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Cookiemobsta
2008-12-05, 05:24 PM
So we've all seen them. The mysterious cloaked figure with a troubled past. The mystical wizard who knows all but speaks only in cryptic riddles that make sense only after they would have been useful. The wise-cracking halfling rouge, the dim-witted barbarian, the gruff dwarf paladin, etc.
And we've probably, at one point or another, been tempted to play them but they're just too cliche.
So that's where this thread comes in. The challenge is to break the cliches; use the basic cliche idea as the starting point, but put in some significant twist that will change it significantly and break it free from cliche. It'll be interesting because when your character (or NPC) is introduced, the other players will expect it to be like the cliche, so when the twist is revealed the surprise will be much greater. If you like, you can post a cliche that you break, then another cliche that you challenge the next poster to break, or you can just comment as you like. I'll give an example.
Cliche: Quickwitted, wise-cracking halfling rouge. The only thing sharper than his dagger is his wit, he's always ready with a one-liner to make everyone laugh or a quick bluff to get out of trouble. He gets into mischief but you can't help but like him.
Broken cliche: Dull-witted, wise-cracking half-orc rogue. Through some freak of genetics this half-orc has actually managed to learn the arts of stealth but a quick wit was not part of the package. However, he tries very, very hard to fit in with the other rouges. He may come unarmed to every battle of wits but that doesn't stop him from fighting anyhow. Instead of witty banter with the enemy, he is prone to resort to "Yeah, well so's your mom" or "Your face!" and his bluff checks tend towards the "Uhh... no I didn't" and the "Your shoe's untied." The key to the character, though, is that he has to try very hard to be witty and silver-tongued. If he's simply a sneaky orc that fails whenever he opens his mouth, but mostly keeps his mouth shut, that's no good. This has to be a thief who tries to emulate the rogues that talk their way out of problems--the only difference is that he's no good at it.
Now the challenge.
Break my cliche: The cloaked figure with a troubled past. The fellow who sits in the corner in a tavern, tends to have elaborate angsty backstories that never get revealed because they never interact with the party, and always, always has a cloak.
Ok, good luck!

hamishspence
2008-12-05, 05:26 PM
its like the Dwarfs & Elves are bestest buddies concept- just reversing the cliche isn't as funny as parodying it, or doing tricks with it, when it's a straight reversal.

Tacoma
2008-12-05, 05:27 PM
The cliche: The cloaked figure with a troubled past. The fellow who sits in the corner in a tavern, tends to have elaborate angsty backstories that never get revealed because they never interact with the party, and always, always has a cloak.

Broken: As the party approaches, expecting a treasure map or offer of a mission, the man lurches forward and his cloak falls open. Inside are eight confused and startled ducks holding up the man's arms and hat with sticks. One duck is lying on the ground stunned. He rolled a 1 on his Bluff check.

BRC
2008-12-05, 05:30 PM
Simple, for extra cliche, give this character a characteristic scar on his face that the cloak is largely used to hide.


The Backstory, He had a sword in a back-scabbard, when he was drawing it to show it off. He messed up and accidentally cut his face open, (causing the scar), he dosn't talk to people for fear they will ask how he got the scar, he dosn't want people to know about such an embarassing accident, but dosn't feel comfortable lying to them, so he remains withdrawn in the hopes that everybody assumes he got the scar in a suitably badass manner.

kamikasei
2008-12-05, 05:32 PM
Break my cliche: The cloaked figure with a troubled past. The fellow who sits in the corner in a tavern, tends to have elaborate angsty backstories that never get revealed because they never interact with the party, and always, always has a cloak.
Ok, good luck!

He doesn't actually have a troubled past. He's a pretty bland and uninteresting guy who was getting nowhere in his adventuring career, so he figured out that if he makes himself seem mysterious people will take him more seriously, he'll get more job offers, and so on. He hints around his reasons for not revealing his appearance (he's a wanted man; he's tragically disfigured; he's inhumanly beautiful) but the truth is he's just too forgettably ordinary-looking.

He has a happy family somewhere with whom he secretly stays in contact but who are unaware of his true activities. He dreads his adventuring colleagues ever meeting them.

Break this cliche: the noble youth who plunged himself into the study of necromancy after the death of his adorable younger sister.

Tacoma
2008-12-05, 05:33 PM
I lost my eye when I was taking a drink from a coconut with a little umbrella in it.

Piedmon_Sama
2008-12-05, 05:39 PM
Break this cliche: the noble youth who plunged himself into the study of necromancy after the death of his adorable younger sister.


The truth is, he never had a sister. Or any siblings. And as the son of high-ranking nobles, his parents were virtually absentee. So as an isolated boy, he developed an extremely strong delusion of having a sweet little sister, whom he doted on.... even though to everyone else he'd clearly gone off his rocker. Finding him an embarrassment, his parents sent him away, and while in the safety of isolation he resolved that while his sister was clearly real, something would have to be done about her inconvenient incorpreality (he knew she didn't, strictly speaking, have a body. He wasn't dumb.)

So if what his sweet sister lacked was a body, why, he'd just make her one. Even if he had to stitch it together.

The thing about this character would be that he is truly insane. There is no Sister, but he's convinced if he can find the right ritual, he'll "restore" her to a body. Also, since he has to travel abroad, he made up the story that his sister died in order to deflect suspicion (and he only speaks to her when he thinks no one is listening now).

Prometheus
2008-12-05, 06:00 PM
Broken cliche: ...Instead of witty banter with the enemy, he is prone to resort to "Yeah, well so's your mom" or "Your face!" and his bluff checks tend towards the "Uhh... no I didn't" and the "Your shoe's untied." ...
I'll take the cliche thanks.


Break my cliche: The cloaked figure with a troubled past. The fellow who sits in the corner in a tavern, tends to have elaborate angsty backstories that never get revealed because they never interact with the party, and always, always has a cloak.
This person does in fact sit in the corner with a troubled past. If you approach him looking for a story, he will stab you and walk out the tavern muttering and screaming about troglodytes before the town gaurd subdue him and drag him to an insane asylum.


Break this cliche: the noble youth who plunged himself into the study of necromancy after the death of his adorable younger sister.
The noble you who plunged himself into the study of necromancy after the undeath of his adorable younger sister "HOLD STILL WHILE I GRAFT YOUR FAIRY WINGS!"

Oh an Tacoma. WTF that is so awesome.

Crow
2008-12-05, 06:02 PM
Break this cliche: the noble youth who plunged himself into the study of necromancy after the death of his adorable younger sister.

His sister was later animated as a zombie. Forced to destroy the abomination which had once been his sister, the youth delved into the study of necromancy not to create the undead, but to destroy them.

My cliche: The dwarf who's only cares in the world are ale, good food, and brawling.

Tacoma
2008-12-05, 06:10 PM
The dwarf is the equivalent of a trailer park dweller. He's an alcoholic, preferring the kinds of cheap alcohol that get you drunk regardless of their effects upon you in the morning.

He's completely corpulent, sweating furiously, his flesh squelching out from between his shoddy armor. He likes food, regardless of quality, and will often eat foods that other people would shun.

He is the kind of man who would throw away a radio without turning it off first.

And finally, he likes to watch brawling, but he has no skill whatsoever. That doesn't stop his constant bravado, how he compares himself so readily to the gladiatorial heroes he slavishly fawns over, how he denigrates other fighting styles while proclaiming that his favored one is "the real thing" and "totally deadly".

The stench of his rotting teeth once made a little girl cry. It's not often he realizes that he soiled himself. His beard is scraggly and moist, festooned with crumbs and smears of grease. When he becomes very excited he sweats even more vigorously, pumps his arms up and down, clenches his pudgy fingers in a weak semblance of a fist, his eyes widen and his tongue works the grease around his mouth in a revolting glee.

His wife is an unhappy woman.

Keld Denar
2008-12-05, 06:14 PM
My cliche: The dwarf who's only cares in the world are ale, good food, and brawling.

A short and heavily bearded Richard Simons, complete with bouncy attitude and Spandex +3.

Aneantir
2008-12-05, 06:14 PM
My cliche: The dwarf who's only cares in the world are ale, good food, and brawling.

The dwarf used to be a high ranking nobleman(noble-dwarf?) of a rather large city that used to exist in a nearby mountainside. His home, at one point, came under attack by a large, to the point of excessive, size force of goblinoids and orcs. The dwarf is the sole survivor of the attack, and after he had escaped and found his way to the next town he stopped in at the local tavern to drink, and has yet to stop.

Siegel
2008-12-05, 06:15 PM
The dwarf who comes from an tribe of gem carvers and grinders. The tribe settles in a dessert region with lots of arabian (1001 nights style) citys nearby. The dwarfs are strongly influenced by this culture. They wear these clothes and turbans and stuff and normaly fight in a swachbuckler-roughe-duellist style using (broad) short swords. His goal is to find the perfect gem (that lies in a brain of a dragon (his belief)) so that he can propose to the woman he loves.

Laharal
2008-12-05, 06:24 PM
Cliche:
The independent, chaotic rogue who always act on a impulse. Doesn't have any concern about the law and only seeks easy-money.

Half-Broken cliché: The skillful assasin raised by an order of Templars. He was raised within a strict moral code in which planification and honor are the core(Loyal-Neutral). Though he may have questionable means, his personal goals are far from glitter and shiny gp's.

Cliché to be broken: The religious-zealot paladin that has a mindless (litterary) interpretation of his holy texts. Can't blink an eye if the Archbishop doesn't tell him to do so, same thing for breathing.

BRC
2008-12-05, 06:25 PM
The Dwarf in question is, in fact, a noted sociologist, his goal is to study humanoid aggression across cultures so he can aid diplomats. If people understand what makes certain races and cultures aggressive, he can figure out how to prevent and end wars. He dosn't actually drink in those taverns, he merely pretends to so that people don't know he's studying them. He often provokes brawls as an experiment, to see which behavior and insults are most likely to trigger aggresive behavior, in addition to observing others provoking conflict.

Siegel
2008-12-05, 06:28 PM
Cliche:
The independent, chaotic rogue who always act on a impulse. Doesn't have any concern about the law and only seeks easy-money.

