a cliff, and you're swimming in lava," Bob asks, "Do I get a saving throw? I've got +1 with swimming."
* LeeroyJenkins: The Knights are frickin' MADE of this trope.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: After a long, ''long'' rules debate over who got turned to stone by a gorgon, B.A. decides it's Brian. The gorgon has a morning star. Piece it together. Also, ItGotWorse when all of the flesh-to-stone transformations were reversed.
-->'''Sara:''' Eew. I think we need a wet-vac.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LocalHangout: Weird Pete's game store; the "Hawg Wallers" bar.
* LockedInARoom: Brian, Dave, and Bob once locked themselves in Brian's basement. This gave some insight into Brian's previously nebulous backstory.
* LongList: Happens twice in the Bag Wars saga when someone reads off the list of things in the BagOfHolding. Dave makes note of a perfectly ordinary sausage grinder both times ("Mmm, fresh sausage!").
* MacGuffin: The Lyre of Hound Slaying, the Conch of Aarnd, the Feather of Victory...The list goes on. It is an RPG comic book, after all.
* MailOrderBride: The fake "Russian gamer brides" ads.
* MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame: "World of Hackcraft"
* MedalOfDishonor: Black Hands who sully the honor of either the group, or the hobby as a whole are forced to wear the "Hubcap of Shame".
* MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: Patty actually '''is''' a kindergartern tecaher. However, she has difficulties turning the attitude off and ends up treating her gaming group like a bunch of preschoolers, including a "Time Out Corner" with "5 points to ponder".
* MistakenForBadass: A series of misunderstandings has Switch convinced that Tank is a cold-blooded killer you would not want to mess with.
* MistakenForTerrorist: Happens in the November 2011 issue when the group plays a real-life based ZombieApocalypse game of [[TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu Screams of Kachuloo]]. Brian's frequent Internet searches for bomb-making and the layout for the local mall (for the game) throws up red flags with Homeland Security. A more experienced member of the department sees that the address is in gamer-heavy Muncie, Indiana and calls off the team. They've been burned there before many times...
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: [=NPCs=] often end up doing this to the Knights.
* MockGuffin
* MoralMyopia: All [=NPCs=] are just there to be killed or to suck up to them. But the Untouchable Trio (plus one) are brave and noble heroes, never forget that.
* {{Munchkin}}: Newt (constantly) with others showing traits of this from time to time.
* MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: The ongoing battle between Brian and B.A.
* NerdGlasses: Bob and 4/5 of the Black Hands (and Newt may have specs under that hair). Then again, since one of them is DrillSergeantNasty Nitro...
* NeutralFemale: Chad's Girlfriend's character. She plays a pacifist cleric that merely accompanies and observes the party without healing or fighting.
* TheNewRockAndRoll: Many times, in reference to the roleplaying game genre's long history of being accused of corrupting and/or mentally unbalancing its players. Characters have been arrested being mistaken for criminals (dicebags look like drug paraphenalia, plotting an ingame robbery in public gets taken out of context etc). A long running subplot is Bob's dad's disapproval of the game first requiring Bob to hide his gaming, then get a job, then get kicked out of the house.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Shiela's unwitting purchase of "Doomsday" dice to use against the Knights in the grudge match tournament. She didn't realise that the Knights dice were actually cursed and, by using the same dice, she exposed her own team to the curse and levelled the playing field.
* NoodleIncident: The unspecified incident that caused Brian to swear off ever [=GMing=] ''Hackmaster'' again.
* TheNotableNumeral: The Untouchable Trio (plus one)
* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: Official Hard 8 policy is that any rule in one of their games stands as written unless an official erratum regarding it has been issued. Playtesters sometimes insert deliberate errors into games to create broken rules for players to take advantage of, until Hard 8 catches on and issues an erratum. One storyline centres around Bob acquiring a marked copy of ''Cattlepunk'' that identifies all these "special rules", and then badly overplaying his hand.
* OffTheRails: The Knights do this to B.A. constantly.
* OnlySaneMan: Sara. B.A. takes over this role when she takes the role as DM.
* OutGambitted: B.A. and Brian are in a life-and-death struggle with this trope. While Brian usually gets the better of B.A., when the campaign is on the line the gamemaster does pull through.
* PaintballEpisode: "Last Man Standing"
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: The strip "Lair of the Gazebo" has the Knights mistaking a gazebo for a savage beast. Which is based on a true story originating from the exact same misunderstanding, that had been on the internet for years. Jolly Blackburn printed an updated account in the first Bundle of Trouble.
* PersonaNonGrata: Nitro Ferguson got banned from [=GaryCon=] after his D-Day game ran amok even more spectacularly than games in ''[=KoDT=]'' usually do.
* PickUpBabesWithBabes: Johnny Kizinski comments on how his infant son is a chick magnet. Of course, the effect is somewhat mitigated by him smoking like a chimney around the kid, which usually provokes rebukes from the women the child attracts.
* PigLatin: In the issue #170 segment "Channeling Gary".
* PlanningWithProps: ''The Bag Wars Saga'' demonstrates why you shouldn't use snack foods in place of proper minatures.
* PlatonicProstitution: Chad initially hires Trish to pose as his fiancée. Tank later hires her to play Battleship with him.
* PowderTrail: The cover of ''Knights of the Dinner Table Special Edition'' #1 shows the Knights' ''Cattlepunk'' characters using one to blow open a bank vault.
* PromotionalPowerlessPieceOfGarbage
** All of the players pay out the wazoo for special dice in an attempt to appease the RandomNumberGod, with varying results (still erring on uselessness).
** The trope then ''literally'' happened in an zany attempt by gamers to bless their dice by rubbing it on Gary Jackson's dead body. Any such dice not only become ridiculously cursed but also infected other dice in the batch, too. Mainly because [[spoiler: that wasn't Gary Jackson's body they rubbed the dice on...]] Before [[spoiler:the reveal that Gary faked his own death]], Sara pointed out another fallacy in that plan: how lucky could a guy who died in a plane crash be?
* ProudToBeAGeek: Bob, Dave, Brian, Weird Pete, and the Hard 8 staff (if they can be considered geeks).
* RageQuit: When the "Loan Contract" story-arc comes to it's climax and Stevil realizes that he has been thoroughly outwitted by Newt, he promptly uses a powerful magic item to off himself as well as the entire party. Nobody is pleased.
* RandomNumberGod: Acts more like the Shinto spirits of individual dice. At the same time, occasionally combatted, like when Bob rolled one unlucky d10 and one lucky d10 to get a 01-05.
* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: The series constantly has people talking over each other.
* RealMenWearPink: Gordo likes fairies and unicorns. He also know how to make nitroglycerin and may have done so for use in Nitro's steamtunnel capers. In fact that's hinted to be the reason he is on disability.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: When Hard 8 reinstates Nitro's GM credentials, it is with the provisio that he is only allowed to GM the Pee Wee Hackleague.
* RedBaron: Nitro (named for an gaming session involving C4), Crutch (named for... well... the crutches he wore when he broke his legs).
* TheRemnant: Colonel Quantrill (a.k.a. Juan Trail) and his men in B.A.'s ''Cattlepunk'' campaign.
* RightBehindMe
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge
** Sara once defected and played with a group of college students named Troy's Boys for a while. After her character's forced to metaphorically StayInTheKitchen while the other (male) characters live it up, under the pretense of a festival that bans the presence of women, she quits in a huff. She goes back to the Knights, who begin to play in the same area. The festival in question? It actually banned ''farm animals'', not women.
