Freelance GM
2015-01-11, 11:54 AM
So, I DM a lot, and every time I try to teach a new DM, the pitch for their first campaign almost always begins with, "I'm gonna base it on Zelda!"
Like, possibly more than 70% of the time. It's like companions telling the Doctor his TARDIS is "bigger on the inside."
Now, MacGuffin quests are fun and all every so often, but sometimes DM's and players crave something more. It seems like there's a pendulum swinging back and forth in every DM's head, trying to find a balance between original material and classic fantasy plots.
But sometimes, it's fun to embrace the cliches and just go full, 100% distilled classic.
Here's my question: What's the most fun you've had with an overtly cliche plot? As a player and as a DM?
I'm not just talking about a factory standard-issue Zelda-inspired MacGuffin quest- I mean any of the following classics/cliches:
Meeting the rest of the party in a tavern.
Anything with dungeons based on the four classical elements. Extra credit if they were the resting places of 4 elemental macguffins.
Anything that involves the retrieval or destruction of a single MacGuffin, such as the One Ring or Glowing Briefcase.
Saving a damsel in distress. Extra credit if the captor is the main villain, she's locked in a tower, and/or there is a dragon involved.
Orcs raiding a small frontier village, which the players must defend. Bonus points if it's Seven Samurai-inspired.
A Dark Lord returning from the brink of death to resume his plan of world-dominaton, all Sauron/Voldemort style.
A banished god/Demon Lord gaining enough power to invade the world, like Tharizdun, DA:O's Archdemon, or Abaddon in GW: Nightfall
A corrupt kingdom invading its peaceful neighbors.
A brooding lich raising an undead army to take over the world, all Black Cauldron style.
Uniting several races/kingdoms against a single threat, like in Mass Effect/Dragon Age. Double points if it's because of one of the previous 5 cliche's happening.
The main villain wants to become a god, all Baldur's Gate or DA:I style. Extra credit if it involves ritually killing large numbers of people.
Preventing a mostly-natural disaster/global cataclysm. If the cataclysm is the Moon pulling a Majora's Mask, double your score. Double your score again if you need to recover Macguffins/go to several temples to avert the disaster. If those temples are based on the 4 elements, you win the game.
Running plots like these isn't inherently a bad thing; I run plots like this all of the time, and my players consistently enjoy them. This question is not about bashing, inverting or subverting these ideas. I'm really just interested in hearing some stories about them. I'd love to hear the parodies, plot-twists, zig-zags, deconstructions and reconstructions you or your group have played that made these cliche plots uniquely fun.
Like, possibly more than 70% of the time. It's like companions telling the Doctor his TARDIS is "bigger on the inside."
Now, MacGuffin quests are fun and all every so often, but sometimes DM's and players crave something more. It seems like there's a pendulum swinging back and forth in every DM's head, trying to find a balance between original material and classic fantasy plots.
But sometimes, it's fun to embrace the cliches and just go full, 100% distilled classic.
Here's my question: What's the most fun you've had with an overtly cliche plot? As a player and as a DM?
I'm not just talking about a factory standard-issue Zelda-inspired MacGuffin quest- I mean any of the following classics/cliches:
Meeting the rest of the party in a tavern.
Anything with dungeons based on the four classical elements. Extra credit if they were the resting places of 4 elemental macguffins.
Anything that involves the retrieval or destruction of a single MacGuffin, such as the One Ring or Glowing Briefcase.
Saving a damsel in distress. Extra credit if the captor is the main villain, she's locked in a tower, and/or there is a dragon involved.
Orcs raiding a small frontier village, which the players must defend. Bonus points if it's Seven Samurai-inspired.
A Dark Lord returning from the brink of death to resume his plan of world-dominaton, all Sauron/Voldemort style.
A banished god/Demon Lord gaining enough power to invade the world, like Tharizdun, DA:O's Archdemon, or Abaddon in GW: Nightfall
A corrupt kingdom invading its peaceful neighbors.
A brooding lich raising an undead army to take over the world, all Black Cauldron style.
Uniting several races/kingdoms against a single threat, like in Mass Effect/Dragon Age. Double points if it's because of one of the previous 5 cliche's happening.
The main villain wants to become a god, all Baldur's Gate or DA:I style. Extra credit if it involves ritually killing large numbers of people.
Preventing a mostly-natural disaster/global cataclysm. If the cataclysm is the Moon pulling a Majora's Mask, double your score. Double your score again if you need to recover Macguffins/go to several temples to avert the disaster. If those temples are based on the 4 elements, you win the game.
Running plots like these isn't inherently a bad thing; I run plots like this all of the time, and my players consistently enjoy them. This question is not about bashing, inverting or subverting these ideas. I'm really just interested in hearing some stories about them. I'd love to hear the parodies, plot-twists, zig-zags, deconstructions and reconstructions you or your group have played that made these cliche plots uniquely fun.