ITT post older than dirt cliches you still genuinely enjoy

ITT post older than dirt cliches you still genuinely enjoy

>The ruins of the once great city of the powerful ancient empire

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Delving into crypts or tombs.

>One of the characters was once a villain/terrible person, but is trying to put that life behind him and become a better person. While he tries to run from his past, he is only able to conquer himself and move on when he accepts who he was and what he did and make peace with it.

I probably like it so much because it's been the story of my life since I was 22. I'm trying every day to not be the shitty person I once was, and I've had to make peace with it in order to do so.

Character if necessary give himself a huge power boost at a terrible cost.

The boy is actually a girl in disguise.

>The villain's second-in-command is undoubtedly loyal to the cause but honorable to a fault, treating the heroes with courtesy and respect even as they fuck shit up

>wounded companion stays behind to hold off the enemy

>Good guys and previous antagonists team up to defeat usurper antagonist.

Ninjas.

Its especially fun when the bad guy insists it changes nothing. Or even better "Nobody gets to kill you, but me."

EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED

NOTHING HAS CHANGED

>the ruins of an ancient civilization more advanced than anything which exists today
>its ruins hold great power, but also great danger

>>The ruins of the once great city of the powerful ancient empire
Mah negro amigo.

When the veteran forces the PCs to flee by cutting them off, leaving himself to fight/die against the villain. i.e. locking them inside of the fleeing carriage

When the heroes finally defeat the big bad, and he simply turns to them and says "I was only trying to help" revealing a far worse big bad

>the real villain was actually your guide/companion the whole time

love these

>vaguely arabian themed cities having an incompetent king and a possibly evil vizier that may or may not also be a sorcerer

and i forgot to mention that the vizier is actually doing all the real work to keep the city functioning while the kind fucks around doing dumb kind shit

>the hero and antagonist actually care for each other and though they set it aside for their own duties they never stop caring, leading to easy team ups, redemption/corruption, or a bittersweet parting as the fallen wishes the victor well

>the incompetent fool on the team is actually the most powerful out of all of them

>the 'villain' is actually just an ambitious person with different values then the hero

>the disgraced or disposed prince who goes on an adventure
>snarky gods

Character screams to go even further beyond.

>the joke character with the stupid power is outrageously OP when mad, has a forbidden secret technique he never uses, or otherwise manages to fuck shit up.

>The villain's group holds deep respect for each other
>One of the heroes is related to a villain
>Romantic relationship between two impossible lovers
>"You are not alone" speech to the heroes, where the people they helped rally to their cause
>Clever old martial arts master is leagues more badass than his appearance would give off

>The mundane character gains a power boost that lets him temporary outshine everyone else, even if it's for a single session/episode/chapter.

>The previously purely support character just there to be "the smart one" becomes more powerful than any of the other characters through magical/technological means.

>old hero(es) come out of retirement

In the dead world, there is a vault that can turn this place into a paradise.

>the villain and hero are forced to work together against a mutual foe
>after defeating the greater evil the hero is momentarily in a position of vulnerability but the villain lets it go
>next time we meet I will show you no mercy

I like these.

>you all find yourselves in a tavern...

I like death knights, or any sort of fallen paladin trope.

I've come to realize that they're nowhere near as cool or deep as my edgy 16-year-old self thought playing WOTLK but I still love the style, love undeath, love the darkness turning against itself.

That is also one I quite like. Here, from the previous thread.

>Shift looking Grand Vizier to the King. Doesn't trust the party and wants them removed. Tall and thin with a goatee. Has a staff carved like a snake he walks with and leans on. Always seen talking quietly into the Kings ear every council meeting. Doesn't blink very often.

Turns out he just doesn't trust foreigners or mercenaries or your band of merry foreign mercenaries. He has a goatee because they were all the style fifty years ago and he isn't changing his look now. He walks with a stick because he has a club foot you insensitive bastard, stop drawing attention to it. No he doesn't know why it's carved like a snake. Kings grandfather gave it to him decades ago and he never thought to ask. Doesn't blink very often because he's watching what your doing with your hands you shifty foreign twat. Always whispering to the king because it's a big Kingdom with a million things going on at once and the King can't be expected to remember every little thing and needs reminding. Sure vizier Snake-looking-old-man might be the power behind the throne for the last 60 years, kingdom has prospered.