Half-Broken cliché: The skillful assasin raised by an order of Templars. He was raised within a strict moral code in which planification and honor are the core(Loyal-Neutral). Though he may have questionable means, his personal goals are far from glitter and shiny gp's.

Elven roughe who studys one topic for years. Everything he does is based on plenty of years of experience. He thinks before he kills. He thinks every consequence through before doing something.

Edit : buggar... I just realized we have to include the cliche in some way... stupid me...

Laharal
2008-12-05, 06:33 PM
Originally Posted by Crow
My cliche: The dwarf who's only cares in the world are ale, good food, and brawling.

Deepened/explained cliché: The dwarf in question has grown in a poor, violent, ruthless and lawless neighbourhood. He is seen by the majority of the "common" dwarf as a delinquent and brutish person. He solves his problems with his fists or with liquor because these are the only 2 things he learned in life. He joined the party to get a hold of himslef and found some inner-peace to prevent him from auto-destruction.

Crow
2008-12-05, 06:39 PM
Cliché to be broken: The religious-zealot paladin that has a mindless (litterary) interpretation of his holy texts. Can't blink an eye if the Archbishop doesn't tell him to do so, same thing for breathing.

The Paladin is actually a huge butt-kisser. He does everything the archbishop tells him so that he may further his career within the church. The Paladin is not really a mindless religious zealot, but his ambitions require him to appear so, at least for a while.

...Paladin may or may not have fallen already...

Cliche to be Broken: The look-but-don't-touch King's daughter. The one who wouldn't last a day in a poor man's shoes, let alone on a sojourn through the wilderness.

(Don't break it by using the rebellious or adventurous King's daughter...that counts as cliched too.)

Siegel
2008-12-05, 06:43 PM
The Paladin is actually a huge butt-kisser. He does everything the archbishop tells him so that he may further his career within the church. The Paladin is not really a mindless religious zealot, but his ambitions require him to appear so, at least for a while.

...Paladin may or may not have fallen already...

Cliche to be Broken: The look-but-don't-touch King's daughter. The one who wouldn't last a day in a poor man's shoes, let alone on a sojourn through the wilderness.

(Don't break it by using the rebellious or adventurous King's daughter...that counts as cliched too.)

#1 She is cursed so that she will day when having contact with a male person
#2 She is really really really ugly. Her father pais and illusionist to hide her uglyness but this illusion can be seen through quite fast when you touch her
#3 She is affrad of relationships and getting hurt by her partner.

#1 #2 #3 But she still want's to see if she can be attractive towards a partner to raise her self esteem

Tacoma
2008-12-05, 06:43 PM
Cliche: The religious-zealot paladin that has a mindless (literal) interpretation of his holy texts. Can't blink an eye if the Archbishop doesn't tell him to do so, same thing for breathing.

Broken: The paladin is not told to breathe in some time.

Sorry.

Broken: The Archbishop receives an order from the higher temple leadership. A certain passage of the holy texts is reinterpreted and it means a small shift in religious policy.
He fears telling the paladin about this. He sits in his office, a single light illuminating his face. Rain patters on the lead-grid stained glass window. It's dark outside. His left hand is gripping a large crystal tumbler with a tiny pool of amber liquor in the bottom. An empty bottle with a faded label sits at his arm.
His right hand holds an elaborate silver pistol engraved with the symbols of his church.
He raises the pistol to his temple. He lowers it. He raises it again. And in the dim light he sees the paladin's silhouette in the doorway. The paladin is dripping wet. In his hand is a scroll with the feathered seal of the temple headquarters.
The Archbishop gazes into the paladin's clear eyes, and the paladin nods solemnly.
Out in the churchyard a monk hurrying along under a covered stone walkway is startled as a single shot rings out.

Aneantir
2008-12-05, 06:45 PM
Cliche to be Broken: The look-but-don't-touch King's daughter. The one who wouldn't last a day in a poor man's shoes, let alone on a sojourn through the wilderness.

(Don't break it by using the rebellious or adventurous King's daughter...that counts as cliched too.)

Her father actually doesn't give her much wealth with which to spend on frivolous things, so she dabbles in prostitution to support her hobbies. In order to keep things anonymous she has trained in the arcane arts, spending all of her spells per day on Alter Self.

Tacoma
2008-12-05, 06:48 PM
Cliche: The look-but-don't-touch King's daughter. The one who wouldn't last a day in a poor man's shoes, let alone on a sojourn through the wilderness.

Broken: "She" is actually triplets. One of them is male. He is seduced when it's his "turn" to be princess by a handsome foreign prince. But the king (who was deceived and believes he has just one daughter) announces that the princess's hand in marriage will go to only one suitor. There must be a contest!

Only one suitor arrives. No others were interested.

And so the foreign prince is married to the young do-not-touch prince, and they live happily ever after.

The other two princesses are also happy because they do not have to be married. One becomes a wild nature druid and the other a studious book wizard who values her quiet time. They must live together in one castle! Hilarity ensues!

Beholder1995
2008-12-05, 06:49 PM
Kay, I've got a semi-cliche to break.

Apparently gentlemanly Beholders with monacles are cliched. At least, according to another playgrounder... >_>...

Siegel
2008-12-05, 06:50 PM
Cliché to be broken: The religious-zealot paladin that has a mindless (litterary) interpretation of his holy texts. Can't blink an eye if the Archbishop doesn't tell him to do so, same thing for breathing.

He is the last mohikan, last of his kind and only bringer of the gods words. His religion is nearly dead and long forgoten. He has a last order to kill X but X is so wealthy and strong and influencial that is it nearly impossible, but still he has to do it to at least close this chapter of church history in a good way.

really tragical...

Tacoma
2008-12-05, 06:53 PM
The beholder is a gentleman with a top hat and monocle, and goatee. War breaks out! He is called to the front lines with other young men. But his family has connections, and so he enters officer school.

He becomes a naval officer. One day his ship is attacked by a kraken on one side and a rowboat full of goblins on the other. He blasts the rowboat with his Disintegration Ray (which can target objects) and the crew valiantly fights off the kraken until the beholder can focus his Cause Serious Wounds ray through his Monocle of Reversal.

You see, his excellent training taught him to recognize a dreaded Zombie Kraken when he saw one. So the positive energy spell blasted the kraken, and the ship carried out its other duties.

The young officer was decorated for his valiant efforts, and retired in a Home for Retired Beholders. Most of the staff were worried on a day to day basis about constipation and death rays.

EDIT: I imagined that your hat would have little steampunky eyeports with glass porthole covers so your little eyes could see out of your tophat like it was a turret.

BRC
2008-12-05, 06:54 PM
Cliche: The son of a kind and wealthy merchant house whose family was driven into destitute poverty when an assasin killed his father and stole all their valuables. The young man now swears vengence against this assasin.

Broken: The Character had, in fact, HIRED the assasin, who was just supposed to kill his father so he could inheriet the family's wealth and fortune.The Assasin took his pay, then stole the valuables, leaving the kid nothing.

Tacoma
2008-12-05, 06:58 PM
Cliche: The son of a kind and wealthy merchant house whose family was driven into destitute poverty when an assasin killed his father and stole all their valuables. The young man now swears vengence against this assasin.

Broken: The wealthy merchant was in fact the assassin! But he had sworn an oath to see any job through, and so he had to kill himself.

But the job required that the old man "not see it coming" and so the assassin had to devise a method where he would die without knowing when or how or where.

And so the elderly assassin raided his bank account and spent the money on an assassin who could kill him while he disguised himself as a tailor in the dock district. A bum would be hired to transport and redress his corpse to his home on the other side of town.

He unknowingly hired his son.

Tadanori Oyama
2008-12-05, 07:06 PM
I'm sure I've heard something alot like that somewhere before but for the life of me I can't remember where. I remember it being really funny though.

Tacoma
2008-12-05, 07:12 PM
It was probably about Kramer and those pants he was supposed to deliver. But he fell in the mud on the way there. And it turns out he was wearing the pants at the time so now they're muddy.

And then the man who owned the pants became very angry.

Agrippa
2008-12-05, 07:37 PM
Cliche to be Broken: The look-but-don't-touch King's daughter. The one who wouldn't last a day in a poor man's shoes, let alone on a sojourn through the wilderness.

(Don't break it by using the rebellious or adventurous King's daughter...that counts as cliched too.)

Broken: The princess was trained from the age of six as master soldier by her own father so she could be fit to inherit his throne if needed. The princess is a kind, cheerful, beautiful and outgoing young woman who can kill a 7' tall fully armored knight with pinky finger. She's learning military tactics, strategy and logistics from her father's generals, engineering from the artificers guild and chemistry from the alchemists guild.

Her father, the king taught her wilderness survival and how to take care of her self on the streets just in case. She also constructed 17 repeating balistas on rising platforms covered by false masonry trapdoors in case of dragon attack (hasn't happened to her country 300 years) and arial attack by rival kingdoms (never happened to anyone, yet). When a man tried to rape her sister, our princess killed him with a tea cup. She also keeps at least six knives on her person at all times. Her father is very proud of her.

SurlySeraph
2008-12-05, 08:22 PM
Cliche to break:
[Insert monster here] killed the Ranger's family. Now he hates all [Insert monster here] and wants to kill them off.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-05, 08:27 PM
If she can kill a man with a teacup, then shouldn't she be fully equiped to survive in a poor man's shoes or a wilderness excursion? I thought the goal here was to use the cliche but change it so it's different without changing the actual cliche.

Cliche to be Broken: The naive, but kind farmboy who goes off and becomes a hero.

Lemur
2008-12-05, 08:29 PM
Cliché to be broken: The religious-zealot paladin that has a mindless (litterary) interpretation of his holy texts. Can't blink an eye if the Archbishop doesn't tell him to do so, same thing for breathing.

The paladin isn't exactly a zealot by choice. At one point he was a compassionate individual who was genuinely interested in helping people. His church, on the other hand, is run by zealots who don't appreciate their paladin's acting independently, even if it is with good intentions. The Archbishop came down on him one too many times, and threatened to excommunicate him if he didn't start doing exactly what he was told, and heaven help him if he did something contrary to the way the church chose to interpret the holy texts.

