ITT: Tropes you love

>Heroes defeat the villains using a temporary god-mode that suddenly makes the villain shit his evil pants in fear
This will never not send a chill down my spine

You know, there's a little bit of "That's just how life works" involved there, but more often than not it's just
>No John you are the demons
>And then John was a zombie

>Suave, sophisticated mastermind villain gets so mad they hulk out and try to murder you like a feral animal.

>battle or fight starts sophisticated, lots of fancy moves, weapons being used etc, then after a while it turns into an animalistic brawl, fists and knives being used, blood and sweat everywhere, hand to hand combat and grappling

>"WHO DARES?"
Any variant.
>"Who dares intrude upon my lair?"
>"You dare strike me?"
>"Who dares summon Ulgurth the Mighty!"

Convoluted climaxes where everyone's plot tries to come into fruition at the exact same time, foiling and unfolding in an epic showdown of ideology, cunning and even determination.

>"Hey, c'mon, you're just being rude here. I don't come down to where you're reprogramming dead gods and slap the brooms out of your hands."

>ruthless and competent villain, no tolerance for mistakes or tomfoolery
>somehow his three most trusted lieutenants are the most embarrasingly stupid fuckups the heroes have ever met

I once had the PCs stumble into 6 different doomsday plots on their way to deal with the one they knew about.

So, our group did one-shots on days when everyone wasnt there, alternating GMs. A recurring place ended up being Thundertip Mountain, a giant mountain of burned black rock and glass that was never not being struck by lightning. Many a final battle was fought there for the fate of the world, until it became a running joke that 'the world always ends at Thundertip Mountain'.

I finally gave a reason for it in a later campaign, that there was an ancient evil god trapped beneath there orchestrating this doomsday shit to break free. Obviously, they had to stop the lastest would-be BBEG before he unmade creation.

Halfway up the mountain, they run into a band of heroes they dont even know and get roped into stopping a cult of evil witches from ending the world by summoning a comet.

Then there were a bunch of heroes fighting an insane druid trying to undo civilization with a flood.

Then there was the last man standing, his friends all dead, facing a brain in a jar built into a spider tank who wanted to use the mountain to power THE OMEGA CLOCK.

This happened three more times, running into completely unrelated end of the world epic quests that happened to be resolving at the same time.

In the final battle against their own BBEG, they went into it spent and broken from the journey up. But as the fight went on, the heroes they helped along the way joined the fight to heal, take care of tanky minions, or stall for time.

It was a mess to run.

>magic that turns sentient people into automatons only capable of repeating their past mistakes

>BBEG recruits failed edgelords/minor villains/vengeful orphans/hero's rivals
>they are genuinely fucking shit but they are so spirited and giddy the BBEG doesn't have the heart to pour cold water on their enthusiasm by firing/demoting them, instead trying and failing to turn them into less of a fuckup
>said minions are the players

That sounds really, really fun. I'd have liked to be in the campaign

Fuck yeah I have a high combat larp and it is encouraged after level 10 to start grappling and shit if you get disarmed in the big fight.

Doronbo or Team Rocket wouldn't be appropriate, that's GM-controlled actual protagonists. Pilafs that accidentally unleash something worse than themselves or Grandises that join the party after seeing who they're really working for might be cool.

I loved the miror plane. Just a dimension that kind of 'generates' from the existence of mirrors and creatures inside them, any 4d12 mirrors in reality connected together into the same 'network' of mirrors.

>villain has an honorable lieutenant who fights the heroes fairly and is more of a rival than an enemy

because only bad people oppose good people and everyone who is a good person all fight for the same things on the same side right?

Yes, that's right. That's exactly right.

If the villain isn't evil, then he's not the fucking villain. And I'm not here to watch DM masturbate to his OC, spouting his political views.

he may not be the villain, but he sure can be the antagonist

>And I'm not here to watch DM masturbate to his OC, spouting his political views.
how is that at all related to any of this

They aren't a villain, but they can still be the antagonist. See: Watchmen.

>favorite recurring enemy is the hero, but on the opposite side, who slowly walks toward you in a battle no one else will appreciate or even see
Raiden vs Sam was my shit

>”we’re not so different, you and I”
>they really arent

>assuming the PCs would even have all the relevant information and context at the time

They're probably as ignorant in universe as you are playing the game.

>we’re not so different, you and I

"I know. Thats why I have to kill you."

>image
Needs hellyeahmotherfucker.png and TL note: hell yeah motherfucker

Then why assume the BBEG has all the relevant info and context?
Why is it the PCs who are in the dark?

>Tropes you love
this one
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChainmailBikini

You playing dangerous don't you?

>You can pick any one of these threads to resolve.
>The other ones will advance in your absence.
>The climax of the game will, by definition, involve the resolution of either your failures or your failures to act.
Neat, clean, reliable drama every time with nary a hint of lost player agency.

>Villain(s) and heroes have a budding friendship because the villain was never that evil in the first place, just breaking laws and opposing the party
>Eventually they stop hostile conflict between each other in favor of either talking it out, or sporting contests to determine a winner
>the heroes and the villain(s) become good friends even if they have a hard time completely trusting each other
>they team up to take down the new antagonist that has been rising to power all this time

>The real villain is a tyrannical mastermind in a position of great power, so everyone knows him and most know he is the bad guy
>The villain has an underling who does all the actual evil work
>Because of this, the underling is the face of the evil faction and the guy that everyone actually fears

I'm such a fucking sucker for the whole Marceline / bubblegum romance

With Video Examples!

>killer/assassin with bedside manner
youtube.com/watch?v=GW99SuIDZcU
>when the villain is incredulous/calls bullshit
especially 'why won't you stay down?' or 'What the fuck ARE you?'
>villain's death ends with resignation/a shrug/"ah well"
youtu.be/1r6JeWjyJhQ?t=151

>broken beserk button
Not yelling, angry berserk. More of a hollow, limiters off berserk, like this one youtu.be/iUaFceqN0KY?t=25

any thoughts on Last of Us?

You are a man of good tastes that likes to live on the edge, because as a DM this is incredibly difficult to pull off without players checking out.

>mid boss is against an evil version of the heroes
>but they come from the future and have skills and abilities you have yet to unlock
>"W-who are you?"
>"I am literally you but better!"

>true final boss is against your evil past self with skills and abilities you have yet to remember
youtube.com/watch?v=yJMPu-Tp0a8

>party defeat villain but don't kill him
>encounter him much later in the campaign, stripped of all his dignity and a shadow of his former self
>still hates the party's guts but is forced to work with them to take down an even greater villain

its called an antagonist, dipshit.

Yeah. It's better to call them the BBEG if they're evil. If they're not, they're still an antagonist/villain.