We all know the cliched characters, plots and places, the "tropes" that made the fantasy RPG (and D&D in particular) so enjoyable...that led to what they have become today....
The bow-slinging elf and axe-chucking dwarf. The mysterious but very powerful and kind-hearted wizard. The healing-machines a.k.a. clerics. Soul-sucking swords and blindly raging berserker barbarians....Anyone ever play a paladin who DIDN'T have a two-handed sword and magic plate armor?
Tropes are GREAT! They're FUN and simple to wrap one's mind around. They're nostalgic and generate almost immediate acceptance/immersion into a game cuz...well, everyone KNOWS that the elf with the bow is badass, so when an elf with a bow shows up and is badass...there's no question.
This thread (which I expect to make a series of, this is just installation #1) is in celebration of the fantasy tropes but also of EXPANDING them.
Tell me about the characters you've played or had in your groups that have either been "by the book" and/or characters that have balked or gone beyond the trope...something unusual in their personality or a different way of acting/playing them that doesn't meet expectations when someone says "I'm playing X."
For this thread we'll start with everyone's favorite pilfering miscreant:
THE ROGUES: Thieves, Assassins, Bards and/or other assorted "skillmonkeys."
I'll start:
Carak Hillside: My first "rogue" was actually my 4th character ever (I was somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 y.o.)! He was, originally, a "Halfling" in B/X who was transferred to AD&D as a halfling/fighter-thief.
He was your Grade-A totally typical "back in the day" halfling thief (never did manage to get his hands on a Ring of Invisibility though
Sneaky/hidey thief looking for traps, back stab attacks and extra handfuls of treasure while noone was looking. Friendly and easy to get along with, but sometimes paying attention to things the party wasn't.
Wore leather armor with a short sword, magic dagger, and a sling he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with (not because his chances were bad. They were quite good, actually. I just recall that whenever it came to rolling "to hit" with the sling, the dice just hated me). Nothing "special" or "unique" in his background or makeup just a cookie-cutterish good time to play. (how many people's first halfling or thief was this character?)
Then came "Silver", an elf 1e Unearthed Arcana Acrobat. He was(is?) awesome! I loved his background and his "happy-go-lucky" personality but the acrobat rules were kinda wonky and unimpressive. With cartoons of the day, like the D&D cartoon and, later, Thundercats, the DM and I basically ended up homebrewing all kinds of rules and tricks for cool flips and tumbling attacks..."just like we saw on...!" Good times, if not really a "trope" kinda character. Though nowadays, maybe the acrobatic rake-ish rogue is one.
With the advent of multi-classing for demi-humans in 1e, I don't think I ever ran a straight "thief" again. I've run multiple elvin thief/magic-users (always fun using magic in a heist/getaway), dwarf or halfling fighter/thieves but the penultimate, I think, was:
Gnimilious Soile: "The Greatest Magician of Gnomes"...a "know-it-all" gnome illusionist-thief who played up the "illusionist" side quite a bit (and really was more concerned with magical treasure/items than monetary). I played him for months before anyone got that I was a thief as well...of course, then Gnim was in a bit of trouble...but that's a whole 'nother story. Eventually, Gnim ended up with a short sword of quickness and a cloak of displacement. He was really quite fun to play.
I was in a group with someone playing a drow/female thief (musta been post Unearthed Arcana...but maybe pre-2e) with boots of flying and a cloak of elvinkind. She could backstab anything and you never knew she was coming. I always really thought of her as more of an "assassin" than a thief, though she was not evil in alignment and she never used poison (that I recall). Still, one scary character...and skillful player...you were sincerely spooked by this thief on a regular basis.
None of these guys really "break" any molds but they're not exclusively the "screw the party/steal for myself" or "sneaky but innocent/heart of gold" types either that seemed/seem to be the most common tropes of a thief character, anyway.
Having not played any monks or bards, myself, I can't really speak to or against any conventions of those classes...but look forward to hearing about other folks' Rogue characters.