Perhaps he could stop being a paladin, but he comes from a noble family, and the church is rather powerful and important to boot. Defying them would disgrace his family, and he'd probably be disowned so that his family wouldn't totally lose face. Down inside, he feels trapped and confused. He hates what he does, and hates himself for doing it. This is expressed in his mannerisms. However, this anger is interpreted by others as being a hard-ass filled with contempt for other people, as opposed to contempt for himself.


Cliche to be Broken: The look-but-don't-touch King's daughter. The one who wouldn't last a day in a poor man's shoes, let alone on a sojourn through the wilderness.

(Don't break it by using the rebellious or adventurous King's daughter...that counts as cliched too.)

She might not last a day in the wilderness, but if you spend time around her you start to realize she knows exactly how to handle herself in court. To some extent the fragile flower part is true, because she's truly worthless in combat, but it's also part of her strategy to make people underestimate her. The nobles see a quiet, well-behaved daughter, but she's actually a brilliant political strategist, not only capable of making you do what she wants, but also making you think that it was your idea in the first place.

When not under the eye of the public, she has a rather no-nonsense personality, and expects things to be done promptly and efficiently.

An Enemy Spy
2008-12-05, 08:31 PM
The evil kings soldiers come to his farm and mercilessly slaughter him and his family and give the farm to the people who rightfully own it.

Cliche: Elves are so bloody fantastic

Tengu_temp
2008-12-05, 08:31 PM
Cliche to break:
[Insert monster here] killed the Ranger's family. Now he hates all [Insert monster here] and wants to kill them off.

Those monsters belong to the same race as the Ranger. He's a misanthropic bounty hunter.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-05, 08:32 PM
The evil kings soldiers come to his farm and mercilessly slaughter him and his family and give the farm to the people who rightfully own it.

Which cliche are you breaking here?

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-05, 08:33 PM
She might not last a day in the wilderness, but if you spend time around her you start to realize she knows exactly how to handle herself in court. To some extent the fragile flower part is true, because she's truly worthless in combat, but it's also part of her strategy to make people underestimate her. The nobles see a quiet, well-behaved daughter, but she's actually a brilliant political strategist, not only capable of making you do what she wants, but also making you think that it was your idea in the first place.

When not under the eye of the public, she has a rather no-nonsense personality, and expects things to be done promptly and efficiently.

NOW DAT'S MORE LIKE IT!:smallbiggrin:

Lemur
2008-12-05, 08:34 PM
Cliche to break:
[Insert monster here] killed the Ranger's family. Now he hates all [Insert monster here] and wants to kill them off.

The sinister ranger paid [Insert monster here] to kill his own family to get the inheritance. However, [Insert monster here] stole his inheritance in the process. Now he wants to hunt down the culprits, both out of spite, and to receive what he "rightfully" deserves. But the monsters will be hard to find, and the inheritance was split up in the process, so he's got a lot of killing to do.

SurlySeraph
2008-12-05, 08:35 PM
Cliche: Elves are so bloody fantastic

Elves are bloody fantastic. Emphasis on the "bloody." They believe that all races inferior to them (a.k.a. all races, with the possible exception of dragons) do not deserve to exist, and are a waste of space and resources. Elves revere nature so much because they hope to persuade nature to provide only for them, not for anyone else. Elves research magic so much because they know that, given their physical weakness and small numbers, magic is the best tool for genocide that they've got.

Trizap
2008-12-05, 08:36 PM
Cliche to be Broken: The naive, but kind farmboy who goes off and becomes a hero.

Broken: he is actually a prince who was sent to the farm when he seven by his father in secret for multiple reasons, one, to teach him responsibility/ humility/ etc. two, to keep him safe from the kings enemies and three, train him to be a a great warrior by a champion knight disguised as a farmer.

An Enemy Spy
2008-12-05, 08:36 PM
Which cliche are you breaking here?

The one where the farmboy finds adventure. Screw that little twerp!

Lemur
2008-12-05, 08:48 PM
Cliche: Elves are so bloody fantastic

Elves are naturally so fantastic, that they're universally lazy. They're so used to not needing to try to make anything work, they give up on anything challenging easily. Moreover, their long life span practically removes any sense of urgency for tasks. If they leave a problem alone, it will take care of itself eventually, so why bother? They never feel the black bird of death on their shoulder, so an elf never feels like he needs to accomplish anything important with his or her life.

Ones that leave the homeland find themselves struggling against an ennui. They only take fleeting interest in any given task. Their fickleness, combined with their natural abilities, gives other races the impression that elves are a carefree race, which is more or less true: they just don't care. They are, in a word, spoiled.

The average elf is significantly better than the average member of any other given race, but when it comes down to it, they're really not capable of anything heroic. They don't have the spirit or determination to challenge fate, so unlike the other races, they can't change the world.

Inyssius Tor
2008-12-05, 08:53 PM
@Trizap: I'm amused at how the TV Tropes entry for Farmboy specifically says what you just said. We're supposed to be breaking the tropes here... :smallwink:

Lemur
2008-12-05, 08:59 PM
Cliche to be Broken: The naive, but kind farmboy who goes off and becomes a hero.

A hero in the eyes of the public. In reality, he's still a naive but kind farmboy. Not very effective, but easily manipulated, and he makes a popular figurehead for the common people.

Enter the schemer. It doesn't matter who the schemer is, he could be a loveable rogue who actually has both of their best interests at heart, and uses his trickery to bring fame to the farmboy, and fortune to himself. It could just as easily be a cunning politician or shrewd magician who uses him to manipulate the people. Maybe the necromancer in the castle down the road uses him to stop the angry mob from stopping his flesh golem experiments, and instead has the peasants led to their zombified doom.

It doesn't matter who it is, really. The key is that someone is pulling the strings from behind the curtain, and the farmboy is just a rube for someone else's designs.

Trizap
2008-12-05, 09:02 PM
@Trizap: I'm amused at how the TV Tropes entry for Farmboy specifically says what you just said. We're supposed to be breaking the tropes here... :smallwink:

actually............I never knew that.........its a complete coincidence, I'll look it up.

after looking up: no I mean the boy KNOWS he is a prince and he KNOWS what is happening, remember? he was sent to it when he was seven, not born there or became an orphan at birth or anything......

edit: how about this, instead of going onto become a great hero he was angry for his father making him work there all his years, killed his father and became the new king, a villain because of it.

Kris Strife
2008-12-05, 09:15 PM
The farmboy is an out of shape weakling with no magic who doesnt leave by choice, so much as get kicked out. Not for endangering the village, or to fulfil some prophecy, just because he's an annoying little brat who wont shut up about becoming an adventurer. He's given a pot for a helmet, a lid for a sheild, a plank of wood for armor and a rusty sword he can barely lift, let alone carry.

Naleh
2008-12-05, 09:17 PM
Cliche: Elves are so bloody fantastic

They are indeed fantastic. Because demons/Cthulhu/other ultimate evil makes them so. They have maintained this CG facade for many years, waiting for the opportunity to take over the world with maximum suffering.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-05, 09:19 PM
Cliche to be Broken: The look-but-don't-touch King's daughter. The one who wouldn't last a day in a poor man's shoes, let alone on a sojourn through the wilderness.

The reason she wouldn't survive in a poor man's shoes or a sojurn through the wilderness isn't a defect of character, but rather that her feet are so damn sensitive that simply walking is intensely painful for her. She's confined to a wheelchair because of this.

What do you think? Interesting interpretation or really lame joke?

BRC
2008-12-05, 09:28 PM
The Look-but-don't-touch princess: Who do you think has been RUNNING the kingdom this entire time. Her Father is a simple minded but well-meaning idiot who is there as a figurehead. The reason she had her father put herself "Off-Limits" is because she is too busy running the affairs of state to spend all her time holding off suitors, going to extravagant balls, and the other things princesses are expected to do.

Lemur
2008-12-05, 09:30 PM
Break this cliche: the noble youth who plunged himself into the study of necromancy after the death of his adorable younger sister.

His adorable younger sister was a necromancer of the highest degree. When she was killed by busybody adventurers/demonic powers/her own magic gone out of control, her dying request to her brother was to finish the work she started. Now he carries on in her stead to honor her memory.

Agrippa
2008-12-05, 09:38 PM
If she can kill a man with a teacup, then shouldn't she be fully equiped to survive in a poor man's shoes or a wilderness excursion? I thought the goal here was to use the cliche but change it so it's different without changing the actual cliche.

One, the princess appears weak, fragile and non-threatening but actually can defend her self or others if needed it's more about her seeming weak and stupid (because most people assume that princess are weak, stupid and need protection) than actually being weak and stupid. Two, yes she wears beautifully made and poofy dresses, but no, she doesn't need your protection. If anything you need her to protect you. Three, she doesn't adventure though, she stays at home, recieves training from her tutors and trains new recuits while designing weapons of mass destruction for the protection of her country.

Cliche: The king's vizer/chancelor is a scheming, manipulative and traitorous rat bastard bent on stealing the throne and marrying the princess.

Broken cliche: The king's vizer/chancelor is a scheming and manipulative but loyal rat bastard who's machinations are for the best interests god and country, king and crown. He's also happily married and has no intention to marry the princess, even if ordered to do so at gun point. Both the king and his chancelor are Lawful Good.

BRC
2008-12-05, 09:44 PM
Cliche: The king's vizer/chancelor is a scheming, manipulative and traitorous rat bastard bent on stealing the throne and marrying the princess.

Broken Cliche: All of the above are true, However, that is because he found out the King has been routinely rounding up any sort of dissenter and using them as sacrifices to the archdemon of slaughter he secretly worships. The king has been, for years, manipulating the nearby nations into increasing tensions, eventually he will cause a spark that will send them into a bloody multi-side war while his kingdom stays safe. After they have finished hacking each other to pieces, the king intends to conquer them with his army, brainwashed by unspeakable magics and aided by fiends. The Chancelor knows that he cannot make this knowledge public, lest the king kill him, so he plans to marry the princess, have the king killed secrectly, ascend to the throne and undo the damge the king has been doing.

Lemur
2008-12-05, 09:45 PM
Cliche: The king's vizer/chancelor is a scheming, manipulative and traitorous rat bastard bent on stealing the throne and marrying the princess.

The grand vizer is the real power behind the throne, and everyone knows it. The king's actual political power is quite small, and often his hands are tied when it comes to implementing the vizers' plans, because the guy is so damn smart. And because he's so damn smart, he actually does a brilliant job of running the kingdom, and all the nobles and the entire court love him- except the king.

