All The Tropes

Plot Tailored to the Party: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Plot Tailored to the Party (view source)

Revision as of 20:18, 10 April 2017

12 bytes removed ,  7 years ago
update links
VisualWikitext
(quote cleanup)
(update links)
Line 63:
** Parodied by [[Eddie Izzard]]: "Bond never gets back and goes 'Q, I had a lot of shit I didn't fucking use! The watch that turns into a hamster, what was the point of that?' "
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwZbuF40T1M "These trousers, press a button and they turn into jam. Why?"]
** Perhaps unintentionally (and definitely ''annoyingly'') subverted in ''[[GoldeneyeGoldenEye (film)|GoldenEye]],'' where Q spends some length describing Bond's new ride, a BMW Z3, in which Q proudly proclaims has Stinger missiles behind the headlamps. What pivotal role does this vehicle play? About 30 or so seconds of James Bond driving in it before he exchanges it with Jack Wade for a plane. (though this happened because the car came too late into development to be written in)
** The animated series, ''[[James Bond Jr.|James Bond Jr]]'', did the above in practically every episode. Though the gadgets were received from IQ, not Q.
* Terry Gilliam's film ''[[The Adventures of Baron Munchausen]]''.
Line 99:
{{quote|'''Xander:''' And the glorified bricklayer picks up the spare!}}
* Done in the 16th and 17th episodes of the Greek detective sitcom ''In the Nick of Time'' [[wikipedia:Sto Para Pente|(Sto Para Pente)]] sporting 12 people brought together in an effort to save one of the main characters under the bad guys' noses. [[Hilarity Ensues]]. It is explicitly stated, by the protagonists, that their plot is structured to match every character's defining attribute of personality; only most of these characteristics are not talents but annoying habits. This is so because all these characters were initially introduced as secondary gag characters but are later proven to all be [[Chekhov's Gunman|important in the plot]].
* ''[[Mission: Impossible (TV series)||Mission Impossible]]'', in which the characters tailored their abilities to [[The Caper]] at hand.
* ''[[The A-Team]]'' was intended to be one giant Plot Tailored to the Party-slash-spoof.
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' inverts the trope in the episode "Quarantine" when everyone is locked in various rooms and each person has a part of the skills that they need to get out of the situation, except no one is in a situation where they can use those skills: McKay ([[The Smart Guy]]) does not have a computer, so Sheppard ([[The Hero]]) has to do all the technical stuff; Ronon ([[The Big Guy]]) is locked in a room and is thus forced to do nothing; and Zelenka (another [[Smart Guy]]) has to do the dangerous air vent crawl that is pretty much Sheppard's trademark.
Line 107:
{{quote|'''Will''': And what's your power? Just showing up for the meeting after 135 years?
'''Magnus''': I'd like to see you do it. }}
* Parodied on ''[[Ka BlamKaBlam!|Ka Blam]]!'' in the [[Show Within a Show]], ''[[Action League NOW]]!'' with Meltman - with the power to...[[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|melt]]!
{{quote|'''Chief:''' Okay you guys, listen up. The president's in town next week. Thunder Girl, I'm gonna need your super flying power, Flesh your super strength, Stinky your super sharp shooting, as for Meltman...um...um...well...um...
'''Stinky Diver:''' [[You! Get Me Coffee!|He can get the donuts!]]
'''Stinky, Flesh, Thunder Girl:''' Donuts, donuts, donuts! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! }}
* ''[[Smallville]]'', in the episode "Justice": Arthur Curry, the future Aquaman, would have been entirely useless if it weren't for the location of the enemy base; next to water and with an aquatic entrance.
Line 118:
 
== Tabletop Games ==
* Considered something of the "ideal" adventure plot in a tabletop roleplaying game like ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'', where each character advances in a [[Class and Level System|class]] that [[An Adventurer Is You|defines his or her talents]]. A smart [[Game Master]] keeps in mind the characters' capabilities and tries to include something for everyone. Published adventures try for this as well, but not every player group has the standard [[Fighter, Mage, Thief|fighter/rogue/wizard/cleric]] dynamic these adventures are written for, and so multiple solutions for critical moments are necessary, making it possible for one character to steal the spotlight from the others by solving nearly everything through the solutions meant for his character type (the answer that works no matter what is usually "bash it apart"). That, or every important plot point is decided by either a fight (which all classes are designed to be able to take part in), or a simplistic puzzle (which doesn't rely on class abilities at all, but the players' ability to figure the puzzle out). Classic tournament adventure C1 has a puzzle specifically designed for the 3-man (Fighter, Wizard, Thief) party (what it's doing in a bunch of ancient [[Mayincatec|Maya/Aztec-type]] ruins is best left unasked).
** And then there's the [[Killer Game Master]] who specifically creates challenges that the party is ''not'' capable of facing.
* The Plot Tailored to the Party nature of many [[Dungeons and& Dragons]] modules, coupled with the fact that many PC parties lacked a thief (the least combat-effective class in 1st and 2nd edition D&D) required the game to provide commonly-available ways for thief-less parties to do all the things you nominally needed a thief to do (''Knock'', ''Invisibility'', ''Detect Traps'', ''Spiderclimb'', ''Comprehend Languages'' and ''Silence 15-foot Radius'' were all fairly low-level spells that duplicated thief abilities, often more effectively; the Chime of Opening, Boots of Elvenkind, Cloak of Elvenkind, and Ring of Invisibility were all very common magic items that did the same thing). Which lead to a situation where thieves were completely unnecessary unless you needed someone's pocket picked, as that was pretty much the only thief skill there wasn't both a spell and a common magic item to duplicate.
** One thief-less party infamously filled the role with a log they rolled down corridors. It proved surprisingly effective.
 
