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Reinventing fantasy cliches
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<blockquote data-quote="tzor" data-source="post: 4151288" data-attributes="member: 12826"><p>I don’t think you want to eliminate clichés but I think you need to consider them as cards in your hand or as moves you make in chess. It is the context and use of the clichés that keep the game exciting and fresh. Properly used clichés can allow players to focus on the key elements in the plot which might either not be a cliché or might be a rarely encountered one.</p><p></p><p>In one sense a DM’s plot is a lot like a chess game (ignoring the fact that a role playing game is a cooperative experience typically the DM will have a number of plots up his or her sleeve and the idea to keep the game fresh is to make it as though it becomes fresh and exciting for the players) and the cliché is one of may possible moves. The trick is not in the use of the cliché itself but to avoid having the cliché become obvious one after the other as though the whole thing is predictable.</p><p></p><p>Consider the old cliché of “You meet at an inn.” Now consider the second old cliché of “You meet someone at an inn.” So far we have a standard opening gambit of a plot chess move. The trick is to slip in variety of the plot. What if the person the party meets wasn’t looking for the party? What if the person the party meets was supposed to be a trap for some other party? Duck … Duck … Penguin! (Were you expecting Goose?) Without some clichés the plot becomes a session of paranoia, but with them they become comfort zones where the players can relax long enough to be caught with a surprise in the plot.</p><p></p><p>This is why inverted clichés don’t in and of themselves work. They in fact become clichés. The urban elf and the good drow are all literally done to death. That isn’t to say that the inverted cliché can’t be used, but like the cards in your cliché deck they are just like any other.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tzor, post: 4151288, member: 12826"] I don’t think you want to eliminate clichés but I think you need to consider them as cards in your hand or as moves you make in chess. It is the context and use of the clichés that keep the game exciting and fresh. Properly used clichés can allow players to focus on the key elements in the plot which might either not be a cliché or might be a rarely encountered one. In one sense a DM’s plot is a lot like a chess game (ignoring the fact that a role playing game is a cooperative experience typically the DM will have a number of plots up his or her sleeve and the idea to keep the game fresh is to make it as though it becomes fresh and exciting for the players) and the cliché is one of may possible moves. The trick is not in the use of the cliché itself but to avoid having the cliché become obvious one after the other as though the whole thing is predictable. Consider the old cliché of “You meet at an inn.” Now consider the second old cliché of “You meet someone at an inn.” So far we have a standard opening gambit of a plot chess move. The trick is to slip in variety of the plot. What if the person the party meets wasn’t looking for the party? What if the person the party meets was supposed to be a trap for some other party? Duck … Duck … Penguin! (Were you expecting Goose?) Without some clichés the plot becomes a session of paranoia, but with them they become comfort zones where the players can relax long enough to be caught with a surprise in the plot. This is why inverted clichés don’t in and of themselves work. They in fact become clichés. The urban elf and the good drow are all literally done to death. That isn’t to say that the inverted cliché can’t be used, but like the cards in your cliché deck they are just like any other. [/QUOTE]
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