-->'''Sara:''' I WASTE HIM WITH MY LONGBOW!!
** Immediately topped by the HumiliationConga the Knights put Troy's Boys through for treating Sara like that. It was bloodless, but after [[spoiler:being kidnapped, having one of their heads badly shaved, and dumped in the labyrinthine steam tunnels with a map that led them to an exit outside a bikers' bar, where the bartender had been paid to take pictures of them after they emerged]], they might've preferred death.
* RocksFallEveryoneDies: Once played literally when Bob kept wasting B.A.'s carefully planned adventures in favor of "a cave".
* TheRoleplayer: Sara at the Knight's table is a positive example of this trope. Cody, a local community theater actor, is a more over-the-top negative example.
* RulesLawyer: Brian
* RuleZero: B.A. gave up trying to invoke this which is part of the reason the Knights got away with so much in the early strips. He's since gotten a backbone.
* TheScrooge: Brian. Its how he stays afloat, but its also leads to him shamelessly pumping cash out of his friends when he can get away with it.
* SecondFaceSmoke: Gary Jackson, being a {{Jerkass}}, smokes at the gaming table and sometimes blows smoke into the faces of his players; usually to emphasise some point.
* SelfStitching: Characters sewing up their own wounds (and whether you get XP for it) is a running gag.
* SeriousBusiness: Gaming in Muncie is very serious business. There are codes of honor. Their gaming association, the HPMA, issues binding judgments. The playtesting is done in "gulags" with the Hard 8 staff occasionally having to put down rebellions. The players take extensive pains to document their games to keep their groups official with the HPMA.
** Brian once hired an attorney to review a pages long and carefully worded (using no punctuation, so as to keep it within the "one sentence" limit) Wish. When a panicked B.A. calls an emergency council of gamemasters to review the document, one of them consults a ''Hackmaster legal dictionary.''
** Hard 8's service hotline offers an "ancient riddle service" for [=GMs=] who need a suitably hard riddle for their campaign on the fly for sphinx, [[SpeakFriendAndEnter cleverly-opened doors]], and so forth. Conversely, they can also offer the solutions to such riddles to desperate players. After being stumped by one, Brian tries to find out the answer to one of B.A.'s riddles, only to find out that he paid extra for the "No Easy Answers" premium deluxe package.
* ShmuckBait
** See HandInTheHole above. Also common in general at any game table as the [=GMs=] tend to exploit player's desires for loot and experience to screw with their characters.
** In B.A.'s case, it happened more than once unintentionally. He stuck a sphere of annihilation at the bottom of a waste disposal chute and, knowing his players, put up grates, plenty of warnings of danger and made the chute long enough so that they couldn't get a rope to the bottom, in order to protect them. They took it as a sign that he was hoarding the really good treasure down there and B.A. got a TotalPartyKill out of the deal.
* ShootTheShaggyDog
** The Knights go through one of the hardest dungeons ever, lose a favored NPC guide, and come out with the Lyre of Hound Slaying, trailing their vital organs... only for [[spoiler:Dave to get taken over by a magic sword and smash it.]]
** See also B.A.'s ShmuckBait entry above. The story started with showing just how much time and care went into making that dungeon, only for those three fools to kill the whole party right off the bat on the ''waste disposal system''.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Earl Slackmozer
* SocialSemiCircle
* SpeechImpairedAnimal: Squirrely, possibly.
* StayInTheKitchen
** Bob has a very dim view of women playing [=RPG=]s (to say nothing of [=DMing=] them), and was prone to being very condescending to Sara, particularly in the early days of her membership in the Knights. (Dave and Brain have also shown signs of this attitude, but to a much lesser extent.) Thanks to Sara's general skill, this view has been mostly overcome. (Or at least Bob has learned not to be so vocal about it. See BerserkButton above.)
** Finally inverted with Bob. He's so dedicated to game that he lost his job as a claims adjuster, got kicked out of his father's house and now lives with his girlfriend while working at a game shop for surplus product. So he is frequently shown wearing an apron while she sits and reads the paper.
* TheSwearJar: Patty, a kindergarten teacher, maintains one for her gaming group Patty's Perps.
* TakenForGranite: Brian's character is turned to stone by a medusa in "The Stone Menagerie".
* TalkingWeapon: Carvin' Marvin and Tremble. And all the [=PCs=] really wish they couldn't.
* TarAndFeathers
** Happens to the Knights' ''[=HackBeard=]'' characters (except for Sara) when their crew mutinies in yet another TheDogBitesBack moment in "Justice on the High Seas".
** And Knobby Foot gets tarred and feathered during ''The Bag Wars Saga''.
* ThatCameOutWrong: B.A.'s repeated line of "I've got wood for sheep" while playing ''TabletopGame/SettlersOfCatan''. Which is actually a long-standing bit of InnocentInnuendo turned IncrediblyLamePun among gamers who are familiar with the ''Catan'' series, so much so that it can be found on T-shirts, buttons, etc., for sale at game conventions and online.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Again, Sara. Debatably Gordo for the Black Hands.
* TomeOfEldritchLore: When the Knights play ''[[CallOfCthulhu Scream of Kachooloo]]'', Brian advises burning every book because they are always one of these. Of course, considering what happened in the last game...
-->'''Dave:''' But that was a traveler's guide to Boise!
* TooCleverByHalf: Brian. He always presses for maximum advantage in his schemes which makes forgetting something almost inevitable.
* TotalPartyKill: A frequent occurrence.
* TranquilFury: B.A. gets like this when his players go too far with mistreating {{NPC}}s or derailing his campaign.
** In what doubles as a CrowningMomentofAwesome for B.A., after his group lost a paintball war with the Black Hands which he had timidly opted out of, [[spoiler: he kidnaps Gordo, steals his Dalek costume and infiltrates the Black Hands victory celebration to take them out GunsAkimbo at point blank range.]] He earns the respect of his group after that incident.
* TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX:
-->"Will 'The Character Formerly Known as the Man with No Name' and now associated with this symbol please be advised that he has inexplicably attracted the unbridled wrath of the Gawds and has just been turned into a newt!!"
* TheTropeWithoutATitle: Dave's "Man with No Name" character which quickly devolves into TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX.
* TrueCompanions
** The Knights may bicker and fight with each other, but heaven help you if you humiliate one of them.
** Averted by the Black Hands; they're just that dysfunctional.
* {{Tsundere}}: Sheila Horowitz. Sara is a more subdued version.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: When Heidi Jackson comes to power. She rushes a new edition of ''Hackmaster'' out the door that incites ''riots'', firing half of the original Hard Eight team while she works. Essentially it's an attempt at satirizing [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Lorraine Williams]] and the last days of TSR.
* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: The Black Hands try charging a heavily armed enemy fortification in the open. As Nitro is getting ready to mow them down, Newt asks if he remembered to factor in the series of evasive Kirk shoulder rolls they were performing.
* UnstoppableRage: Don't mess with pack apes, touch Bob's dice, or mess with 7/8 of the {{Game Master}}s in this comic. You will get punished.
* TheVamp: Bridget Keating, a beautiful woman who wears skimpy costumes at conventions and delights in using her appearance to manipulate the "geeks" (not least by involving them in the LARP ''Vampyres: Lords of Darkness'' and then using them for manual labor).