Line 152:
* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' masterfully uses this for the battle system, with each character being especially effective against one enemy type: Tidus can hit nimble/evasive enemies, Wakka takes down flying targets, Auron can pierce the defences of armoured enemies, Rikku can dismantle mechanical enemies, Lulu deals with enemies that are weak against magic, Yuna is your primary healer (and her summons are ideal for facing or finishing off bosses), and Kimahri [[Jack of All Trades|does a little of everything]]
* The ''[[Airforce Delta]] Series'' plays this straight with multiple specialized pilots. Some missions require slow prop or VTOL fighters, some are for air superiority fighters, some for ground attack, [[This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman|one for Mach-3 recon aircraft]].
* [[Wild ArmsARMs 1|The]] [[Wild ArmsARMs 2|first]] [[Wild ArmsARMs 3|three]] games of the ''[[Wild ArmsARMs]]'' series will let you use the entire party members to do a specific task, like jumping, finding things with the use of a radar, changing gems, and so on and so forth. The latter games however ditched this concept.
* ''[[RunescapeRuneScape]]'': In the final scene of "Salt in the Wound", you need Ezekial's explosives expertise to break through damaged walls, Kennith's persuasive abilities to manipulate a mind-controlled villager, and Eva's strength and combat skill to hold off the guards and deal the finishing blow.
* ''[[Legacy of the Wizard]]'' has five playable characters. Four of them have areas requiring their special abilities (at least in concept), and at the end of each is a crown. Once all four crowns have been collected, the fifth character is needed to obtain the [[Sword of Plot Advancement]] and fight the [[Final Boss]].
* Everyone's skills are needed at some point or another in ''[[Magical Starsign]]'', but the funniest example has to be during a massive forest fire. The water mage locates an underground aquifer. The earth mage cracks open the ground so that the water can reach the surface. The air mage uses the spring the previous two mages created to start a massive rainstorm that douses the fire. The nature mage regrows the forest. And then the fire mage decides it's his turn to contribute, and is promptly stopped by the rest of the party because all that work to stop the fire, they really didn't need another one.
Line 174:
* [[Lampshaded]] in an episode of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''. Control Freak, a teenage TV addict super villain comes up with a Plot Tailored to the Party featuring a trial for all of the Teen Titans. He is upset to find that they're out of town and a secondary team is in their place. As the challenges were tailored to the exact limits of the main cast, the secondary team easily manages them. He has a temper tantrum and then returns with specific challenges for the substitutes.
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' gives Ron's father, an actuary, a chance to demonstrate his heroism by coming up with a math-themed villain specifically for him to have a [[Let's Get Dangerous]] moment against. Being ''Kim Possible'', the implausibility of this is obviously [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded.]]
* Usually justified in the animated series ''[[MASK|M.A.S.K.]]''. Each episode began with the leader choosing which team members to bring based on the mission at hand. Therefore all characters in an episode had a legitimate reason to use their specialty. For example, if a mission was in the middle of a desert, they just didn't bring along the underwater specialist. This still resulted in a lot of lucky guesses as to who would just happen to be needed, though.
* The James Bond variant was spoofed in an episode of ''[[American Dad]]'', where Steve plays the Q character, S, and all his inventions make the boobs of the nearest woman larger. Of course, it comes in handy later on...
* Played straight most of the time on ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]''. There were usually computers to hack, hostile environments, something that could usually be psychically "read," and a need for the captain to coordinate things. However, the show also loved [[Absentee Actor]], so just as often they'd end up short a teammate who would have been really handy at that particular moment.
Line 188:
[[Category:Suspiciously Convenient Index]]
[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:Plot Tailored to the Party{{PAGENAME}}]]
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/1498005"