The king resents the vizer, and is intent on undermining him at every opportunity, no matter how petty. He does try to start some schemes to get rid of the guy, but the vizer is so many steps ahead it's not even funny.

chiasaur11
2008-12-05, 09:48 PM
Cliché to be broken: The religious-zealot paladin that has a mindless (litterary) interpretation of his holy texts. Can't blink an eye if the Archbishop doesn't tell him to do so, same thing for breathing.

An idea that hasn't been done on this one, in this thread, that I've seen:

The Paladin is about five seconds away from a psychotic break. He knows that he's the sort of person who SHOULDN'T be given godlike killing abilities. However, he's a moral enough person (Because how else did he get the job in the first place) to want to avoid this, so he restrains himself to the degree he doesn't trust himself to blink on his own.

Doomsy
2008-12-05, 09:49 PM
Cliche to be Broken: Ninja edited out of existence.


The man dressed all in black and sitting in the darkest corner of the tavern is actually blind and does it mostly so he matches.


The ancient, wise wizard with the grand beard who bursts into the tavern on a stormy night is actually looking for his lost poodle, Lumpy, who is deathly afraid of thunder. Please return to the Tower of Ages if found. She loves sausages.

The princess actually volunteered to get abducted by the dragon. She took along her grandfathers dragonslaying sword and +5 illusory platemail that looks like silken robes, and may have class levels in barbarian.

The lonely princess in the tower was put there after the king saw what she did to her other sister with a fire poker one day. The peasants are just misinformed. While she is pretty the obscenity she has carved into her own forehead and disturbingly unfocused stare tends to make a poor first impression. She should also not be left near unattended near sharp objects, possibly sharp objects, or farm animals.

The dwarf is actually just an alcoholic, not a berserker. Also, he has no class levels in anything besides 'commoner' and won the platemail on a bar bet.

The dashing swashbuckler is just making up the story about his tragic past with the lost love that turned him to his current path so he can pick up chicks. He's actually just hiding from his wife, the Dread Pirate Roberta, who does not believe in divorce and has been raiding port towns hunting for him.

The ancient evil in a can actually died about three thousand years ago. Everybody just kind of looks surprised and a little let down when the Great Seal is broken and a fossilized skeleton falls out.

The ancient weapon against the darkness was actually just a massive set-up of the highest degree by the lich, who manipulated the heroes into getting what he wanted all along: His childhood sled, Rosebud.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-05, 09:50 PM
Cliche: The king's vizer/chancelor is a scheming, manipulative and traitorous rat bastard bent on stealing the throne and marrying the princess.

Broken Cliche: The princess is actually in love with the vizier, and has been scheming with him to depose her megalomaniacal and insane father so they can institute reform. The princess isn't involving herself directly so when she marries the vizier, it legitimizes his usurpation, rather than having her be branded as a traitor by her family.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-05, 09:59 PM
Cliche: The spoiled, fat and lazy princess who knows nothing of politics and is most likely going to end up a spoiled, fat and lazy trophy wife.

Lemur
2008-12-05, 09:59 PM
Cliche to be Broken: Ninja edited out of existence.

Could you elaborate on this? I'm aware that there's plenty of kinds of cliched ninjas, but I'm not sure what "edited out of existence" is supposed to mean in this context. Any examples you could give?

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-05, 10:01 PM
Could you elaborate on this? I'm aware that there's plenty of kinds of cliched ninjas, but I'm not sure what "edited out of existence" is supposed to mean in this context. Any examples you could give?

He means that someone already posted his original idea (scheming vizier) before he did, and thus he deleted it.

Kris Strife
2008-12-05, 10:02 PM
Cliche: Elves are so bloody fantastic

Elves are in fact horribly inbred hillbillies. Their shortness, elongated ears, low constitutions and lack of body hair are all genetic defects. Their 'wisdom' comds from old sayings that people have long since forgotten about and their 'long life span and slow population growth' come from the fact they are all short lived, but look nearly identicle due to being closely related.

Lemur
2008-12-05, 10:09 PM
He means that someone already posted his original idea (scheming vizier) before he did, and thus he deleted it.

Ooohhh, that makes sense. I feel silly now.

But there should be a ninja cliche.

Cliche to be broken: the swift ninja squad which operate from the shadows, carrying out espionage and assassinations. If they're the heroes, they're ruthlessly efficient, if antagonists, they are cut down like grass.

Subversion: The sumo wrestler squad that operates from the shadows, leaping from building to building in the night air.

Crow
2008-12-05, 10:18 PM
Cliche: The spoiled, fat and lazy princess who knows nothing of politics and is most likely going to end up a spoiled, fat and lazy trophy wife.

Is actually a fantastic cook. She dreams of settling down with a simple, but brawny woodcutter and opening up a traveller's inn where she can serve her soon-to-be-famous apple-glazed mutton cutlet to travellers from all over the kingdom.

Lemur
2008-12-05, 10:33 PM
Cliche: The spoiled, fat and lazy princess who knows nothing of politics and is most likely going to end up a spoiled, fat and lazy trophy wife.

Unfortunately for her, she's The Chosen One, and has to set out on heroic quest to fulfill her destiny. Fate's a b****.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-05, 10:38 PM
Cliche: The independent, chaotic rogue who always act on a impulse. Doesn't have any concern about the law and only seeks easy-money.

The rogue acts on impulse because he never learned how to function properly in society. He gauges his companions reactions to his actions to determine whether or not he should do that ("Okay, they're horrified. I guess it's bad to kill someone in cold blood." "Okay, they're smiling, so that means giving coins to old ladies is good."). The only reason he has no concern for the law is because he doesn't understand it. He seeks easy money because he has yet to develop a real work-ethic, since no one taught him about the necessity of work.

Tyrael
2008-12-05, 11:00 PM
Elves are bloody fantastic. Emphasis on the "bloody." They believe that all races inferior to them (a.k.a. all races, with the possible exception of dragons) do not deserve to exist, and are a waste of space and resources. Elves revere nature so much because they hope to persuade nature to provide only for them, not for anyone else. Elves research magic so much because they know that, given their physical weakness and small numbers, magic is the best tool for genocide that they've got.

“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamor.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.”
~Terry Pratchett

Cookiemobsta
2008-12-05, 11:05 PM
The rogue acts on impulse because he never learned how to function properly in society. He gauges his companions reactions to his actions to determine whether or not he should do that ("Okay, they're horrified. I guess it's bad to kill someone in cold blood." "Okay, they're smiling, so that means giving coins to old ladies is good.").

A rogue with Asperger's? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome)

valadil
2008-12-05, 11:35 PM
I've done a couple characters listed here.

I've had a scoundrel half orc bard who tells crappy jokes (you might be a half orc if...).

I recently played a dwarf who hated on elves in a different way. He enjoyed being mean to "the elf" but wasn't racist. He was just confused and referred to anyone taller than him as the elf.

dspeyer
2008-12-06, 12:05 AM
Cliche to be broken: the swift ninja squad which operate from the shadows, carrying out espionoge and assassinations. If they're the heroes, they're ruthlessly efficient, if antagonists, they are cut down like grass.

Social-engineer assassins who march through the streets in bright colors banging gongs, and witnesses are too embarrassed to look at them. Besides, they're too silly to be a threat. In extreme cases, they ask for money, which makes them invisible even under a true-seeing spell.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-06, 12:06 AM
A rogue with Asperger's? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome)

I don't know if it's quite like that. As an Aspie myself, I know that I wasn't stealing impulsively because I didn't know any better, since I had that drilled into me by the people around me. I was thinking more of the "kid raised by wolves and only recently introduced to society" style.

chiasaur11
2008-12-06, 12:09 AM
Social-engineer assassins who march through the streets in bright colors banging gongs, and witnesses are too embarrassed to look at them. Besides, they're too silly to be a threat. In extreme cases, they ask for money, which makes them invisible even under a true-seeing spell.

Ah. Powerful someone else's problem fields, eh?

Or...
The "Ninjas" could be hired by the agents of the country they attack, to reassure citizens that the local defenses are good enough to keep them safe.
I mean, if elite armies of ninjas aren't a problem for the guard, then one dragon wouldn't be either, or so the citizens would think.

Kris Strife
2008-12-06, 12:26 AM
Cliche: Gruff and grizzled man, imprisoned for a crime he didnt commit, he escaped and is seeking the true culprit to prove his innocence and restore his good name.

BRC
2008-12-06, 12:32 AM
Cliche:Gruff and grizzled man, imprisoned for a crime he didnt commit, seeking the true culprit to prove his innocence and restore his good name.
He was convicted for a crime he didn't commit, which dosn't hold a candle to the crimes he DID commit. Steal the duke's crown? He is OFFENDED that they think he did that. If he wanted to steal the duke's crown he would have killed the duke and his family, taken the jewlels, then burned the castle to the ground, maybe after smuggling some orphans in there with a bag of holding for lulz, then toasted marshmellows over their burning corpses.

Eorran
2008-12-06, 12:43 AM
Cliche: The hero who has mastered the martial arts through intensive training at a mystical academy under ancient masters

broken cliche: The "intensive training" taught him much about technique... and destroyed his health. He lives with a deathy fear of catching cold. He won't sleep in the rain, always carries an extra bedroll in case one gets wet, is paralyzed with fear of slimes or oozes, or any "icky" monsters. He exerts himself as little as he can get away with.

Lemur
2008-12-06, 12:49 AM
Break my cliche: The cloaked figure with a troubled past. The fellow who sits in the corner in a tavern, tends to have elaborate angsty backstories that never get revealed because they never interact with the party, and always, always has a cloak.

The fellow's cloak is actually a cloaker (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/cloaker.htm) that he wears when in public to disguise his companion's identity, and sits in the dark corner because the cloaker naturally likes the shadows better. The two are a rather mismatched pair brought together by strange coincidence who have wacky misadventures together behind the scenes.

However, the man feels the need to play up their bizzare encounters to be more important than they really are, so he tries to make them sound dark and mysterious, when in reality they're rather lighthearted and inconsequential to world events.


Also on a completely unrelated note there is a travelling bard somewhere that the party will probably never meet, but who tells the amusing and comic adventures of Cloaker and Guy in puppet show form.