* VictoriasSecretCompartment: In issue #181, Sara gets hold of the infamous cursed die Fitz and keeps it away from the rest of the knights by dropping it down her cleavage and zipping up her catsuit.
* VillainProtagonist: The Untouchable Trio, even though they ''think'' they're [[IncrediblyLamePun Knights in Shining Armor]].
* VillainSue: [[invoked]]
** "R-R-RED GURDY PICKENS?!"
** Subverted with Gilead, who only appears to be a VillainSue thanks to the Knights' extreme MoralMyopia.
* TheVoice: B.A.'s mom (although she has appeared in some of the non-canon strips by the Brothers Grinn [and is ''smokin' hawt!''])
* WaxMuseumMorgue: "The Stone Menagerie"
* WeWinBecauseYouDidnt: Brian wins a bet against Stevil this way.
* WhatDidIDoLastNight: According to Jolly, this is the end result of drinking Mojo Dave's mojo juice.
* WhatTheHellHero
** Subverted repeatedly for comic effect. [[CharacterFilibuster Even when B.A. stops the game]] to rant at length about [[YouBastard what evil bastards his players are being]], his players (except for Sara) ignore him.
** A more straight example comes when Brian is called out for exploiting Bob's addiction to tabletop gaming even when he's in a bad financial situation.
* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Johnny Kizinski names his youngest son [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Frodo]] after convincing his wife that it was the name of a relative of his from "the old country" who died fighting the Russians.
* WomenAreWiser: Sara throughout the series (though B.A. is not far behind her). Especially pronounced in Sheila's relationship with Bob.
* WorthyOpponent: Despite the combative relationship between players and DM, the Knights ultimately see B.A. as one of the few gamemasters who will push them to their limits without being unfair or tyrannical. Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming whenever Pete has to remind B.A. of such.
* XanatosGambit: Brian's 10-page wish: Even though his character was killed anyway, the contract rewinded time, voided the wish, and gave Teflon Billy 10,000 gold.
* {{Xenofiction}}: B.A. designs an RPG in which players assume the roles of dogs.
* YouFailPhysicsForever: B.A.'s insistence during a Sci-Fi game that hydrogen is an exceedingly rare element when Brian tries to use the ships ram scoops for refueling. Even ''Dave'' knew this was wrong. While Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, it's called the "Vacuum of Space" for a reason -- Brian was trying to pull a fast one... Although B.A. was objecting to the idea of scooping a planet's oceans and hydrolyzing the water, making it more a case of You Fail Chemistry Forever.
* YourCostumeNeedsWork: Gary Jackson gets third place in a Gary Jackson lookalike contest. Of course, [[spoiler:he was supposed to be dead at the time]].
* ZorroMark: The cover of ''Knights of the Dinner Table'' #26 "The Mask of El Ravager" show what happens when the Knights attempt this stunt.
----
* '''B.A. Felton''': The disgruntled GameMaster, always attempting to be one step ahead of the group and always winding up one step behind, due to either Brian's scheming or Bob and Dave's bumbling violence.
* '''Bob Herzog''': A seasoned gamer who believes that [[TheRealMan "monsters are there to be killed"]]. Often causes massive [[OffTheRails plot derailments]] by slaying important characters in-game (or even his fellow teammates). His main character in B.A.'s campaign is '''Knuckles''', a dwarven thief who carries a crossbow.
* '''Dave Bozwell''': Something of a starry-eyed newbie, but has become more and more like Bob in his [[TheRealMan love of violence]]. He plays '''El Ravager''', a human fighter who is a thinly veiled excuse to wield a [[InfinityPlusOneSword Hackmaster +12]] magic sword.
* '''Brian Van Hoose''': The textbook definition of a RulesLawyer. Frequently manipulates his less-intelligent allies into doing his bidding, and is able to cite obscure rules to wriggle his way out of just about any situation. When provoked, however, he can become violent, often flipping tables. His iconic characters are a series of wizards with the word "Lotus" in their names; most famously, '''Black Lotus''', better known as '''Teflon Billy''' for Brian's skills as a KarmaHoudini. He was the original GM of the group until a NoodleIncident drove him into retirement.
* '''Sara Felton''': B.A.'s cousin. The only one at the table who [[TheRoleplayer actually role-plays]], and the [[WomenAreWiser straight]] [[TheChick woman]] of the group. She tends to play non-{{Stripperiffic}} female barbarian characters, such as '''Zayre''' and '''Thorina'''.
There are several additional gaming groups in the [=KoDT=] universe, including the '''Black Hands''', a group of oddballs and outcasts who game together because no one else will have them. The Black Hands roster includes:
* '''"Nitro" Ferguson''', a black ex-Marine [[DrillSergeantNasty prone to running his game like a boot camp]].
* '''Newt Forager''', who began as a picked-on newbie but quickly became a sneaky player. Prone to whining and brown-nosing. Plays dark, angsty characters with pages of backstory.
* '''Stevil Van Hostle''', a cubicle drone who uses gaming to get out pent up aggression. Bitter and mean, with a mad-on for Newt. Enjoys playing grel (Grunge Elves, a drow-analogue).
* '''Gordo Sheckberry''', a sensitive, odd sort prone to playing (female) pixie fairies above all other character. Probably the nicest of the Hands. Wheelchair-bound in all his appearances; some years before the comic's beginning, he apparently provided help with a "chemical" experiment that earned Nitro his nickname and almost killed both of them.
* '''"Weird" Pete Ashton''', a grumpy old-time gamer who runs the local gaming shop. Fills in for Nitro when he can't make it -- a fate the other Hands dread, as Pete is a ''brutally'' fair Game Master who demands his players ''earn'' every new turn. Also enjoys playing grel. Keep in mind that grel eat pixies...
In addition, there are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of recurring minor characters]].
It is also the name of the magazine in which it currently runs, and has run since the demise of its former publication, ''{{Magazine/Dragon}}'' magazine. The magazine also features various RPG related content.
KODT has a spin-off strip called ''Java Joint'' that runs in the fantasy magazine ''Black Gate''. ''Java Joint'' centres around the (mis)adventures of a book club consisting of Sara, Patty and Tank.
----
!!''Knights of the Dinner Table'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AccidentalAimingSkills: Bob's dad displays these during his first (and only) game of ''Cattlepunk''.
-->'''Brian:''' Whooooah, dude. Yer dad shot 'im in the face.\\
'''Bob's Dad:''' I wasn't going for the face. He walked into it. That's all. The damn fool. Those were warning shots I was firing.
* ActualPacifist: Reese. An ER nurse, she refuses to condone violence in any way and so plays a cleric of a pacifist god.
* AerosolFlamethrower: Bob claims to have improvised one to drive of a feral dog (or possibly a coyote) in the strip "A Fish Story".
* AffectionateParody: Of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (2nd Edition in particular) and tabletop gaming culture. (The published {{TabletopGame/Hackmaster}} RPG, though, is a licensed version of '''1st''' Edition AD&D.)
* AfterActionReport: ''Knights of the Dinner Table: Illustrated'', which attempts to make a story loosely based on the Knights' campaigns. Naturally, most of the table banter is repeated in-character. Though it's translated into in game terms with in-game motivations to explain the OOC actions (i.e. you don't have Lotus asking for a Grape Faygo.)
* AggressiveNegotiations: A stabdard tactic of the Untouchable Trio.
* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: But the tabletop gaming community of Muncie's come to an understanding with them anyway.
