Reinventing fantasy cliches

[Rechan]

- Stop the local orc tribe from attacking the village

I did this one with the cliche of "misunderstood"; human barbarians were raiding farms and burning them down - but they weren't killing anyone. It got to the point that the local lord had to ask some adventurers to make it stop.

Adventurers investigate. Only to discover that the tribe's leader, a 14 year old half-orc girl, had been corresponding via mail with the local lord's son. But when she sent a sketch of herself, the lord's son stopped sending letters back. She was crushed her pen pal didn't want her anymore, and wanted him to acknowledge her.

The PCs didn't have to fight them; the party's barbarian/bard wrote a ballad for the girl, about how she was all hot and a prince would sweep her away. She ate it up.

If I wanted to twist it a little further, a third party could have intercepted the correspondence, in order to push the conflict.

 

[LoneWolf23]

A great idea to subvert a standard fantasy cliche would be to set the PCs up to stop the return of the "rightful" king to a newly democratic state that is enjoying peace, prosperity, and freedom without him. And the king's not evil; he's actually a Paladin who wants to restore the old feudal order. Of course, if the king is restored he'll do away with wicked, Chaotic things like elections, trail by jury (instead of ordeal), equality for women, etc.

Take that, Tolkien!

Well, if he's a Paladin, he should be a bit more open-minded to the rights of the people. Perhaps a compromise could be settled upon... How about a Constitutional Monarchy?

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Rechan wrote:
Adventurers investigate. Only to discover that the tribe's leader, a 14 year old half-orc girl, had been corresponding via mail with the local lord's son. But when she sent a sketch of herself, the lord's son stopped sending letters back. She was crushed her pen pal didn't want her anymore, and wanted him to acknowledge her.

The PCs didn't have to fight them; the party's barbarian/bard wrote a ballad for the girl, about how she was all hot and a prince would sweep her away. She ate it up.

That's cool. I think I'd really enjoy playing in your games, Rechan.

LoneWolf23 wrote:
Well, if he's a Paladin, he should be a bit more open-minded to the rights of the people. Perhaps a compromise could be settled upon... How about a Constitutional Monarchy?

That'd be the compromise I'd aim for as a PC. Of course the paladin might not go for it. They may believe, with perfect justification, that a monarch should not be encumbered by such things lest the monarch's ability to do what is right be hampered. Monarch knows best.

A couple of years back we were playing updated versions of D1,2,3. Before going down into the underdark my 8 wisdom bard made sure to get as much earthquake causing magic as he could get his hands on. Suspicious GM asked why. I replied: "Step 1, gather earthquake magic. Step 3rofit!" He didn't get it.

 

[Inez Hull]

My favourite spin on the Chosen One cliche is R Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series. Essentially the chosen one is just faking it and manipulating propechy for his own motives, but by the end is starting to believe his own BS.


Some spins on the normal fantasy tropes I tried in a homebrew world were:

- The elves were created by the gods to be caretakers of the world (yeah, nothing new there!)

- After a cataclysm the gods were destroyed and the elves made mortal. They decided to follow in the steps of the gods and create a caretaker race who will eventually replace them.

- Their first experiments resulted in the creation of the goblinoid races.

- A race of aliens possessing high intelligence and technology arrive as refugees from another world but crash their ship stranding them. The elves see these beings as the perfect candidate for a replacement caretaker race. However miscommunication leads to conflict and the aliens flee and hide in caverns near their crash site. Exposure to radiation from both the wreckage of their ship and minerals of the planet unfamiliar to their physiology leads to mutation. The aliens carve out a home under the ground and adapt to their mutations and eventually become the dwarves.

- The elves failure to recruit the aliens sees them capture some and use them as a template for the creation of a replacement caretaker race. This results in the creation of humans. The elves share all their knowledge with humanity who then decide that they have not wish to take on the responsibilities the elves have in mind for them.

- Despite the elves being well intentioned their actions have resulted in hostility from the other races. The Goblinoid races act out like rejected children and seek to destroy their disappointed parents. However due to a sense of guilt the elves continually cede ground rather than fight back. The Dwarves distrust the elves and do not permit them to enter their territory. The Humans view the elves as despots from whom they have liberated themselves. Whilst there is not active aggression a cold war of hostilty exists.

- Due to the lack of gods, arcane magic has taken on religious significance amongst humanity. A church of magic exists and the ability to wield magic inherently (sorcery) is seen as a divine gift. A rebel faction who seek to teach magic to anyone capable of mastering the structures of magic through mental discipline and training (wizardry) are hunted are killed as heretics.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"Strange ladies lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for an electoral system."

I once used a fey who started off the encounter by lobbing a sword near the party on the shore...it landed point first into the lakebed just a yard or so off shore.

There was much rejoicing...

Then she kept throwing weapons. It seems that her kind hunted fresh meat that way...

I've noticed that to some extent, a game needs some sort of monster or race that is Irredeemably Evil.

It doesn't need to be a race. A band of brigands, a barbarian horde under the thrall of a charismatic warlord, an enemy nation, etc., will do the job just as well.

However, its common enough it could be considered a Trope or Cliche.

Consider how many places it shows up- you even see it in HG Wells, for instance. In his Time Machine, for instance, we get the classic Morlocks- degenerate subterranean humans who enslave and feed upon the beautiful Eloi. (Almost sounds like a point of inspiration for the struggle between Drow and Elves, doesn't it?)

 

[Rechan]

It doesn't need to be a race. A band of brigands, a barbarian horde under the thrall of a charismatic warlord, an enemy nation, etc., will do the job just as well.

No. Brigands and barbarian hordes can be redeemed. That's different than what CANNOT. Irredeemable EVIL is different than just some greedy or savage people.

Consider how many places it shows up- you even see it in HG Wells, for instance. In his Time Machine, for instance, we get the classic Morlocks- degenerate subterranean humans who enslave and feed upon the beautiful Eloi. (Almost sounds like a point of inspiration for the struggle between Drow and Elves, doesn't it?)

Honestly, I always thought the murlocks were Grimlocks.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

No. Brigands and barbarian hordes can be redeemed.

Not all of them.

If you look at history, most barbarian hordes of note rise up, go on a rampage, then get either civilized or beaten back into the wilderlands from which they emerged and become quieted down...

Only to emerge again a few decades later, under a new unifying warlord.

And few are the brigands who are even given the chance to redeem themselves once brought before the law. Usually, their options were emprisonment or death, not community service.

 

[Rechan]

Okay, I can see that we're just going to have to agree to disagree.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Fair enough and can do!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A great idea to subvert a standard fantasy cliche would be to set the PCs up to stop the return of the "rightful" king to a newly democratic state that is enjoying peace, prosperity, and freedom without him. And the king's not evil; he's actually a Paladin who wants to restore the old feudal order.

I thought I mentioned this one before, but I forgot:

Captain Carrot of the Ankh-Morpork Watch (Terry Pratchett's Discworld books) fits that description to a "T." He's got the heritage making him the rightful king of Ankh-Morpork & birthmark to prove it.

However, he has no interest in overthrowing the current regime and restoring the monarchy.