Tripod Versus the Dragon

Tripod Versus the Dragon is a Musical by Australian Filk group Tripod. Originally conceived as "Dungeons and Dragons: The Opera", it tells the story of three hapless adventurers who face many challenges on the road to discovering themselves.

• Scod (Scott Edgar): A Munchkin and Metagamer, a wizard on a quest for knowledge. Because knowledge is power. Or possibly pants.
• Yon (Simon Hall): A priest (owing to being good at guilt trips), but he really wants to play "a dog cursed with the body of a small man". A Butt Monkey and arguably the Only Sane Man (or at least Least Insane Man).
• Gatesy (Steven Gates): He'd be the Audience Surrogate if he hadn't failed his intelligence roll, as he's new to the game. Elements of The Roleplayer and The Loonie, Gatesy is a warrior who dreams of being a bard.
• The GM/Something Something/The Dragon (Elana Stone): Elana narrates the story, gets most of the more "dramatic" songs, and is conflicted between her duty (as the Dragon) to protect the tree and her attraction (as Something Something) to Gatesy.

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Tropes used in Tripod Versus the Dragon include:

• Accidental Innuendo: Yon mistakes Scod's miming of throwing dice for something much worse.
• The Atoner: Scod in the last act.
• Audience Participation: See Throw It In below.
• Big No: Gatesy, on slaying the Dragon.
• BSOD Song: "On Paper". Gatesy's "Taking The Life", even more so: it's in reaction to killing a single Orc, albeit in a rather gory way.
• Captain Obvious: "How to get to the Underworld: Kill yourself."
• Deadpan Snarker: The whole cast.
• Double Entendre: Many. Gatesy has a habit both of seeing them where they aren't there, and being terminally ignorant of his own.
• The Eleven O'Clock Number: "I Will Still Play".
• Freudian Trio: Tripod's usual Freudian Trio of Scod as Ego, Yon as Id and Gatesy as Superego gets a reshuffle: Scod becomes a hammy Id, Gatesy as the hero adopts the Ego role and Yon, being the guilt-tripping priest and closest to earth, becomes the Superego.
• Genre Savvy: Of course. "Did you get her number?" "No, but I promised to see her again." "Usually works."
• Hurricane of Euphemisms: Gatesy on meeting Something Something, among other scenes.
• Hypocritical Humor: "You say no to everything!" "No I don't!"
• "I Am" Song: Gatesy and the Dragon's first numbers.
• I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: Gatesy: "I thought you guys brought me here to play Dungeons and Dragons."
• Inverted Trope: Gatesy is "a warrior who dreams of being a bard."
  • Yon attempts this too: rather than a man with a dog's head, he wants to play a dog cursed with the body of a man.
• Lampshade Hanging: Every single trope in this list.
• Large Ham: Scod. Dear lord, Scod.
• MacGuffin Delivery Service: Scod.
• Measuring the Marigolds: Scod, although in fairness it was their actual quest.
• Medium Awareness: "About 16 bars on the subject of massive guilt trip."
  • It gets weirder: several lines that seem to be in-character make reference to, or pun on, the fact that they're in an RPG, such as the last line of "I Will Still Play" or the refrain of "On Paper".
• Medium Blending: Incorporates both live and paper-based shadow puppets.
• No Budget
• No Fourth Wall
• Pungeon Master: "Dungeon? More like fungeon!"
• Reality Ensues: "Of course I was blind, you try shining a torch in your eyes."
• Running Gag: Several, mostly involving Yon, such as his character being a priest because he's good at guilt trips.
  • Another is carried over from their previous shows. "He's not actually shorter, he's just a bit further away."
  • Not to mention "10 points to Gryffindor".
• Sarcasm Mode: "Don't feel bad, you only killed me."
• Self-Deprecation: "We have to be nice to her. She's the only girl we know."
  • Scod in particular runs on this. Being an Australian band, half the jokes are this type.

"That's the kind of behavior that gets our kind beaten up."

• Short Run in Peru: Premiered in Massachusetts before touring Australia.
• Shout-Out: To Joni Mitchell and Chris de Burgh, among others.
• Sophisticated As Hell: Yon's priestly chant with a Precision F-Strike.
• Spoony Bard: Scod refuses to let Gatesy play a bard "because bards are shit."
• Squick: "Is congealed a very romantic word?"
• Stop Helping Me!: "Shut up, boat!"
• Subverted Trope: The GM's deleted song, starts as a cheesy "inspirational" song encouraging girls to feel better about themselves. The best way to do this? "Hang out with losers."
• Take That: The makers of D&D refused permission to call the show "Dungeons and Dragons: The Musical", resulting in the line

"They can trademark the name all they like, it's all ripped off Tolkien anyway."

• Throw It In: Scod turns to the audience to ask what knowledge is. A woman up the back (not a plant) shouts "PANTS!". The band riff on this for a good minute.
• Too Dumb to Live: Gatesy, trying to impress Hades, performs a song boasting about immortality. His low intelligence score is one of several running gags.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The fact that Something Something is the titular Dragon is followed by "(spoiler alert)" on the DVD cover.
• Villain Song: Both of the Dragon's solo numbers fit this
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: "For she telleth the taleth."
• Your Head Asplode: Scod's hammy pronunciation does this to Yon.