>the BBEG was actually the chosen one all along and the only one who can defeat an even greater enemy

>the heroes of this world become the gods of the next one

>the heroes of the last campaign become the villains in the new one

>the attractive female companion reveals she actually has powers or much greater abilities when her male companion gets struck down

>The villain's right hand is even crazier than the villain themself
>killing the villain would put the nutjob in charge and make the situation even worse

>the fallen paladin starts to remember who he was but tragically uses that power against the party, unable to overcome his corruption
Instant raging hardon.
youtube.com/watch?v=7RzA_Oomra8

yeah but the later seasons of buffy sucked.

...

...

This is my jam

any evil team has the following members
>sneaky master manipulator
>honourable but ruthless fanatic
>Destructive psychopath
>calculating schemer
>leader whose main job is stopping the others from killing each other

Such a good fucking track

>Blinded by avarice the dwarves delved too deep and awoke an ancient evil.

How do you feel about

>Younger prince has no charisma and is weedy and weird, 2nd in line for throne constantly overshadowed by his charismatic handsome older brother whom everyone loves. Younger prince has a room full of strange books, some of them in foreign languages. Has a big map of the capital city on his wall with points marked out in pins and string. Maps of the country with lines drawn across them and strange symbols. Clandestine meetings with strange people from the lower social orders at odd hours in seemingly random locations.

Younger prince is designing sewers for the capital city, aqueducts, roads, bridges and large scale irrigation systems. He doesn't want to rule the kingdom. He wants to make it worth being ruled. His father will never invest in any of it. His brother probably won't. Maybe his nephew one day will, but probably not. He doesn't have access to the royal treasury to do so. He makes these designs knowing it's all so pointless.

>any evil team has the following members
>>sneaky master manipulator
Half-dragon sorceror.
>>honourable but ruthless fanatic
Human fighter/antipaladin
>>Destructive psychopath
Wood elf druid
>>calculating schemer
Warforged artificer
>>leader whose main job is stopping the others from killing each other
Dragonborn warlock

>Enormous tank of a knight finally removes helmet to reveal delicate face of a lady.
>Character never speaks due to vow of silence but has something important to say in time of need.

Always been partial to women (and men) in bulky armor/clothes, it keeps both my dick and heart beating hard, I don't know why.

>Younger prince is designing sewers for the capital city, aqueducts, roads, bridges and large scale irrigation systems. He doesn't want to rule the kingdom. He wants to make it worth being ruled. His father will never invest in any of it. His brother probably won't. Maybe his nephew one day will, but probably not. He doesn't have access to the royal treasury to do so. He makes these designs knowing it's all so pointless.

Different user, but that is very good. I think I understand what you aiming for: "total innocence of suspected individual) but I would nevertheless add a bit intigue/hook for players. Younger prince don't want to rule, he knows that responsibilities would make him tired and would leave almost no time for his precious projects. He still wants to see his projects build, for people sake and for his own personal fulfilment. He is scheming on court to get founding.

> The Five Kingdoms:

- The Blue LG noble, shining paladin kingdom (Very militaristic and somewhat theocratic, strict adherence to tradition and zero social mobility for the peasants enforced by the knightly families)

- The Red LE nazi, tyrannical kingdom (Has the biggest, necromancer-supported army, full of deadly decadent courts, has some vampiric feudal lords, peasants are the playthings of the nobility, and is always on the verge of war with the shining paladin kingdom)

- The Green CG semi-civilized, horselord, closer to nature kingdom (Much of its population still follows The Old Faith, this garners the distrust and open disapproval of the shining paladin kingdom)

- The Purple N mercantile, guild-controlled kingdom (much of its army is composed of mercenary companies, biggest naval power, money, money, money, despised by the shining paladin kingdom, distrusted by the horselord kingdom and good trade relations with the nazi kingdom)

- The White LN scholarly, peaceful, utopical, magitechnologically advanced kingdom (The smallest, although golem-supported army, highest quality of life for the average citizen thanks to magitech, despised by the horselord kingdom for being "weaklings", good relations with the shining paladin and mercantile kingdoms, distrusts the nazi kingdom)

Not a cliche per se, but full of cliches I like.

I want the opposite.

Yes. The other one is

>King is a good statesman and diplomat but a lousy husband and useless father. Queen has been spending more and more time with her Knight Champion, a dashing and handsome man who is the heart throb of half the royal court. He is never not by her side and they share many sideways glances and half concealed smiles. All the court is gossiping. King hires The Party to investigate the rumours of infidelity.

Sir Squarejaw is just a friend and confidant. All those hours they spend alone together when the king is out on state visits and such? She's trying to teach him how to knit. They have no sexual interest in each other and so far as The Party can find out Sir Squarejaw is a celibate virgin with no sex drive. Court gossip is baseless twaddle. The Queen has never been less than faithful.

Isn't this just Act 1 of The Winter's Tale?

Is it? I've never read it and have only heard of it because I just googled it. I'm not a fan of Shakespeare.

Even better
>Everyone else thought she was in disguise
>She wasn't, this is just how she normally acts
I don't know what would be a better reaction, bitter acceptance or outrage.

Get out of here /pol/

I will always love heroes rescuing beautiful damsels in distress, especially if there's romance involved.
Bonus points if the damsel is half-naked and restrained.

> The ancient relic on display in the holiest part of the temple is a sony walkman or game boy or something like that.

>the princess is cute but haughty

>Extremely old mentors who bound their souls in objects

Especially in books.

It pretty much is, yeah. King Leontes becomes obsessed by the thought that his wife is sleeping with his best friend, King Polixenes, who has been visiting in his kingdom for nine months. Unfortunately for Leontes' state of mind, the Queen Hermione has also, coincidentally, been pregnant for about the same amount of time.

Spoilers follow: Leontes orders his closest confidant to assassinate Polixenes, but the advisor, being a nobleman who is assured of Polixenes's innocence and Leontes's madness, instead flees with him to Polixenes's kingdom. Taking this as further evidence of her guilt, Leontes orders the Queen jailed, sends for the Oracle to determine if she is innocent, and in the meantime accuses her publically of being a harlot anyway. When the baby is born, Leontes orders that it be abandoned in the wilderness of Polixenes's kingdom. At the trial, the testimony of the Oracle declares unambiguously that the child is Leontes's and that Hermione never did anything wrong. Leontes's son dies as he is cursed by the gods for initially refusing to believe the Oracle, and Hermione herself dies of despair on hearing the news. This leaves Leontes desolate, without a Queen or an heir. Acts 4 and 5 are about the abandoned child princess, Perdita, who was naturally rescued from predators by a shepherd who happened to be in the area.

>I'm not a fan of Shakespeare.
And this is how I know you're a pleb. If you haven't read any of it since High School, I suggest you give him another shot.

I like this user

Had this happen to my fighter while playing The Last Gods. Throughout the campaign everyone gave him shit for being "Just a dude with a sharp stick".

Come Xenxarck's anti-magic field, and the druid, the cleric, the demon-hunter and the ninja are all up at shit's creek because all their AC bonuses are suddenly gone, and they don't have their supernatural/magical/divine tricks to carry them against the cloud giant.

Gotta give the classics credit.

>Ancient Empire is literally Rome

>I suggest you give him another shot.

You make the assumption I have not.

In school we did Romeo and Juliet. I read Macbeth some years after leaving. I found no enjoyment in it.

>the dwarves thought they were digging down but instead they dug upwards under the streets of the capital, awakening an ancient non-aggression treaty

>Character never speaks due to vow of silence but has something important to say in time of need.
youtube.com/watch?v=eD4l8wpbrRI

Ruins and dungeons are my favorite things PnP wise.

This one is great. The Shego-complex is also good. (Side-kick is more badass than the villain, and have some different views)

Did this once. Old mentor was evil and used this method to overwrite other people with his own mind/soul.

The party really wished they'd invested in Will saves after that.

>Defeated BBEG's minion joins your cause

>The ruins of the once great city of the powerful ancient empire

When you start at the top there's nowhere to go but down

This is my favorite of all time.

Willow was the best girl

>Mooks are actually competent and a threat

Should be more prevalent desu

>Rock Lee vs. Kimimaru
>Guy vs. Madara

I'm fond of cults and cultists. Ones that want to bring about the end of the world I've always found kind of boring, but cultists in general are really cool and you can do a lot with them.

Yeah, those were great role playing games, right?
At least PRETEND what you're talking about fits the subject matter, for heaven's sakes.

Having a party of cynics with one optimist who gradually shifts their worldviews with unyielding positivity

>>Guy vs. Madara
Guy didn't learn anything new for that fight. His first appearance hinted that he was a badass from Sasuke inner monologue.
>This idiot is faster than Kakashi

I laughed

"If you take Trump away, I'm gonna electrocute every gay"

take the immovable rod out of your ass, buddy

The bosses of two opposing factions are secretly related/a couple and everything is just a drawn out, complicated plan to achieve something that isn't immediately obvious.

>the local gangs are the real power in the area
>their leader, while a bit pitiless, is nevertheless a better model of competence and chivalry/honor that the actual authority figure

My personal favorite
>After beating the BBEG the daemonic/spiritual/mind-controlled forces in the area continue fighting, but it is less coordinated and ten times the chaos vs the fight to get to the boss
>the heroes have to fight their way out, now low on supplies and wounded

Also:
>Fight into BBEG Lair
>weak mobs
>Beat 2nd in command
>Defeat the BBEG
>castle is crumbling
>2nd in command tries to fight you again, trying to take you with the castle and his lord out of a twisted sense of loyalty

Guess I'm a sucker for post climax action

>A Princess has been taken by a dragon, and the King has promised her hand to the man who frees her.

The Princess acquired a magical ring that let her control dragons and faked her own kidnapping in order to build an army of dragons and claim by force the throne that she sees as her birthright, but that she is unlikely to receive due to the traditions of the kingdom. She will be known as the Dragon Queen of Fire and Death, mighty and terrible, or her brothers will rule nothing but ashes.

>ITT concepts that don't translate will into games

But it is fun

Mostly because players would ruin it in some way, but somewhere out there, user, are people who it will work on; Won't it be glorious to be the one who seeded the notion?

Players are vicious little shits. It's not the GMs fault that we will ruin any heroic sacrifice, murder the good Prince, and drop a fireball on the twisty advisor just because he has a goatee

>The King take to the field of battle and hands the enemy their collective asses.

Despite the rest of it, The Master of Mankind's portrayal of the Emperor going to town on the Daemons was no doubtedly Awesome.

>The villain was once a hero who fell from grace for one reason or another
>There is still some trace of the good person that they once were in them, but they consider themselves too far gone

>Collect all the mcguffins to attain a team based super power

>One of the boons is to know what the others are feeling
>There is a Bard in the party.

I hope it doesn't involve sex

nope, just parties

>The bard is constantly consumed by how much he loves everyone in his party and just how grateful he is that he could meet them, he truly would give his life for his team mates.

>>Enormous tank of a knight finally removes helmet to reveal delicate face of a lady.

That's not a cliche, user. I literally cannot think of a single instance of that ever happening in any fantasy medium.

Game of thrones. Although I would not say delicate. Also, in the .Hack games one of the characters is a dorky little nerd in a fuckhuge set of armor.

>I am no man

Maybe not in fucking huge armor, but the concept does exist. Éowyn from LotR being an example.

>An ancient civilization advanced so far that it somehow destroyed itself, leaving behind artifacts of incredible power
>bonus points if they use the term "logia" or more specifically "lost logia"

A few weeks ago I literally reread the The Magician's Nephew just for the bit where they visit the ancient dead city.

personally I like it far more when the Ancient Civilisation bears no resemblance to any real culture. Makes it more mysterious.

>Small farm town kid goes on a wild adventure
The best shit