Lunchtime of the Damned (game)

Lunchtime of the Damned by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw is the first game in the Reality on the Norm series. It is a point and click graphical adventure game in the Adventure Game Studio engine, released on 17th February 2001. It is notable for introducing many of the recurring characters and locations used throughout the series, along with setting the tone and style that many subsequent games would emulate.

Synopsis
Teenage mage Davy Jones brings to undeath the shambling corpse of Michael Gower. In order to restore the zombie's soul he must contend with brainwashed convenience store clerks, homeless weirdos with interchangable personalities and the debauched denizens of Scid's bar, all before the bell rings for Double Maths...

Story
One Thursday lunchtime, local schoolkids Davy Jones and his girlfriend Elandra Desmond meet up in a secluded part of the local church cemetery. Davy, a self-proclaimed "teenage mage" and practitioner of dark magic, is attempting to raise the dead again using a variation on the Professor Slocombe Resurrection Ritual to see if it is compatible with a regular pentagram. The two enact the ritual and, as the reanimated corpse of the grave's occupant Michael Gower pulls himself out of the ground, are initially successful. However, its lack of self-awareness and exhibition of desire for brains and flesh force them to conclude they have only succeeded in raising Gower to undeath - having realised this, they flee the scene.

They catch their breath in the Town Square and Davy mentions that there are spells for restoring the souls of the undead in his notebook. Before he can explain any further Elandra leaves him returns to school, citing having had enough magic for one lunchtime and the existence of unfinished French homework. Now alone, Davy checks his notebook and learns that to restore a zombie's soul, you must light the pentagram used in the original ritual on fire whilst splashing their grave with the blood of one of its victims. Returning to the cemetery and finding it empty, Davy returns to the Town Square only to find that the zombie has indeed claimed a victim - one Bill Cosby, whose wallet Davy promptly loots from him.

Entering the local Yahtzeebrand convenience store and conversing with the apparently brainwashed counter clerk Phil Nihilist, Davy uses Cosby's wallet to purchase a bottle of very expensive water and a pooper scooper, the latter of which he uses on the corpse of Cosby to retrieve some of his blood. Entering the alley behind Scid's Bar, he encounters the Crazy Homeless Weirdo, and learns that his identity today is that of Corporal Levine, US Marine. Using Cosby's wallet on the nearby jukebox and putting on "The Star Spangled Banner" causes the Weirdo to freeze stiff in a patriotic salute. Davy uses the prone body of the Weirdo as a foothold to gaining entry into the back of Scid's via a window in the alley.

Entering an empty room, Davy refers to his notebook again and casts an invisibility spell which leaves only his glasses able to be seen. Entering the main bar area and avoiding detection by barman George Watstatt, Davy approaches the table of Drunk Punk Allen and swaps out his bottle of Extra-Flammable vodka for the expensive water he bought from Yahtzeebrand. Returning to the cemetery and the empty grave of Michael Gower, Davy enacts the spell to restore the zombie's soul by dousing the pentagram with the vodka and setting it alight with a simple firelighting spell, then splashing the blood of Cosby carried in the pooper scooper around the grave. Feeling a sudden disturbance in the force that soon passes, Davy concludes that wherever the zombie is, he is no longer soulless.

The scene cuts to the front lawn of Baron Wolfgang, who is berating the zombie for trespassing. Suddenly, the zombie regains his soul, becoming once again the man who was Michael Gower. Recalling his last memory of his wife coming at him with a cheese grater, it doesn't take him long to realise that he is now dead. His unhappy mood quickly ends as he decides he is now the ideal man to run for local government.

Playable

 * Davy Jones

New

 * Baron Wolfgang
 * Crazy Homeless Weirdo
 * Davy Jones
 * Dead Bill Cosby
 * Elandra
 * George Watstatt
 * Michael Gower
 * Phil Nihilist
 * Punk Allen

New

 * Baron Wolfgang's Manor (exterior)
 * Dayist Church Cemetary
 * RON Sign
 * Scid's Alley
 * Scid's Backroom
 * Scid's Bar
 * Town Square
 * Yahtzeebrand Store

Continuity

 * This game is Canon and part of the official timeline. It is followed by Vengeance of the Chicken.
 * Michael Gower's campaign for local government is developed further in The Repossessor.
 * Davy and Elandra attempt to resurrect Bill Cosby in I Spy.
 * The Resurrection Ritual is responsible for tearing a hole in the fabric of The Tapestry, an event which is dealt with in The First Stitch.
 * Professor Slocombe, here only referred to by name, is featured along with his Resurrection Ritual in Rend.