* AluminumChristmasTrees
** Many foreign readers were surprised to learn that Faygo is a real brand of soft drink, and does have flavours like Rock & Rye.
** Hawg Waller's and Pizza-a-Go-Go were actual bars and pizza establishments, respectively. For bonus points, Waller's was actually in the real Muncie.
* AnalogyBackfire: In ''Java Joint'', Tank says that he is "as serious as Garrison Keillor", apparently not realising that Garrison Keillor is a humorist.
* AnalProbing: The ''Black Hands 2011 Special'' ends with the Black Hands characters being anally probed by aliens after Weird Pete decides to combine his ''Cattlepunk'' campaign with ''Scream of Kachoolu''.
* AnimatedAdaptation: Fan Andrew Babb did a series of nicely-produced Flash cartoons, currently preserved [[http://www.youtube.com/user/Kumeelyun on Youtube]].
* ArtifactOfDoom: Flak Jack Monty's infamous twenty-sider, "Fitz". [[CursedWithAwesome Cursed]] with vampiric luck (pretty much useless to a player, but a Doomsday weapon in the hands of a GM), this die goes through [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder quite the history]] after the Knights swipe it.
* ArtShift: In "Hounded" in #183, Sara has a dream about the Untouchable Trio Plus One. The dream is illustrated using art from ''Knights of the Dinner Table: Illustrated'' by the Fraim Brothers.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: In Nitro's campaign setting, deceased real life celebrities become deities with the most frequently mentioned being Andy Warhol. Bob managed to successfully argue for the promotion of one of his former characters to deity status to serve as the basis of the religion for his new PlayerCharacter, a priest.
* {{Autocannibalism}}: While playing Weird Pete's new game "Fairy Meat", Brian has his character eat its own arm to demonstrate that the rule for recovering hit points via cannibalism is broken.
* BathroomBreakOut: Bob does it to escape from Nitro's game when sitting in for Weird Pete in "A Man Out Standing In His Field".
* BerserkButton
** Do not touch Bob's dice!
** Also, ''never'' question the existence of Brian's "girlfriend" Alexis. And if you happen to think women can't/shouldn't be gamers, keep that opinion under your hat around Sara.
** Don't mess with Chelsie unless you want to experience the business end of a Hackmaster +12.
* BewareTheNiceOnes
** Don't push Sara too far... she'll push back hard. And then there was the time her character became evil...
** B.A. gets moments like this.
* {{BFS}}: The Hackmaster +12.
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: Tic Tac Taco and its giant sombrero.
* BlindingBangs: Newt and Brian.
* BreakTheHaughty: Stevil being forced to dance for 36 hours straight in prison. When he finally gets back to his game, Newt plays ABB.A.'s "Dancing Queen" through a pair of portable speakers attached to his walkman. Newt is promptly wasted and is made to wear "the Hubcap of Shame".
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Brian is a socially awkward man with a made-up girlfriend, but is incredibly good at being a RulesLawyer.
* CantHoldHisLiquor: Brian. He is the reason why the Knights no longer allow alcohol at the gaming table. Any time this rule is relaxed, his behaviour quickly reminds them why it was instigated in the first place.
* TheCaper: Switch, and a number of other criminals attempt to rob a warehouse. Bob helps them out, thinking it's an RPG.
* CasanovaWannabe: Jonny Kizinski
* CatchPhrase: "Hoody Hoo!". Also quite often: "I waste him with my crossbow!" or "Foul! I cry foul!" (Bob) and "Prepping a couple of fireballs here, B.A.!"/"Fireball coming online!" (Brian)
* CatsAreMean: B.A.'s cat, Colonel Prowler, has a habit of assaulting players and stealing their dice. He does, however, sleep with B.A. which is sort of cute...
* CavemenVsAstronautsDebate
* CharacterAlignment: Seeing as how ''Hackmaster'' is a homage/parody of ''D&D'', it has a standard axis. Of course, the Knights (with the exception of Sara) aren't known for actually ''playing'' their listed alignment.
* TheChessmaster: Brian. Occasionally, Stevil and Pete will come up with a devious plan, as well.
* TheChick: Sara
* ComedicSociopathy: Only done partway. Invoke this trope all you want to in the actual games; the KillerGamemaster expects you to and there's no hard feelings on anyone's part for being bastards. Doing this ''outside'' the game or in-game to the point of making people genuinely upset is a very good way to get shunned, as Stevil and Crutch have found out.
** Sara has had her objections to it at times, and when Bob's dad tried ''Cattlepunk'', this element of it bothered him immensely and he lectured everyone present.
** Then there was the time that Newt was in a position to have to bail the Black Hands out of jail and chose to bail out ex-con Crutch instead of Stevil.
* ComicTrio (plus One): Bob's the navigator with the half-baked schemes; Dave's the clueless driver; Sara's the Only Sane Woman who's ultimately powerless to do more than avoid ground zero; and Brian's the scheming backseat driver who either makes things worse or [[XanatosSpeedChess turns the disaster to his advantage]].
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: [[invoked]] Every character in the strip. When forced to break out of this trope, Dave's mage showed signs of CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass until he was allowed to play his old character again.
** Averted with Sara, who frequently plays new kinds of characters. Though usually she will hover around the "fighter with benefits" archetype due to party composition, with her iconic character being a NobleSavage ranger.
* CrackIsCheaper: [[invoked]] Part of the reason why B.A. and Bob are perpetually broke is because they use what little money they earn from their minimum wage jobs to support their hobby.
* CrazyPrepared: Brian
* CutAndPasteComic
* DarkChick
** Sara again, when she's playing for the forces of evil.
** Gordo, if you look at The Black Hands as a FiveBadBand.
** Also Sheila, who suffers from ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. To make things more interesting, she's dating short-fused Bob whom she once forced to eat grass until he threw up.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Newt's preference in characters tends towards dark mysterious assassins with tortured souls and troubled pasts.
* DeadpanSnarker: Stevil, sometimes Sara and B.A.
* DiggingYourselfDeeper: Chad from "Patty's Perps" is a master of this.
-->'''Chad:''' Awwwwh, c'mon Patty! When I said girl gamers were lame I wasn't referring to you! You're just like one of the guys.\\
'''Patty:''' Like one of the guys? Your character suddenly hears a rustling in the underbrush. Roll for initiative.\\
'''Tank:''' Careful, Chad. You're digging that hole deeper and deeper.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: GARY JACKSON?!]]
* TheDitz: Dave, though he does have (very) occasional flashes of brilliance. One such flash leads him to countering ''every one of Brian's strategies'' during the Doomsday Pack arc.
* TheDogBitesBack: Happens to every NPC that's unfortunate enough to work with the Knights and live. Somehow the Knights [[{{Genre Blindness}} are completely blind to this]]. Most often due to AlternativeCharacterInterpretation and InsaneTrollLogic. They tend to treat their [=NPCs=] poorly, then the [=NPCs=] turn on them making them feel justified in doling out the abuse.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Nitro
* DrivingStick: Weird Pete discovers that Gordo can't drive stick during a road trip to [=GaryCon=] when he wakes up to to find Gordo is still driving in first gear. By the end of the trip, Gordo has mastered driving stick (with the aid of Squirrely) and is ecstatic.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Knights act like this despite their characters being {{Complete Monster}}s in the gaming world.
* DungeonmastersGirlfriend
** Discussed. The male players often accuse B.A. of showing favoritism to Sara who is his cousin, though he actually runs the game fairly for all and cuts Sara no slack.
