Classic D&D tropes you've never mastered

[Viking Bastard]

What classic D&D tropes have you never been able to master, but that you like, or at least, wanted to try on? I'm coming at this from a DM's perspective, but would be happy to hear player tropes as well.

And I'm strictly thinking tropes that you like, at least in theory.

My biggest one is D&D-style dragons. That is, the powerful, intelligent, spell-casting red dragons who worships Tiamat and such. I just can't get a handle on them as a DM, but I've always liked the idea.

 

[Tav_Behemoth]

The Adventurer Conqueror King system is trying to make it easier to do some of the classic Arneson/BECMI "end game" tropes - stuff like building strongholds, raising armies, fighting mass combats, setting up trade routes, etc. I've done OK with these using a mixture of 3.5, Excel spreadsheets, and liberal faking it for a one-on-one session, but that's only because with just one player there is less to manage and it's easier to predict what they will do next & prepare accordingly. I'm hoping that with ACKS I'll be able to handle a much larger pool of players doing characteristically unexpected stuff as the rising wealth & power levels in my White Sandbox campaign develop toward to this kind of play.

 

[Sammael]

Dungeons. I hate dungeons with a passion and can't design them at all. When I run dungeons, I generally get bored after 3-4 rooms and come up with a plot device that will allow the players to quickly get to the BBEG/dispose of him.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Hit Points and level - I know how to use them but I can't let go of cause and effect, you get hit by a sword...live or die, that is the result. then there is levels, okay it is power but still you get hit by a sword, live or die!

 

[Croesus]

Sandbox.

I love playing sandbox style games, and given my choice, would only GM that type of game. But sooner or later, they seem to bog down - lose direction, lose focus, lose something.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Dungeons. I hate dungeons with a passion and can't design them at all. When I run dungeons, I generally get bored after 3-4 rooms and come up with a plot device that will allow the players to quickly get to the BBEG/dispose of him.

Are you familiar with the Five Room Dungeon model? I'm using that right now, as my players' characters enter Midwood's big megadungeon at long last. They're only going to retrieve a McGuffin -- they don't have time to clear the joint out, with a kobold invasion about to happen -- so once they've hit all the obstacles I've got planned, the next likely room they explore will have what they were looking for. As long as you're not too obvious about it -- and there's no reason for the group to clean out every nook and cranny of the joint -- it should be a pretty invisible way to make this more bearable for you.

Sandbox.

I love playing sandbox style games, and given my choice, would only GM that type of game. But sooner or later, they seem to bog down - lose direction, lose focus, lose something.

That's definitely an inherent danger of the form. I'd suggest having a timeline of something happening independently of the PCs -- an army massing in the east, the queen dying of a magical wasting disease, all the crops dying over the next year -- and start the clock a few adventures in. Then, when the group starts to get a little listless, remind them of the background events that they can use for a focus.

As for me, I've run into repeatedly problems with "on the road" adventures. I'm actually planning to do three or four in my next campaign, to represent several weeks of travel across the continent, and am already stressing out on how to make them meaningful.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

The hook.

I've had quite a few games in which players had no interest in following the hooks I gave them to lead to the adventure in the first place, and yet once I told them "guys, just go with it" and they finally bit the hook they ended up loving the adventure.

 

[Teemu]

Urban adventures. They never seem to work out like I want them to, something's always lacking.

 

[Spatula]

Outdoor exploration and travel. I've just never figured out a way to make those activities come alive, aside from throwing in some random encounters.

 

[Viking Bastard]

The hook.

I've had quite a few games in which players had no interest in following the hooks I gave them to lead to the adventure in the first place, and yet once I told them "guys, just go with it" and they finally bit the hook they ended up loving the adventure.

I know this too well.

My old group just wouldn't bite, so I just gave up and let them do their thing until I found an opening to insert some plot. My new group just waits for me to hand them a juicy hook, but I just don't know how to do that properly.