This is a first stab at tackling the concepts of tropes and how they can be applied by a DM/GM to improve their favorite Role-Playing game adventures. I’d like to make this a weekly feature if it garners any interest. It sure does interest me!
For those who have read at least one of my previous post in the last week, it becomes rapidly obvious that I went absolutely nuts over the TV Tropes site. Whatever free time I had while not prepping my game or writing here was spent on that Vacuous Grimoire.
I’ve already expounded Ad nauseam on the joys of the Rule of Cool so I’ll let that one be for the moment.
What I’d like to do for starters is start with TV Tropes’ definition of a Trope and discuss how I would introduce the concept to Gaming prep.
Definition of a Trope:
Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations. If a trope gets used too much, then it becomes clichéd. The word cliché means stereotyped and trite. In other words, dull and uninteresting. (From TV Tropes)
Switch ‘writer’ for DM and ‘audience members’ for players and it applies perfectly. Your players instinctively know about tropes and have certain expectations about how an adventure should go. You can and should exploit these notions to create a stronger link between your players and the story you are unfolding for them.
The part about cliché is extremely apt for RPGs especially Fantasy RPGs. The Meet-in-the-Tavern-and-get-accosted-by-an-old-man scene has been done to death. There are other ways to introduce characters to a game. Clichés, unless Subverted (see below) or used as a humorous device, is Coolness Kryptonite. I particularly like the concept of starting a campaign in Media Res, even if it has recently blown out in my face. (And later saved by some hasty salvaging).
Have a look on the site and try to link one trope to your next game and see your player’s reaction. Believe me it’s pure gold!
Subverting a Trope
Tropes live in the minds of the audience. When a screenwriter successfully builds an expectation that a trope is coming, then wrests the situation into a very new shape, invalidating the expectation and surprising the viewer, you have a Subverted Trope. (Again from TV tropes).
That is the typical Bait and Switch approach. You build a story around saving this young princess, Heir to the Throne of Frevonia. As your player’s arrive in the Big Bad’s cave they hear screams of pain and see the girl going all Waif-Fu on the mooks saying ‘What took you so long? Come on! Baron Von Schlep just ran away! He’s mine!’.
These are all known tropes your players can relate to but they might not have been associated together in their minds at the onset of the adventure. Subverting a trope creates player engagement (as they help Suspending Disbelief) and the Switch can create a slight emotional shock/surprise that can increases the experience and make the game more interesting.
Next week I’ll start tackling some of the Tropes that were made possible by the Rule of Cool.
If you have examples you tried recently in your game, I would love to read about them, in the comments or on your own blogs!
Cliches are good! They are nuggets of instant info waiting to be customized, tricked out and redefined by you, the GM.
Here’s my favorite example — you know how the innkeeper is ALWAYS a retired adventurer? Yeah, I know. Well, what does that mean? I think it means that he has knowledge, contacts, maps, goodies and secrets which may be of use to the PCs. What if he shares that stuff with them? What if he witholds it? What if he has a quest item innocuosly hidden in a cask in the cellar? What if he’s an evil traitor on the run from his former fellow adventurers?
The beauty of cliches is that they can, and should, be re-used.
Mercilessly.
Thing his, apart from the contact thing which admittedly is a good use of a cliché,a few of your examples are subverted clichés which makes them great!
I think the line between clichés and Tropes is a fine one and relates to your group. If you mention the adventuring past of the innkeeper and everybody groans and says ‘ahhh again?’ you have a cliché on your hands. If you get a more neutral reaction, you have yourself a Trope.
I think it’s very important to consider that the players do have expectations; it’s how you handle them that makes the game intriguing.
I expect that at some time I’m going to be introduced to everyone. We’re going to be sent on a mission. Hopefully we’re successful, and we’re assigned a more important mission. But even this fairly predictable chain of events can be spiced up, especially with the subverted cliches. It’s the how it happens that should change, and it’s more fun when it does so unexpectedly.