There are many pre-existing stereotypes in the average RPG game. Knowing them can aid in your understanding of the game, and also allow you to play against type. Some of the more common stereotypes are found below:
1. Bars: It is generally assumed that all bars will be filled with drunk guys ready to start a bar fight at the drop of a hat. The bartender will be fat and know all the rumors of the land. You can throw a change up by having the bar populated by only respected professionals in a field who never over-drink or start bar fights. The bartender can be a skinny man who has no clue what’s happening beyond the walls of his establishment.
2. Villages: It is generally assumed that all villages are small and contain everything any adventurer could ever want to buy. You can play against type by having huge and sophisticated villages filled with expert swordsmen and wizards none of which have any adventuring goods for sale.
3. Monsters: It is generally assumed that all monsters are evil and seek nothing more than the destruction of the group, all good people, and the world in general. Having monsters who can speak, or monsters who can’t speak but hold information key to the plot is a great change up. By the time the players realize they need the monster, it’s probably smashed to bits.
4. Dungeons: Most dungeons are thought to be vast underground constructions containing hoards of wealth and tons of monsters and traps. You could create a tiny dungeon with only friendly people or a forest in the shape of a dungeon to change things up a bit.
5. Villains: It is generally assumed that the villain of the story is an evil bad guy of some sort or a mindless monster. If you have the villain turn out to be a good guy, an evil guy working for the cause of good, or someone who doesn’t do things for good or evil purposes; you’ve changed the nature of the game.
6. Traps: It is generally assumed that traps are hazardous to the health. Try throwing in helpful traps such as a pit trap which leads to the next section of the dungeon or a hoard of wealth.
7. Healing Temples: Most villages are considered to have a healing temple. Usually, for a certain amount of money people can be healed here. Consider having the local temple bereft of healing magic, or the magic might be used based on the severity of condition or status rather than payment of wealth.
8. The King: Generally, people think the king is the guy in charge of the land. You can mess with this by having the king be completely broke and without any real power. Rich merchants could control the land, or perhaps the Queen controls the kingdom through her husband.
9. Guards: Guards are usually thought to be somewhat like police. If you make them all alcoholic party animals the game can change quite a bit. However, the village people might event their own sort of mob justice to compensate for the lack of regular authority.
10. Evil Lieutenants: Most villains have one or more lieutenants of lesser power than themselves. Consider having the second in command be far more competent or powerful than the leader but forced to follow and serve him for some strange means like lack of vision, family debt, honor, or sheer stupidity.
11. Goblins being Weak: Generally, there are some monsters which are considered really weak such as: goblins, kobolds, orcs, and so forth. Giving these creatures massive boosts in statistics, magic powers, and incredible tactics can make them the overlords of the galaxy.
12. Magic Items: Most magic items are considered to be beneficial. You could throw in some which are actually more trouble than they’re worth or cursed diabolically.
13. Warriors: Most warriors are considered to be strong, brave, and masters of battle. Try having a warrior with no strength, who’s incredibly cowardly, and who uses clever tactics or sneaky magic to win his battles.
14. Wizards: Wizards are usually considered to be old men with beards and staffs. Try having a young woman wizard who’s wearing plate mail and swinging a huge sword.
15. Thieves: Most thieves are considered to be slippery little Halflings with dark cloaks who steal things. Try having a handsome strong warrior who uses his political might to take what’s not his by legal means.
16. Dwarves: Dwarves are thought to live underground, be bound by honor, like to fight, and have incredible immunity to poison and such. Try having a dwarf who can’t build anything, hates the dark, is afraid to get dirty, and wants to cause peace and not war. He also shaves and likes elves.
17. Elves: Elves are usually thought to be aloof masters of the bow and woodlands. Try creating a pyromaniac elf who grows a beard, likes to party, and has no respect for the environment. He also probably likes hanging out underground with dwarves and wearing heavy armor.
18. Halflings: Halflings are generally thought to be small, like comfort, hate adventures, and love food. Try creating a Halfling who’s a rugged warrior who hates the posh life. This Halfling lifts weights, grows tall, seeks out tough situations, and smokes a cigar.
19. Gold: Normally, gold is considered to be universally valuable. Try having a land where gold is meaningless but furs are worth a ton. When the party shows up here, they’ll have to switch to a new currency in a hurry if they plan to buy anything.
20. Princesses: Normally, they are thought to be pretty and helpless. Try creating an ugly princess who’s extremely practical and knows her way around a fight. She probably swears and tries to beat up people.
21. Dragons: Generally, dragons are thought to be mean and have a lot of money. Try having a dragon who’s a humanitarian without any wealth and who goes about helping out wherever he can.
