The Grand List of Game Cliches

This is oh so much more complete, and infinitely more brilliant than my cliche poll. This has within it the fundemental laws of RPGs, regarding stereotypes of companies, gamers, and even game rules. It is awesome in every one of it's rpg aspects.

http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/rpgcliches.html

 

So far made it 1/2 way though the list.
Sad how many of those are true...

 

I know, it is sad! What's sadder is that I don't NEED the description for half of those. The most pathetic one's the manslut. The old guy inlarping with the ponytail and beard who chases skirts the entire time that is... you'd think when you're old you get to retire in dignity while chastising the young folk about their satan-games.

Somehow, the image of my cranky grandpa larping makes me very sad. Not to say it wouldn't be the funniest thing I'd ever seen in my life, considering he'd end up just calling everyone commies and talking about how wrong they are between swigs of some drink he smuggled in, but I do believe in a maximum age for larping. Ideally about 30.

 

I'd put that cap at 25 myself.

 

Well, 25'd work too. I said 30 because it's the age I suspect I'ma go have a middle-age crisis, wherein I shall decide to be a proffessional bungie jumper. FROM AN AIRPLANE.

But, I have two additions to the list, which I think are not covered.

Sloth: Incapable of using dice and keeping track of character progression for more than five minutes. Often uses the phrase "I hate doing all this paperwork stuff.".

Not to be confused with

Kelvin the Fighter: Does not appear to even think all that much beyond "I kill it. What'd I get?". Requires frequent reminders as to the purpose of the dice, coin, or whatever other random element is being used in place of dice. Often a gateway personality to munchkins and backstabbers.

(Kelvin, for those of you who don't recognise it, shame on you, is infamous for it's 0 being the temperature at which all molecular activity STOPS.)

 

Only thing worse than being a gamer cliche' is discovering you've become a stereotype you truly dispised.

 

The one about a character complaining his way out of death happens to me a lot. Basically, around the third time, I say, "Get the **** over it."

They die.

 

Heh, I had one player break down & cry when her character got killed. She ran from the table & pouted for about an hour.

Would be one thing if she was 10, but she was 28 at the time.

 

You're kidding. She cried? Like with the lip thing and everything?

...Dear god, how long did she spend with that character? Cause if the character took, like, weeks to prepare and had been used at every game, I might understand.

 

"Tavern Rule #1. In fantasy games, player characters usually not only start the campaign in a tavern or inn, but immediately become best friends. As with the Tolkien Law, this is one of the oldest cliches in existence...pretty much every fantasy gamemaster has used it. "

Guilty as charged. As much as I wracked my brain, I couldn't think of a another way to start the game, a real reason for the PCs to team up, or why they became such fast freinds. But the players didn't mind.

I also hand out too much xp, and I do try very hard not to kill them (for example, having a monster attack the strongest living player instead of the dying one.), but our group is very causal, and most of the fun stuff happens at a higher level.

 

about 12 game sessions over 4 month period. She was really flakey as a gamer and missed a bunch.
And yes, full burst out blubbery tears, snuffles, runny nose, etc.

 

Heh, only 12 sessions...

Mercenary, maybe you should try a horror-themed game. It's short, sweet, and since players have multiple characters, you can be as cruel and sadistic as you please.

As for the tavern rule... it's absolutely true, I've done it myself.

 

Yeah, the tavern is an oldie.
I like to start them off as caravan guards, have them deal with bandits or a monster attack. That way they have a reason to know each other and to have learned who the other players are.

In SW, of course, they're usually rebels, to the alliance put them together as a group of random people who hopefully have the skills to complete the mission.

Mercenary: YOu might also like Paranoia. The Computer really is out to get you...

 

Don't get me wrongo-I don't like to kill player characters-I was mostly commenting on how I try to give the player what the need so we can get the characters we brain-stormed. I'm just too nice.
(of course, it would be nice if the various guides could give me some kind of chart saying how much exp should be given based on charater level and actions involved. Or, at least, the exp worth of certian monsters)

Course, maybe I should look into a horror system, I did have a pc who mainly set up traps.

 

I remember some old books called "Traps" "More Traps" and so on which had some really cute D&D style traps I'm sure you could modify. D20 Modern and Call of Cthulhu should set you up for good horror rpg. I still like the old NightLife game, but almost no one has ever heard of it, much less played it.

 

The horror system we use has the bare minimum of rules. It's more storytelling than anything else.

The rules are as follows:

Players are allowed 5 charracters.
GM may kill up to 4 of a players characters, aggreed in advance which one is safe from harm. (Bearing in mind that if that one does something stupid, it will still die.)
PCs may only use average people (Carpenters, bartenders, etc.) as characters.
Players are provided a map of the grounds by GM, minus any hidden areas (whether or not you include furniture is up to you).

Reality is warped beyond recognition in this world, preconcieved notions of how things work may not always help you.

Best of all, the nature of the system cuts out munchkins, power-gamers, and backstabbers.