Edit again: I totally didn't read the first page well enough, and didn't realize someone already did that idea :P Post erased, and props to BRC.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-06, 01:33 AM
Cliche: The child cursed at birth with an unusual deformity or a particular character flaw who grows older and journeys to seek a cure for their affliction.

Lemur
2008-12-06, 01:38 AM
Kay, I've got a semi-cliche to break.

Apparently gentlemanly Beholders with monacles are cliched. At least, according to another playgrounder... >_>...

Rather than being gentlemanly, the beholder is quite scholarly, and wears a single eyeglass instead of a monocle. Also, in place of wearing a top hat, he wears a graduate's cap. He possesses a truly impressive amount of knowledge and understanding, as well as a love for popcorn.

DoomHat
2008-12-06, 01:39 AM
The beholder is a gentleman with a top hat and monocle, and goatee. War breaks out! He is called to the front lines with other young men. But his family has connections, and so he enters officer school.

He becomes a naval officer. One day his ship is attacked by a kraken on one side and a rowboat full of goblins on the other. He blasts the rowboat with his Disintegration Ray (which can target objects) and the crew valiantly fights off the kraken until the beholder can focus his Cause Serious Wounds ray through his Monocle of Reversal.

You see, his excellent training taught him to recognize a dreaded Zombie Kraken when he saw one. So the positive energy spell blasted the kraken, and the ship carried out its other duties.

The young officer was decorated for his valiant efforts, and retired in a Home for Retired Beholders. Most of the staff were worried on a day to day basis about constipation and death rays.

EDIT: I imagined that your hat would have little steampunky eyeports with glass porthole covers so your little eyes could see out of your tophat like it was a turret.

Haaaaaahaha! Good show ol' bean, good show. *sips tea*

Lemur
2008-12-06, 01:44 AM
Cliche: The child cursed at birth with an unusual deformity or a particular character flaw who grows older and journeys to seek a cure for their affliction.

The child was raised in relative isolation by a single parent of the opposite sex, who was both overbearing and highly sexist. What the child thinks (due to the poor kid's jackass parent) is supposed to be a cursed deformity brought down at birth is actually a very normal body part shared by roughly half the population.


Alternate: The deformity actually exists, but it's actually very useful, in some way(s) or another. Although some may be a bit weirded out by it at first, everyone grows to appreciate it, because the ability granted by the deformity is so handy to anyone who can procure the person's aid. There are practically no downsides to having it, and if anything, members of the opposite gender find the individual more, not less, attractive.

But he or she personally hates it because it's so unusual, and wants to be rid of it, no matter the cost. Is under the impression that it's better to be ordinary and fit in instead of having special abilities with quirks.

busterswd
2008-12-06, 02:00 AM
The cloaked figure with a troubled past. The fellow who sits in the corner in a tavern, tends to have elaborate angsty backstories that never get revealed because they never interact with the party, and always, always has a cloak.
Ok, good luck!

Chronic narcilepsy. What may seem like hints and wisdom is actually him trying to get a bearing on his situation. The long, isolated silences within the folds of his cowl are actually him dozing off.



Cliche: The child cursed at birth with an unusual deformity or a particular character flaw who grows older and journeys to seek a cure for their affliction.

The Twilight Zone ending, where ugly is actually beautiful. OR it's purely psychological. The child assumes people avoid him because of some large deformity but it's actually because they're weirded out by his constant referral to the abnormality that doesn't actually exist.

hamishspence
2008-12-06, 06:35 AM
the rogue with aspergers could be absolutely compulsive rules-follower, who never breaks a rule- ever. Especially the stealing one. That would be textbook Lawful Neutral. (and the rogue skillset could be turned toward making a pretty good rigue who doesn't teal anything)

TengYt
2008-12-06, 08:01 AM
Cliche: The wicked witch who curses the beautiful teenaged princess with her magic for seeminly no reason.

Broken: The witch is a loyal adviser to the king who actually is head of the kingdom's intelligence service. She discovers the princess is planning on overthrowing her father, with the aid of a warmongering foreign prince. Not wanting to kill the princess, and fearing imprisonment may lead to suspicion, the witch casts a spell on her which will force her to sleep for a hundred years.

Dogmantra
2008-12-06, 09:05 AM
Cliche: Gruff Paladin who always does exactly what the leaders of the church tell him to do.

Broken: Gruff chaotic barbarian who insists he's a paladin, even though he doesn't have any paladin abilities. If a man with a hat tells him to do something, he will, with no second thought, because it was a "leader of his church".
"Of course I'm a paladin, can't you see my holy symbol of Paladinery?"
"That's a rock."
"I worship the god of rocks, STOP OPPRESSING ME!"

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-06, 01:58 PM
Cliche: The dumb brute of a fighter whose vocabulary primarily consists of Hulkspeak (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Hulkspeak).

TengYt
2008-12-06, 02:01 PM
Cliche: The dumb brute of a fighter whose vocabulary primarily consists of Hulkspeak (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Hulkspeak).

Broken: Roy.

BRC
2008-12-06, 02:01 PM
Cliche: The dumb brute of a fighter whose vocabulary primarily consists of Hulkspeak (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Hulkspeak).
Broken: He's actually an acomplished poet in his homeland. However, he never really got the hang of Common, so the "Hulkspeak" Is a reflection of his poor ability with foreign languages, rather than a lack of intellect.

busterswd
2008-12-06, 02:30 PM
Cliche: The dumb brute of a fighter whose vocabulary primarily consists of Hulkspeak.

When he was little, a malicious wizard played a prank on his family and cast deafness on him. He's spent his entire life not being able to hear until only recently, when a friendly cleric realized what was going on and dispelled it.

Only recently through intense effort and careful study has he been able to regain the use of any speech at all.

Moff Chumley
2008-12-06, 02:36 PM
Cliche: The flaky bard. Cares more about music than anything else, and is the most unreliable person you've ever met.

Lemur
2008-12-06, 03:43 PM
Cliche: The dumb brute of a fighter whose vocabulary primarily consists of Hulkspeak (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Hulkspeak).

The dumb but potent sorcerer whose vocabulary primarily consists of hulkspeak. He may be as dumb as a rock, but one way or another he inherited an incredible natural ability to manipulate arcane energy. Although he can't even tie his own bootlaces, it's hard to argue with his unparalled ability to blow things up, and then make them implode. What's really frustrating though, is how he manages to get all the girls, despite his best line being "Me like pretty girl." Every time, man, every single time.

Zenos
2008-12-06, 03:49 PM
Cliche: The pyromanic sorcerer who burns down every inn the party comes across. At least once.

I have a player who regularly plays a gnomish version of this one, except without the inn burning, luckily.

Learnedguy
2008-12-06, 03:53 PM
Ooohhh, that makes sense. I feel silly now.

But there should be a ninja cliche.

Cliche to be broken: the swift ninja squad which operate from the shadows, carrying out espionage and assassinations. If they're the heroes, they're ruthlessly efficient, if antagonists, they are cut down like grass.

Subversion: The sumo wrestler squad that operates from the shadows, leaping from building to building in the night air.

That's so awesome

Frog Dragon
2008-12-06, 04:07 PM
Cliche: The pyromanic sorcerer who burns down every inn the party comes across. At least once.

I have a player who regularly plays a gnomish version of this one, except without the inn burning, luckily.
He is in fact on a quest to rid towns of a plague that some bad guy has released. Said bad guy didn't have much of it so he chose to contaminate the place where there are the most different people overtime. The inns. Said plague dies in high temperatures.

Cliche: The man who is out for revenge on someone and will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

Blue Ghost
2008-12-06, 04:12 PM
Cliche: The pyromanic sorcerer who burns down every inn the party comes across. At least once.

I have a player who regularly plays a gnomish version of this one, except without the inn burning, luckily.

He has a Durkon-esque fear of trees, and burns trees (and inns, which are made from trees) because he thinks they're evil. And he got attacked by an animated tree when he was little.

Lemur
2008-12-06, 04:45 PM
Cliche: The pyromanic sorcerer who burns down every inn the party comes across. At least once.

I have a player who regularly plays a gnomish version of this one, except without the inn burning, luckily.

The pyromaniac sorcerer who burns himself down at every inn the party comes across.


Or: The just plain maniac sorcerer who brings the house down at every inn with his Major Image and Dancing Lights psychedelic rave shows.


Or: The agromaniac sorcerer, who grows flowers out of the wood at every inn the party comes across.

Ravens_cry
2008-12-06, 04:50 PM
Cliche: The pyromanic sorcerer who burns down every inn the party comes across. At least once.

I have a player who regularly plays a gnomish version of this one, except without the inn burning, luckily.
The sorcerer believes in a religion that takes public drunkenness very seriously, alcohol is sacred, and using for the base use of getting inebriated, is well, more then an abomination. He burns the alcohol as burnt offering unto his Goddess, and the inn just makes great tinder.

Kalir
2008-12-06, 05:54 PM
Cliché: The big, tough, muscular bad guy with no real motivation for the overarching storyline, but a recklessness bordering on maniacal. Always the first to fling himself into the fight, usually while spouting one-liners.

Bonus Cliché:He is always accompanied by some little girl who has no family except Biggie, and in a random freak coincidence, he watches over her more closely than a farmer does his daughters.

Dogmantra
2008-12-06, 06:16 PM
Cliche: The man who is out for revenge on someone and will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

He is, of course, out for revenge for a very good cause! One day, he was just passing by when this guy stole from a charity collections plate! The man who is out for revenge couldn't have that, I mean, think of the children!

EDIT: hehe... I just realised I ended every sentence with an exclamation mark...

busterswd
2008-12-06, 06:47 PM
Cliche: The flaky bard. Cares more about music than anything else, and is the most unreliable person you've ever met.

An dedicated agent of the enemy who is attempting to allow them an easy way to track the party by making a ruckus wherever they travel.


Cliche: The pyromanic sorcerer who burns down every inn the party comes across. At least once.


Enthusiastic but amazingly clumsy chef in training.


Cliche: The man who is out for revenge on someone and will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

The reason no one can dissuade him from revenge is because he himself forgot the reason for revenge a while ago. He's just really pissed off at the person, but not quite sure why.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-06, 10:48 PM
That's so awesome

Yes. Yes it is.:smallbiggrin:

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-06, 10:55 PM
Cliche: The man who is out for revenge on someone and will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

Broken Cliche: The man he's out to get revenge on is himself! He and some friends pissed off the wrong guy and he was captured by said guy and brainwashed to be an assassin. Unfortunately he also suffered amnesia and doesn't remember who he is, so when the order is given, the person he was is included as one of the people he has to kill. Thus he's going on a wild goose chase for a man that doesn't exist anymore. Or does he?

(Begged, borrowed and stolen from the character of Strelok in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.)

Gardakan
2008-12-06, 11:08 PM
For me an old cliche is what we saw for over 10 times...(fictional number...) Like the elf archer(Legolas), the drawf protector (Gimli), the old druid... Grunt the half-orc barbarian with 4 in Int...

Laharal
2008-12-07, 02:58 AM
Cliche: The king's vizer/chancelor is a scheming, manipulative and traitorous rat bastard bent on stealing the throne and marrying the princess.

(Not considering the princess thing)

Even-more cliché: The chancelor was given many powers by the king who was a life of the party, seduce the duchesses kind of guy more concerned by enjoying luxury than producing it. Given more and more place, the Chancelor had to build a strong a complex plan for the future. (It actually happened in the 17th-18th centruy Spain ;) )

Fact about the even-more cliché: The "scheming" of the Chancelor is the only thing preventing the kingdom to fall into anarchy or to foreign powers.

Cliché to be broken: The rebel girl of an aristocrat who crumbles under the traditionalism of her family and decides to go explore the world because she's mad at her parents for being so conservative...blah blah.. doesn't want to marry that guy...blah blah...always felt like a warrior...blah blah...

2) Cliché to be broken

The old sage who had seen the decay of man for the last centuries. An acceleration of troubled times makes him conclude that the end is near, that civilization has fallen and that corruption is spreading.

3) Cliché to be broken

The mid-aged man with a foggy/shameful past training a young hero. The man had known a glory age but has fallen from grace/hidden his paste/ lived a great trauma (death of his family). In the beginning he refuses / his afraid to bring back his knowledge/skills because of fear/trauma. Then he realizes that his trainee is THE chosen one and suddenly forget about all his reluctancies and makes peace with his past.

4) My most annoying cliché ever

The hero had been wronged by somebody important. He cumulates anger and rallies his fellow citizens into a class-fight. While everybody embraces a fight for social change, the hero his only motivated to get 1 one 1 with the important person. He intrumentalized class-conflict to suit his personal revenge.

OneFamiliarFace
2008-12-07, 03:17 AM
Cliché to be broken: The rebel girl of an aristocrat who crumbles under the traditionalism of her family and decides to go explore the world because she's mad at her parents for being so conservative...blah blah.. doesn't want to marry that guy...blah blah...always felt like a warrior...blah blah...

Taking a page from Michael J. Fox in family ties on this one: The girl is the daughter of a benevolent, landed aristocrat. The king (baron/duke) does his best to always help the poor and has only the best interests of his people in mind. The daughter, feeling neglected, sets out adventuring to feel like part of a the family her father never had time for. She treats the rest of the party as brothers and sisters, often deferring to the party face in making decisions or rules. She won't fight merely for "good" or "to help," as she feels that people should do their own dirty work. So she fights at the behest of her new pseudo-father figure, pretending to be exasperated by it but secretly enjoying following the rules.


4) My most annoying cliché ever

The hero had been wronged by somebody important. He cumulates anger and rallies his fellow citizens into a class-fight. While everybody embraces a fight for social change, the hero his only motivated to get 1 one 1 with the important person. He intrumentalized class-conflict to suit his personal revenge.

Cliches like this one can be quite simple to break. The hero is simply wrong, and he will ultimately come to discover this (with a little help from the DM). I think the worst part about this cliche is that the hero is vindicated in the end when it comes out that his enemy was really super-bad. Anyway, back to the breaking: once proven wrong, he may become one of his ex-enemy's staunchest supporters.

Cliche to be broken: The gruff rebel who won't take crap from anyone, and does everything his own way (which, coincidentally, turns out to be the right way), even (and especially) to the detriment of his teammates and the storyline. (examples: "Loose Cannon" cops/guards, Chaotic stupid Barbarians, grey-cloaked bad-ass with clint eastwood stubble)

SurlySeraph
2008-12-07, 03:42 AM
2) Cliché to be broken

The old sage who had seen the decay of man for the last centuries. An acceleration of troubled times makes him conclude that the end is near, that civilization has fallen and that corruption is spreading.

He notices all of the above, and concludes that the destruction of civilization is inevitable. So he decides to hurry it along. He hires the heroes to kill "opressors" who are actually the only people still capable of holding the world together.

Demented
2008-12-07, 05:48 AM
Alternately, the old man is a professor and scholar, who spends his days teaching young men about the concepts of respect and honor, hoping he can convince them to become good and noble individuals. Unfortunately, his harsh teaching methods tends to drive the young men to grow up and become greedy land owners and selfish statesmen, contributing ever further to the corruption and iniquity that the old sage campaigns to end. At the end of his rope, the old sage decides he should solve the problem at its root... The worst of these students, themselves children of corrupt officials, start disappearing on a monthly basis, never to be heard from again.


3) Cliché to be broken

The mid-aged man with a foggy/shameful past training a young hero. The man had known a glory age but has fallen from grace/hidden his paste/ lived a great trauma (death of his family). In the beginning he refuses / his afraid to bring back his knowledge/skills because of fear/trauma. Then he realizes that his trainee is THE chosen one and suddenly forget about all his reluctancies and makes peace with his past.

Having moved on from his previously action-filled life, the mid-aged man has decided the most beneficial thing to do would be to travel cross-country, exclaiming the benefits of becoming a vegetarian. Now he'll have nothing to do with that fighting and training stuff. Countless young men--hopeful heroes--seek him out to learn from his renowned skills of battle, but even if they can convince him to teach them anything unrelated to gardening, years of violence and strict physical conditioning (as well as a fondness for a colorful breed of mushroom) have left him a little loose in the sanity department; there may be nothing left to learn from him at all.

Bagera
2008-12-07, 06:19 AM
I play the haughty elf, who disdains all the lesser races, the twist: He's just a horrible racist.

dspeyer
2008-12-07, 08:34 AM
2) Cliché to be broken

The old sage who had seen the decay of man for the last centuries. An acceleration of troubled times makes him conclude that the end is near, that civilization has fallen and that corruption is spreading.


A hundred years later (he's an elf, or otherwise long-lived) civilization hasn't fallen, and he returns humbled. He's still famous as a sage, and indeed quite wise, but refuses to teach anyone anything, saying that his wisdom is disproven and he can now only be a student.

Winged One
2008-12-07, 12:04 PM
I play the haughty elf, who disdains all the lesser races, the twist: He's just a horrible racist.

How is that a twist?:smallwink:

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-07, 01:26 PM
Cliché to be broken: The rebel girl of an aristocrat who crumbles under the traditionalism of her family and decides to go explore the world because she's mad at her parents for being so conservative...blah blah.. doesn't want to marry that guy...blah blah...always felt like a warrior...blah blah...

Broken Cliche: Instead of fleeing her family because they keep her like a doll, she flees because they don't. Her family trains all their children as warriors, since they're from an inhospitable region and have to fight to survive. She's always been regarded as the family weakling because she doesn't want to fight or work, but instead wants to be pampered and spoiled. She's fled home to find some rich heir to marry who'll never allow her to work so she can live the life she's always wanted. Fat, lazy and spoiled.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-07, 03:06 PM
Cliche to be broken: The gruff rebel who won't take crap from anyone, and does everything his own way (which, coincidentally, turns out to be the right way), even (and especially) to the detriment of his teammates and the storyline. (examples: "Loose Cannon" cops/guards, Chaotic stupid Barbarians, grey-cloaked bad-ass with clint eastwood stubble)

Broken Cliche: The guy only does this because he's jealous of the "leader" of the party. Even when he knows the leader's plan is a good idea, he decides to go against it out of spite. He wont take crap from anyone because his ego won't allow it, and the only reason he's still around after ruining the party's plans for the umpteenth time is because each time he's done it he's serendipitously managed to allow the party to succeed.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-07, 03:36 PM
Cliche to be broken: The heroic knight/paladin in shining armor who can do no wrong, never thinks evil thoughts, hasn't got an unkind bone in his body, whose smile is blinding, and whose farts are perfume.

Flame of Anor
2008-12-07, 03:40 PM
He's really an evil knight who is being mind-controlled by a good-aligned sorceror with a sense of humor.

Cliche: Innocent but imaginative farmboy/schoolboy/whateverboy is suddenly thrust into a situation where he must train with the wise old master to learn the skills he needs, because ONLY HE can save the world! (Cf. Luke Skywalker, Eragon, that kid in The Last Starfighter)

Dogmantra
2008-12-07, 03:52 PM
Cliche: Innocent but imaginative farmboy/schoolboy/whateverboy is suddenly thrust into a situation where he must train with the wise old master to learn the skills he needs, because ONLY HE can save the world! (Cf. Luke Skywalker, Eragon, that kid in The Last Starfighter)

It's really all a clever plot by his parents to make him eat his greens. Only HE can save the world with broccolicic goodness!

DiscipleofBob
2008-12-07, 03:57 PM
Cliche: Innocent but imaginative farmboy/schoolboy/whateverboy is suddenly thrust into a situation where he must train with the wise old master to learn the skills he needs, because ONLY HE can save the world! (Cf. Luke Skywalker, Eragon, that kid in The Last Starfighter)

The old master is really a seasoned con man. There is no impending threat of doom. The old man will teach the youth how to fight and defend himself, then take him on a series of "training" missions which somehow involve mass amounts of profit for the old man through a series of convoluted arrangements that are only made clear after the old man fakes his own death and takes off with all of his profits, living a life of luxury until his fortunes run out and then he repeats the process with another starry-eyed farmboy.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-07, 05:42 PM
So the kid DOES become a hero, but he's not gonna save the world?

