Thy Dungeonman

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Current revision as of 21:01, 9 March 2024

This article is about the game. For the character, see Thy Dungeonman (character).

400 page manual inside!

In an exciting Videlectrix text adventure, you are Thy Dungeonman, exploring the depths of yon dungeon. The game can be accessed from the Strong Bad Email video games.

This game has two sequels, Thy Dungeonman II and Thy Dungeonman 3.

Date: Monday, January 12, 2004

Page Title: Thy Dungeonman! Thy hunger!

[edit] Commands

[edit] Main Commands

• HELP/LOOK/HELPETH — Repeats area description
• GET/TAKE YE/YON ___
  • Including YE/YON is not necessary for the command to function.
  • If an invalid target is input, the game responds "Thou cannotst get that. Quit making stuffeth up!"
• GO North/South/Dennis
  • The directions can also be input without the GO command.
  • If an invalid direction is input, the game responds "Thou cannotst go there. Who do you think thou art? A magistrate?!"
• LOOK ___
  • If there is not a specific response to the inputted target, the game responds "It looketh pretty awesome."
• TALK ___
  • If an invalid target is input, the game responds "Who is ___? Your new boyfriend? Somebody from work you don't want me to meeteth?"
• GIVE ___
  • If an item that the player does not have is input, the game responds "Thou don'tst have a ___ to give. Go back to your tiny life."

[edit] Other Commands

• DIE — "That wasn't very smart. Your score was: ___. Play again? [Y/N]"
  • Subtracts 100 points from your score.
• DANCE — "Thou shaketh it a little, and it feeleth all right."
• GET DAGGER — "Yeah, okay."
  • Adds 25 points to your score (usable infinitely)
• SMELL/SNIFF — "You smell a Wumpus."
• unrecognized command — "That does not computeth. Type HELP is thou needs of it."

[edit] Ways to Lose the Game

• Input DIE.
• Attempt to GET YE FLASK thrice.
• Attempt to GET ROPE.

[edit] Responses

"Quaff some serious mead"

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

[edit] Main Dungeon Room

YOU ARE THY DUNGEONMAN!

Ye find yeself in yon dungeon. Ye see a
SCROLL. Behind ye scroll is a FLASK.
Obvious exits are NORTH, SOUTH and DENNIS.

If you've asked to get the scroll more than once, anytime you look at the room (either by typing "LOOK", "HELP", or by returning to this room from another room, you'll see this message tacked onto the main message: "There is definitely no YE SCROLL, so drop it."

• LOOK SCROLL — "Parchment, definitely parchment. I'd recognize it anywhere."
• LOOK FLASK — "Looks like you could quaff some serious mead out of that thing."
• GET SCROLL — "Ye takes the scroll and reads of it. It doth say: BEWARE, READER OF THE SCROLL, DANGER AWAITS TO THE- The SCROLL disappears in thy hands with ye olde ZAP!" – Adds 2 points to your score
  • GET SCROLL (again) — "Ye doth suffer from memory loss. YE SCROLL is no more. Honestly." – Subtracts 1 point from your score
  • LOOK SCROLL (again) — "Ye seeth nothing wheretofore it went ZAP."
• GET FLASK (first two times) — "Ye cannot get the FLASK. It is firmly bolted to a wall which is bolted to the rest of the dungeon which is probably bolted to a castle. Never you mind." - Adds 1 point to your score each time
  • GET FLASK (third time) — "Okay, okay. You unbolt yon FLASK and hold it aloft. A great shaking begins. The dungeon ceiling collapses down on you, crushing you in twain. Apparently, this was a load-bearing FLASK. Your score was: ___ Play again? [Y/N]" – Subtracts 1000 points from your score
• GO NORTH — Takes you north (see below).
• GO SOUTH — Takes you south (see below).
• GO DENNIS — Takes you to Dennis (see below).

[edit] North of the Main Dungeon Room

You go NORTH through yon corridor. You
arrive at parapets. Ye see a ROPE.
Obvious exits are SOUTH.

