What traditional fantasy conventions are you tired of?

[Kanegrundar]

I tend to adhere to standard fantasy and D&D conventions, but there are a few things that I change in my games:

1. There are only 4 gods. Three of them are considered "true" dieties, and the last one is worshipped as the "one true god" by their followers. Kinda like the opening days of Christianity in Pagan Rome. The three true gods don't have a set alignment (more on that later), but the faiths are worshipped differently by different faiths. Taelwara, a nature goddess, is a peaceful diety in some sects and a vengeful god in others. Just because someone is a follower of the Judge doesn't mean they are going to see their god the same way. It is a rare day that the gods do anything visible in the world.

2. Alignments are eliminated. This is an experiment, but so far so good.

3. There are only a handful of subraces of each major race. No Moss Elves or Limestone Dwarves.

4. All sorts of classes from various products, but some are only readily available for characters from a specific region. No samurai or ninja from non-asian cultures, for instance.

5. Magic is feared. Yeah, it's there, but many of the great villains in the world's history used magic to gain their power and fuel their wickedness, so mages need to keep their craft secret.

Kane

 

[Desdichado]

Also, Joshua doesn't let his players drink soda at the game; he forces them to guzzle radioactive acid.

What a wild exaggeration! Radioactive acid?! Nah, plain ole sulfuric acid from my used car batteries is just fine.

So, when can I join your group?

You live anywhere near Detroit?

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

My most-hated traditional fantasy convention hasn't changed from the last time this topic came around.

It's that damn "Golden Age of Magic and Heroes." You know, how years and years ago magic was everywhere and all-powerful and there were flying cities and life was SO MUCH BETTER until the catastrophe came and all the cities crashed and the powerful old magic was lost and the best thing anyone can do is to rediscover that old knowledge, blah blah blah.

It's irritating. Where are the settings where progress is actually, y'know, PROGRESS, and not just digging up wondrous relics of the Lost Golden Age? Where society has improved, developed, and become more sophisticated than its ancestors? Where people are actually pushing the boundaries and learning new things?

--
maybe we should blame the elves
ryan

 

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

1. Elves being noble. In my homebrew world I'm creating, Elves are stinking, disorganized gypsies. (Elves are my favourite D&D race, and they're still the most progressive of all of the D&D races, but they're powerless and completely disrespected)

2. Orcs being evil. Just because they're evil in Tolkien doesn't mean they always have to be evil.

3. Alignment. In General. It just doesn't make sense and restricts the storytelling and roleplaying aspects of the game.

4. Elves and Dwarves hating each other.

 

[der_kluge]

Racial stereotypes. The idea that halflings tend towards rogue, or that elves all like magic is just bizarre to me. I've dropped that like a lead balloon.


Living underground. I just never understood how you could have a viable ecology underground. In my next campaign, I intend to remove dwarves altogether.

Class hit dice. I've never understood why every fighter gets d10 hit dice, regardless of the race, or that ever wizard has d4 hit dice, even if it's a half-orc, or dragon for that matter. I'd like to try to implement a racial hit dice system, in which all halflings get d4 hit dice, regardless of class. Of course, this creates huge balance problems that I'd have to resolve. But it would make a lot more sense to me.

 

[Arnwyn]

• What's up with the New Age, egalitarian quasi-medieval social structures and technologies all the time?
• Magic is a wondrous and useful tool.

So, what conventions are you tired of?

Yeah, it would be those two.

Other than that, my group is all about the stereotypes and "tropes". Love 'em.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I certainly do not allow half fiends, half dragons or anything as a PC race that would be disruptive.

I am also pretty sick of d02 bashing.

 

[Jaws]

• Magic is a wondrous and useful tool. Eh, sorta. In my campaign setting, we use the d20 Call of Cthulhu magic, including Sanity. Magic can save your life in a pinch, but unless you're already insane, you tend to avoid it for the most part.

I want to read more about how you are doing this.

I am also pretty sick of d02 bashing.

You know it.


Mayhem and scowls

j.

 

[Desdichado]

(double post)

 

[Desdichado]

I want to read more about how you are doing this.

Not hard; I replaced all the spellcasting classes with other classes that, er, don't have a spellcasting progression. So, for class options, I have fighter, barbarian and rogue (from the SRD), Wildlander and Defender (from Midnight), Swashbuckler (modified from the Unfettered in AU), the Courier (from Rokugan) and the Hunter (from Path of the Sword by FFG.) Tack on Sanity from UA or Call of Cthulhu, and you're good to go. The only spells so far that any PCs know are from the CoC book, but I've already got a few in my back pocket that are modified from regular D&D spells; essentially just tossing a cost on them in both Sanity and ability damage. We're also working up a class very loosely based on the hexblade that is better able to withstand the rigors of spellcasting without going all limp and crazy whenever he learns or casts spells, but with the caveat that he gains corruptions of various types as he progresses. But that's still a work in progress based on some discussions with my players. My initial intention was to simply use CoC style magic that anyone could learn for a price.