History Literature / BinderOfShame

* WorldOfJerkass: With the exception of [=Ab3=]'s future wife, everyone is some form of {{Jerkass}}. Even [=Ab3=] himself is a toxic jerk like the rest of the party, though unlike them he at least ''tries'' to be a good person.

** Most of the other boys have their moments as well. [[spoiler:This is especially obvious in "The Last Straw Trilogy Part Three: Once More With Filking," where they go after the author's future wife for being chubby:]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Blobert Smith:''' "[[{{Hypocrite}} You must admit she is a girl of size]]."]]
-->[[spoiler:'''[=Ab3=]:''' "And you’re not a Goth of size?"]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Blobert Smith:''' "[[DoubleStandard My girth is a sign of epicurean experience and my wealth. Women see me as a man of experience and deep thought. When a girl is large, however, that is a sign of weak character, it warns of slothfulness and a lack of impulse control]]."]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Collateral Darren:''' "Women always put on weight when they’re in a relationship; this girl already has weight to spare. [[JerkAss Stick around too long and they’ll be taking off the side of her house to load her into a flatbed truck to take her to the hospital]]."]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Weasly Crusher:''' "Look I don’t mean to be mean but you know how it is. [[StandardHeroReward The hotness of the girl you end up with is a symbol of how well you’ve succeeded in life]]. If you end up with a model it means you’ve got it going on, if you end up with a plain Jane it means you’re middle management. A fat girl, [=Ab3=], that’s trailer park, man."]]

* MonochromeCasting: Outright stated during "Achy Breaky Mythos," which hinted that everyone there was "pasty-skinned," with confirmation on El Digusto's self-proclamation of being a "white ninja."

** One of the stories tells of a game where ''the entire player party'' were this, being little more than valets to Dungeon Master Biff Bam's GodModeSue {{GMPC}} Dick Marvil, who is introduced to them all by pulling a BigDamnHeroes and snapping the necks of a bunch of [[EldritchAbomination nightgaunts]] that were about to TotalPartyKill them. Though the players were at first happy for the assist, it became quickly evident that they were never going to get to do anything except stand around and watch Dick Marvil take care of everything himself. This leads to [=Ab3=] rebelling against the game (and getting wrestled into submission by Biff Bam).

* TheBully: Implied with Cheating Bastard, who uses his tabletop sessions in order to get a one-up on everyone else. It's taken to extremes in "This Time It's Personal," where [[spoiler: he is given an ultimatum - change his playstyle, or be kicked out of the group for cheating at Talisman, an implied low.]]

** Downplayed with Blobert Smith. His attempts at parlance with Collateral Darren and Psycho Dave devolved into this, but the people he was talking to were radically conservative to a fault.

** 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, either to do something else (such as getting pizza) or to just not be so pitiful in the corner.

** 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 [=Ab3=] has known El Disgusto for a long time when Collateral Darren asks why they bicker so much, and his remarks about [=Ab3=] and Weasly Crusher being "newbies" in "Creep on the Borderlands" suggest he was one of the gaming group's founders.

** Blobert Smith is a subversion of the trope - while 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.

* {{Jerkass}}: Everyone. Arguably the [=Ab3=] himself, with a hint of UnreliableNarrator, since it's clear his mindset wasn't 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 (such as "pretentious college days") as sometimes "worse than Blobert".
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: What ultimately separates [=Ab3=] from the rest of the tabletop group, outside of him being the point of view in each story, is that he actively tries to do good. He always had a delusion that maybe there was some good in the group he was with after all, only to be repeatedly proven wrong as even some of the more tame individuals - notably Blobert Smith and Weasly Crusher - show that they're ultimately unpleasant people in the finale.

* ReallyGetsAround: By the final installment, Asenath has slept with every member of the group except [=Ab3=] at least once. She notably tells him to get lost when she wants to do it with Weasley. This would imply that his hostile grievances with her are mutual, since neither of them likes each other and makes it plain to the other's face whenever it gets brought up. [=Ab3=] even uses the moment not to seduce Asenath, but confess that he finds her flipper arm creepy. She returns the favour earlier, by being among the many to imply that [=Ab3=]'s love life is virtually nonexistent.

* CreatorBreakdown: Zig-zagged. [=Ab3=]'s wife died in 2020, which resulted in a lot of ancillary pieces (such as "Price Breaks and Heartaches") written by him to have been removed from his Blogspot account. "Binder of Shame" has so far survived, but fell into a ScheduleSlip even before his wife died.

** Cheating Bastard has an obvious nickname; as a Munchkin in practice, he was a straight example of "The Cheater." He attempted to downplay his blatant cheating by engaging in Gamebusting and [[RulesLawyer]]-ing, whenever possible.[[spoiler: When he was exposed as a cheater to the rest of the group in a game of Talisman, he was outright told he had to change his ways or else he was not allowed to game with the group anymore. Cheating Bastard chose to be kicked out.]]

** Collateral Darren is a Downplayed example of a Gamebuster Munchkin. The one time his Munchkinry is brought up is when he's introduced as having a "natural talent" for breaking Point-Buy systems, so he is also an implied MinMaxer.

