Dolls in Interactive Fiction

According to Cain (2022)

> x scarecrow (@ In the wheat field)

This crude dummy is little more than willow and straw fashioned into a human-like form and tied to a post. Its lifeless eyes stare off toward a clearing to the south.

Not that this scarecrow has earned its keep—from what you’ve seen so far, the crows around here seem to feel they rule the roost.

Aunt Nancy's House (1997)

> x Dilbert doll (@ Attic)

A plush Dilbert doll.

> x Dogbert doll (@ Attic)

A plush Dogbert doll.

> x Barbie dolls (@ Alcove)

There are more than a few Barbie dolls scattered on the floor here, accompanied by Ken dolls.

> x Ken dolls (@ Alcove)

Ken dolls accompany the Barbie dolls.

The Chinese Room (2007)

> x scarecrow (@ Black Tarmac Road)

Gawky, stuffed, adorned with a fixed expression and with a broom handle rammed up its backside. You'd think it were a member of the Royal Family if it weren't for the silly hat and cast-off clothing. No, wait, hang on . . .

In any case, you rather wish all that sacking had been put to better use than as a body for this wretched thing.
Examining the scarecrow carefully, you realise that Anjeline is examining you carefully back from the safety of the scarecrow's hat.
The scarecrow, now totally inanimate, and with his sacking torn away, droops folornly on his pole, while his comatose homunculi lie in a heap beneath him.

Cragne Manor (2018)

> x pull-string doll (@ Exterior of Train Station)

The doll has [an inane smile or a ferocious scowl] on its face and a pull-string in the middle of its back.

It has the sort of head with two faces, one of which is hidden by its hair. Rotate the head and the other face will be forward.

> x clockwork doll (@ Shack Exterior)

A little doll of a girl. She's sitting at a little writing desk, with a book in front of her, firmly held underneath her arms. In one hand is a feather quill pen; at the other is an inkwell. Her eyes [one of]are gazing with longing at the scraps of paper[or]stare at the pieces of paper in your hands[or]seem to bore through your pocket to where you're keeping the page. As if she wants to see what's written there[or]are currently fixed on the journal as it lies there[as appropriate].
There is no life left in her.

> x dolls (@ Nursery)

Four dolls dutifully attend the tea party, sitting two to a side on tiny chairs. To one side, a stuffed elephant and a monkey, and to the other some sort of clown and a lamb.

A ravenous horde of other stuffed animals crowd the edges of the bed silently observing the ceremony.

> x Gertie (@ Abandoned Nursery)

The doll is an antique. It wears a little smock, now nearly rags; and its face peers up at you.

Crocodracula: The Beginning (2020)

> x dolls (@ Living Room)

At least a dozen porcelain dolls are on display here, and there are more in the rest of the house. Your mom seems to find joy only in crafting more and more of them. Each doll has a hand-painted face, staring eerily across the room. Each doll's hands are reaching out at nothing. Each doll has a name, most of which you have mercifully forgotten.

> x dolls (@ Miss Muriel's Workshop)

They're not like the dolls your mother makes: They're made out of leather and twigs and who knows what else.

Dr Horror's House of Terror (2021)

> x doll (@ Voodoo Temple)

The featureless little doll is made from coarse sacking and roughly stitched into the shape of a person. [if has needle, add:] Out from its breast sticks a bone needle!

Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I. (1999)

> x doll (@ Ring Toss)

It looks like a kewpie doll, but it's in the shape of a cow.

Founder's Mercy (2019)

> x doll (@ House)

Wearing a brown jumpsuit and faceless, because we are all alike in the Founder's eyes. It was yours once, but you passed it on with other childish things when you were old enough to help in the fields.

Gaia, Živa, Jarilo (2020)

> x action figure (@ Gift Shop)

It's a plastic adventurer holding a battery-powered lantern and an elvish sword.

Grooverland (2021)

> x scarecrow (@ Spooky Sideshow)

This scarecrow fills you with happiness.
Where did its head go?

Guttersnipe: Carnival of Regrets (2017)

> x dolls (@ Garbage heap)

These old dolls look like they've seen much better days; they're all melted and deformed.

> x kewpie doll (@ The milk bottle game)

It's a cheap rubber doll of a naked baby with big, soulful eyes and rosy red cheeks; the head is lumpy and misshapen, almost as if it's survived being melted in an intense fire. It has something printed over its bottom.

> x doll heads (@ Head assembly room)

They look like perfectly ordinary disembodied doll heads scattered all over the floor, except that they all swivel as one to watch you no matter where you stand in the room.

The Hidden King's Tomb (2022)

> x doll (@ Furtive Child's Tomb)

It has a little golden crown.

Hidden Verbiage (2018)

> x scarecrow (@ Pit)

It's your standard makeshift scarecrow: straw stuffed into a set of clothing. If you were a bird, you'd freeze to death on the spot.

The Impossible Bottle (2020)

> x daddy doll (@ Your room)

The daddy doll is wearing brown trousers, a light blue shirt, and a white apron. He has shiny black hair.

> x mommy doll (@ Your room)

The mommy doll is wearing grey pants, a white top, and a grey jacket. She has long brown hair in a ponytail, and she's holding a phone in her hand.

> x teenager doll (@ Your room)

Tall and skinny, wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt.

The Legend of Horse Girl (2022)

> x scarecrows (@ Church)

Just a bunch of human-shaped dummies made of straw, rags, and old junk.

