Sturm and Drang (named after the German literary movement) are a pair of supervillains who intend to use a machine called the "melodramaturge" to imbue the world with excessive excitement.
The Frenetic Five vs. Mr. Redundancy Man (1999; TADS 2).
Mr. Redundancy Man's evil scheme is to tie the planet Earth in
red tape.
The Frenetic Five vs. the Seven Deadly Dwarves (2002; TADS 2).
Finalist for XYZZY Award for Best NPCs at the XYZZY Awards 2002.[3]
The Seven Deadly Dwarves' evil plan is to blow up the mine's power plant. This is the only Frenetic Five game with a
maze.
Characters
Brett,
a.k.a. "Improv": The player. Improv is the leader of the group, and a dedicated
MacGyver fan with a similar ability to devise improbable solutions to challenges encountered during the course of the game.
Antonia, a.k.a. "Pastiche": According to FF1, every one of Pastiche's body parts has a different superpower. Was nicknamed "
Swiss Army" in
high school. She can: move (or "phase") her hand through solid objects; sing
humorous variations of many songs; break
plywood doors up to 1 centimeter in thickness (FF2); heat
lasagna by
telepathy (FF2); instantaneously slice and dice
rootvegetables, such as
potatoes (FF3); disperse gory messes (FF3); discern compass directions underground (FF3). To offset Pastiche's many superpowers, she also has a number of weaknesses: she cannot phase through
rope, and all her powers are inhibited near
wheat products, such as
pasta.
Deborah, a.k.a. "The Clapper": Able to find any object by clapping her hands and naming it, making it beep if it is nearby. The least-used in the three games, she does not even appear in the third.
Mitchel, a.k.a. "Lexicon", a.k.a. "Lex": A walking
dictionary. Lex knows nearly all of the words of the
English language, and can deduce which verbs are needed for puzzles. His
nemesis is Mr. Redundancy Man, whose orations are torture for Lex.
Pete, a.k.a. "Newsboy": The youngest of the
pentet, Newsboy is a walking
RSS feed, constantly receiving headlines from an unidentified source or sources.
Cecily: The weekend desk worker at SuperTemps. Fills in for Bob in FF3.
Medic Alert: Beeps loudly to alert the authorities. Fills in for Clapper in FF3.