Well-Worn Paths

[robotkarateman]

Ok, this is for the GMs.

Recently, my gaming group bundled their characters into a boat and sailed away to a part of the continent they haven't been to yet to go be introduced to the next part of the plot. Before leaving, they spent almost every gold piece they had buying weapons, swimming gear, and like three months of preserved food wrapped in oil skins and bundled together in a fishnet with bouys. When I finally caved and asked what the heck they were doing, they replied in unison, "boats sink in your games."

And it's true. Get on a boat in one of my campaigns and the likelihood is you're not going to get where you started out going.

I started a campaign once where the characters all got on a boat, which was promptly (in real time, a couple days in game time) set upon by a roving magical storm and evil fish baddies. Halfway through the battle, the ship lurched and shook violently, and everyone was knocked unconscious. When they woke up, they found themselves and the entire ship smack dab in the middle of a desert.

Now that it's been pointed out to me, I've decided to go with it. If it's what the players expect, they'd be disappointed if something didn't happen.

So ... what's your frequently used/abused trope and do you make a conscious effort to avoid using it or do you just accept that it's part of your oeuvre?

[Kroack]

Killing off npcs the characters get close to. I almost always to this. I think it's just a ton of fun to develop an NPC, have a character form a relationship with him or her, then make them fall off a cliff or slayed by some monster.  

[Tadanori Oyama]

Throwing the players through portals or other instant relocation tropes. I don't force them through them very often but they are always around. Sometimes their traps (like they lead directly to the Elemental Plane of Fire) and sometimes useful (the link to another portal in the facility or in the same room).

This actually lead to one of my players coinning a phrase we use at the table: "The Plot Hook is through the Portal".

Specifically, I had set up this plot set up that involved the players passing through a portal. There are compelling reasons for the players to go through the portal. However, these reasons only become apparent once someone has gone through the portal. During the first conflict near the portal the enemies where attempting to pull the players through it and none managed to actually do so. This, for whatever reason, made the players assume that the portal was bad (obviously the enemy wouldn't want them to go someplace good).

And they spent alot of time purposefully avoiding all of the portals in that facility from them on while I, determined to get them through one, kept having them pop up as traps.

So now they expect that all the time. Tad's GM = Portals.

[rayner23]

Mysterious voice tells PC to do something.

PC does it.

Voice is evil.

[Kroack]

Mysterious voice tells PC to do something.

PC does it.

Voice is evil.

'Nuff said

[clockworkjoe]

Mysterious voice tells PC to do something.

PC does it.

Voice is evil.

the mysterious voice in your cortez game wasn't evil - at least the one that cortez heard apparently

[IDaMan008]

I think I've led my group down so many dark paths over the years that they're now suspicious of everything that appears light and wholesome in my games. One of my players is fond of saying, "It's Ryan's game; something horrible has to be going on!"

It warms what little is left of my heart...

[Melvar]

In one campaign the players were being unknowingly hunted.  Before they figured out that they were being hunted, they were getting upset that too many of their nights were being interrupted.  They renamed the woods "get attacked at night woods" and they were paying innkeepers double and triple if they could guarantee a peaceful night.  It was glorious once they put enough pieces together to find out there was a bounty on their heads.