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-07, 07:30 PM
3) Cliché to be broken

The mid-aged man with a foggy/shameful past training a young hero. The man had known a glory age but has fallen from grace/hidden his paste/ lived a great trauma (death of his family). In the beginning he refuses / his afraid to bring back his knowledge/skills because of fear/trauma. Then he realizes that his trainee is THE chosen one and suddenly forget about all his reluctancies and makes peace with his past.

Broken Cliche: The man doesn't really know any heroic stuff. He was thoroughly on the sidelines when whatever traumatized him hit. The Chosen One however has it in his naive and enthusiastic skull that this man was a master of swordplay/magic/whatever, and insists that the man train him. The brat won't take "no" for an answer, so the poor guy's forced to pull "knowledge" out of his ass in an attempt to train him, knowing full well that the only thing he could really teach him would be about scrapbooking or whatever his hobbies are.

Lemur
2008-12-07, 07:52 PM
Cliché: The big, tough, muscular bad guy with no real motivation for the overarching storyline, but a recklessness bordering on maniacal. Always the first to fling himself into the fight, usually while spouting one-liners.

Bonus Cliché:He is always accompanied by some little girl who has no family except Biggie, and in a random freak coincidence, he watches over her more closely than a farmer does his daughters.

He's a bodybuilder who doesn't actually know how to fight. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, either, but man is he enthusiastic. Relies on his imposing build and attitude, which usually makes people avoid fights with him altogether. He gets knocked out in the first couple seconds of real combat.

The little girl is the one who actually wins the fights (actually, that may just be walking into another cliche. This could use some more thought.)

Doomsy
2008-12-07, 08:09 PM
He's really an evil knight who is being mind-controlled by a good-aligned sorceror with a sense of humor.

Cliche: Innocent but imaginative farmboy/schoolboy/whateverboy is suddenly thrust into a situation where he must train with the wise old master to learn the skills he needs, because ONLY HE can save the world! (Cf. Luke Skywalker, Eragon, that kid in The Last Starfighter)

It is all a set up. The old man is sending the kid out to take out key people who need to look like they are dead. He trains the kid incompetently, gives him a magic sword that is incapable of harming the key targets. Later, he gives an emotional speech to the kid that his training is finished and he dies, leaving the kid the last of the Order/Band/Dragonriders/Knights. This is all part of a two decade old plot, of course. He comes to after the kid has left and escapes.

When the kid is done on his horrible rampage of revenge, the 'old master', the 'traitor who turned on the Order/Band/Dragonriders/Knights', and a few key others from the old regime steal the pension fund and other treasures. With the kid assuming he is the only survivor and founding a new order of incompetents, they are free to escape into the wider world and buy a nice country to settle down in under assumed names.

I actually took this view when watching the entire Star Wars series and it really made it much more enjoyable.

OneFamiliarFace
2008-12-07, 10:24 PM
Cliche to be broken: The heroic knight/paladin in shining armor who can do no wrong, never thinks evil thoughts, hasn't got an unkind bone in his body, whose smile is blinding, and whose farts are perfume.

Man, this one is hard to answer without just jumping into another cliche. In editions with alignment requirements, it's even harder!

It could be that he has a tremendously low wisdom and intelligence, and so all of the things he does are out of ignorance to the alternative. This plays into the cliche of the simple-minded also being good-hearted though (or vice versa). But it does break into the D&D version of that cliche anyway, in that the paladin actually is an idiot, rather than just playing one.

Outside of alignment restrictions, it could be that his faith has certain beliefs not held by the majority of people. They could amount to taboos or certain required behaviors to him (such as always sitting facing east or not eating meat), and keeping his body physically and mentally clean is paramount among these beliefs. Ah! He worships a water goddess, and thus must go through various purification rituals in order to do various things. If he has a bad thought, it must be purged from his body through ritual (perhaps as simple as drinking water). Extrapolate to taste.

Cliche to be broken: The buxom owner of the local brothel, dressed in clothes designed to show off her large figure, who has nothing but sass and disrespect for those PCs who choose to frequent her establishment (except for the rare quest hook to save one of her girls or, indeed, her whole building).

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-08, 01:10 AM
Broken Cliche: The madam actually has a crush on one of the PCs, and uses the sass and disrespect because the PC in question likes being talked dirty to.

Learnedguy
2008-12-08, 01:15 AM
Cliche to be broken: The heroic knight/paladin in shining armor who can do no wrong, never thinks evil thoughts, hasn't got an unkind bone in his body, whose smile is blinding, and whose farts are perfume.

The usual ways to break this one is to accent his black-and-white moral judgment (it's not that hard).

Optimystik
2008-12-08, 01:26 AM
To be broken: The hero arrives at a faraway kingdom to investigate a mystery, and meet the kind, beautiful princess and her doting father. Shortly after arriving in town, he/she is beset upon and later befriended by a mysterious young woman with curiously regal manners who is very beautiful - or so she would appear if she ever removed her mask/veil/otherwise obvious disguise.

Trope examples:
Zelda/Sheik, The Legend of Zelda; Silk Fox, Jade Empire

Trizap
2008-12-08, 01:41 AM
Cliche to broken:
The mad scientist who always comes up with zany inventions and tech and all that, with all the supers-scientific knowledge and such, you know the type.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-08, 01:44 AM
The usual ways to break this one is to accent his black-and-white moral judgment (it's not that hard).

Could you provide an example please? That would help illustrate it more clearly.:smallsmile:

busterswd
2008-12-08, 02:15 AM
To be broken: The hero arrives at a faraway kingdom to investigate a mystery, and meet the kind, beautiful princess and her doting father. Shortly after arriving in town, he/she is beset upon and later befriended by a mysterious young woman with curiously regal manners who is very beautiful - or so she would appear if she ever removed her mask/veil/otherwise obvious disguise.

Are we subverting the hero or the princess?

Mysterious regal woman: Insane (but attractive) yokel with delusions of grandeur.

Hero: Chronic amnesia. She's introduced herself as the princess several times by now but the reason she's still mysterious to him is he repeatedly forgets things.


Cliche to broken:
The mad scientist who always comes up with zany inventions and tech and all that, with all the supers-scientific knowledge and such, you know the type.

All of his inventions only work once. So if he tests it successfully, it won't ever work again. If he doesn't test it, it may not work in the first place. Thus he has an extremely poor reputation.

NephandiMan
2008-12-08, 04:58 AM
He's really an evil knight who is being mind-controlled by a good-aligned sorceror with a sense of humor.

Cliche: Innocent but imaginative farmboy/schoolboy/whateverboy is suddenly thrust into a situation where he must train with the wise old master to learn the skills he needs, because ONLY HE can save the world! (Cf. Luke Skywalker, Eragon, that kid in The Last Starfighter)

The Break: the old master is the one destined to save the world. The kid is merely a good-looking front.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-08, 10:31 AM
To be broken: The hero arrives at a faraway kingdom to investigate a mystery, and meet the kind, beautiful princess and her doting father. Shortly after arriving in town, he/she is beset upon and later befriended by a mysterious young woman with curiously regal manners who is very beautiful - or so she would appear if she ever removed her mask/veil/otherwise obvious disguise.

Trope examples:
Zelda/Sheik, The Legend of Zelda; Silk Fox, Jade Empire

The mysterious young woman is in fact the princess's twin sister, who has been assigned to watch the hero and act as a decoy should the princess be in danger.

TengYt
2008-12-08, 11:20 AM
To be broken: The hero arrives at a faraway kingdom to investigate a mystery, and meet the kind, beautiful princess and her doting father. Shortly after arriving in town, he/she is beset upon and later befriended by a mysterious young woman with curiously regal manners who is very beautiful - or so she would appear if she ever removed her mask/veil/otherwise obvious disguise.




It's all a huge coincidence.

Alternatively, the women happens to be extremely ugly under her disguise.

TwystidMynd
2008-12-08, 02:24 PM
The Dwarf in question is, in fact, a noted sociologist, his goal is to study humanoid aggression across cultures so he can aid diplomats. If people understand what makes certain races and cultures aggressive, he can figure out how to prevent and end wars. He dosn't actually drink in those taverns, he merely pretends to so that people don't know he's studying them. He often provokes brawls as an experiment, to see which behavior and insults are most likely to trigger aggresive behavior, in addition to observing others provoking conflict.

I wish I could add to this thread, but I'm lacking in creativity at the moment.

I did, however, want to pipe in as soon as I read this, though; this is a wonderfully broken cliché! Well done, sir.

Archpaladin Zousha
2008-12-08, 06:35 PM
Cliche: The emo warlock who's sold his soul to the devil and is now depressed about it and angsting around trying to find a way to get out of it.

Lemur
2008-12-08, 06:42 PM
Cliche: The emo warlock who's sold his soul to the devil and is now depressed about it and angsting around trying to find a way to get out of it.

The emo devil who bought the soul of a worthless warlock, and is now angsting over some way to get rid of it. Problem is, no one wants it, even the warlock in question.

Prometheus
2008-12-08, 11:21 PM
Cliche: Goblins killed my family and I could do anything so now I'm going to grow up big and strong and take out goblins whenever I see them.

chiasaur11
2008-12-08, 11:57 PM
Cliche: Goblins killed my family and I could do anything so now I'm going to grow up big and strong and take out goblins whenever I see them.

Broken: Hey, I'm now tough enough to fight the goblins after years of mercenary work. Lucrative mercenary work. In fact, very lucrative mercenary work.

You know, the goblins will still be there in a few years.

Lemur
2008-12-09, 12:58 AM
Cliche: Goblins killed my family and I could do anything so now I'm going to grow up big and strong and take out goblins whenever I see them.

Goblins killed my family so I will infiltrate their society and using shrewd political manipulation become the ruler of all goblins and lead their entire people into ruin.


Alternate:
Goblins killed my family, and using due process of law I sent the guilty parties to the gallows.

Doomsy
2008-12-09, 03:28 AM
Cliche: Goblins killed my family and I could do anything so now I'm going to grow up big and strong and take out goblins whenever I see them.

By take out, I mean to dinner, because I hated my family. They used to beat me and make me sleep in the basement and then my goblin friends killed them. I now kill every other goblin tribe in the area to help my little buddies expand their territory and often send them nice letters, gold, and spare equipment.

Option B: I had to kill all of the goblins in that group because otherwise one of them might squeal that I hired that band to kill off my family to secure my inheritance/noble lands/just really disliked them that much. I have to keep killing to keep up my pretense as a righteous goblin-slayer.

