Heck boy, ain't it grand?
I'm the Overlord of the Underworld
Cause I hold Horror's Hand
In the Land of the Dead
I'm darkside royalty
I'm far renowned in the underground
And you can't take that from me."
The Death Series is a series of Play-by-Post Games by the user Rhadamanthus on the NSider2 Forums. At this time, there is only one RP in the series: Land of the Dead. However, since there was already a page called Land of the Dead, another name had to be chosen. It is kind of a Bangsian fantasy...sans the "famous" characters.
The RP follows a group of dead people (and one cat) who are attempting a series of trials in order to get into Heaven. It features a mix of seriousness and comedy found in most roleplays the players are involved in. It can be found here. The official wiki is here.
Not to be confused with the Worse Than Death Series .
Also has a Shout Out page.
The Death Series contains examples of the following tropes:
Let's get these out of the way first...- Dead to Begin With: All the main characters are already dead.
- Death by Origin Story: All the players are required to include their characters' cause of death in their character applications.
- Killed Off for Real: The main characters are dead, and they ain't comin' back.
And now the rest...
- Aerith and Bob: The current main characters are named Ludwig, Johnny, Kylie, Jigrumth, Eix, Meow and Forest.
- All There in the Manual: The wiki includes details on some more minor aspects of the RP.
- Ambiguously Human: Eix was killed when someone mistook him for a monster, and his behavior in the afterlife hasn't exactly helped in proving otherwise.
- Even the creator of the character doesn't really know what Eix is.
- Audience Participation: The "Semi-Regular Quality Polls" are an attempt at this. Players can also suggest their own Trials.
- Big Bad: She has been referred to on multiple occasions.
- Big "NO!": Mungo gives one after Forest cuts his arm off.
- Bland-Name Product: Bustblocker and Mal-wart.
- Breather Episode: Fighting highly-trained assassins and babysittin' princesses! Aw yeah!
- Brick Joke: At the end of Trial 7, there's a fire in a warehouse full of explosive material. During Trial 8, when the boss is going One-Winged Angel on the heroes, there's an explosion from outside that ruins his concentration.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: An amusing subversion/inversion for a couple reasons: 1) Johnny does remember the day he ruined Jack's life...for a completely different reason; 2) Johnny is a good guy, and Jack is the evil one.
- Cats Are Mean: Subverted. Meow is actually very sweet, but inadvertently causes others pain.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: And a Celestial Judicial Branch, it seems.
- Character Development: Meow becoming more grown-up, Kylie showing a lighter side of her personality...
- Collectible Card Game: The Insane Quest of Unfathomable Randomness card game includes The Death Series cards.
- Death Glare: Ludwig glares at Johnny so coldly that it puts out flames.
- Demon Lords and Archdevils: There seems to be an established hierarchy of devils.
- Detachment Combat: The turkey, having been beheaded, could remove its head.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Death Himself is unable to punish Bridget for keeping Demi from dying when she was supposed to.
- Dual Boss: The Newlydeads split up to fight Jack, Sergio, and Mungo simultaneously.
- Evil Is Petty: The owner of a
BlockbusterBustblocker refuses to let the heroes into his store to return two movies and even resorts to blowing up parts of his own store and ordering snipers to fire at the heroes...just so he can collect the late fees from said movies.
- Expy: Sergio and his moustache are similar to the "my hair" guy from Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Psychics, cyborgs, superheroes...And it'll get better.
- Flat "What": Ludwig's resonse to Jorgan taking out Lannister with a single kick.
- Foreshadowing: Gregory and Herbert are willing to go to jail in the hope that they will be safe from a mysterious woman.
- Gentle Giant: Eix was said to be one of these while he was still alive. However, being mistaken for a monster and poisoned has left him rather bitter and short-tempered.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Seriously, where does Mungo come from?
- Gratuitous Spanish: The mayor of Los Angeles uses random Spanish.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: After Forest cuts off Mungo's arm, Johnny follows up with the "FLYING GORILLA BITCHSLAP OF MANLY DESTINY!"
- Kick the Dog: When Vicente stabs Meow.
- Large Ham: Jigrumth, at times.Jigrumth: VAAAAAAAALHAAAAAAAAAALLAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
- The Mafia: The Segale family, which includes Sergio, Dino, Carlo, and Vinnie.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: Johnny's middle name is actually Distraction.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Never has returning a DVD to the movie store been such a dramatic experience. Made even funnier when one realizes that the "normal" characters (a stuntman, a child, and a really tall guy) were involved in the action-packed DVD return, while the talking cat, Norse warrior, and scythe-wielding farmer ran an uneventful errand (buying milk).
- Native American Mythology: The origin of Gluskab and Malsumis.
- No Kill like Overkill / Rasputinian Death: Johnny, who was a professional stuntman while alive, met his end when he was set on fire, jumped out of a plane with a defective parachute, and landed on a gas station.
- Only Smart People May Pass: One of the Trials is The Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever.
- Our Souls Are Different: In the world of the roleplay, a soul can take on any form (though usually it has the same appearance as the body did just before it died). When the souls are sent to the Mortal Realm, they become solid and can interact with their environment like any normal person could.
- Running Gag: Someone will mention (or start) attacking someone in the...nether regions, only for someone else to interrupt by exclaiming-
- Nuts!
- Saving Christmas: Santa's been trapped by the Ogwas! Who can save him? The Newlydeads, of course!
- Shared Universe: With Smile For The Camera.
- Shout-Out: Now with 100% more of its own page.
- Villainous Breakdown: Vicente freaks out so much that he considers suicide.
- Wham Episode: Trial 10 is when the overarching story first began to appear (though it'd had brief hints as far back as Trial 1).
- You Have Failed Me: Gregory and Herbert claim they'll be killed for failing the bank robbery.
- Vicente, the assassin sent to kill them, expresses similar thoughts when he's faced with failure.
- Your Head A-Splode: Johnny's head explodes after Forest solves The Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever.