Boll Weevil Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 OK, this is separate from the Plot Seeds thread. There are some campaign cliches some would find tiresome but we love them both from a GM and player standpoint. For me, I love the old gem where a villain has found one part of a mystic/alien atrifact and is looking for the other three pieces to complete a weapon or transdimensional portal. The heroes must find the other pieces before Big Bad(s) can. I like this one because the campaign is serial with each adventure tidied up before questing for the next piece. This campaign can be run with multiple groups each running toward the same goal. If Big Bad beats them tonight, the cause is not necesarily lost. This campaign in it's many iterations has been done and overdone but I still love it. What about you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love When captured by a villain, our heroes , rather than simply being quickly and efficiently executed are left in a convulted death trap while the mastermind leaves to continue his plot rather than make sure it works. Whew, as a PC, this can really save your bacon. "You just don't get it, do you?"-Dr. Evil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boll Weevil Posted March 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love Hee hee. "Hey, boss. I don't know if this helps or not, but Socrates has detected a shipment of sharks and head-mounted lasers being delivered to the old inactive volcano on Fire Island. Maybe we should investigate." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love Mind controlled heroes, evil clones, evil other dimensional versions (beard optional) of heroes, etc. "Own worst enemies", literally. Hero who is key to villain's plan for some reason. Special power, whatever. I had a player with an Absorbing-Man type character. I had planned to have a villain capture him, force him to turn into plutonium, and (try to) use him in a massive bomb. Never got the chance. Squabbling villains. Different motivations, different methods, who gets to kill X hero, etc. Seeing supervillains bicker like old unhappy married folks is entertaining. Weasely villains. Sure, the hard-as-nails types are fun too, but the in-it-for-a-buck true criminals, who get going (out the back) when the going gets tough are great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love Another superhero team shows up, leading to a case of mistaken identity, or a conflict of agendas, followed by a Senses-Shattering Slugfest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted March 13, 2006 Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love I've always been fond of "Evil versions of your selves from a mirror dimension!" I know I do feel guilty, but I lack self controll.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightray Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 The reformed villain, or the hero-turned-bad. I'm kind of working on the latter in my campaign -- one of the NPC members of the hero team left them to go take over (and reform? maybe) PSI. I'm still pondering how to introduce the former. I'm also quite fond of the legacy hero bit, but haven't had much call to use it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love I like the cliches, but my problem is that half my group doesn't know/doesn't like standard superhero tropes, and the other half loves 'em. Which leads to encounters like: Dr. Badness: Curses! The heroes have found my secret lair! But you won't... Cpt. HatesCliches: I shoot him. Me: Wait, he's not done... Cpt. HatesCliches: I know. I blast him before he finishes. No point sitting around waiting for him to reveal his plan. I'll just torture a few minions after their boss is dead -- one of them is bound to know his plan. (This is usually the point where I say, "Sorry, this is a cut scene and your X-box controller doesn't work until I say it does." But that's pretty unsatisfying for everyone involved). Bill. (It's really tough when half your group is Silver/Bronze and the other half is straight-up Iron). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkham Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love I like the cliches, but my problem is that half my group doesn't know/doesn't like standard superhero tropes, and the other half loves 'em. Which leads to encounters like: Dr. Badness: Curses! The heroes have found my secret lair! But you won't... Cpt. HatesCliches: I shoot him. Me: Wait, he's not done... Cpt. HatesCliches: I know. I blast him before he finishes. No point sitting around waiting for him to reveal his plan. I'll just torture a few minions after their boss is dead -- one of them is bound to know his plan. (This is usually the point where I say, "Sorry, this is a cut scene and your X-box controller doesn't work until I say it does." But that's pretty unsatisfying for everyone involved). Bill. (It's really tough when half your group is Silver/Bronze and the other half is straight-up Iron). This one is easy to deal with. Just remind the players that talking takes no time, so much so that they could read the recite the complete works of shakespear and still get an attack that phrase. Of course it does mean the laws of the universe prevent filibusters... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love I like the cliches, but my problem is that half my group doesn't know/doesn't like standard superhero tropes, and the other half loves 'em. Which leads to encounters like: Dr. Badness: Curses! The heroes have found my secret lair! But you won't... Cpt. HatesCliches: I shoot him. Me: Wait, he's not done... Cpt. HatesCliches: I know. I blast him before he finishes. No point sitting around waiting for him to reveal his plan. I'll just torture a few minions after their boss is dead -- one of them is bound to know his plan. (This is usually the point where I say, "Sorry, this is a cut scene and your X-box controller doesn't work until I say it does." But that's pretty unsatisfying for everyone involved). Bill. (It's really tough when half your group is Silver/Bronze and the other half is straight-up Iron). "Snuff the armored weirdo as fast and as hard as possible, snuff his minions, rescue the hostages, and grab the first jet outta here." -from Champions II, 1982. (note the author did not approve of this approach) Aaron Allston foresaw the Iron Age, and gamers were its heralds. And Bill, the answer to your problem is...just play with the Silver/Bronze half. (hard, I know) But hopefully someday the lightbulbs will come on. I've seen it happen, keep the faith! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love When captured by a villain' date=' our heroes...[/quote'] Whoops, you lost it right there. Most players hate their characters getting captured, more than anything else in the world. (Personally I'm on board with your idea, though. ) How about the Faithful HQ Servant and the Beleaguered Police Contact? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgrandjean Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love My personal favorite is the ever popular 'radiation accident'. Not only the fun possiblilities of spill-over damage effects the radiation accident also means that even if your character is dead, it might not be dead at all; just reintroduce them with a new powerset and there you go. And then there is 'the robot double', 'evil twin', 'villain in disguise', etc, etc... Also related to the above is 'there is no way they could have survived that'. The possiblities of avoiding death by robot double, 'secret escape route', etc are legendary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love Dr. Badness: Curses! The heroes have found my secret lair! But you won't... Cpt. HatesCliches: I shoot him. Me: Wait, he's not done... Cpt. HatesCliches: I know. I blast him before he finishes. No point sitting around waiting for him to reveal his plan. I'll just torture a few minions after their boss is dead -- one of them is bound to know his plan.[/size] At that point, I'd do things like every agent has an implanted deadman switch that kills them when the boss is killed, or that absolutely none of the agents konw the plan (depending on tone of the bad guy) and they end up failing/almost failing. Then they learn not to shoot first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love At that point' date=' I'd do things like every agent has an implanted deadman switch that kills them when the boss is killed, or that absolutely none of the agents konw the plan (depending on tone of the bad guy) and they end up failing/almost failing. Then they learn not to shoot first. [/quote'] If you're running a silver/bronze age game, there are lots of genre tropes to work with here. - You shoot and Dr. Badness collapses into a pile of wires and gears - it was a robot duplicate. - You shoot and your shot goes straight through Dr. Badness - he's just a hologram, through which the real Dr. Badness is communicating as he monitors the room through hidden cameras. - You shoot, and your blast halts short of Dr. Badness. "Did you think I would be so foolish as to confront you without the protection of my Invisible Force Screen?" or, worst of all, - You shoot. Your blast strikes Dr. Badness squarely. As the smoke clears, Dr. Badness, still standing where he was before and looking undisturbed by your attack, begins again. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, you won't find me so easy to defeat now that I have absorbed the Power PlotDevice" You want to change the rules of the genre, I get to change the storyline to bring those rules back into play. [Although "Don't RPG with players who run characters like videogames" also strikes me as good advice.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love You shoot and your shot goes straight through Dr. Badness - he's just a hologram' date=' through which the real Dr. Badness is communicating as he monitors the room through hidden cameras.[/quote'] You shoot and your shot goes straight through Dr. Badness - he's just a hologram, which was concealing the captive Ms. DNPC, who is now seriously injured. Too bad, if you had let the hologram rant, you probably would have had time to notice it wasn't real - no shadow, etc. You hear the sounds of a rocket taking off - do you attend to the dying victim or try to stop Dr. Badness' escape ship? Yeah, lots of ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marketeer Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love Another campaign cliche that is rather fun: Many long-term, meaningful relationships start with the couple-to-be trying their level best to maim or kill each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love Some team members starting out with an active dislike of each other that gradually turns into trust and respect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightray Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 You shoot and your shot goes straight through Dr. Badness - he's just a hologram' date=' which was concealing the captive Ms. DNPC, who is now seriously injured.[/quote'] I say this from bitter experience: those guys never have DNPCs. They might have Code Vs. Killing or Protective Of Innocents. If you force them to. And then it's never, ever "Total" or "Strong". That is another campaign cliché. Some team members starting out with an active dislike of each other that gradually turns into trust and respect. Or, the variant that occurs in my games: some team members start out with an active dislike of each other that never improves and annoys everyone else so much we finally ask the player to leave. Of course, those are more clichés I don't love, and so fodder for a different thread... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love You want to change the rules of the genre, I get to change the storyline to bring those rules back into play. I like those much better. I was just shooting off the cuff. And I may paste the quote above to put in my "what kind of game we play" handout at the start of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love You guys are cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alverant Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love Or, the variant that occurs in my games: some team members start out with an active dislike of each other that never improves and annoys everyone else so much we finally ask the player to leave. Of course, those are more clichés I don't love, and so fodder for a different thread... Been there. Except this was a decent character, it was always the PLAYER who got on everyone's nerves who wound up leaving (after she left I think each of us cheered inside). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love Or' date=' the variant that occurs in my games: some team members start out with an active dislike of each other that never improves and annoys everyone else so much we finally ask the player to leave.[/quote'] That's a symptom of the "No matter what happens in the game, my character's opinions never change. NEVER." syndrome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrapin Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love Like Supreme Serpent, I like to run 'the PCs vs. their Evil Duplicates'. Whether they're clones, robots, alien mimics or ecapees from the Opposite Dimension, they lend themselves to a predictable-but-loveable plot sequence: 1) The PCs are shocked to see themselves on television, committing crimes and wreaking havoc. 2) The PCs have to evade law enforcement and other superheroes until they can clear their names. 3) The PCs have to locate and overcome their evil twins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egyptoid Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Re: Campaign cliches we love big Bad Guy one-punches the Brick just to strike terror into the hearts of the otherwise blase gaming group. oh, now we respect the GM again.... for 15 minutes....sigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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