ITT;

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>when you're allowed to overcome a statistically superior opponent through quick thinking and teamwork
Sounds like it should be far more common than it is for me. I need to get into GM'ing.

Chainsaw arms.

Also, traitor good guy who goes bad but is secretly good the whole time and saves the day at the last second. Particularly with a smug quip.

>he was undeads all along

I'm in a geist game right now where this is basically the plot. Getting all the whitewolf supernatural factions to stop fighting and face a bigger threat has been a wild ride. Everyone has their heads way up their own asses, but they're not immune to diplomacy and having their greater interests pointed out.

I fully expect things to fall apart and a turf war to break out the nanosecond the bigger bad is dealt with.

>the villain gets up after being trashed and flat out refuse defeat

>The morally upstanding party face takes the villain to task and deconstructs them verbally
>Bonus points if the villain tries to interrupt them by attacking them and it doesn't do shit

>villain with no special powers and just regular weapons is the most dangerous of all

This man.
I love the power of friendship

When I get everyone sent to jail for being a petty thief.

>Pirates love em
>Airship Pirates. Love em even more
>Airships
>Barbtribe that rides Dino's
>Ice queen
>Beat a curse with the power of love
>useless midboss that keeps showing up
>useless midboss is really powerful and is just guiding the party the whole time

Running a finale campaign where all the people the players helped/saved in other campaigns are helping them from beyond the grave as spirits and stuff.

Plus their previous PCs.

>Old knights seeking one last injustice to right.

>the qt female elf is actually a boy

I think you mean
>morally upstanding party face trys to take the villain to task and deconstruct them verbally, then the Villains rationale is actually logically and morally or ethically viable but perverse and the heroes have to learn they live in a grey universe where in everyone is the hero of their own story
>Bonus points if the heroes get so frustrated they break dialog to attack.

>Party must make their way through a horrific, poisonous area, using protective equipment and with the feeling that they are each isolated inside their gear (usually a gas-mask or NBC type suit).

Any kind of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - esque polluted area with many dangers that require specialized protective equipment

> riding dinosaurs
> wizard duels
> the old man comes back for last fight
> the bbeg is a fucking badass
> any hugely overpowered individual slaughtering countless weak enemies

My sibling of Nigerian descendence!

>that one joke character gets serious at the last minute and wrecks shit up
>the joke character is actually extremely powerful

> Save the dragon from the princess.

>the game begins with the party meeting in a tavern

>Party sneaks into a building to download files
>All the data is stored in paper form

>The second hand to the bbeg is actually very honorable and respectful but fully devoted to his master.

>The weakest character of the group of ragtag heroes goes into a duel and wins, revealing that he's alot stronger in a 1 on 1 situation.

Adventurer's guild.

>Crashing a forced wedding
>Having the final fight being a simple hand to hand(or a sword)fight, even if it's a epic level type of game
>Twirling moustache tier villains who is more than petty
>The damsell you just rescued is an absolute bratty cunt (dis this once to my players, it was hilarious)
>Bromance and a cohesive group with banter
>Spending the mountains of gold you found on booze, gear and other wordly leisure(After all it's how you gain experience point inBarbarians of Lemuria)

Sounds hilarious but does this actually happen in anything?

>It was Genstealers all along

>The search for the Rod of 7 Parts or some derivative of it.

TRAIN BATTLE

Even better if there are dragons or helicopters flying alongside the train

Even better if you're being chased by a boss villain

Train battles are the most hype shit ever

I like a variation of this wherein you call in all the favours and gather everyone together for a final gamble, and you make a mad dash to the final battle with the various groups and characters you befriended all splitting off to deal with the obstacles in your path and buy you time.

There's just something really satisfying with giving yourself the chance to have all the NPCs throw out a cool one liner farewell as they wave the party onwards.

THIS.

Yes, files can be in paper form, it actually was the only way to store them before computers

Also, just mostly-happy endings in general.

when two party members who have had ideological differences for a long time finally clash over something. had this happen in a vampire the requiem game and the verbal sparing leading up to the fight was just perfect. the whole set up was done naturally too, we never planned it.

on a similar note, when the GM banks on you figuring something difficult out in the nick of time to create an amazing story moment and you do it.