** A straighter example is Chad's girlfriend. She's a pacifist and plays her cleric that way (in fact she can't even heal the party from their injuries because that would enable their violence so she's just an observer.)
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The Knights had much less distinctive personalities in the early episodes and you'd sometimes see the characters exhibiting traits you'd now associate with other characters. They were whatever was needed for the gag in that particular strip. The self contained format of the early strips is itself a form of early installment weirdness.
* {{Egopolis}}: Newt's campaign world is called "Newtonia".
* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: Hunter
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Hard man Crutch's real name is Leslie.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Crutch
* EvenEvilHasStandards : In one issue of ''KODT Illustrated,'' Knuckles captures a member of the cult that tortured Thorina. Knowing that Knuckles intended to kill him, and knowing also the Untouchable Trio's notorious reputation for greed and selfishness, the cultist tries to persuade Knuckles to join his cult instead, offering lavish rewards. Knuckles mentally pictures himself torturing Thorina, and then promptly kills the cultist, saying, ''"Sorry, bud, but even I've got standards."''
* EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt: The "Limited Edition Haulin" Ass And Ammo "Meals Ready To Eat" Snack Pouches':
-->'''Weird Pete:''' I bought half a pallet of that crap two years ago... Didn't sell a single pack.. Squirrely wouldn't even touch 'em.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Apes, anyway, considering EnsembleDarkHorse Squirrely.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: The Knights assume this about B.A.'s dungeons and his [=NPCs=]. This partly justifies their ComedicSociopathy. More often actually the case when Weird Pete [=GMs=] -- his whole campaign setting is made of this trope. Nobody has made it above 3rd level in that setting.
* EvilRedhead: "Red" Gurdy Pickens
* EvilWeapon: Carvin' Marvin has existed in B.A.'s campaign world for close to ten years. Nobody in the party could control it, and every attempt at trying failed horribly, resulting in the deaths of over forty party members. Eventually, they kicked it into a ditch along with the last NPC to die wielding it, buried it, and called it a day. This became a ChekhovsGun when the party needed to find an intelligent sword to match against ''another'' intelligent sword, Tremble, who had taken control of Dave's character.
** Dealing with Carvin' Marvin is considered to be NightmareFuel among the party members who've dealt with it. When they retrieved it in order to deal with Tremble and the Doomsday Pack, Sara (the only player not to have seen Marvin before) complained afterwards that the others should have told her what she was in for. Not only was her character inflicted with chronic nightmares and a nervous tic, but she herself said that she wouldn't be able to sleep for a week on account of nerves.
** Speaking of Tremble, while he doesn't carry the same kind of ominous mystique that Marvin has, the fact that B.A. recruited [[DrillSergeantNasty Nitro]] to guest-play as Tremble's personality more than makes up for it.
* TheFaceless: "Hawg" Waller
* FellOffTheBackOfATruck: Anything that Switch tries to sell you.
* [[Main/{{FlippingTheTable}} Flipping The Table]]: Brian does this when upset too much. Bob has done it upon occasion, too.
* FormallyNamedPet: B.A.'s cat is Colonel Prowler.
* FourOneNineScam: One strip deals with the results of the Knights receiving a FourOneNineScam email.
* GameBreaker: [[invoked]]
** Brian himself counts, not to mention the many characters and schemes he cooks up.
** Dave's Hackmaster+12.
** A notable mention goes to when Brian manipulated B.A. into handing out a hammer that could duplicate spells, and then let Brian get ahold of a scroll of Wishes, to which Brian pulled out an ironclad legal document so B.A. couldn't screw up his wish to become a god.
** Played to the hilt with the legendary [[http://www.kenzerco.com/Operiodicals/kodt/jackson_document.pdf Jackson Document]] which formed the basis for the Bagworld campaign storyline; managing to be a game breaker not once, but ''twice'' in the course of the campaign.
** B.A. brings it on himself sometimes such as when he invoked obscure mob overbearing rules to reign his players back in over the objections and warnings of Brian himself. After the HumiliationConga, Brian simply had the party hire their own beggar mobs to overbear monsters, including a dragon.
* GargleBlaster
** During a ''Hackmaster'' campaign, a particular bar requires first-time patrons to order Gut Busters. They use it to weed out low-level characters; drinking a drink of it does 1d10 damage, which is more than most first-level characters have. Bob's character, after being assaulted by certain patrons, gets a double, forgetting both that he's been injured and that each shot does 1d10 damage. He dies from the drink, to the shame of his party members.
** And Mojo Dave's "mojo juice". Sipping it causes "Hawg" Waller to pass out.
* GenerationXerox: The male Knights continually abuse the offscreen training rules so that when their characters die they can easily introduce [[{{Expy}} identical clones]] of their previous ones with the level adjusted a little bit.
* GeodesicCast
* TheGhost: ''[=KodT=]'' has several:
** Bob's sister (who is the mother of Croix and Hunter)
** B.A.'s father
** Crutch's 'old lady', Casey Mae
** Crowbar, Switch's partner-in-crime (although he does become TheVoice for a couple of panels in one strip)
** Brian's uncle (and former guardian)
** B.A. and Sara's Aunt Nudra
* GirlfriendInCanada
** Brian's imaginary girlfriend Alexis Marie. [[BerserkButton I...Imaginary?!]] [[FlippingTheTable GRAHHHH!]]
** Bob also claims to have been in a ''FatalAttraction'' style situation with a woman at the Harness & Hoe Insurance Company; a claim which Dave finds hilarious.
* GlobalIgnorance: Dave. He is convinced that Canada is behind the Iron Curtain, and thinks that the language of Israel is Orcish. His grasp of history isn't much better.
* {{GMPC}}: Generally averted or inverted. The rare occasions when B.A.'s [=NPCs=] become this trope they end up getting [[PutOnABus written out]] [[DroppedABridgeOnHim of the story pretty quick]], since they're only there to [[FixerSue put the story back on the rails]]. Most of the time when B.A. plays [=NPCs=] for the party they're a {{Redshirt}}s who only exist to be CannonFodder for the [=PCs=].
* GodModeSue: [[invoked]] Timmy Jackson [=GMs=] his campaigns this way, throwing damage every which way without even rolling. It doesn't help that his father created ''Hackmaster''. The Knights "defeat" him by playing by his rules.
* GoLookAtTheDistraction
* GoshDangItToHeck
** "Firk-Ding-Blast!" and "What the SAM FRICK?"
** Also, "god" is usually spelled "gawd". The latter is a reference to ''Dungeons & Dragons'' changing the names of some of their monsters to dodge heat from MoralGuardians. More directly referenced when Hard 8 remembers the time they were pressured into renaming their Demons and Devils as "Ne'er Do Wells."
* {{Goth}}: Newt to a limited extent.
* GoToAlias: "Weird" Pete's go-to alias is John Mephisto; the name of an old ''[=HackNoia=]'' character of his.
* GroupieBrigade: Knuckles acquires one in the "Sing For the Moment" storyline.
* AHandfulForAnEye: Bob once defeated Nitro by blinding him with a salt cellar before coldcocking him with a dinner tray (a trick he claimed to have learned from watching B.A's infamous fistfight with Sheila Horowitz). The man ''[[BerserkButton touched his dice!]]''
* HandInTheHole: One of these traps results in Knuckles and El Ravager losing three arms between the two of them.
* HangingJudge: Weird Pete when he is presiding over "Gamer's Court".