--SD
The bow-slinging elf and axe-chucking dwarf. The mysterious but very powerful and kind-hearted wizard. The healing-machines a.k.a. clerics. Soul-sucking swords and blindly raging berserker barbarians....Anyone ever play a paladin who DIDN'T have a two-handed sword and magic plate armor?
Tropes are GREAT! They're FUN and simple to wrap one's mind around. They're nostalgic and generate almost immediate acceptance/immersion into a game cuz...well, everyone KNOWS that the elf with the bow is badass, so when an elf with a bow shows up and is badass...there's no question.
This thread (which I expect to make a series of, this is just installation #1) is in celebration of the fantasy tropes but also of EXPANDING them.
Tell me about the characters you've played or had in your groups that have either been "by the book" and/or characters that have balked or gone beyond the trope...something unusual in their personality or a different way of acting/playing them that doesn't meet expectations when someone says "I'm playing X."
For this thread we'll start with everyone's favorite pilfering miscreant:
THE ROGUES: Thieves, Assassins, Bards and/or other assorted "skillmonkeys."
I'll start:
Carak Hillside: My first "rogue" was actually my 4th character ever (I was somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 y.o.)! He was, originally, a "Halfling" in B/X who was transferred to AD&D as a halfling/fighter-thief.
He was your Grade-A totally typical "back in the day" halfling thief (never did manage to get his hands on a Ring of Invisibility though
Sneaky/hidey thief looking for traps, back stab attacks and extra handfuls of treasure while noone was looking. Friendly and easy to get along with, but sometimes paying attention to things the party wasn't.Wore leather armor with a short sword, magic dagger, and a sling he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with (not because his chances were bad. They were quite good, actually. I just recall that whenever it came to rolling "to hit" with the sling, the dice just hated me). Nothing "special" or "unique" in his background or makeup just a cookie-cutterish good time to play. (how many people's first halfling or thief was this character?)
Then came "Silver", an elf 1e Unearthed Arcana Acrobat. He was(is?) awesome! I loved his background and his "happy-go-lucky" personality but the acrobat rules were kinda wonky and unimpressive. With cartoons of the day, like the D&D cartoon and, later, Thundercats, the DM and I basically ended up homebrewing all kinds of rules and tricks for cool flips and tumbling attacks..."just like we saw on...!" Good times, if not really a "trope" kinda character. Though nowadays, maybe the acrobatic rake-ish rogue is one.
With the advent of multi-classing for demi-humans in 1e, I don't think I ever ran a straight "thief" again. I've run multiple elvin thief/magic-users (always fun using magic in a heist/getaway), dwarf or halfling fighter/thieves but the penultimate, I think, was:
Gnimilious Soile: "The Greatest Magician of Gnomes"...a "know-it-all" gnome illusionist-thief who played up the "illusionist" side quite a bit (and really was more concerned with magical treasure/items than monetary). I played him for months before anyone got that I was a thief as well...of course, then Gnim was in a bit of trouble...but that's a whole 'nother story. Eventually, Gnim ended up with a short sword of quickness and a cloak of displacement. He was really quite fun to play.
I was in a group with someone playing a drow/female thief (musta been post Unearthed Arcana...but maybe pre-2e) with boots of flying and a cloak of elvinkind. She could backstab anything and you never knew she was coming. I always really thought of her as more of an "assassin" than a thief, though she was not evil in alignment and she never used poison (that I recall). Still, one scary character...and skillful player...you were sincerely spooked by this thief on a regular basis.
None of these guys really "break" any molds but they're not exclusively the "screw the party/steal for myself" or "sneaky but innocent/heart of gold" types either that seemed/seem to be the most common tropes of a thief character, anyway.
Having not played any monks or bards, myself, I can't really speak to or against any conventions of those classes...but look forward to hearing about other folks' Rogue characters.
--SD
