D&D 5E Which played-out D&D trope needs to die?

[Paul Farquhar]

Tropes exist for a reason. It's clumsily trying to subvert tropes that is likely to cause a narrative problem.

"[noun] killed my parents!"

I have a hard rule that both of your parents are alive and well. You must come up with a better rationale for adventuring.

This is a case in point. If someone has a stable happy homelife it doesn't make much sense for them to throw it all away and become an adventurer.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Paladin: “I’m a hidden prince whose Mom & Dad are alive. It’s just that Mom & Dad are the evil Witch Queen and Sorcerer King,”

Another way I subverted the trope was running a character who was an old, retired adventuress. Her village (though luckily, not her whole family) was wiped out, and she’s seeking revenge. But it had been so many decades since she last used her skills that she’s a bit rusty,

 

[Azuresun]

I think the internet board trope "This trope is cliche/played out" is totally played out. With respect to FRPGs - the trope is played out for whom? There are new people coming into the hobby all the time. Maybe it's not played out for them, just for the grizzled veterans with dead souls.

Indeed. Jaded old bittervets are hard to impress with anything that isn't novel enough to rouse a spark of interest; new players are much more amenable to the old standbys....and generally seem to be having much more fun.

Worth noting that the first season of Critical Role had a dumb barbarian, an edgy assassin, a horny bard, a pure-hearted cleric, and two angsty half-elves with daddy issues. Their big adversaries included mind flayers, a beholder, a bunch of evil dragons, a vampire and a lich. Turned out people didn't mind how "cliched" all that was.

Having hooks the GM can tug on doesn't equate to railroading. Eliminating player agency is railroading. If the PC has a family and the GM dangles something bad happening to them in front of the player, it's up to them to bite or leave it. It's a really odd notion that if you don't have a family the GM somehow can't railroad you. The GM is perfectly capable of railroading the little orphan character. It's opting out of your character being connected to the world and saying no thank you to potential adventures. Which is an odd choice to make...for an adventurer.

I think a lot of it is learned aversion, from GM's who see a family or loved one in a PC's backstory and immediately start planning how they're going to get killed off, kidnapped or turn out to be evil.

I'm a badass, you're a badass, she's a badass, everybody's a badass. I played a vulnerable character once and it was badass.

Definitely this! One thing I've come to realise from RPG's and freeform storytelling is that uncool characters are generally more fun and make for better stories. Put aside your fear of looking dumb, and just allow your character to be surprised, impressed, scared or foolish every now and then. You'd be surprised how much more likeable and interesting they become. The same goes for DM's--having NPC's be impressed or scared by the players goes a long way!

 

[RobJN]

You're all wake up and have no idea how you got there.

I can't remember how many times in and out of game this has happened to me.

So.. you're saying you just woke up and don't know how you got there?

 

[Aldarc]

I think the internet board trope "This trope is cliche/played out" is totally played out. With respect to FRPGs - the trope is played out for whom? There are new people coming into the hobby all the time. Maybe it's not played out for them, just for the grizzled veterans with dead souls.

For starters, several of these tropes listed, including meeting in a tavern, was already played out for my partner who had never touched a TTRPG in their life before we played one together around the start of the pandemic lockdown.

This is a case in point. If someone has a stable happy homelife it doesn't make much sense for them to throw it all away and become an adventurer.

This seems like an obvious point, but your parents being alive doesn't mean that you have a "stable happy homelife." It only means that your parents are alive.

Every adventurer having dead parents/being an orphan gets tiring.

That trope where a band of homeless, homicidal orphans is somehow expected to save the world.

This is one reason why I have increasingly gravitated towards more localized RPGs that presume the PCs belong to a particular town or village and that they have family-like connections there: e.g., Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures (OSR), Dolmenwood (OSR), Stonetop (PbtA), etc. Adventure play generally focuses on the area around the village rather than some huge sprawling map that spans the continent or world.

In my own D&D games, it's why I often use Fallcrest in the Nentir Vale as the starting location and ask PCs who their people are there and/or why they call this place home.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

The problem with deep, connected PC backstories is that they are sometimes not conducive to adventuring. Your party is made up of the village mayor, the local priest, the local wizard and the village man-at-arm? Great, you'll have a motivation to investigate the caravan that's suspiciously late for your people to sell their harvest and buy necessary products. You'll be the first one to resolve the zombie in the cemetary problem... But when you've to leave, because there is no reason your hamlet is the center of the world... "can't go, who will perform wedding ceremonies? Sorry, I am needed to ensure the tavern is peaceful... let's offload this necessary quest for the greater good on a passing band of homeless, homicidal adventurers (so they will put their homicidal tendancies to good use ELSEWHERE, eventually after testing them by asking them to clear a basement from rats).

While I like players to come up with connection, I generally give a general theme of the campaign and ask for background to be motivators to adventuring. I feel it might contribute to promote backstories with few/no connections because players will feel more natural to be wandering heroes rather than "location-bound".

 

[Aldarc]

The problem with deep, connected PC backstories is that they are sometimes not conducive to adventuring. Your party is made up of the village mayor, the local priest, the local wizard and the village man-at-arm? Great, you'll have a motivation to investigate the caravan that's suspiciously late for your people to sell their harvest and buy necessary products. You'll be the first one to resolve the zombie in the cemetary problem... But when you've to leave, because there is no reason your hamlet is the center of the world... "can't go, who will perform wedding ceremonies? Sorry, I am needed to ensure the tavern is peaceful... let's offload this necessary quest for the greater good on a passing band of homeless, homicidal adventurers (so they will put their homicidal tendancies to good use ELSEWHERE, eventually after testing them by asking them to clear a basement from rats).

While I like players to come up with connection, I generally give a general theme of the campaign and ask for background to be motivators to adventuring.

I feel like this is a "problem" that is detached from how these sort of stories actually play out in the games that have them.

 

[turnip_farmer]

Jesus - I'm thinking you people would not like most of my games!

I'd write more, but I'm busy figuring out ways for these adventurers in a tavern to learn about the cosmic threat posed by the evil cultists' plot to open a portal to hell.

 

[Dragonsbane]

The touched by a god PC (demigod, union with a power, etc), especially without asking the DM / knowing the setting's gods

The circus party (a bizarre mix of PC species that would never go unchallenged in most human settlements)

The opposite PC (intelligent barbarian, good tiefling/drow, evil aasimar, chaotic modron, etc)

 

[AtomicPope]

Tropes exist for a reason. It's clumsily trying to subvert tropes that is likely to cause a narrative problem.


This is a case in point. If someone has a stable happy homelife it doesn't make much sense for them to throw it all away and become an adventurer.

Disagree. It means there's a much better reason to fight and live for another day.