* TheHardHat: A throwaway gag in a filler strip has Newt claiming his character is crouching real low and taking cover behind his "kevlar watch cap".
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Brian once scammed Bob into selling him a rare, expensive mini dirt cheap. To settle the score, Brian gave Bob an IOU for in-game gold... and a thimble that [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway fixes sails and nets.]] B.A. counters by steering the party into a seaside town, making Bob the leader of a massive economical empire.
* HighClassCallGirl: Trish
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Trish
* HonestJohnsDealership: Weird Pete, in relation to his store. Brian also shows these tendencies.
* HumanNotepad: Brian carves his character's spells into the backs of Bob and Dave's characters so he could always have access to spells.
* HumiliationConga
** Rather than RocksFallEveryoneDies, this is B.A.'s preferred method of dealing out punishment. Of course, his players are usually the ones [[TooDumbToLive to hand him the knife]].
** Pixie runes of shame being tattooed on the party's buttocks are a common occurrence (along with the [[CherryTapping one point of damage]] that comes along with it).
** People on the wrong end of Bob's or Stevil's wrath will often end up going through one of these, as well.
** Don't forget "Dancing Queen" Newt. He & Stevil keep trying to one-up each other as revenge for the last one.
** The Knights did this to a rival group after Sara found out [[spoiler:her boyfriend dated her just to get her into his gaming group for extra points in a tournament]]. The humiliation conga the gang put them through on her behalf (complete with pictures) [[TrueCompanions proves they've accepted her as a Knight]].
* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Bridget
* IKnowMortalKombat
** The storyline in which Bob unwittingly helps plan a successful warehouse burglary based on his gaming experience.
** They've done this on several occasions, especially Bob, employing his in game roleplaying experience in the real world, dealing with his dad by hiding and bluffing.
** In Issue 162:
-->'''Brian:''' We have to find [B.A.'s cat's] hoard [of dice] and we know from past history that this can be a challenge. So, for that I need your eyes and know how. ''I need a'' '''thief.'''
* InfinityPlusOneSword: Dave's Hackmaster +12. Subverted in that he had this weapon since almost the beginning, becoming a mild Game Breaker.
* IResembleThatRemark: Bob ranting about how he'd like to kill all those media pundits who claim gaming promotes violent behaviour.
* {{Jerkass}}: Every character has held the "Jerkass ball" at some point or another, with Bob, Stevil, and Pete being the most common. Brian often falls into this trope as well though less frequently in later issues.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Every character, when not holding "Jerkass balls".
* JumpTheShark: [[invoked]] The title of issue #151, which features [[spoiler:Gary Jackson coming BackFromTheDead.]] What's funny is, they included this as an example of when you know they're jumping the shark in an earlier "Parting Shots" feature (a humor section on the back page.) The explanation they put forth actually makes a lot of sense given the character [[spoiler:He was in deep to the mob due to his compulsive gambling which had long since been an established character trait, so he turned states evidence and they faked his death with old airplane wreckage and forged reports to protect him. The evidence of the writers setting up Gary's return pretty much goes back to his "death." The only thing they haven't explained yet was how Gary faked his open casket funeral though they hung a lampshade on that in the latest issue (#152 as of this writing) suggesting they've thought of something.]]
* KangarooCourt
** Most of the trials the Untouchable Trio faces (although they usually bring these on themselves).
** And are not above staging one themselves when they find themselves in a position of authority.
* KillerGameMaster: B.A., Nitro and Weird Pete all share the philosophy that the GM is the enemy of the players.
** B.A. only exemplifies this trope partway. While he does not believe in giving the smallest amount of mercy to plays, his weakness is that he plays ridiculously straight; if the players find a way to [[OffTheRails derail the plot]] or come up [[GameBreaker with a cheese loop of power]], B.A. lets them get away with it without invoking Rule Zero. Oftentimes because he has a BatmanGambit or a HumiliationConga prepared.
** Subverted once with Weird Pete's Temple of Horrendous Doom which no-one has ever survived and which the Black Hands have to sign a waiver just to play. [[spoiler:Turns out dying is the first thing you do in this dungeon. The point is to navigate your spirit through the dungeon to reclaim your body. Also, Stevil learns at the end that his party is not the first to beat the dungeon -- but the waiver they all signed at the beginning has a non disclosure clause forbidding bragging, in order to maintain the mystique.]]
* KillerRabbit
** The squirrel as fifth level monster from "The Most Dangerous (Small) Game".
** Also B.A. seems to believe that llamas have antlers and gore people and his campaign reflects this. The magazine has occasionally published reprints of newspaper articles about people being injured in llama attacks further confusing matters.
* LavaIsBoilingKoolAid: Played with. When the GM tells Bob, "You've been skewered by a spear, you've fallen off a cliff, and you're swimming in lava," Bob asks, "Do I get a saving throw? I've got +1 with swimming."
* LeeroyJenkins: The Knights are frickin' MADE of this trope.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: After a long, ''long'' rules debate over who got turned to stone by a gorgon, B.A. decides it's Brian. The gorgon has a morning star. Piece it together. Also, ItGotWorse when all of the flesh-to-stone transformations were reversed.
-->'''Sara:''' Eew. I think we need a wet-vac.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LocalHangout: Weird Pete's game store; the "Hawg Wallers" bar.
* LockedInARoom: Brian, Dave, and Bob once locked themselves in Brian's basement. This gave some insight into Brian's previously nebulous backstory.
* LongList: Happens twice in the Bag Wars saga when someone reads off the list of things in the BagOfHolding. Dave makes note of a perfectly ordinary sausage grinder both times ("Mmm, fresh sausage!").
* MacGuffin: The Lyre of Hound Slaying, the Conch of Aarnd, the Feather of Victory...The list goes on. It is an RPG comic book, after all.
* MailOrderBride: The fake "Russian gamer brides" ads.
* MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame: "World of Hackcraft"
* MedalOfDishonor: Black Hands who sully the honor of either the group, or the hobby as a whole are forced to wear the "Hubcap of Shame".
* MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: Patty actually '''is''' a kindergartern tecaher. However, she has difficulties turning the attitude off and ends up treating her gaming group like a bunch of preschoolers, including a "Time Out Corner" with "5 points to ponder".
* MistakenForBadass: A series of misunderstandings has Switch convinced that Tank is a cold-blooded killer you would not want to mess with.
* MistakenForTerrorist: Happens in the November 2011 issue when the group plays a real-life based ZombieApocalypse game of [[TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu Screams of Kachuloo]]. Brian's frequent Internet searches for bomb-making and the layout for the local mall (for the game) throws up red flags with Homeland Security. A more experienced member of the department sees that the address is in gamer-heavy Muncie, Indiana and calls off the team. They've been burned there before many times...
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: [=NPCs=] often end up doing this to the Knights.
* MockGuffin
* MoralMyopia: All [=NPCs=] are just there to be killed or to suck up to them. But the Untouchable Trio (plus one) are brave and noble heroes, never forget that.
* {{Munchkin}}: Newt (constantly) with others showing traits of this from time to time.
* MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: The ongoing battle between Brian and B.A.
* NerdGlasses: Bob and 4/5 of the Black Hands (and Newt may have specs under that hair). Then again, since one of them is DrillSergeantNasty Nitro...
* NeutralFemale: Chad's Girlfriend's character. She plays a pacifist cleric that merely accompanies and observes the party without healing or fighting.
