This is... wow. This is the first time I actually finished this FM because the first time I played it, it bugged out on me due to the many scripted scenes.
And... wow.
My own missions are more than a little weird. The New Sheriff had floating magical animals and a cooking Trickster who wanted to cook a naked woman. Shoes and Dresses had a lot of obvious foot fetish content.
I've also played crazy and silly missions by other authors. I've posted screenshots of the Snobs FMs here, and those have some crazy stuff in them that is quirky and charming in its weirdness. KFort has made missions such as Bloodmist Tower, which features a Hammerite priest with a holy water font sprouting from his head.
But never have I played anything like this. Nothing out there, not a single other FM compares to A Servant's Life.
- "Mr Oh Dear's feces" is a food item. When you right click while it's selected, Garrett eats it. During the course of the mission, I have found over 100 of these.
- The readables are legitimately disturbing. I write bizarro novels for a living, but even I found this a little extreme. Let me just give you some of the highlights:
* "Mr Oh Dear constantly has a feces hanging down under his butt." This is one of the worst because, honestly, a feces? This rapes grammar just as bad as it does good taste.
* One readable is called "Cruel Fertilization Plans" and describes how the garden of the mansion is not very fertile, and they don't have enough burricks to fertilize the ground with dung. So they're using Mr Oh Dear to help. How do they do that? By putting him on a cart, dragging the cart around the field, and having him drop his poop everywhere. Mr Oh Dear has taken an invincibility potion so he won't die no matter how often he is hit. Every time he is hit on the head, he drops "a feces". They drag him through the fields for 6 hours, constantly bopping him on the head so he can drop his poop and fertilize the soil.
* "Mr Oh Dear has an unlimited supply of feces."
* There are readables containing the rules of life for servants, guards, and Mr Oh Dear. Servants are treated fairly. Guards are, too. Mr Oh Dear is not allowed to be treated fairly. "Mr Oh Dear is considered to be trash, worth less than even rats, and is to be treated as such."
* One readable explicitly states that while he cannot be harmed by weapons due to the invincibility potion, he still feels the pain of being hit. It also states that he is not permitted to cry until the guards who are to beat him have left his cell.
* There are also dinner plans for everyone in the mansion. Guards and servants get sensible rations of burrick meat and bread, but Mr Oh Dear? He only gets burrick rump. Rump is defined as "meat exclusively from the anal region". Also, "if any residue of animal waste is left on the meat, it is up to the cook's discretion to clean it off. Cleaning it off is not necessary." Also, if Mr Oh Dear breaks any of his behavioral rules, he will be punished by not getting any regular food at all. His punishment consists of having his diet restricted to his own poop for weeks. Yes. The poor guy has to eat nothing but his own poop for weeks if he misbehaves. "Mr Oh Dear is required to have at least a day's supply of feces in his cell in case that he is punished."
* Mr Oh Dear is not allowed any visitors, not from outside nor from the staff. The only exception is on his birthday: then, staff may sing Happy Birthday to him for 5 minutes. That is all the human contact he is allowed. He also has to spend at least 6 hours a day cleaning the sewers, and his cell is so tiny "the only movement he can do is taking exactly one step to the left or right. The cell is too narrow to take any more steps, or to sit or lie down."
* There are several readables that explicitly order all guards and servants to treat Mr Oh Dear horribly, and that threaten punishment to anyone who does not treat him horribly. Slipping him some normal food, for example, is not allowed. Guards are forbidden to come to his help if he screams for help, even if he is legitimately under threat.
- There are several overly long cutscenes/conversations where Mr Oh Dear is suffering abuse at the hands of the guards or due to malfunctioning machinery. These scenes are drawn out for way too long. While you watch these scenes, you will see pieces of poop drop from his bum.
In this screenshot, you see Mr Oh Dear being trapped below an elevator. The guard has pushed the elevator's down button, and now the elevator is pushing down on Mr Oh Dear's head. This lasts for at least 10 seconds in which you listen to Mr Oh Dear wail and scream and watch poop drop down from between his legs.
But this... this is the most insane part of the entire FM.
Remember the readable that mentions Mr Oh Dear constantly having "a feces hanging down under his butt"?
This is the feces hanging down under his butt.
It says "About to drop" when you frob it.
In order to cure his ailment, you have to use a potion of bowel cure ON THE PIECE OF POOP THAT IS HANGING FROM HIS BUTT
THIS IS AN ACTUAL OBJECTIVE
All in all... I rated this "Solid to Good 6.5/10" because honestly, the mansion is quite well-designed and it's not a bad mission, it's just that the story and the readables are so utterly, severely fucked up.
Like, really fucked up.
This FM certainly was... an experience. Really, you have to play it yourself to believe it. The mere existence of this thing is surreal.
Someone put hours of effort into creating an
actually decent Thief mission, just to fill it with exceptionally cruel descriptions of torture and poop jokes.