Years and years ago I was in a D&D game where the DM pulled some Final Fantasy IV / Earthbound shit on us, and it was hype as fuck and remembering it always makes me smile.
>enter the final boss's domain
>final boss blasts us with wave after wave of dark force
>DM: "Everyone's HP is reduced to 0, everyone's Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are reduced to 1, and everyone is stunned."
>describes everyone praying for the safety of the PCs
>every major NPC (and some minor NPCs) we've helped throughout the entire multi-year campaign appears before the party to give encouraging words
>each group restores a different stat to full; first one is HP, second is Strength, etc. last gets rid of the stunned condition
>describes how the prayers of everyone we've helped weaken the cosmic entity's defenses enough that it becomes vulnerable and we can fight it like normal
>as the final boss's dread realm collapses with us trapped in it, the spirit of a now-angelic deceased NPC whisks everyone away to safety

I got a little choked up just typing that out.

>being this much of an edgy faggot
Whoa there, your autism is spreading better keep it in check

The party is split, and both groups unknowingly ally themselves with two opposing sides of a conflict.

Tee-Hee Macaroni?

Liquid was such a good (if dumb) villain, I kind of miss him.

>Repeatedly using the same world/general area and referencing past adventures
>Having several NPCs be recurring background characters or having former PCs show up in new campaigns as NPCs

In a similar vein

>Things that start out as jokes or one-bit gags that later develop into being important plot points or otherwise grow into something much larger than their original context

>Unrevealed BBEGs who are just a name.
>Pirate kings
>Shipwrecks
>Minekart or horseback chases
>Defeated bosses recurring as foils, preferably pathethically scrambling to get by
>Defeated miniboss actually growing after defeat
>Rivals

Anything where the players see the unintended consequences of their actions, really.

Nah, that's trite and predictable.

>Defeated miniboss actually growing after defeat

I'm planning on implementing this in my own game once the hiatus is over and I have a job again.

I'm using the ol' tried-and-true Four Generals thing, and one of them is the honourable one who heals the party before they fight, and I plan on them clashing multiple times before he ends up joining them and helping out.

TEE-HEE-HEE, MACARONI, MACARONI

As a player, I hate it when the DM just throws away gags, so as a DM I make tons of notes and see if I can substitute elements of my plan with the stuff my players fucked up.

Right now a player is really sad about throwing away a rude trident, so I might have it reappear in a miniboss' hand, with some neat mini power.

>>Defeated bosses recurring as foils, preferably pathethically scrambling to get by

One of my absolute favorite tropes are sympathetic Team Rocket-tier villains that consistently harass the party. Bonus points if it's also completely accidentally that they keep running afoul of the PCs for comedic effect.

I think I'll have to implement this too. The players started the game by escaping the dungeons of a necromancer cult lead by "Mother", but I didn't even write her out as a character.

A sort of Jaws thing happened where the players are now shitting their lvl 3 pants at the mention of "Mother", so I think I'll give her 4 generals to fight. That way I can stretch the suspension a little longer, and make "Mother" a lot more worthwhile an opponent.

It's even better if the jokes or gags weren't even intentional. One notable NPC and character in general that me and my friends use a lot is named "Dathumius Curveball" (From one of us mishearing someone else use the phrase "Threw me a curve ball") who started out as just a reference to an inside joke, but then eventually grew into some sage mentor that runs a local tavern adventurers frequent.

Show-don't-tell exposition.

When your players speculate about some plot hole you left, so you can just pick one of the solutions they offer.

>But you can't get charmed by the same harpy twice, right DM?
>You fool, this just means there's a bunch of harpies.

The end of Angel did that one excellently.

Yes, you do.

>villain is a shapeshifter in a crowded or urban setting, they could be anybody.

Its the power of community. The fucking best power. Well done user.

I love having a shapeshifter for a villain patsy. He's not the main focus, but on any mission anyone could be out to sabotage your party. Paranoid players are fun.

>Old mentor meets with his enemy to enjoy a glass together the day before an arranged fight.
>Old enemy attends his funeral in secret.
>On the anniversary of the fight they approach you at your mentors grave, with one last lesson from the old man.

Bonus points if that lesson is both philosophical in nature and a martial, technical, or arcane technique.

Waah! user! That enemy is to difficult for us to attack head on like useless retards! Waah!

I hated those fucknuggets. Ditched them in the worst (read most satisfying) way and got a new group.

I store paper copies of all my important files.
I also GM'd a 60's espionage game, so yeah, papers and microfilm.

You know morally grey can still be cartoonish if its that over the top. You can have a good, compelling villain that just wants money or something petty.

Especially in a tabletop game, who really wants to get to the very end of a campaign just to watch the DM wank their OC and explain how deep and well-written he is.