History Literature / BinderOfShame

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent - Vaguely, in "The Good, The Bad, and The Feces." [[spoiler: The entry centers around [=Ab3=] testing out a different group, only to cause a problem with one of the other people's toilets and feel guilty about it. Later, he realizes that the plumbing in the house has had to be fixed numerous times when he goes back to apologize to the present Game Master.]]

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Played with, in a fashion. The group is kept together entirely by the fact they could only find games with each other, and that the individuals involved only cared about doing tabletop games simply for the sake of not being bored. They all have major control issues in their lives, which they take out on each other.

** El Disgusto has been implied to know when a game is played in Albany, and he had a time where he was ruining a game every day in high school. The basis of ''A Pinch of Assault'' was to attempt to have a session without him in it. [[spoiler: While the group succeeded in not having El Disgusto play a ninja, he still finds where the game is happening.]] It's implied he was one of the first people among the group to game, so part of why the others tolerated him can be credited to seniority.

** Collateral Darren was a local legend in the Albany gaming scene, who ended up ruining most of his games due to a natural talent for Gamebusting. Association with Collateral Darren causes others in the tabletop group to have bad run-ins with the police, who arrest him in almost every campaign he partakes in. Yet, he is kept around in the tabletop group anyway. It's implied he has fun with the group, revelling in the chaos of everyone else.

** Collateral Darren was a local legend in the Albany gaming scene, who ended up ruining most of his games due to a natural talent for Gamebusting. Association with Collateral Darren causes others in the tabletop group to have bad run-ins with the police, who arrest him in almost every campaign he partakes in. Yet, he is kept around in the tabletop group anyway.

** Collateral Darren was a local legend in the Albany gaming scene, who ended up ruining most of his games due to a natural talent for Gamebusting. Association with Collateral Darren causes others in the tabletop group to have bad run-ins with the police, who arrest him in almost every campaign he partakes in.

** Collateral Darren was named after the Tabletop/{{Champions}} character "Collateral Damage."

** Blobert Smith is a subversion of the trope - he was disliked by the group for his "performance art" being excessive, he is implied by casual exposition to have regularly hosted Live-Action Role-Playing sessions in his parents' basement before it become prohibited to do so. He appeared to have been charismatic enough to others to contribute positively to the Albany gaming scene, if nothing else. The main reason the group kept him around was because of their familiarity with how he operated as a person, since they had known him in high school.

* DrivenToMadness: Nolan Void after the players singlehandedly destroy his campaign with their sheer insanity.

** El Disgusto has been implied to know when a game is played in "Albany," and he had a time where he was ruining a game every day in high school. The basis of ''A Pinch of Assault'' was to attempt to have a session without him in it. [[spoiler: While the group succeeded in not having El Disgusto play a ninja, he still finds where the game is happening.]] It's implied he was one of the first people among the group to game, so part of why the others tolerated him can be credited to seniority.
** Blobert Smith's "performance art" style of roleplaying was often not met with positive reception. The way he spoke also pissed everyone else off. The others knew him in high school, thus having some familiarity with how he operated as a person.

* BerserkButton: Because of El Disgusto and his rampant worshipping of them and trying to play as one [[GratuitousNinja even in settings where it doesn't make sense]], [=Ab3=] now twitches violently every time someone mentions the word "ninja".

* TheScottishTrope: Invoked when El Disgusto's ninja summons Hastur as Cheating Bastard tries to kill him.

** [=Ab3=] was not liked by a majority of the group. The way the other group members all speak suggested they only tolerated him because of his being within proximity to them, with many additionally pitying him. In some situations, they also need something from him, even if it's just his ability to DM a campaign.
** Weasley Crusher's status as an ExtremeDoormat was ruthlessly exploited by the other tabletop group members, where his characters would always be killed off first. He would then be sent away.
** Psycho Dave was only ever tolerated because he was the main person DM-ing the campaigns, having a position of seniority which was temporarily respected.
** El Disgusto has been implied to know when a game is played in "Albany," and he had a time where he was ruining a game every day in high school. The basis of ''A Pinch of Assault'' was to attempt to have a session without him in it. [[spoiler: While the group succeeded in not having El Disgusto play a ninja, he still finds where the game is happening.]]
** Blobert Smith's "performance art" style of roleplaying was often not met with positive reception. The way he spoke also pissed everyone else off. The others knew him in high school, thus having some familiarity with how he operated.

* TrueCompanions: What [=Ab3=] wanted out of his tabletop group. He wanted friends he could regularly hang out with, but [[spoiler: got heartless people who only cared about themselves.]]

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: El Digusto's insistence on playing a Ninja has shades of being complacent. The one time he does not get to play a Ninja is [[spoiler: when Weasly Crusher DMs a game. He initially struggles to do anything with the Ratcatcher he created, but then decides to use the Ratcatcher entirely to make fun of [=Ab3=].]]

