Statless and Tactless

"Let's just start, we'll shun Joe later."

—Dane the GM

A sort of Web Serial Novel, Statless and Tactless follows a group of roleplayers attempting to wade through an RPG. It's presented in a format resembling an online chat group, though the party members seem to know each other offline as well. The party plays a steampunk RPG called "Eldaria" which has unclear rules (at least to the reader).

The cast includes:

• Dane: The group's GM. His posts are orange.
• Joe: A composite of numerous troll traits, Joe plays GR210, a massive steampunk robot. He apparently goes to graduate school with Soo.
• Ian: Another player and apparently something of a poor hand with the ladies. He plays Mari Shasho, a 'pyromancer'. His posts are purple.
• Kyle: A player who opposes Joe's involvement in the group, calling him a devil. He plays an adventurer named Bailey Hunt. His posts are blue.
• Soo: A newer player brought in by Joe to expand the group. She players Kalinari dVostog, an affluent noblewoman. Her posts are green.

The series is currently hosted on Blogger at http://statntact.blogspot.com/

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Tropes used in Statless and Tactless include:

• The Alliance: The opposition of the Imperia is the Federation, a coalition of numerous ethnic groups.
• Awesome but Impractical: Steam Mechs are supposed to be this, being highly versatile, but costing tons of money to get upgrade parts for. Unless...
• Awesome but Practical: ...you have a teammate with tons of money (because you guided her to do so without explaining your selfish reasons). Then you're just a "pimptacular killing machine".
• Big Damn Heroes: Bailey and Mari show up just in times to save GR 210 and Kali from robbers.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Dane threatens to (partially) castrate Ian if he acts like a horny, creepy nerd.
• Deal with the Devil: Kyle considers making any sort of deal with Joe to be one of these.
• The Empire: The main setting is called the "Imperia" and is ruled by an Emperor or Empress.
• Fat Bastard: Joe is probably overweight (Soo calls him a fatass and knows him offline) and he actively considers himself a bastard with pride.
• Guy in Real Life: Ian plays a female character.
• Player Archetypes: Joe is a power gamer. Soo is an actor. Ian and Kyle have yet to contribute characters.
• Point Build System: Eldaria apparently has one, as Kali'nari d'Vostog has dumped points into Resources and Status
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Kyle is collected and balanced. Joe is his archenemy and opposite. They even have blue and red posts respectively.
• Rule Zero: In order to bring in a new player, Dane agrees to not houserule out Joe's character. Kyle is rightfully concerned.
• Shout-Out: While the rules aren't clearly part of any system as of yet, Resources and Status are two background traits in the White Wolf engine.
• Steampunk: The setting has elements of it. Steam Mechs are explicitly referred to as being "steampunk" and made of copper.
• Stop or I Shoot Myself: Joe takes himself hostage to force Soo to buy him fancy war machines by making his 'default' configuration utterly useless.
• The Smurfette Principle: Soo is the only woman in the group. Ian is very aware of this.
• The Butler Did It: Joe assumes that the group has been betrayed by Soo's follower character, Archibald the butler. He kills Archibald before even thinking about it.
• Twofer Token Minority: "Soo" is shorthand for "Soraya", a middle-eastern name. She's also the only woman in the group.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Archibald is killed off within three posts and never even gets a chance to speak.
• White Knighting: Ian tries to defend Soo when Joe mocks her and she responds by calling him a "White Knight" negatively.