Turning Tired Tropes on their Ears

melinden · July 2013

So I'm hoping to get started on my next quest here shortly and after playing a ton of foundries and reading here, I thought it might be good to talk about some tropes and trends that are getting a little tired. Since a lot of people here have played way more than I have, you are probably seeing more of these. I'd like to avoid using these in my work and it would be nice to know what other people feel is being overused.

Here's what I've seen so far:

-The "Villain Sue" has its own thread, but that seems to be one

-I'm seeing a lot of useless/ditzy women NPCs. Every author has the right to make their characters the way they want, (and certainly there are idiots of all kinds out there) but as a woman player who is also playing a woman in the game, it's getting a little old. These days half the players are likely to be women and you don't want to irritate your audience.

-Same Enemies reskinned: Part of this is the fact that we have a limited library of single encounter mobs. Even so, I am getting tired of seeing Flamespikers dressed up. Whenever I see those three red circles show up on the ground, I just groan "And here we go -AGAIN-." Hopefully this will improve when the new material comes out

-Bosses: This is SO standard in gaming it seems odd to bring it up. But I have enjoyed the quests without the standard Boss fight at the end as something original and unexpected

What else is getting a little tired and worn out?

alorayuy · July 2013

Only thing that's getting a little tired and worn out for me is simply the "start in a tavern and do some basic mission at the tavern-keep's request." I did a bunch of those when I played table-top and it certainly is getting old for me just by that.

I personally love the Foundry quests that take something and tweak it. I don't remember the name of the quest, but it was the one where you were asked to go to a sorcerer's tower, but the sorcerer was in the body of a cat, and the little town leading up to the tower was all messed up; the author set up boards and rocks on walls to look like faces, and inside the tower it was kinda messed up, too. I loved that, thought it was a wonderful creative use of the assets available to us.

I will agree with you on the ditzy women NPC's thing. I also am a woman gamer so I like seeing strong women (like that hot chick from Uncharted 2) in games. I'm not quite with you on the bosses thing, but I'm also a tried and true RPG fan, so I look forward to that challenging fight at the end. ^^;

redneckronin · July 2013

alorayuy wrote: »

I personally love the Foundry quests that take something and tweak it. I don't remember the name of the quest, but it was the one where you were asked to go to a sorcerer's tower, but the sorcerer was in the body of a cat, and the little town leading up to the tower was all messed up; the author set up boards and rocks on walls to look like faces, and inside the tower it was kinda messed up, too. I loved that, thought it was a wonderful creative use of the assets available to us.

Bonderleaf's Thorough Aggregator by @mrthebozer.

One of the best quests out there IMO, in my top 5.

All The Best

mrthebozer · July 2013

I definitely would not count "same enemies reskinned." Many enemies get recycled even in the official content, so it is painfully hard to avoid, and authors shouldn't feel pressured to avoid an encounter that works just because it is a popular choice. Rather, measure by how well the reskin works in context. And as you said, hopefully time and an expanded library will resolve this.

on to the list: The Obvious Traitor. Double points if they are the quest-giver. Typical early warning signs are requests to help with a totally harmless ritual, frequent need to correct a casual slip of the tongue, and an uncharacteristic short temper. Beware going down this route: your audience will see right through it, and spend the quest frustrated they can't call out the obvious b.s.

lonnehart · July 2013

melinden wrote: »

-The "Villain Sue" has its own thread, but that seems to be one

Villain Sue is one of a number or characters called "Mary Sue". A character who's so perfect she steals the spotlight from everyone else. That's how I see it as there's no concrete definition of this person. Sometimes perfect in every way, other times trying to be perfectly imperfect, this character has the attention of all the other characters in the story... more attention than anyone else. Mustly used by Fanfic authors... they inject themselves in to a fictional work and attempt to godmode their character.

So you could say that the Villain Sue is godmoding being a villain, somehow thwarting the hero effortlessly even though it should not be possible for them to do so.

savagedeacon · July 2013

melinden wrote: »

What else is getting a little tired and worn out?

I am tired of the old and abused trope of a group of scientists, explorers, tomb raiders,adventurers, whatever that got lost while exploring old ruins. What happened to them and/or what lurks in the ruins?

Tower of the Lost Wizards: NW-DSE9JPUCV

A group of freelance loot....er, um, academic professionals would like you to explore an old Tower to Azuth in the ruins of Neverwinter. What happened to these wizards when their god was killed?

dzogen · July 2013

go find me [random object]
fight stuff
thank you for finding me [random object]
win

is every quest giver in neverwinter so lazy? go do ur own quest, frinko.

thalazar1 · July 2013

If done poorly or if they feel forced, they are all tiresome and tedious. But if done right, clever, unique, or tried and true format they are all enjoyable. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for them.

Turning Tired Tropes on their Ears

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