* TheNewRockAndRoll: Many times, in reference to the roleplaying game genre's long history of being accused of corrupting and/or mentally unbalancing its players. Characters have been arrested being mistaken for criminals (dicebags look like drug paraphenalia, plotting an ingame robbery in public gets taken out of context etc). A long running subplot is Bob's dad's disapproval of the game first requiring Bob to hide his gaming, then get a job, then get kicked out of the house.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Shiela's unwitting purchase of "Doomsday" dice to use against the Knights in the grudge match tournament. She didn't realise that the Knights dice were actually cursed and, by using the same dice, she exposed her own team to the curse and levelled the playing field.
* NoodleIncident: The unspecified incident that caused Brian to swear off ever [=GMing=] ''Hackmaster'' again.
* TheNotableNumeral: The Untouchable Trio (plus one)
* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: Official Hard 8 policy is that any rule in one of their games stands as written unless an official erratum regarding it has been issued. Playtesters sometimes insert deliberate errors into games to create broken rules for players to take advantage of, until Hard 8 catches on and issues an erratum. One storyline centres around Bob acquiring a marked copy of ''Cattlepunk'' that identifies all these "special rules", and then badly overplaying his hand.
* OffTheRails: The Knights do this to B.A. constantly.
* OnlySaneMan: Sara. B.A. takes over this role when she takes the role as DM.
* OutGambitted: B.A. and Brian are in a life-and-death struggle with this trope. While Brian usually gets the better of B.A., when the campaign is on the line the gamemaster does pull through.
* PaintballEpisode: "Last Man Standing"
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: The strip "Lair of the Gazebo" has the Knights mistaking a gazebo for a savage beast. Which is based on a true story originating from the exact same misunderstanding, that had been on the internet for years. Jolly Blackburn printed an updated account in the first Bundle of Trouble.
* PersonaNonGrata: Nitro Ferguson got banned from [=GaryCon=] after his D-Day game ran amok even more spectacularly than games in ''[=KoDT=]'' usually do.
* PickUpBabesWithBabes: Johnny Kizinski comments on how his infant son is a chick magnet. Of course, the effect is somewhat mitigated by him smoking like a chimney around the kid, which usually provokes rebukes from the women the child attracts.
* PigLatin: In the issue #170 segment "Channeling Gary".
* PlanningWithProps: ''The Bag Wars Saga'' demonstrates why you shouldn't use snack foods in place of proper minatures.
* PlatonicProstitution: Chad initially hires Trish to pose as his fiancée. Tank later hires her to play Battleship with him.
* PowderTrail: The cover of ''Knights of the Dinner Table Special Edition'' #1 shows the Knights' ''Cattlepunk'' characters using one to blow open a bank vault.
* PromotionalPowerlessPieceOfGarbage
** All of the players pay out the wazoo for special dice in an attempt to appease the RandomNumberGod, with varying results (still erring on uselessness).
** The trope then ''literally'' happened in an zany attempt by gamers to bless their dice by rubbing it on Gary Jackson's dead body. Any such dice not only become ridiculously cursed but also infected other dice in the batch, too. Mainly because [[spoiler: that wasn't Gary Jackson's body they rubbed the dice on...]] Before [[spoiler:the reveal that Gary faked his own death]], Sara pointed out another fallacy in that plan: how lucky could a guy who died in a plane crash be?
* ProudToBeAGeek: Bob, Dave, Brian, Weird Pete, and the Hard 8 staff (if they can be considered geeks).
* RageQuit: When the "Loan Contract" story-arc comes to it's climax and Stevil realizes that he has been thoroughly outwitted by Newt, he promptly uses a powerful magic item to off himself as well as the entire party. Nobody is pleased.
* RandomNumberGod: Acts more like the Shinto spirits of individual dice. At the same time, occasionally combatted, like when Bob rolled one unlucky d10 and one lucky d10 to get a 01-05.
* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: The series constantly has people talking over each other.
* RealMenWearPink: Gordo likes fairies and unicorns. He also know how to make nitroglycerin and may have done so for use in Nitro's steamtunnel capers. In fact that's hinted to be the reason he is on disability.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: When Hard 8 reinstates Nitro's GM credentials, it is with the provisio that he is only allowed to GM the Pee Wee Hackleague.
* RedBaron: Nitro (named for an gaming session involving C4), Crutch (named for... well... the crutches he wore when he broke his legs).
* TheRemnant: Colonel Quantrill (a.k.a. Juan Trail) and his men in B.A.'s ''Cattlepunk'' campaign.
* RightBehindMe
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge
** Sara once defected and played with a group of college students named Troy's Boys for a while. After her character's forced to metaphorically StayInTheKitchen while the other (male) characters live it up, under the pretense of a festival that bans the presence of women, she quits in a huff. She goes back to the Knights, who begin to play in the same area. The festival in question? It actually banned ''farm animals'', not women.
-->'''Sara:''' I WASTE HIM WITH MY LONGBOW!!
** Immediately topped by the HumiliationConga the Knights put Troy's Boys through for treating Sara like that. It was bloodless, but after [[spoiler:being kidnapped, having one of their heads badly shaved, and dumped in the labyrinthine steam tunnels with a map that led them to an exit outside a bikers' bar, where the bartender had been paid to take pictures of them after they emerged]], they might've preferred death.
* RocksFallEveryoneDies: Once played literally when Bob kept wasting B.A.'s carefully planned adventures in favor of "a cave".
* TheRoleplayer: Sara at the Knight's table is a positive example of this trope. Cody, a local community theater actor, is a more over-the-top negative example.
* RulesLawyer: Brian
* RuleZero: B.A. gave up trying to invoke this which is part of the reason the Knights got away with so much in the early strips. He's since gotten a backbone.
* TheScrooge: Brian. Its how he stays afloat, but its also leads to him shamelessly pumping cash out of his friends when he can get away with it.
* SecondFaceSmoke: Gary Jackson, being a {{Jerkass}}, smokes at the gaming table and sometimes blows smoke into the faces of his players; usually to emphasise some point.
* SelfStitching: Characters sewing up their own wounds (and whether you get XP for it) is a running gag.
* SeriousBusiness: Gaming in Muncie is very serious business. There are codes of honor. Their gaming association, the HPMA, issues binding judgments. The playtesting is done in "gulags" with the Hard 8 staff occasionally having to put down rebellions. The players take extensive pains to document their games to keep their groups official with the HPMA.
** Brian once hired an attorney to review a pages long and carefully worded (using no punctuation, so as to keep it within the "one sentence" limit) Wish. When a panicked B.A. calls an emergency council of gamemasters to review the document, one of them consults a ''Hackmaster legal dictionary.''
** Hard 8's service hotline offers an "ancient riddle service" for [=GMs=] who need a suitably hard riddle for their campaign on the fly for sphinx, [[SpeakFriendAndEnter cleverly-opened doors]], and so forth. Conversely, they can also offer the solutions to such riddles to desperate players. After being stumped by one, Brian tries to find out the answer to one of B.A.'s riddles, only to find out that he paid extra for the "No Easy Answers" premium deluxe package.
* ShmuckBait
** See HandInTheHole above. Also common in general at any game table as the [=GMs=] tend to exploit player's desires for loot and experience to screw with their characters.
** In B.A.'s case, it happened more than once unintentionally. He stuck a sphere of annihilation at the bottom of a waste disposal chute and, knowing his players, put up grates, plenty of warnings of danger and made the chute long enough so that they couldn't get a rope to the bottom, in order to protect them. They took it as a sign that he was hoarding the really good treasure down there and B.A. got a TotalPartyKill out of the deal.