** Asenath also counts as zig-zagged variant of OnlySaneWoman, if we discounted the fact she often encouraged Deviant Boy; she tried to tell him about her previous relationship with El Disgusto but only got the chance during "Reservoir Torgs," seems to react appropriately to Blobert Smith saying the wrong name in bed when they were a couple, and brought cleaning supplies to one of the tabletop games El Disgusto was hosting.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Played with, in a fashion. The group is kept together entirely by the fact they could only find games with each other, and that the individuals involved only cared about doing tabletop games simply for the sake of not being bored.
** [=Ab3=] was not liked by a majority of the group. It's suggested they only tolerated him because of his being within proximity to them. In some situations, they also need something from him, even if it's just his ability to DM a campaign. It's also heavily implied everyone else pitied him.

** El Disgusto has been implied to know when a game is played in "Albany," and he had a time where he was ruining a game every day in high school. The basis of ''A Pinch of Assault'' was to attempt to have a session without him in it.

** Blobert Smith's "performance art" style of roleplaying was often not met with positive reception. The way he spoke also pissed everyone else off. The others knew him in high school, this having some familiarity.

* FateWorseThanDeath: Psycho Dave is abandoned by the group after he gets to deranged to be around, left on a path of self-destruction. The last time he's mentioned, he's disappeared into the dark recesses of the gaming world.

* AnotherSideAnotherStory: Subverted, by proxy of another blog series done by Al Bruno III himself known as "Price Breaks and Heartaches." On top of it retelling "First Edition: The Prequel" through bits and pieces of "Creep on the Borderlands," "Price Breaks and Heartaches" reveals information about the other people in the DysfunctionJunction group through previous snippets, which show how well Al Bruno III knows some of the people involved.
** [[spoiler: "Price Breaks and Heartaches" reveals Cheating Bastard to be named Orville. [=Ab3=] was regarded to be TheUnfavorite by the people at Nice Shopper, in favor of Orville, who sexually harassed [=Ab3=] as a scare tactic. To make matters worse, Orville "stole" the affections of the author's ChildhoodFriend, Lilly. While Lilly stopped dating either of them, Orville kept going out of his way to be a Jerkass to [=Ab3=], even when the fate of the latter's job was at stake.]]
** [[spoiler: "Price Breaks and Heartaches" reveals El Disgusto to be named Daniel. [=Ab3=] gamed with Daniel back when they had mutual friends such as Adrian, who was the Game Master at the time they had first met. It is unknown what made Daniel become El Disgusto, though "Price Breaks and Heartaches" implies he has always been an enemy of Albert's.]]
** [[spoiler: "Price Breaks and Heartaches" reveals Psycho Dave to be named Norm. Norm was conversed with by [=Ab3=] early on when they were both "new" to Empire Burger. The conversation never went far, but Norm thought [=Ab3=] was hitting on him. Additionally, while people at Empire Burger were tasked with going to a sexual harassment seminar after Natalie was harassed by Cyril and Stuart, Norm joins the two twins in making disparaging comments about the woman from human resources they had to confront.]]
** [[spoiler: "Price Breaks and Heartaches" reveals The Amazing Boozehound / Rehab Boy to be a guy named "Buddy," or Bud. Some "blink-and-you-will-miss-it" {{Foreshadowing}} winds up occurring, where Bud and Daniel meet as a result of [=Ab3=] working at Paper Shredder. Bud's habit of poorly-made [[StealthPun Stealth Puns]] comes to light as having been a part of his character all along, once you read on both "Price Breaks and Heartaches" and "Binder of Shame."]]
** [[spoiler: "Price Breaks and Heartaches" reveals Weasly Crusher to be named Will. Will was one of [=Ab3=]'s friends at Scotia Community College, and was noted as having a fascination with karaoke as a hobby. The rewrite of "Creep on the Borderlands" heavily implied that he was always an ExtremeDoormat, which translated into some toxic behaviour. However, Will was still a better person than the majority of [=Ab3's=] old group, and gave the author some helpful pointers on writing in "Price Breaks."]]
** [[spoiler: "Price Breaks and Heartaches" reveals Deviant Boy to be named Curtis. While it's largely implied that [=Ab3=] met Curtis for the first time in "Creep on the Borderlands," Curtis' fervent misogyny and other forms of unpleasant behaviour were all things that [=Ab3=] had been privvy to as a result of other people, most especially the remainder of the Bruno family and even internalized variants in co-workers from The Julia Shop.]]
** [[spoiler: "Price Breaks and Heartaches" reveals Johnny Tangent to be named Eddie. As with Curtis, it's implied [=Ab3=] met him for the first time in "Creep on the Borderlands."]]

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: True to form for El Disgusto. [[spoiler: In "The God Trip," it's explained he had been discharged from Harvey Whitstein's Martial Arts Emporium with a black belt. Of course, it's also explained that he was discharged because the rest of his clothes also became black from biological festering. Rather than acknowledge the black belt as being given out of pity and a want for El Disgusto to never return to the Emporium, it became an ego twist and El Disgusto legitimately thinks himself to be the reincarnation of a long deceased ninja: "Shinobi."]]

* BigEater: Blobert Smith; in spite of it being hazardous for him to continue a largely gluttonous diet, he continues more or less due to wanting to be free to eat as he chooses.

* GamerChick:

* {{Munchkin}}:
** El Disgusto wants to play a {{Ninja}} with a motorcycle in every damn game he's in, regardless of appropriateness for setting or theme. The type of Munchkin that he represents is "The Troll." His eccentricities and wanting to play a Ninja would ordinarily just be harmless and an extreme case of TheLoonie, but El Disgusto's inflated sense of self-worth have constantly put him at odds with Weasly Crusher and [=Ab3=]. El Disgusto never thinks of himself as in the wrong, instead surmising Weasly as just an easy target, whilst [=Ab3=] being rational just infuriates him. Whenever it's El Disgusto's turn to get comeuppance, he tries to RulesLawyer his way through the problem and, when he can't, says Hastur's name or whines about it.

** [=Ab3=] himself has had to Metagame his way in some of the more painfully brutal sessions. Of course, when such sessions involve ''Homebrew Hell,'' he doesn't seem like much of a Munchkin in comparison to Cheating Bastard or El Disgusto.

* PetTheDog: [[ThoseWackyNazis Psycho Dave]] mentions that "even with the sniveling and whining" [=Ab3=] has been his best player.

** Psycho Dave (an actual Neo-Nazi), full stop. Especially when he's playing [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] as blatant stereotypes.

* {{Pun}}: [[ItMakesSenseInContext Schindler's Lich.]]
** Puns actually frequently used for titles of various entries.
* PutOnABus:
** Psycho Dave, twice. The first time happens when he's remanded to a mental asylum after staking Creator/WilliamShatner, and the second time when the group abandons him after he threatens everyone with a shotgun.
** Cheating Bastard is kicked out before the final installments after his cheating was discovered.

* TheScottishTrope: Invoked when El Disgusto's ninja summons Hastur when Cheating Bastard tries to kill him.
* StalkerWithACrush: Psycho Dave was this to Creator/WilliamShatner for a while, eventually resulting in him being remanded to a mental institution.
* StealthPun: Weasley claims that if he met his D&D characters he would take them to Denny's [[spoiler:"to apologise for the terrible ''rolls'' I make"]].
** Most other people make these on the regular. An exaggerated instance of this was when [[spoiler: The Amazing Boozehound became Rehab Boy for a while, which led to his quirk in "The Great Gamma World Death March" being making these and going "Ha-Ha!" at the end of them.]] Most of the puns made aren't as hilarious.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: The basis of "With A Pinch Of Assault" was to play a D&D game without informing El Disgusto about it. Playing a game without him in the group seemed to be no small task, as he somehow knew where any game played within Albany was. With him, it goes even beyond the group [=Ab3=] was in:
-->"There was a time right after high school where he was involved in an rpg every night, and more frequently than not ruining them. He and his ninjas broke the faith of the Schenectady Christian Gaming Club yet also sent a group of guys that played Runequest in an old cemetery at night retreating to their church of choice. El Disgusto single handedly did so much damage to our the gaming community that some people suspected he was secretly a stamp collector trying to destroy our hobby from within."
** The way that Weasly Crusher was treated implies he was not liked by anyone in the tabletop group either. Whenever he got to play, his character would always be killed off early and he would be forced out of the room to do something, such as getting pizza. During the college days, it was implied that the foul treatment Weasly got started also affecting [=Ab3=], though to a lesser extent. Unlike with El Disgusto, however, there's nothing to show why anybody would logically hate Weasly Crusher.

* {{Jerkass}}: Everyone. Arguably the [=Ab3=] himself, with a hint of UnreliableNarrator, since it's clear his mindset wasn't [[NotSoDifferent too different]] before the end and he seems similarly willing to look down Asenath for her appearance. He has stated in a comment that he now views his past self as sometimes "worse than Blobert".

** El Disgusto apparently lost the tip of his penis when he frightened the dog into biting him.

* HeelRealization: [=Ab3] has one after he bonds with Annoying Girl while watching a movie with her when he planned to humiliate her, realizing he's become a {{Jerkass}} about to destroy the only happiness he has in his life. He has another one when the group mocks her, which causes him to realize that they are ''not'' VitriolicBestBuds and TrueCompanions, but just assholes who don't care about him.

''And that was how our party ended up being a dwarven fighter with a piece of broccoli for a head, a chick in a chainmail bikini, two wizards, the luckiest fighter in the world and a ninja brandishing the dreaded halfling on a stick.''

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Psycho Dave (an actual Neo-Nazi), full stop. Especially when he's playing [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] as blatant stereotypes.

* SanitySlippage: Psycho Dave gradually goes even ''crazier'', somehow. He starts off as being a decent GM [[FauxAffablyEvil who can be pretty affable for a white Neo-Nazi]], and then proceeds to degrade into a gibbering KillerGameMaster completely consumed by his white supremacist views and obsession with ''Star Trek'', culminating in him threatening everyone with a shotgun.

* InNameOnly: This is always the result whenever Psycho Dave runs a campaign in a pre-established universe. Highlights include ComicBook/DoctorDoom as a petty drug dealer ("You DARE interrupt Von Doom's crack transaction?!") and [[Franchise/StarWars Yoda]] as a psychotic DrillSergeantNasty.