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So, "Things you just don't like in your fantasy RPG", left me feeling more than a little excluded. When it comes to fantasy, I have one hard and fast rule, so long as it feels like it could work in the specific setting, I'll happily go with it.
There basically isn't a fantasy trope i won't play with, if the setting is compelling and it is well done.
Dinosaurs don't drive me nuts! Guns don't get my goat! and i can enjoy grimdark(though I hate the term) and get behind "happy-fun-time-adventure-world" too.
I do however have preferences, things I default to if left to my own devices. It is pretty late, so I am not going to share them right now, but until I can, I'd love to here what elements you love, and why you love them.
Put me down for magic as well. Nothing says power like using pure energy to accomplish one's goals.
I love settings with tyrannical religions that use mundane means (political power, fear, and force of arms) to accomplish their goals, while promoting hostility and hate against magic-users (people that can stand up for themselves and pose a potential threat to the clergy). In these settings, doing the right thing is immediately rewarding.
Goblins; these three-foot little bundles of disorder, scions of insanity, and masters of vulgarity are always welcome in my games. However, I usually leave hobgoblins and bugbears out.
Nightmare dimensions that swallow adventurers alive and unscathed are my favorite types of horror/eerie elements in fantasy. I miss good Ravenloft products.
Tieflings! And aasimar, sometimes. Unless fiends and celestials have been dramatically altered (another element I don't mind at all), I expect to see these in every fantasy setting, no matter how rare. If they're not included, I take pains to add them in.
Spellcasting mishaps. I've created dozens of charts covering what happens when high level spells go wrong and the results are always intersting. Settings that use similar mechanics (without trying to punish casters) usually see some time at my table.
Inexplicable events. Occasionally, the PCs will encounter an event that just can't be explained. Sure, they survive, but what the hell happened? How did--? W---? Awesome when sparingly used.
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Badass normals. I love me some magic, but there's just something about the normies who can hold their own with the casters.
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Faeries. I know, I know.
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Every game I play, I always go for the religious fanatics or the law part of the game. I play White in M:TG, Lucius in Malifaux, Menoth in Warmachine, Nomads in Infinity, and I almost ALWAYS side with the Paladins/Cavaliers in Pathfinder.
Electricity, I love Electricity. Spells like Lightningbolt and Shocking Grasp are my hommies and I use them all the time. When a Frankenstein's Monster appears it makes me giggle with all the electricity. When its not a powersource, but a source of power is what I like about it the most.
Dooooooooooooot.
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Thanks for this thread. Really do prefer leaning positive.
That said:
A setting that feels alive. A setting filled with fully realized people that aren't just setpieces or NPCs to be killed or manipulated by the PCs.
A setting that pulls from real world cultures all over the place, not just Western Medieval Europe. I want Ancient Egypt. I want Australia with its Dreamlands. I want Khmer and its jungles.
A setting that also features entirely original and fantastic cultures. I want strange and new cultures to explore that are both somewhat alien and still relatable.
On that same note, I like having range for every race, not just humans.
I like having wild nature-oriented elves and scholarly type elves. I like having savage, proud, and noble orcs and savage, cruel, and monstrous orcs.
I like having all sorts of fantastic races, from the familiar to the alien. I like having them all represented as people, with positive and negative features.
I like having a world where good and evil actually mean something. Where morality is a matter of choice rather than an accident of birth.
I like having a wide range of representation for all sorts of people, whatever their gender, preference, ethnicity, whatever.
I like fanservice when it doesn't overshadow everything else. I like reasonable armor. I like fantastic and entirely made-up kinds of armor.
I want a world that provides for a wide range of stories.
I want a world where the PCs can make a difference, and are needed to do so. I want a world where idealism actually has a fighting chance.
I want a setting where cultures can have all manner of values dissonance between them while the setting itself avoids the mistake of falling into moral dissonance.
I like heroic mundane fighters that overcome the odds. I like magic. I like mystical martial artists. I like psionics. I like gods and mythos as complex and detailed as the richly developed people that worship them.
I like having very real Good, very real Evil, and a ton of shades of gray in between, rather than just shades of gray or just black vs. white.
I like horrific and evil undead. I also like haunting and benign undead. I like abominable and hostile aberrations. I also like alien and goodly aberrations. I like whimsical and friendly fey. I also like terrifyingly cruel fey. Again, range and variety.
I love evoking imagery and the feel of the old and traditional stories I grew up with while infusing them with the energy and attitude of the new.
I like some realism. I also like the wholly fantastic, where players deal with metaphors made manifest.
I like frontiers. I like exploration and discovery. I like having a real sense of wonder to the world.
I like fantasy in my fantasy RPGs.
EVERYTHING!!!
ESPECIALLY DRAGONS!!
Although, really depends on the Campaign. I'm not picky, but I bet if I had actually buckled down and made a campaign setting, one of the heavily home-ruled npc races would roll players heads.
Magical beasts; I just love the idea that magic is a natural resource that animals have evolved to exploited. Cue the air-whales!
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Sex and drugs.
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Exploration and a sense of wonder.
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fantastic places! Give me an enormous cave with a single perfect crystal beating in the heart of it. Give me a tree that from its tiptop, you can see the cosmos as if it were right around you.
Give me a little technology, show me that in a magical world it won't ever be used on the same level, but let me have my tinkering.
Enormous beasts. Fighting a dragon is badass, but parties can do it. Give me a Lodoss War dragon that perches on an entire castle, one that needs a full army to try to encounter. Let my dragons be plot points, not simple encounters. On that same note, give me griffons and ogres that are gigantic brutes, like in Dragon's Dogma
Let there be fights on unusual situations. Punish those who take no balance as they attempt to fight the villain on a single log in the middle of the river. let those with acrobatics shimmy up to forgotten places. Let us fight these monstrous foes upon their very backs, or in freefall. The ruins of a forgotten church is a wonderful place to hold an encounter, even more so if the building is on fire, and one must start avoiding the total collapse.
Show me enemies that won't just fight to the death, show me enemies that will work with the players to escape a trapped mine, or against a third party. Not all enemies are smart, but a great deal of them do have an invested interest in living.
And lastly, give me my quiet time. Let us reflect, IC or OOCly on the situations about. When a team beds down for the night, allow us that chance to talk, to discuss what our day brought us, if needed.
Floating cities.
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Put me down for all of it, and toss in the kitchen sink.
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Magic and Badass Normals. Mages must exist, be legendary, and widely respected/remembered for their power. At the same time so should the great warriors. You do not mess with the Dragon General. Even if you can rewrite reality at a whim, she'll still catapult your carcass back to last Thursday.
Fey. And all the complexities of their Courts.
Dragons, dragons, dragons.
Ancient civilizations.
Gods and religions of all sorts.
Lovecraftian horror. There are just somethings out there never meant to be understood by mortal men.
Good that is actually GOOD, and a force in the world. Even better if there's multiples thereof.
Races that play up traditional tropes as well as defy some of them.
Pretty much what Moro said.
Firearms.
the unexpected
bows and crossbows
kidnappers
weather
druids
the unexpected
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!!!
Cool bartenders, innkeepers, tavernmasters, etc. Not just Old Alf at the bar. Guys who know what they're talking about and can actually be helpful.
And who aren't just statted out as 3rd-9th level fighters/warriors/experts/commoners. C'mon.
Fantasy always has its darkness, and that's one place I like to dwell as a GM.
I always add some horror elements to my fantasy games. Dark fey. The Undead. Evil cults. Ogres that steal and eat children. Shapeshifters.
I don't like to play them as monsters to be killed-- they need to have a place in the story, and actually be scary beyond how many hp per round they dish out.
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I have to agree with a few more of these
Badass Normals - and HOW, This is the role I enjoy the most, I so hated 3.0 Wheel of Time where entire combats were finished before I could even move into combat.
Actual Good - Yes. I don't mind having a traitor in the midst, but I want to know that what I really believe is good IS good! Don't throw me into grey vs grey worlds. It's up to ME to decide if my character gives a damn about the balance, not the setting.
Ancient Civilizations- A classic in gaming, fallen ruins, abandoned cities fallen to orcs or some such. Rare weaponry or armor is a bonus
and above all
Making a difference- If my party wipes out a scourge to the world, and we play the same world years later, I'd like to see how things have changed. Sure there's always evil, and that's expected! But if I play on a world level setting, let me actually help change it for the better.
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- Light-armored, smart melee specialists focusing on mobility and tactics over brute strength and flawless fencing.
- Part-construct characters; not necessarily with the half-contstruct subtype, but augmented in some way with steampunk or magical components.
- Hooded traveling cloaks, longcoats, unreasonably oversized vests, etc. There's a reason why Badass Longcoat is an established trope...
- Broad-brimed hats. Wizard, rounded-top, I don't care (western varieties), there's just something about the plague-doctor/witch look that fascinates me.