* ShootTheShaggyDog
** The Knights go through one of the hardest dungeons ever, lose a favored NPC guide, and come out with the Lyre of Hound Slaying, trailing their vital organs... only for [[spoiler:Dave to get taken over by a magic sword and smash it.]]
** See also B.A.'s ShmuckBait entry above. The story started with showing just how much time and care went into making that dungeon, only for those three fools to kill the whole party right off the bat on the ''waste disposal system''.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Earl Slackmozer
* SocialSemiCircle
* SpeechImpairedAnimal: Squirrely, possibly.
* StayInTheKitchen
** Bob has a very dim view of women playing [=RPG=]s (to say nothing of [=DMing=] them), and was prone to being very condescending to Sara, particularly in the early days of her membership in the Knights. (Dave and Brain have also shown signs of this attitude, but to a much lesser extent.) Thanks to Sara's general skill, this view has been mostly overcome. (Or at least Bob has learned not to be so vocal about it. See BerserkButton above.)
** Finally inverted with Bob. He's so dedicated to game that he lost his job as a claims adjuster, got kicked out of his father's house and now lives with his girlfriend while working at a game shop for surplus product. So he is frequently shown wearing an apron while she sits and reads the paper.
* TheSwearJar: Patty, a kindergarten teacher, maintains one for her gaming group Patty's Perps.
* TakenForGranite: Brian's character is turned to stone by a medusa in "The Stone Menagerie".
* TalkingWeapon: Carvin' Marvin and Tremble. And all the [=PCs=] really wish they couldn't.
* TarAndFeathers
** Happens to the Knights' ''[=HackBeard=]'' characters (except for Sara) when their crew mutinies in yet another TheDogBitesBack moment in "Justice on the High Seas".
** And Knobby Foot gets tarred and feathered during ''The Bag Wars Saga''.
* ThatCameOutWrong: B.A.'s repeated line of "I've got wood for sheep" while playing ''TabletopGame/SettlersOfCatan''. Which is actually a long-standing bit of InnocentInnuendo turned IncrediblyLamePun among gamers who are familiar with the ''Catan'' series, so much so that it can be found on T-shirts, buttons, etc., for sale at game conventions and online.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Again, Sara. Debatably Gordo for the Black Hands.
* TomeOfEldritchLore: When the Knights play ''[[CallOfCthulhu Scream of Kachooloo]]'', Brian advises burning every book because they are always one of these. Of course, considering what happened in the last game...
-->'''Dave:''' But that was a traveler's guide to Boise!
* TooCleverByHalf: Brian. He always presses for maximum advantage in his schemes which makes forgetting something almost inevitable.
* TotalPartyKill: A frequent occurrence.
* TranquilFury: B.A. gets like this when his players go too far with mistreating {{NPC}}s or derailing his campaign.
** In what doubles as a CrowningMomentofAwesome for B.A., after his group lost a paintball war with the Black Hands which he had timidly opted out of, [[spoiler: he kidnaps Gordo, steals his Dalek costume and infiltrates the Black Hands victory celebration to take them out GunsAkimbo at point blank range.]] He earns the respect of his group after that incident.
* TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX:
-->"Will 'The Character Formerly Known as the Man with No Name' and now associated with this symbol please be advised that he has inexplicably attracted the unbridled wrath of the Gawds and has just been turned into a newt!!"
* TheTropeWithoutATitle: Dave's "Man with No Name" character which quickly devolves into TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX.
* TrueCompanions
** The Knights may bicker and fight with each other, but heaven help you if you humiliate one of them.
** Averted by the Black Hands; they're just that dysfunctional.
* {{Tsundere}}: Sheila Horowitz. Sara is a more subdued version.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: When Heidi Jackson comes to power. She rushes a new edition of ''Hackmaster'' out the door that incites ''riots'', firing half of the original Hard Eight team while she works. Essentially it's an attempt at satirizing [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Lorraine Williams]] and the last days of TSR.
* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: The Black Hands try charging a heavily armed enemy fortification in the open. As Nitro is getting ready to mow them down, Newt asks if he remembered to factor in the series of evasive Kirk shoulder rolls they were performing.
* UnstoppableRage: Don't mess with pack apes, touch Bob's dice, or mess with 7/8 of the {{Game Master}}s in this comic. You will get punished.
* TheVamp: Bridget Keating, a beautiful woman who wears skimpy costumes at conventions and delights in using her appearance to manipulate the "geeks" (not least by involving them in the LARP ''Vampyres: Lords of Darkness'' and then using them for manual labor).
* VictoriasSecretCompartment: In issue #181, Sara gets hold of the infamous cursed die Fitz and keeps it away from the rest of the knights by dropping it down her cleavage and zipping up her catsuit.
* VillainProtagonist: The Untouchable Trio, even though they ''think'' they're [[IncrediblyLamePun Knights in Shining Armor]].
* VillainSue: [[invoked]]
** "R-R-RED GURDY PICKENS?!"
** Subverted with Gilead, who only appears to be a VillainSue thanks to the Knights' extreme MoralMyopia.
* TheVoice: B.A.'s mom (although she has appeared in some of the non-canon strips by the Brothers Grinn [and is ''smokin' hawt!''])
* WaxMuseumMorgue: "The Stone Menagerie"
* WeWinBecauseYouDidnt: Brian wins a bet against Stevil this way.
* WhatDidIDoLastNight: According to Jolly, this is the end result of drinking Mojo Dave's mojo juice.
* WhatTheHellHero
** Subverted repeatedly for comic effect. [[CharacterFilibuster Even when B.A. stops the game]] to rant at length about [[YouBastard what evil bastards his players are being]], his players (except for Sara) ignore him.
** A more straight example comes when Brian is called out for exploiting Bob's addiction to tabletop gaming even when he's in a bad financial situation.
* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Johnny Kizinski names his youngest son [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Frodo]] after convincing his wife that it was the name of a relative of his from "the old country" who died fighting the Russians.
* WomenAreWiser: Sara throughout the series (though B.A. is not far behind her). Especially pronounced in Sheila's relationship with Bob.
* WorthyOpponent: Despite the combative relationship between players and DM, the Knights ultimately see B.A. as one of the few gamemasters who will push them to their limits without being unfair or tyrannical. Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming whenever Pete has to remind B.A. of such.
* XanatosGambit: Brian's 10-page wish: Even though his character was killed anyway, the contract rewinded time, voided the wish, and gave Teflon Billy 10,000 gold.
* {{Xenofiction}}: B.A. designs an RPG in which players assume the roles of dogs.
* YouFailPhysicsForever: B.A.'s insistence during a Sci-Fi game that hydrogen is an exceedingly rare element when Brian tries to use the ships ram scoops for refueling. Even ''Dave'' knew this was wrong. While Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, it's called the "Vacuum of Space" for a reason -- Brian was trying to pull a fast one... Although B.A. was objecting to the idea of scooping a planet's oceans and hydrolyzing the water, making it more a case of You Fail Chemistry Forever.
* YourCostumeNeedsWork: Gary Jackson gets third place in a Gary Jackson lookalike contest. Of course, [[spoiler:he was supposed to be dead at the time]].
* ZorroMark: The cover of ''Knights of the Dinner Table'' #26 "The Mask of El Ravager" show what happens when the Knights attempt this stunt.
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