** [[Invoked]] - One of the stories tells of a game where ''the entire player party'' were this, being little more than valets to Dungeon Master Biff Bam's GodModeSue {{GMPC}} Dick Marvil, who is introduced to them all by pulling a BigDamnHeroes and snapping the necks of a bunch of [[EldritchAbomination nightgaunts]] that were about to TotalPartyKill them. Though the players were at first happy for the assist, it became quickly evident that they were never going to get to do anything except stand around and watch Dick Marvil take care of everything himself. This leads to [=Ab3=] rebelling against the game (and getting wrestled into submission by Biff Bam).

** Cheating Bastard has an obvious nickname; as a Munchkin in practice, he was a supreme mixture of Gamebuster and RulesLawyer. It's implied that, at minimum, El Disgusto was suspicious of Cheating Bastard's method of rolling dice. [[spoiler: When he was exposed as a cheater to the rest of the group in a game of Talisman, he was outright told he had to change his ways or else he was not allowed to game with the group anymore. Cheating Bastard chose to be kicked out.]]
** Collateral Darren is a Downplayed example of a Gamebuster Munchkin. He is not an overt cheater like Cheating Bastard, but he is still a supreme Minmaxer, especially when it comes to any systems which use Point-Buy to upgrade stats.

** [[invoked]] One of the stories tells of a game where ''the entire player party'' were this, being little more than valets to Dungeon Master Biff Bam's GodModeSue {{GMPC}} Dick Marvil, who is introduced to them all by pulling a BigDamnHeroes and snapping the necks of a bunch of [[EldritchAbomination nightgaunts]] that were about to TotalPartyKill them. Though the players were at first happy for the assist, it became quickly evident that they were never going to get to do anything except stand around and watch Dick Marvil take care of everything himself. This leads to [=Ab3=] rebelling against the game (and getting wrestled into submission by Biff Bam).
** In another story, El Disgusto runs a game with a {{GMPC}} of his own, which is naturally a ninja. Ultimately it turns out the player characters' only goal in the game was for one of them to prove theirself worthy of the ultimate honor... of holding said ninja's scabbard for him while he went off to fight the BigBad all by himself.

* {{Jerkass}}: Everyone. Arguably the [=Ab3=] himself, with a hint of UnreliableNarrator, since it's clear his mindset wasn't 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".

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Blobert Smith indulges a charade of cerebral enlightenment, with Biff Bamm offering something similar. While Biff's verbosity and mannerisms bestow a neat discrepancy entertaining the possibility he's being self-aware of his DelusionsOfEloquence, Blobert does not offer anything equivalent. Mr. Smith seems to have overloaded his cranium with radical liberalism which would, at least, put him at odds with Collateral Darren and Psycho Dave. Else, Blobert and [=Ab3=] seem like they would have engaged in camaraderie as [[OnlySaneMan diamonds in the rough]].

** Psycho Dave was only ever tolerated because he was the main person DM-ing the campaigns. Abuse and Fear were what he used to keep people in line whenever he was masterminding his sessions, but eventually he wound up overdoing it on both.
** 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, but it's also implied people have to put up with him because of his proximity to them. It even gets to the point where he freeloads off of [=Ab3=] and others.

* AnotherSideAnotherStory: Zig-zagged, by proxy of another blog series done by Al Bruno III himself known as "Price Breaks and Heartaches." It retold "First Edition: The Prequel" through bits and pieces of "Creep on the Borderlands," which would have brought more insight about the other people in the DysfunctionJunction group. They also showed up in other parts of "Price Breaks."
** As of 2020, "Price Breaks and Heartaches" had been taken down.

* WideEyedIdealist: [=Ab3=]'s views on love and romance are called out as too idealistic by the rest of the group.

** [[spoiler: This unfortunately gets subverted, when casual exposition mentions El Disgusto having suddenly inherited money from his family members and dog dying in a fire. As a direct result of this inheritance, he gets to play EverQuest with impunity.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The main group [=Ab3=] gamed with regularly viewed Clerics in general as dead weight a majority of the time, and relished in any opportunity to eliminate ally Clerics whenever they could; in "Creep on the Borderlands," two {{GMPC}} Clerics are disposed of when they use up all of their Cure Light Wounds spells for the day.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The main group [=Ab3=] gamed with regularly viewed Clerics in general as dead weight a majority of the time, and relished in any opportunity to eliminate ally Clerics whenever they could; in "Creep on the Borderlands," two {{GMPC}} Clerics are disposed of when they stop having Cure Light Wounds spells.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The main group [=Ab3=] gamed with regularly viewed Clerics in general as dead weight a majority of the time; in "Creep on the Borderlands," two {{GMPC}} Clerics are disposed of when they stop having Cure Light Wounds spells.

* UngratefulBastard: El Disgusto freeloads off of [=Ab3=] and others, and the only thanks he gives is continued antagonism towards them.

** In spite of his constant game-busting antics, Cheating Bastard has also gotten his fair share of comeuppance. [[spoiler: In fact, the rest of the group expel him after they find out he was cheating at a game of Talisman, which only happened because he provoked Blobert Smith into tackling him to the ground.]]

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent - "What Do You Mean You Lost My Wife's Kidney?" focuses on [=Ab3=] and his wife handling her first pregnancy. Most of the gaming regulars from the other First Edition entries barely feature in it at all, and are primarily depicted [[spoiler: three years into the future.]]