Afrodyte said:
A criticism often levied at the fantasy genre is that a lot of it is derivative and cliche. Rather than debate this point, I'm more interested in seeing and creating examples that counter that trend. What are some things you have done or plan to do in your campaign settings to turn cliche fantasy elements into something more interesting? Better yet, what do you do (or want to do) in your game to distinguish it from published fantasy settings (whether as novels, movies, or RPGs)?
One way I make cliches seem less, well, cliched is to dig deeper and offer greater details and depth to a given trope. For instance:
-Portraying kobolds as wretches who are perpetually whining to themselves about the supposed wrongs inflicted on them by others, while simultaneously planning horrific revenges on their enemies, thus trapping the kobolds in an endless cycle of grudges and defeats that they perpetrate on themselves...
-Taking your standard "good" or "evil" religions and adding greater intellectual depth to them, extrapolating general philosophies on life from a god's portfolio, and what ethical/moral beliefs could logically spring from it...
-Fleshing out otherwise faceless NPCs by giving them little personalize habits, whether it's a passion for wood sculpture, a talent for playing the pipe organ, or a disdain for white wine...
-Finding innovative ways to present otherwise standard material, by showing it in the form of a letter, the journal of an expedition, an organizational charter, or what have you...
-Making up new details that otherwise fit the race's "character", such as detailing how the hobgoblins love epic poetry in the style of
The Illiad, fitting the hobgoblin race's military character...
Digging deeper and adding in more fluff that might otherwise seem superfluous can add a lot of depth to otherwise cardboard races and NPCs. I've also found that books of pure fluff, that otherwise minimize the crunch and look less like a rulebook, also do more to heighten the illusion and strengthen the sense of disbelief, and make it seem less like another standard catalogue of game material.
Of course, I've done some out-and-out subversions too...
-Elves are as magically wise and nature-loving as they've been portrayed to be, but they are not fallen from grace, or declining from a Golden Age; they've been utterly incapable of marshalling their arcane knowledge into great world power, being divided from the very beginning due to the arrogance and stupidity of the elven gods. However, there are signs appearing that the elven Golden Age is coming [
]NOW[], and that it's going to change the setting in a big way in the future...
-Dragons are not the powerful be-all and end-all of arcane or divine might. They formed from the emotions and passions of the supposedly "lesser" races, and vastly overestimate their importance to the world at large and their power in general. Dragons are, in fact, much [
]weaker[] than generally supposed.
-Full-fledged drow armies, led by no less than 13 priestesses of Lolth, get their heads handed to them by a force of goblins who outsmart and outfight them, with a goblin king that slays all thirteen priestesses one after another in a series of single combats.
Who says drow are invincible?
In truth, I find it a more challenging creative exercise to find fresh spins for old ideas, rather than reinvent the wheel. If you like Tekumel, great, but I'll stick to Greyhawk, thank you very much.