[List] In-Jokes, Third-Party References, etc.

One of the level up messages is "It's Dangerous To Go Alone! Take This!", which is a reference to the first Zelda game where an old man gives you a sword or a shield or something whilst saying that phrase. It was famously turned into a meme involving a small kitten.

Another is "Meddling Kid", a reference to a line given by villains in the Scooby Doo cartoon series ("I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"

This was followed, for me, by "Your Princess Is In Another Castle", a famous line from the first Mario game that arguably represents the first intentional dickmove in any video game.

One could argue the Traffic Cone helmet is a reference to the exploits of many a young person who's imbibed a bit too much Diggle Nog.

The Cybercone mentions something called the 'Gibson', and I believe this is a reference to the author of Neuromancer, William Gibson, arguably the father of the cyberpunk genre.

As is likely common knowledge now, there are rooms that are cake and gaslamp themed. These refer to Valve Software's cult hit Portal and to Gaslamp Games (the developers of Dredmor) respectively.

I think the flavour text for Diggle Eggs is a reference to a danger of eating raw eggs, and like the descriptions of two of the crafting utilities, it's a misnomer as there is no in-game risk.

The Little Black Book is, aside from an item in game, a term used for a book of contacts, typically friends, family and so on, but may also be a euphemism for a book holding the details of previous partners.

Wooden Bolts' description is a reference to the use, in horror fiction, of wooden stakes as the most effective way to 'kill' a vampire. It's also interesting to note that it says vampires aren't real... despite the inclusion of a Vampirism skill.

Aside from being an obvious nod to the home of Gaslamp Games, Canada, the Toque of Kanada also plays on the stereotypical way Canadians talk, specifically adding "eh" after sentences.

Something interesting to think about - Diggles are the only creatures in the dungeon that show any sign of reproduction. Thrusty demons may have, um, y'know, but there are signs and hints to Diggles having homes (nests with eggs) and a form of civilization whereas there are no such signs for any other creature, demon or whatever in the game.

Also interesting to think about: The adventurer wasn't particularly well-equipped going in. This may mean that the adventurer is going after Dredmor without much choice in the matter.

 

I did wonder if that was the case, because it's not just limited to, say, one device. It would also explain why the anvil is arguably a "toy" version - one might extrapolate from that and wonder if there were meant to be successive levels of anvils.

Huh. Never heard of The Far Side so perhaps that reference went over my head - as quite a few are.

I reckon it's unpossible for one person alone to list all of the references/jokes/etc. in Dredmor.

 

Like that was ever something we didn't know...

I mean, really, if you had skills like your adventurers, you wouldn't be wasting time trying to get into a dungeon. You'd start your own quest to getting a country for yourself.

I think the descriptions are still fitting, even if confusing. The ingot grinder only has one function (which we can also call "use"), which is grinding, and the ingot press does become less useful later in the game as you get enough ingots not to need to make additional ones the moment you get some ore and when you have enough healing stuff not to make any more cheese sandwiches.

 

Perhaps, but I'd argue that it's less to do with the crafting devices themselves and more to do with the lack of diggle eggs after the first few floors.

 

I never noticed "What is best in life?" on level-up before, but I thought that was a reference to Genghis Khan.

 

It's also a reference to crafting in Dwarf Fortress, making this one of about 635,000,000 DF references in DoD.

 

Looking over the recent list...

Gold ingots I would attribute to the Bond movie Goldfinger, which Austin Powers riffs on.

"Go hack the Gibson already" (cybercone) smells like the movie Hackers to me (though said movie references the Neuromancer author in any case).

...and the Conan the Librarian take that comes to my mind first is from Weird Al's movie UHF.

 

I will fly up to your headquarters and give you $250 million dollars if you do that.

These words are Blasphemy! You've never heard of The Far Side?!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Far_Side Here's a good source, links to all the books you can view.
Also,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigiphilus_garylarsoni

Yes, the Far Side was so awesome that scientists named a new species of Owl after the creator.

 

*insect that lives on owls

It's not that uncommon for obscure things with many variants to get silly names like that. There's a fruit fly gene named after Sonic the Hedgehog.

 

Wrong country to have

 

Or it could be a Plants vs. Zombies reference, one of the zombie types there is wearing a traffic cone as a helmet.

 

That is true.

 

Whoops. My bad.

Okay, Althea, I didn't know where you lived.

 

Do other country codes make Wikipedia fail to work? That would be a terrible thing for Wikipedia to have. When I open de.wikipedia.org it opens en.wikipedia.org for me. Does it fail for you?

 

Re: "Go hack the Gibson already" is DEFINITELY a reference to the movie Hackers (though it may in turn have been referencing Neuromancer), as Hacking The Gibson Supercomputer is an extremely big deal and central to the plot of the film, particularly it's noted to be nigh impossible or whatever, like the Holy Grail of Hacking Achievements. Of course they hack the Gibson during the plot.

 

The game does put some messages into the scrolling text at the top, and many are easy to miss. One, however, says this:
"Dungeons of Dredmor would like to remind you that today is Take Your Daughter To Work Day. This is a perfect time to... oh, nevermind."
I believe this is a reference to the Portal games.

 

Either that or a real stretch to reference an iron maiden song.

 

I think it might also be a reference to Iji.