D&D General Flip or Twist A D&D Cliche

[MGibster]

In fairness, many cliches have already been subverted at one point or another. We are, after all, approaching the 50th anniversary of D&D.

A few years back I got a hold of my uncle's D&D stuff from the late 70s. He had an adventure he had written featuring a group of LG orcs who had been converted by a cleric a few years back.

 

[Tonguez]

I made my Dwarves into Bavarians and while they mainly drank beer they preferred wine when it was available. They just didn't live in an environment where they could grow grapes easily.

Absolutely this! My dwarfs have always been Bavarian and also wear lederhosen. I have no idea where the stupid idea of Scottish dwarfs cme from.

Indeed my Dwarfs have three castes with the most common being the Holztrümmer woodcutters. Who are the ones that live in the Schwarzwald (which covers 70% of the world), cut lumber for the mines and also interact with others. The seven heroes of the snow white legend are Holztrummer. Deep Dwarfs (Steintrümmer) never come to the surface and are a grim, stoic lot who dislike non-dwarfs.

 

[TheSword]

Give the party the treasure at the start of the adventure without any effort required on their part and make keeping hold of it the challenge.

 

[fuindordm]

Cliché : zero to hero

Subversion: the PCs start at high level because they were involved in a magical cataclysm that infused them with power and corruption. They have one year to heal themselves and extinguish the source of the cataclysm or they will transform into mutated horrors. Each milestone causes them to lose a level--the goal is to be able to go back to their normal lives.

 

[MGibster]

Indeed my Dwarfs have three castes with the most common being the Holztrümmer woodcutters. Who are the ones that live in the Schwarzwald (which covers 70% of the world), cut lumber for the mines and also interact with others. The seven heroes of the snow white legend are Holztrummer. Deep Dwarfs (Steintrümmer) never come to the surface and are a grim, stoic lot who dislike non-dwarfs.

Mine was also a caste society, but farmers were special class and considered among the bravest and craziest of all dwarves. Those crazy SOB's went to the surface to do their job without any fear of falling off the earth and into the sky!

 

[Stormonu]

Cajun dwarves!

 

[Mad_Jack]

Belief Made Manifest. "I believe, therefore it is so."

Back in the old days, clerics were given their low-level spells by servants of their gods and the higher ones from the gods themselves.
But I had a cleric who could cast spells simply because he believed he could - he was so convinced he was a cleric (despite never actually having been ordained in any faith or specifying just which god he was supposedly a servant of) that his faith in his ability to cast spells was the reason he could cast spells, lol...

Years ago, I played a scholarly barbarian. Fights sent him into panic mode so he'd just fly in swinging. He despised combat, would have closed his eyes if he could have gotten away with it.

Feargol the Fearless came from a mighty barbarian tribe. But Feargol was more of a lover than a fighter, and a complete coward, and the thought of actually going into battle terrified him. So when the time came for him to face his first battle he was so nervous and scared about people finding out he was a coward he had a complete mental breakdown and charged screaming toward the enemy even before the clan leaders could blow the war horn.
The rest of the tribe had to hurry to catch up to him.
Of course, everyone in the tribe mistook this for berserker rage and insane bravery, and thought he was a great warrior.
Which is why Feargol left his tribe for a career as an "adventurer". Outside of battle, Feargol is overly cautious and pretty much a complete wuss. But as soon as it's time to fight, Feargol gets so neurotic that he works himself into a complete fugue state and can't think of anything but lashing out at the source of his anguish.

 

[Lanefan]

Cliché : zero to hero

Subversion: the PCs start at high level because they were involved in a magical cataclysm that infused them with power and corruption. They have one year to heal themselves and extinguish the source of the cataclysm or they will transform into mutated horrors. Each milestone causes them to lose a level--the goal is to be able to go back to their normal lives.

Another one that would probably get me strung up were I to try it here, unless for a gonzo one-shot.

They'd likely do everything they could to hang on to those levels by never reaching a milestone, and find some other way to "solve the game" that saw them gain levels rather than lose them.

 

[TheSword]

Trope: The adventure starts in a tavern

Subversion: The entire adventure takes part in a tavern. For a great example see ‘A Rough Night at the Three Feathers’

 

[GMMichael]

Fighting is actually dangerous. This has a side-effect twist: everyone flees when goblins show up, because goblins are known for their willingness to engage in combat, which anyone in his right mind avoids like the plague.