Tropes that need to die

[gamerprinter]

Frankly if my adventure party entered a town to not find any cemeteries, this would be a red flag. Uh-oh, I think a necromancer must be secretly running this town - no don't ask anyone, they'll just get suspicious. Let's burn it to the ground! Evil doers, burn!

I enjoy playing with tropes, actually introducing NPCs that do not fall into a specific trope, though from the surface they are doing exactly that. Tropes play well to charcters perceptions. And proving those tropes wrong in game, is just as fun.

In my worlds, most kings are NOT former adventurers. Some have taken military posts and other social positions before becoming a monarch. But most my lands kings aren't 18th Fighters, rather zero level aristocrats. Aristocracy is not a meritocracy. Divine right to be king is a bloodline thing, not a reward for being a hero. Maybe the first king was that, but his son was as likely inept, just born of the line. If meritocracy was the thing, no stable noble line could exist it would change every generation.

I like fantasy tropes, they help tell a story, even if the wrong one.

GP

 

[Diamond Cross]

I'd like to see the trope of "That's not realistic" die.

I'd like to see the end of entire races being evil alignment and let only individuals have the evil alignment.

Hafling rogues.

Elvish rangers.

Dwarves with scottish accents.

Elves with surfboarder (as in wow, okay dude) accents.

 

[Leatherhead]

Yeah, 'cause a fantasy game shouldn't be able to emulate, say, Peregrin Took, or Conan, or Fafrd. That's just crazy talk to think that. Sheesh!

How is Conan not fantastic?

 

[Jacob Marley]

I like my undead-filled cemeteries; my court wizards who wear pointy hats and long, flowing robes; my mundane fighters who become kings; my dwarves with Scottish accents; my fat halflings who smell of tobacco; my greedy dragons; my evil necromancers; my corrupt town guards; my princesses; etc., etc., etc.

Yeah, I like my fantasy tropes.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Yeah, 'cause a fantasy game shouldn't be able to emulate, say, Peregrin Took, or Conan, or Fafrd. That's just crazy talk to think that. Sheesh!

(Obviously, that a game should offer a choice that is mundane and non-fantastic is a violation of someone's onetruewayism!)

RC

DOn't bring up LotR. That's some kind of tabletop fallacy at this point. There was a full webcomic designed to mock the idea of a LotR tabletop game. LotR has never been a tabletop game, it's never been a good idea for a tabletop game, it never will be.

And yes, Conan or Fafrd, I remember those utterly mundane and non-fantastic characters, like the time Conan was dominated and controlled every time he fought a wizard, or the time he was stabbed and then bled out and died.

 

[JeffB]

Lots of non sensical tropes in FRPGs

Then again I think some people are forgetting the "F" part of "FRPGs"

I had a period in my gaming years where I questioned the "reality" of so many things in D&D and other games. Few FRPGs can get away with the craziness in a sensical way (RuneQuest's Glorantha being a shining example).

Then one day it hit me that these are just games, and fantasy, and trying to make sense of it is an exercise in futility.

But to contribute to the thread in the manner intended

I'll agree with "the adventurer" (and god forbid..CITIES of Adventurers like Raven's Blufff in the realms- ugh...puke...)

I'll also throw in one of my D&D pet peeves- "the magic item shop"- Its one thing to have a rare merchant who may deal in these types of things, but in recent D&D times, the all too common bit of "magic for sale" drives me nuts.

and finally- the megadungeon- ala Undermountain. Yup- big dungeon, full of nastiness right under the largest city in the Realms- pay the barkeep your 5 GP access fee, and head on down the rope

 

[Barastrondo]

Divine right to be king is a bloodline thing, not a reward for being a hero. Maybe the first king was that, but his son was as likely inept, just born of the line. If meritocracy was the thing, no stable noble line could exist it would change every generation.

I actually really like meritocracies for exactly this reason. If the king had to quest for a Grail, endure ordeals or pass through a gauntlet of tests, that spices a kingdom up rather considerably. Doesn't necessarily mean he's high-level, mind, depending on the tests, but a meritocracy produces interesting rulers.

And yes, Conan or Fafrd, I remember those utterly mundane and non-fantastic characters, like the time Conan was dominated and controlled every time he fought a wizard, or the time he was stabbed and then bled out and died.

Fafhrd is so mundane he grabbed a lit rocket under either arm and made a rocket-propelled ski jump over an immense crevasse while his beard was still coming in. And was a god once or twice, if only for a little bit. I'm also glad to see that "not magically empowered" doesn't mean "mundane" myself these days; a lot of those early fantasy swordsmen who got by on strength and cunning had rather a lot more of it than was entirely feasible.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Back on topic: Tropes that have been overused to death:

1.- "You all meet in an Inn": Seriously guys!

2.- "You are all in Jail": Seriously, this is NOT an acceptable substitute!

3.- "Everyone is a white-skinned European-lookalike": And no, a token minority party member is not much better.

 

[Mark Chance]

You are talking about real world religions that are trying to justify tradition or a new set of rules....

In response to a post that referenced the Nine Hells and the Abyss, you walked away with "real world religions"? I guess such a leap explains how you came up with this laughable slander:

Oh and graveyards came about as forced action by the Catholic Church. IT was part of a propoganda/fear campaign to force the people of Europe further under the church's thumb....

I guess history is easier when one just makes stuff up as one goes along.

 

[Pseudonym]

I guess history is easier when one just makes stuff up as one goes along.

Or takes levels in the Cliff Claven prestige class.