• LOOK PARAPETS — "Well, they're parapets. This much we know for sure."
• LOOK ROPE — "It looks okay. You've seen better."
• GET ROPE — "You attempt to take ye ROPE but alas it is enchanted! It glows a mustard red and smells like a public privy. The ROPE wraps round your neck and hangs you from parapets. With your last breath, you wonder what parapets are. GAME OVER. Your score was:__. Play again? (Y/N)" – Subtracts 1 point from your score
• GO SOUTH — Takes you back to Main Dungeon Room.

[edit] South of the Main Dungeon Room

You head south to an embankment. Or
maybe a chasm. You can't decide which.
Anyway, ye spies a TRINKET. Obvious exits are NORTH.

• LOOK TRINKET — "Quit looking! Just get it already."
• LOOK/HELP (Before GET TRINKET) — "Ye stand yeself close to a yet-unnamed escarpment. Nonetheless, ye spies a TRINKET. Obvious exits are NORTH."
• GET TRINKET — "Ye getsts yon TRINKET and discover it to be a bauble. You rejoice at your good fortune. You shove the TRINKET in your pouchel. It kinda hurts." - Adds 2 points to your score
  • LOOK/HELP (After GET TRINKET) — "Ye stand high above a canyon-like depression. Obvious exits are NORTH."
  • LOOK TRINKET (After you GET it) — "Just a bulge in thou pouchel at thist point."
  • GET TRINKET (After you GET it) — "Sigh. The trinket is in thou pouchel. Recallest thou?" - Subtracts 1 point from your score
• LOOK/HELP (After you try to GET TRINKET more than once) - "Thou hangeth out at an overlook. Obvious exits are NORTH. I shouldn't have to tell ye there is no TRINKET."
• GO NORTH - Takes you back to the Main Dungeon Room.

[edit] Dennis

Ye arrive at Dennis. He wears a sporty
frock coat and a long jimberjam. He
paces about nervously. Obvious exits are
NOT DENNIS.

• NOT DENNIS — Takes you back to the Main Dungeon Room.
• TALK — "You engage Dennis in leisurely discussion. Ye learns that his jimberjam was purchased on sale at a discount market and that he enjoys pacing about nervously. You become bored and begin thinking about parapets."
• LOOK DENNIS — "That jimberjam really makes the outfit."
• LOOK JIMBERJAM — "Man, that art a nice jimberjam."
• GIVE TRINKET (or GIVE TRINKET TO DENNIS) — "A novel idea! You givst the TRINKET to Dennis and he happily agrees to tell you what parapets are. With this new knowledge, ye escapes from yon dungeon in order to search for new dungeons and to remain... THY DUNGEONMAN!! You hath won! Congraturation!! Your score was: ___"

[edit] Walkthrough

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

1. SOUTH
2. GET TRINKET
3. NORTH
4. DENNIS
5. GIVE TRINKET

Additional points are rewarded for GET SCROLL, twice for GET YE FLASK, and GET DAGGER.

Although learning what parapets are is the key to winning the game, it is not necessary to encounter the parapets in the north area before doing so.

[edit] Fun Facts

[edit] Explanations

• "Congraturation" is a reference to the bad Japanese to English translation (or Engrish) found in many old video games, especially the ending screens from the NES game Ghosts 'n Goblins. Japanese doesn't have an English /r/ or /l/ sound, but rather a sound which is somewhat between the two, which is transliterated as <r> in Latin script. Thus, English <r> and <l> are often mixed up by Japanese speakers when writing English words.
• A parapet is a low protective wall or railing along the edge of a raised structure such as a roof or balcony.
• A trinket is "cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing".
  • "Bauble" is a synonym of "trinket".
• A magistrate is a lay judge or civil authority who administers the law (especially one who conducts a court dealing with minor offenses).