- Alchemical syringes. More breakable than potions, risk of infection, TF2-Medic level of uncertainty as to whether or not somone is giving the wounded character what they really need, and just cool as hell.
- Manageable-but-incurable curses excluding lycanthrope.
- Madness and corruption; this shines in Lovecraftian scenarios, but I'm happy to see it anytime.
- Accurately portrayed warrior women. Cropped hair, muscled, with protective armor (instead of "Diplomacy bonus" armor) and normal-sized weaponry (no eight-foot blades wielded about like batons). They need to look like they can (or have) actually survive an onslaught.
- Non-melee-type dwarven women. Gunslingers and archers are acceptable, but rogues and the like are preferred.
Revolution. I adore those plots.
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- Alchemical syringes. More breakable than potions, risk of infection, TF2-Medic level of uncertainty as to whether or not somone is giving the wounded character what they really need, and just cool as hell.
This makes me think of Filge from Age of Worms. Intentional?
Puzzles and diplomacy. Let the smart or sly one take a turn rather than the smashy one every now and again.
Dooooooooooooot.wth? Did we miss something? lol
Nope, I just needed to mark this as "Hey, when you're less busy, come over here and post."
So, in order: Grimmy, Mikaze, Setzer9999, QXL99, Zerombr, Grimmy (again), TriOmegaZero, Moro, and Orthos pretty much said what I would, almost as I was coming up with it (i.e. I'd come up with an idea before reading the post, and then read that they'd posted it or a similar enough idea). I mean, it wasn't exact, but it was pretty neat to experience. So, read their posts, and that's what I've got for now.
Ooh! Except, add: psionics, gods, epic and mythic-type stuff, factions (and the politics involved with them) and both ancient and new civilizations (and sometimes ancient civilizations made new again).
Also, occasionally, anachronisms.
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Gritty descriptions. Be it the clashing steel of combat, the smell of mildew in the damp dungeon corridor, or swirling sandstorms stinging your skin. I want to be in the moment.
I want the characters to be the heroes, and the best, last hope. The only NPCs that should overshadow them are the villains.
Lovecraftian horror. Madness, corruption, and terrible prices for power quickly acquired.
Opportunities to make puns.
- Alchemical syringes. More breakable than potions, risk of infection, TF2-Medic level of uncertainty as to whether or not somone is giving the wounded character what they really need, and just cool as hell.This makes me think of Filge from Age of Worms. Intentional?
Sadly, I missed AoW when it came out and now that I've gotten used to Pathfinder, I'm too lazy to really pursue it. I do plan to at least read through it sometime.
Swords.
Good swords, evil swords, cursed swords, talking swords, singing swords, long swords, short swords, great swords, rapiers, katanas, bastard swords, khopeshes, scimitars, swords of light, swords of darkness, joke swords, whatever. Someone better be swinging a blade at some point. There's a reason it ain't called "flails & sorcery".
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... you read Mote in God's Eye?
Huh, I kind of thought I was the only one.
Sorry, back to your normal topics, people!
High Rolling Adventure. I want the opportunity to do fantastical things in a game without fear that my character will fall. I want to feel safe taking the road less traveled, knowing full well my character is scared out of her mind. If I know the character will be okay (mostly) in the end, then I will be more likely drive plot, and drive it in a way the GM is leading the story. Call me strange, but I thoroughly enjoy working with the GM, and trusting them to take me on that adventure I seek.
the unexpected** spoiler omitted **
No, no, quote Monty Python correctly--"The Spanish Inquisition!"
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No, no, quote Monty Python correctly--"The Spanish Inquisition!"the unexpected** spoiler omitted **
But that would have been expected. ;-)
Magic and wizardry -- whether obviously pointy hat or refluffed into other disciplines.
DRAGONS.
Demons/extraplanar/otherworldly forces and enemies
Chicks in chainmail
Superintelligent cats
Giant magic forests
Lich kings
Lots of opportunities for travel and exploration. Okay that's too broad, but still.
Gallant swordspersons
Fascinating pantheons.
Will try to think of more later.
Anything DeathQuaker says.
Now yer makin' me blush. :)
Drejk: Magic self-heating pancake griddles!*
*Was actually in one of DQ's campaigns
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Alignment as a role-playing tool and not a straight-jacket.
Seen worse.
Anything DeathQuaker says.Now yer makin' me blush. :)
Drejk: Magic self-heating pancake griddles!*
*Was actually in one of DQ's campaigns
It's a bit atypical not nowhere near the weird.
I think I saw some magical cooking utensils before.