22. Experience Points: Generally, you get experience points for destroying enemies and getting tons of money. Try giving out experience points for only heroic deeds, or solely for number of dwarves captured in a pig pen sometime.
23. Jails: Generally, jails are avoided at all costs and are easily escapable by the party. Consider having a jail the party can’t escape from but which is so posh that the stay is enjoyable and everybody seeks to break the law to gain entry. Breaking the law is probably very tricky and involves giving the prominent criminal leaders a lot of money.
24. Thieves Guild: Instead of being underground and filled with thieves, try having it above ground and filled with politicians.
25. Wizard’s Academy: Usually wizards are thought to be great masters of magic with vast libraries of knowledge at their disposal. They make magic items, cast spells for a fee, and can be consulted for all kinds of useful information. Try having the local wizards be total hooligans with less common sense and knowledge than the average foot soldier. They couldn’t make a magic item if their life depended on it, and they frequently make irrational decisions.
26. Heroes’ Feasts: Generally, these are great celebrations where the players can relax and soak up the adoration of the people they just saved. Instead, you could have harsh competitions and challenges, evil forces at work, and the common people seeking to pummel the party for spare change from the last hoard they claimed.
27. Adventurer’s: Generally, adventurers are hailed as heroes and welcomed in most places. Consider having a kingdom where adventurers are thought of as a nuisance—or a problem even worse than the monsters—for the havoc they cause.
28. Shops: Generally, shops are considered to have a ton of the items you’re looking for. Consider having all the shops bereft of anything interesting, or selling good items for prices far in excess of what they’re actually worth.
29. Magic: Magic is generally considered to be reliable. Have a part of the land where magic behaves unpredictably, fails to work, or causes a great drain on the person using it. Perhaps there’s even a region where magic is increased in strength tenfold.
30. Humans: Humans are thought to be the dominant species in the campaign world. What if the players start out in a region ruled over by the dwarves, the elves, or the orcs? This could vastly change their backgrounds or they might need to just travel across such a region where a different power holds sway.
31. The Planet: What if the entire planet is made only of land with water being more valuable than gold? What if the entire planet is one big ocean with everyone travelling around on barges? What if the entire planet is a giant dungeon?
32. Technology: What if the people haven’t invented indoor plumbing, but they did invent magical spaceships? What if there are cannons and muskets? What if steel and iron haven’t been found out about yet?
1. Bars: It is generally assumed that all bars will be filled with drunk guys ready to start a bar fight at the drop of a hat. The bartender will be fat and know all the rumors of the land. You can throw a change up by having the bar populated by only respected professionals in a field who never over-drink or start bar fights. The bartender can be a skinny man who has no clue what’s happening beyond the walls of his establishment.
2. Villages: It is generally assumed that all villages are small and contain everything any adventurer could ever want to buy. You can play against type by having huge and sophisticated villages filled with expert swordsmen and wizards none of which have any adventuring goods for sale.
3. Monsters: It is generally assumed that all monsters are evil and seek nothing more than the destruction of the group, all good people, and the world in general. Having monsters who can speak, or monsters who can’t speak but hold information key to the plot is a great change up. By the time the players realize they need the monster, it’s probably smashed to bits.
4. Dungeons: Most dungeons are thought to be vast underground constructions containing hoards of wealth and tons of monsters and traps. You could create a tiny dungeon with only friendly people or a forest in the shape of a dungeon to change things up a bit.
5. Villains: It is generally assumed that the villain of the story is an evil bad guy of some sort or a mindless monster. If you have the villain turn out to be a good guy, an evil guy working for the cause of good, or someone who doesn’t do things for good or evil purposes; you’ve changed the nature of the game.
6. Traps: It is generally assumed that traps are hazardous to the health. Try throwing in helpful traps such as a pit trap which leads to the next section of the dungeon or a hoard of wealth.
7. Healing Temples: Most villages are considered to have a healing temple. Usually, for a certain amount of money people can be healed here. Consider having the local temple bereft of healing magic, or the magic might be used based on the severity of condition or status rather than payment of wealth.
8. The King: Generally, people think the king is the guy in charge of the land. You can mess with this by having the king be completely broke and without any real power. Rich merchants could control the land, or perhaps the Queen controls the kingdom through her husband.
9. Guards: Guards are usually thought to be somewhat like police. If you make them all alcoholic party animals the game can change quite a bit. However, the village people might event their own sort of mob justice to compensate for the lack of regular authority.
10. Evil Lieutenants: Most villains have one or more lieutenants of lesser power than themselves. Consider having the second in command be far more competent or powerful than the leader but forced to follow and serve him for some strange means like lack of vision, family debt, honor, or sheer stupidity.