[edit] Trivia

• An adventure game utilizing the "get dagger" command is also seen in the DVD-exclusive Strong Bad Email E-mail Birds, in which Strong Bad plays a text adventure and tries to get a dagger but fails.
  • As it is unknown whether E-mail Birds was created before or after the email video games, it is unclear which email originated the "get dagger" gag.
• Many elements of this game are inspired by the game Vampire's Castle:
  • Rooms in the castle are described with the phrase "Obvious exits are...", as some exits are concealed.
  • The player prompt of "What do you want to do?" is similar to "What wouldst thou deau?"
  • A "Parchment Scroll" is found in an early room.
  • Ye Flask is inspired by the "Flask of Oil" item; however, the flask in Vampire's Castle is a minor item that can be easily picked up and is not directly connected to winning or losing the game.
  • A rope can be tied to parapets.
    • The quip "you wonder what parapets are" is based on Matt Chapman's experience playing Vampire's Castle. As explained in the DVD commentary for the email video games, he didn't know what parapets were and thought that understanding the term was the key to winning the game.

[edit] Remarks

• Despite the game not telling you "why on Earth you can't get Ye Flask" in video games, this time you are told that "it is firmly bolted to a wall which is bolted to the rest of the dungeon which is probably bolted to a castle".
  • Also in "video games", the message is "Ye see a FLASK". In the actual game, the message is "Ye see a SCROLL. Behind ye scroll is a FLASK".
• When you receive the "Play again? [Y/N]" message, pressing N does nothing.
• The psuedo-Early Modern English of the game's writing is not entirely grammatically accurate.
  • Yon dungeon actually means "That dungeon over there".
  • Adding "-est" or "-st" to a word indicates in Early Modern English that it is a present tense verb in the second person singular.
  • Adding "-eth" or "-th" to a word indicates in Early Modern English that it is a present tense verb in the third person singular.
  • "Deau" is a Middle English alternative spelling for "dew".
  • "Ye" is derived from þe, with the letter thorn replaced by the letter Y due to Romanization. It also means "the", and was usually pronounced as such. It is often confused with a different "ye", which means "you" (usually plural) and is pronounced as spelled.
  • "Thy" in Early Modern English actually means "your".

[edit] Goofs

• When you enter the embankment/chasm, the game will always say you can see a trinket, even if you have picked it up already.

[edit] Glitches

• After you lose, press the down arrow a few times repeatedly and your score will go down. But this also messes up the text making the same text appear below 'Play Again[Y/N]'.
• When you type "drink", a reply is supposed to be displayed that says, "Thou aren'est thirsty, last time thou checked." However, an error in the Flash file's script doesn't allow it to recognize the command.

[edit] Inside References

• The rat featured on the game's box art resembles The Sneak.

[edit] Real-World References

• The text "You smell a Wumpus" (from the command SMELL) is a reference to the game Hunt the Wumpus, one of the very first text adventures. If the player was one room away from the Wumpus, the game would give the warning "You smell the Wumpus." This game is also seen on a floppy disk in the Floppy Disk Container in HomestarRunner.com: PAY PLUS!.
• When you type "get flask" three times, the text "You unbolt the flask and hold it aloft" is a possible reference to most The Legend of Zelda games, where after Link got an item from a chest, he would hold it above his head for the player to see.
• The page title, "Thy Dungeonman! Thy hunger!" is a reference to the old arcade game Sinistar. In Sinistar, the player battled a large spaceship shaped like a head that would say, "I hunger!".
• "Bauble" is a common inside joke in text adventures relating to Zork I, in which winding a clockwork canary would result in the creation of a "bauble".
• The fact that the flask is bolted to a wall may reference the suits of armor in the first King's Quest game, which themselves are bolted to the walls of King Edward's castle.

[edit] Fast Forward

• Thy Dungeonman II features a magistrate.
• Vampire's Castle, the game on which Thy Dungeonman is primarily based, was featured in Strong Bad's Disk 4 of 12.
• An excerpt of the 400-page instruction manual was read by Matt Chapman on the May 13, 2020 episode of the "Worst First Chapter" YouTube series.

[edit] External Links

• play "Thy Dungeonman"
• play "Thy Dungeonman" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "Thy Dungeonman"
• listen to the game music