References in DDO

Comedic References in DDO
As many people have discovered over the years, there are many subtle and not-so-subtle comedic or silly references to other things in DDO. Here are a few examples... please feel free, if you find any more, to add your own.

Movie

 * The quest "Come Out and Slay" in the Sharn Syndicate series refers to the movie The Warriors (1979) . The basic plot of the movie is a group of gangs meeting, one of the leaders being killed, and then the title gang's escape back to their home territory, fighting all the way. The quest title itself is a reference to a line toward the end of the movie, where one enemy gang member is taunting the Warriors to "come out and play".

Music

 * "Running with the Devils" is the first track from Van Halen's 1978 "Van Halen" album.
 * "Rainbow in the Dark" is a track and a singlecut from Ronnie James Dio's 1982 "Holy Diver" album.
 * "Ghosts of Perdition" is named for Swedish death-metal band Opeth's 2005 album (and title track) "Ghost of Perdition". 4th track of the album is "Atonement".
 * A monk finishing move Shining Star requires Earth, Wind and Fire moves to trigger and dances opponent when successful. This refers to 70's funk/disco band Earth, Wind and Fire.

Literature

 * The entire Korthos Island series is likely a reference to H.P. Lovecraft's "A Shadow Over Innsmouth", where an out-of-the-way coastal town is secretly run by fish-men-worshipping cultists. Although unrelated to the Innsmouth story, it's notable that the end quest features a Mind Flayer, a monster inspired by Lovecraft as well.

Gaming

 * In the third quest in the Catacombs series, "The Crypt of Gerard Dryden", the map is a very similar to a Sorry! game board, complete with colors, and your goal is to get to the middle (like a Sorry! game).
 * "The Enemy Within" is named for 80's classical campaign series for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay . (What?! this isn't DnD!)
 * Xy'zzy, the Hound of Xoriat, is named for Xyzzy, the magic word in the original Colossal Cave Adventure, which also subsequently appeared in various Infocom games over the years.
 * In The Shroud (Raid), each of the Shrouds first 3 phases were designed to mimic various classic arcade games:
 * Phase 1 is modeled after the classic arcade game Gauntlet, by Atari.
 * Upon entering you'll immediately notice four corpses, they are named very similarly to the four characters from the Gauntlet arcade game: Scarlet Warrior, Jade Elf, Azure Valkyrie and the Golden Wizard
 * Phase 2 borrows some of it's elements from the classic Pac-Man, by Namco
 * The Ghost return to the center to come back to life, just like pac-man, and the power pellets are represented by the trees which regenerate spell points.
 * Phase 3 is vaguely reminiscent of Frogger, by Konami
 * The Whirling Blades represent the cars, and the player dodging them is Frogger.

Comics

 * In the final quest in the Phiarlan Carnival arc, Under the Big Top, an optional Tiefling named Maz'il'tilnik appears, with whom you can make a deal. While talking about it, you can ask what happens when he says his name backwards... and he throws a fit, complaining about an "overmuscled, blue and red armored do-gooder of a paladin" who keeps showing up to try to trick him into doing just that - then says his name backwards several times, to no effect.  This is a reference to Superman's standard method of dealing with his enemy Mister Mxyzptlk.