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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Johnny Angel" data-source="post: 7756986" data-attributes="member: 13334">The Evil Overlord list is about all the tropes that lead to Evil's downfall. But the hero's version of the list mentions all kinds of tropes that heroes actually get away with, and which attracts us to them all the more. There are things that heroes do in stories that are not part of their charm or a moral system that makes them heroic that nonetheless frustrate us because they're cheap means of creating problems. I don't see splitting up the party as being that big a problem outside of RPGs. I can't recall a TV show where the sub-group without the thief winds up needing a trap disarmed. But in RPGs you are always compromising a balance built into a game and into encounters. In other media, the encounters are tailored with the make up of the smaller party in mind. Really, what you need is a rule more like:One of the tropes that pisses me off royally is what I think of as the 'friendly foil' - an ally who is a source of the problems the hero has to solve. Think, for example, of Jack on MacGuyver. Or any woman on MacGuyver. The writers of that show were obsessed with the idea that women are stupid and cause all the problems by not letting men handle everything. Also, consider Angel on the Rockford Files. All I want to see from a Rockford Files reboot is Rockford choking Angel to death and throwing him in a sausage press. How about a rule like:The list mentions gloating. Gloating is not a heroic trope. Heroes quip, and they get away with it. Heroes get in trouble for prematurely letting their guard down. How about something like:Also,</blockquote>

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