Doomsy
2008-12-09, 04:00 AM
To be broken: The hero arrives at a faraway kingdom to investigate a mystery, and meet the kind, beautiful princess and her doting father. Shortly after arriving in town, he/she is beset upon and later befriended by a mysterious young woman with curiously regal manners who is very beautiful - or so she would appear if she ever removed her mask/veil/otherwise obvious disguise.

Trope examples:
Zelda/Sheik, The Legend of Zelda; Silk Fox, Jade Empire

I didn't want to double post, but I almost have to here.

Destroying The Cliche The doting father never remarried for a reason. The veil of gendershifting/illusion was an expensive investment, but necessary for his alternate lifestyle. Depending on how badly you want to destroy the trope, he is either just into crossdressing and enjoys adventuring, or he more specifically enjoys the company of young male heroes.

Shademan
2008-12-09, 05:11 AM
To be broken: The hero arrives at a faraway kingdom to investigate a mystery, and meet the kind, beautiful princess and her doting father. Shortly after arriving in town, he/she is beset upon and later befriended by a mysterious young woman with curiously regal manners who is very beautiful - or so she would appear if she ever removed her mask/veil/otherwise obvious disguise.

Trope examples:
Zelda/Sheik, The Legend of Zelda; Silk Fox, Jade Empire

when the mysterious warrior removes her veil... it is revealed she is a man!
DAH DAH DAH DAAAAH!

BobVosh
2008-12-09, 06:56 AM
Cliche to broken:
The mad scientist who always comes up with zany inventions and tech and all that, with all the supers-scientific knowledge and such, you know the type.

He has only come up with one invention. A time machine. He actually steals other scientists ideas from a few years in the future.


when the mysterious warrior removes her veil... it is revealed she is a man!
DAH DAH DAH DAAAAH!

Broken further: Or is it? So hard to tell? YEE GADS, it is two goblins wearing a woman suit!

Cliche: A party new to D&D or at least the Tomb of Horrors enter the ToH and it is a TPK.

*edit* Oh my, someone has quoted me for the Rum Cake of Unnaturalness.

Morty
2008-12-09, 07:45 AM
Cliche: Goblins killed my family and I could do anything so now I'm going to grow up big and strong and take out goblins whenever I see them.

Broken: Hero's family attacked the goblins first. Their death was but a justified retribution.

Dirdle
2008-12-10, 05:26 PM
Broken: The pyromaniac mage? He was paid by the innkeepers, who wanted to claim on their innsurance*.

Cliche: The LG cleric who heals, and heals, and heals...

Now pre-broken!: http://www.everything2.com/node/1488138 Although this is more inversion than subversion.


* - I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Please, euthanise me. It's for the greater good.

Zenos
2008-12-10, 05:31 PM
Broken: The pyromaniac mage? He was paid by the innkeepers, who wanted to claim on their innsurance*.

Cliche: The LG cleric who heals, and heals, and heals...

Now pre-broken!: http://www.everything2.com/node/1488138 Although this is more inversion than subversion.


* - I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Please, euthanise me. It's for the greater good.

*Grants the Emperor's Benediction with a bolter.*

lisiecki
2008-12-10, 07:32 PM
Break this cliche: the noble youth who plunged himself into the study of necromancy after the death of his adorable younger sister.

His only mistake... Necromancy and Necrophilia sound VERY smiler to the guy running the mysterious stand...

Dirdle
2008-12-11, 03:11 PM
The mad scientist who always comes up with zany inventions and tech and all that, with all the supers-scientific knowledge and such, you know the type.

Broken: Their inventions are always far, far more destructive than they expect, e.g., their golem built to help the villagers rebuild after a catastrophe kills the hapless commoners and builds the village of their corpses (or better yet, their still-living bodies preserved in a state of near-death. Reason...uh...the walls are more disintegrate-resistant now?). They are an extreme pacifist. (Think Bloody Stupid Johnson and Leonard of Quirm from Discworld)

OneFamiliarFace
2008-12-11, 08:07 PM
By take out, I mean to dinner, because I hated my family. They used to beat me and make me sleep in the basement and then my goblin friends killed them. I now kill every other goblin tribe in the area to help my little buddies expand their territory and often send them nice letters, gold, and spare equipment.

Option B: I had to kill all of the goblins in that group because otherwise one of them might squeal that I hired that band to kill off my family to secure my inheritance/noble lands/just really disliked them that much. I have to keep killing to keep up my pretense as a righteous goblin-slayer.

These are both great, actually. Not only would the first be quite good for a player, but the second has a lot of interesting plot hooks involved.

zerombr
2008-12-11, 08:45 PM
A hero in the eyes of the public. In reality, he's still a naive but kind farmboy. Not very effective, but easily manipulated, and he makes a popular figurehead for the common people.

Enter the schemer. It doesn't matter who the schemer is, he could be a loveable rogue who actually has both of their best interests at heart, and uses his trickery to bring fame to the farmboy, and fortune to himself. It could just as easily be a cunning politician or shrewd magician who uses him to manipulate the people. Maybe the necromancer in the castle down the road uses him to stop the angry mob from stopping his flesh golem experiments, and instead has the peasants led to their zombified doom.

It doesn't matter who it is, really. The key is that someone is pulling the strings from behind the curtain, and the farmboy is just a rube for someone else's designs.

this strikes me very similar to the story of Fearnot, from Jim Henson's The Storyteller...

zerombr
2008-12-11, 09:15 PM
Cliche: Innocent but imaginative farmboy/schoolboy/whateverboy is suddenly thrust into a situation where he must train with the wise old master to learn the skills he needs, because ONLY HE can save the world! (Cf. Luke Skywalker, Eragon, that kid in The Last Starfighter)

About time someone mentioned 'The One' as a horrible, HORRIBLE cliche'

I've got a great answer to this

Subverted:So the kid grows up, knowing he's 'THE ONE' and destined to save the world, as he comes of age, he befriends a group of rag-tag adventurers that see the evil looming in the world, and together they sally forth to slowly make things right. Slowly the other members of the party begin to gain faith at 'The One's abilities, and gain confidence in the prophecy.
The final battle commences, and most of the party is dropped in the fight, as the world watches on. The Dark Lord nearly strikes down The One, leaving him incapacitated and helpless, as the party Bard/Rogue strikes down the Dark Lord. Peace reigns over the land.
The One, at first, genuinely happy for the world to be freed, slowly grows to resent his friend, the Bard/Rogue, who is lauded as the new hero, and quickly dubbed, 'The One'. The farmboy fumes, and turns against his friend, having denied him his destiny, his life in shambles, he loses all sense of right and wrong, having been brushed aside by fate. He learns a hard lesson that there is no fate, there is no destiny, and there are no gods, there are only men. The farmboy soon turns to the Dark Side, murdering his good friend, 'The One', and is soon proclaimed 'The Dark Lord'...and how right they are.

Assassin89
2008-12-11, 10:50 PM
Cliche: Elves are so bloody fantastic

A family of elves are considered fantastic parents because they successfully raise a human child to adulthood or a dwarven child.

pingcode20
2008-12-11, 11:03 PM
Cliche: Innocent but imaginative farmboy/schoolboy/whateverboy is suddenly thrust into a situation where he must train with the wise old master to learn the skills he needs, because ONLY HE can save the world! (Cf. Luke Skywalker, Eragon, that kid in The Last Starfighter)

Halfway through the training montage, chosen one is accidentally killed. Training Montage screeches to a halt, resumes five seconds later with a different Innocent but Imaginative Farmboy.

Mewtarthio
2008-12-12, 12:08 AM
Cliche: The look-but-don't-touch King's daughter. The one who wouldn't last a day in a poor man's shoes, let alone on a sojourn through the wilderness.

The princess died of a congenital heart defect at the age of eighteen. Her grieving father had the greatest artist in the land create a clay statue in her perfect likeness, and then he executed the artist and had his court wizard animate the statue as a golem, using illusions to perfect the artisan's work and make the princess appear real. All are forbidden to touch her, lest they feel that her skin is but painted clay and the ruse is revealed; in fact, she is programmed to immediately kill anyone who dares touch her, and as she never leaves the palace her father and his loyal servants can deal with the witnesses.


To be broken: The hero arrives at a faraway kingdom to investigate a mystery, and meet the kind, beautiful princess and her doting father. Shortly after arriving in town, he/she is beset upon and later befriended by a mysterious young woman with curiously regal manners who is very beautiful - or so she would appear if she ever removed her mask/veil/otherwise obvious disguise.

The princess was a healthy girl who enjoyed the outdoors. One day, she visited her uncle, a nobleman who enjoyed dabbling in wizardry. While she was out playing in the woods, a Planar Binding spell gone horribly wrong resulted in her uncle's home being completely destroyed, and the princess fled to avoid the escaped demons.

When she felt it safe to return, she realized that she had no way to contact her father, and nobody believed she was the princess. She made her way back to the palace, stealthily travelling through wooded areas to avoid kidnappers in urban areas. When she arrived at the palace, she was very dirty and dishevelled, not very princessy at all, and still nobody believed her story. She was, however, confident that her father would vouch for her.

Unfortunately for her, when she finally met her father, she discovered that she had been replaced by the Princess Golem mentioned above! Her father, having convinced himself that his daughter was dead and suffering a rather unhealthy amount of cognitive dissonance over killing that sculptor and making a creepy facsimile of her, initially refused to believe that his little girl was back. Before the princess could prove anything, sadly, she foolishly attacked the Princess Golem, activating its "kill mode." Everyone present was slaughtered; she alone survived because the King, seriously confused about this new development, ordered his goons not to kill her.

She now travel the world in disguise, enraged at her father's actions. She briefly joined a criminal guild to hone her skills in the arts of stealth, and she now takes various odd assassination and theft jobs to further improve her skills. She's looking into adventuring now, since she's still not strong enough to take on the Princess Golem. Her goal is to break into her father's palace, destroy the Princess Golem, and reclaim her rightful place at her father's side!

pingcode20
2008-12-12, 03:46 AM
<Cliche-Snap>

Oooh. That sounds like it would be a great adventure to play. Especially with the stringing-along potential that you could get from it being based off a fairly transparent cliche.