Lydia's Heart (2007)

> x doll (@ Attic)

The doll is about a foot tall, and stands stiffly. She has a painted china face, and is wearing a blouse that looks as if it was cut from an old lace doily [if has scarf] and a yellow skirt whose draped corners make it look rather like a handkerchief or a small scarf [end if].

Muggle Studies (2012)

> x china doll (@ Divination Classroom)

A large doll, her body made of cloth and her head and shoulders of glazed porcelain. She's clothed in a lovely white dress covered in eyelet lace. As you examine her delicate patent leather shoes, she seems to notice that you're staring. She turns to face you—moving her whole body, as her head cannot turn on her neck. She stares back at you, her immobile face pure and blank, for a long moment. Then she returns to her original posture.

My Evil Twin (2012)

> x voodoo doll (@ My Evil Twin's Lair)

This is definitely my evil twin's handiwork. I've seen dolls like these before. They don't actually function as voodoo dolls, of course, but he uses them to send a message to people. The face on this one looks vaguely familiar. Some obscure politician, perhaps?

Open That Vein (2015)

> x dolls (@ Bedroom)

You're more concerned with what's outside in the hallway.

PAXLess (2010)

> x doll (@ Galatea's room)

It's a small doll with yellow hair and a green dress. Sticking out of the back of the doll is a pull-string.

Poppet (2019)

> x me (@ Closet)

You are a simple ragdoll, sewn together from scraps and tatters and stuffed with cotton fluff. Your eyes are mismatched buttons and your mouth is a length of red thread sewn to your face in a permanent smile. A few spools of red yarn sewn into your scalp simulate hair and your dress is little more than a patchwork shift.

> x Birgitta (@ Nursery)

[1st time:] My word, it's Bergitta! You remember her well. She is...was... another one of the dolls in the nursery. Yet here she is, lying on the floor in a heap, her limbs tangled, her eyes closed. Is she... asleep? Dolls do sometimes sort of sleep; when Polly tucked you into your doll bed, you did go to sleep in a fashion. But dolls don't sleep in the way that humans do. You don't lose yourself to unconsciousness, you don't descend into dreams.
"Gita? Is that you?" you ask, a slight quiver in your voice. Hesitantly, you poke at Gita with your hand. She doesn't respond.
You gasp in confusion. What's going on? Is Gita dead? That can't be! A doll can't die as along as she's nurtured by the love of a child. If Gita is gone, that must mean... where is Polly?
But if... heaven forbid...if Polly is gone... how is it that you're still here? A cold shiver runs through your stuffing.
[asleep:] Gita is a sleepy-time doll, with a soft body and a hard rubber head with brittle cornsilk hair. She lays on the floor in an inert heap, dead to the world.
[awake:] Gita is a sleepy-time doll, with a soft body and a hard rubber head with brittle cornsilk hair. She is lurching around, confused and mumbling. You can't understand anything that she says. You're not sure if she understands where she is or what's going on.

> x Tomas (@ Kitchen)

Tomas is a baby doll with a large rubber head and hard rubber hands. No legs but the rest of his body is just a fabric bag stuffed with soft cotton. At one time, his eyes would close by their own accord if you laid him on his back. But now his left eye is permanently at half-mast, lolling crazily under a semi-closed lid. His mouth is molded into a permanent O, perfect for a pretend bottle or just his own thumb.

> x Pirouette (@ Kitchen)

Pirouette is a wooden dutch doll with loose interlocking joints. Most of her paint has long since peeled away, leaving her with a blank wooden face. You remember that Polly dressed her up as a ballerina and used her to stage elaborate dance recitals... but the only remnants of her previous life as a dancer are the shredded remains of a muslin tutu still clinging to her hard mahogany torso.

> x Juliette (@ Foyer)

Juliette is a beautiful china doll with a tight crown of pale lemon-yellow hair and a fine blue silk dress. The left side of her face is smashed, her eye missing, and the rest of her face is criss-crossed with a spiderweb of fine hairline cracks.

Santa's Trainee Elf (2020)

> x hand puppet (@ Toy Storage)

It's a bit like a sock, except that it's decorated to look like a clown. You can put your hand in the sock and use your fingers to make it talk and turn its head.

The Seven Doctors (1998)

> x dolls (@ Well-lit Passage)

These dolls have a snarl painted on their faces.

Trapped in a One-Room Dilly (1998)

> x doll (@ One-Room Dilly)

This little doll appears to have been made with a brown bean bag. It has stringy dark-brown yarn glued to the head, a pretty little pink bow to make her neck, and two white kidney beans for eyes. [if first time, add:] You decide to call her Lil Miss Moppet.
The seams split, most of the hair gone, and one eye missing (you don't know where the other one fell), this doll now doesn't even look like something you'd call Lil Miss Moppet. No, it now looks much more like Kamikaze Lou.

What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed (2021)

> x doll (@ Study)

An old-fashioned doll in a stained and tattered lace dress, with realistically painted eyes that seem to follow you as you move.

> x marionette (@ Study)

No one will ever be able to play with this again because the strings are so tangled.

> x ballerina (@ Study)

A faded but beautifully made paper doll of a ballerina.

> x tin soldier (@ Study)

A worn tin soldier with fading paint, dented and scuffed. An emotion hits you with great force at the sight of the tin soldier. This was yours. You remember him comforting you many times. You believed he could shield you from harm. The story of the brave tin soldier who loved the paper ballerina was your favorite as a child, so much so that this little toy became your protector and your best friend, helping you be brave. You feel love.

Love soldier.

Suddenly, you are sucked as if by a strong vacuum. It disorients you completely for a moment.

Default response instances

The Enchanted Castle (2019): princess doll @ Dragon's Nest.