11. Goblins being Weak: Generally, there are some monsters which are considered really weak such as: goblins, kobolds, orcs, and so forth. Giving these creatures massive boosts in statistics, magic powers, and incredible tactics can make them the overlords of the galaxy.
12. Magic Items: Most magic items are considered to be beneficial. You could throw in some which are actually more trouble than they’re worth or cursed diabolically.
13. Warriors: Most warriors are considered to be strong, brave, and masters of battle. Try having a warrior with no strength, who’s incredibly cowardly, and who uses clever tactics or sneaky magic to win his battles.
14. Wizards: Wizards are usually considered to be old men with beards and staffs. Try having a young woman wizard who’s wearing plate mail and swinging a huge sword.
15. Thieves: Most thieves are considered to be slippery little Halflings with dark cloaks who steal things. Try having a handsome strong warrior who uses his political might to take what’s not his by legal means.
16. Dwarves: Dwarves are thought to live underground, be bound by honor, like to fight, and have incredible immunity to poison and such. Try having a dwarf who can’t build anything, hates the dark, is afraid to get dirty, and wants to cause peace and not war. He also shaves and likes elves.
17. Elves: Elves are usually thought to be aloof masters of the bow and woodlands. Try creating a pyromaniac elf who grows a beard, likes to party, and has no respect for the environment. He also probably likes hanging out underground with dwarves and wearing heavy armor.
18. Halflings: Halflings are generally thought to be small, like comfort, hate adventures, and love food. Try creating a Halfling who’s a rugged warrior who hates the posh life. This Halfling lifts weights, grows tall, seeks out tough situations, and smokes a cigar.
19. Gold: Normally, gold is considered to be universally valuable. Try having a land where gold is meaningless but furs are worth a ton. When the party shows up here, they’ll have to switch to a new currency in a hurry if they plan to buy anything.
20. Princesses: Normally, they are thought to be pretty and helpless. Try creating an ugly princess who’s extremely practical and knows her way around a fight. She probably swears and tries to beat up people.
21. Dragons: Generally, dragons are thought to be mean and have a lot of money. Try having a dragon who’s a humanitarian without any wealth and who goes about helping out wherever he can.
22. Experience Points: Generally, you get experience points for destroying enemies and getting tons of money. Try giving out experience points for only heroic deeds, or solely for number of dwarves captured in a pig pen sometime.
23. Jails: Generally, jails are avoided at all costs and are easily escapable by the party. Consider having a jail the party can’t escape from but which is so posh that the stay is enjoyable and everybody seeks to break the law to gain entry. Breaking the law is probably very tricky and involves giving the prominent criminal leaders a lot of money.
24. Thieves Guild: Instead of being underground and filled with thieves, try having it above ground and filled with politicians.
25. Wizard’s Academy: Usually wizards are thought to be great masters of magic with vast libraries of knowledge at their disposal. They make magic items, cast spells for a fee, and can be consulted for all kinds of useful information. Try having the local wizards be total hooligans with less common sense and knowledge than the average foot soldier. They couldn’t make a magic item if their life depended on it, and they frequently make irrational decisions.
26. Heroes’ Feasts: Generally, these are great celebrations where the players can relax and soak up the adoration of the people they just saved. Instead, you could have harsh competitions and challenges, evil forces at work, and the common people seeking to pummel the party for spare change from the last hoard they claimed.
27. Adventurer’s: Generally, adventurers are hailed as heroes and welcomed in most places. Consider having a kingdom where adventurers are thought of as a nuisance—or a problem even worse than the monsters—for the havoc they cause.
28. Shops: Generally, shops are considered to have a ton of the items you’re looking for. Consider having all the shops bereft of anything interesting, or selling good items for prices far in excess of what they’re actually worth.
29. Magic: Magic is generally considered to be reliable. Have a part of the land where magic behaves unpredictably, fails to work, or causes a great drain on the person using it. Perhaps there’s even a region where magic is increased in strength tenfold.
30. Humans: Humans are thought to be the dominant species in the campaign world. What if the players start out in a region ruled over by the dwarves, the elves, or the orcs? This could vastly change their backgrounds or they might need to just travel across such a region where a different power holds sway.
31. The Planet: What if the entire planet is made only of land with water being more valuable than gold? What if the entire planet is one big ocean with everyone travelling around on barges? What if the entire planet is a giant dungeon?
32. Technology: What if the people haven’t invented indoor plumbing, but they did invent magical spaceships? What if there are cannons and muskets? What if steel and iron haven’t been found out about yet?
