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== '''Pitfalls''' ==
A lot of older games are virtually unplayable nowadays due to slow speed, annoying controls, and the lack of certain shortcuts we have grown to know and love. Games like ''[[
Now, we can forgive older games for these faults. We don't mock the pioneers because they took the long way around -- they're the ones who drew the maps. The old games got us to the point where we can enjoy the shortcuts and features built up over multiple decades of field testing. But you ''do'' know, or at least you ''should'' know, how players will want to control the game and at what speed they will want to play. What are their expectations? If you deviate from them, you better a) have a damn good reason and b) be sure that it's worth it.
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A good rule of thumb is to allow all these things to be skipped in their entirety if the player so desires. No one likes [[Exposition Break|being forced to do nothing]]. They'll watch it the first time, and some players will watch it every time, but others want the freedom to just play, and you need to give it to them.
There are two kinds of people in the RPG world. Some like the freedom to customize their characters to an extreme extent; they want their characters to be a completely blank slate upon which they, The Player, can write their intentions with impunity. Other players prefer to be limited to the [[Splat|Splats]] discussed in [[An Adventurer Is You]], and like assembling a party which is greater than the sum of its parts. To quote Mark Rosewater of ''[[Magic:
Some gamers will complain if you limit their options. Others will complain if the field is too wide-open and characters don't have enough uniqueness imposed on them. You can't please both groups with the same game. So choose one approach and stick with it.
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Second possibility: If the "save" is contingent on some member of your team surviving, then have a Total Party Kill change ''how'' the save works. E.g.: Normally, one surviving character uses the Save Manual as a focus to turn back time. But if the whole party dies, the Save Manual gets lost for a few years, and ends up in the hands of someone who doesn't quite know how to use it... so when he does it, it goes to the ''wrong'' time, or... other things change. Suddenly your hero is a giant lizard and his mount is a rhinoceros. Or the villains are now their best friends. Or their color schemes have completely changed. (This might work also if the story were "being told" by someone reading the book, and something happens to make them get the details wrong.)
[[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]] is something that RPGs just do now for tradition's sake. Today, there's no real reason, graphically or mechanically, why the entire nine-person party can't go walking around fighting everything together, instead of having four people sit around twiddling their thumbs while the other four get smashed upside the head by some super-boss, resulting in [[Total Party Kill]] and a Game Over. In other words, this trope is ripe for subversion or aversion. The first five [[
If you do decide to dismantle the [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]], keep the gameplay balance and controls complexity in mind. On the issue of balance, make sure that combat is equally challenging to a party that includes every recruitable NPC in the game and to a PC who sticks to a handful of plot-relevant companions. The [[Final Boss]], for instance, should not come over as an [[Anticlimax Boss]] to the former and a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] to the latter. Take a look at ''[[Diablo II]]'', for instance, which [[Dynamic Difficulty|dynamically scales the boss toughness]] to the online players' numbers and levels. On the issue of controls, remember during combat, the player has to keep in mind many, many variable such as health/mana levels, available spells, ability recharge times, etc.. An [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]] naturally reduces the risk of overwhelming the player with information, so you have to make sure that doesn't happen in your game. You could, for example, implement [[Real Time
Try adding [[Shows Damage]], and getting rid of [[Beauty Is Never Tarnished]]. And there's always some psycho (or someone looking for realism) who wants fully-destructable landscape and the ability to take out a wall with his BFG. so, for example; "You encounter locked door. Pick (Neutral) / use key (good) /shoot hinges (evil)"
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Fakhirs, prophets, and faith-healers notwithstanding, the average Reverend Tom D. Harry gets no special goodies from their deities. Try having them only raise the other party members morale, rather than being a powerhouse of divine gifts. You could also have the party cleric be a jaded [[Sinister Minister]] who guzzles the communion wine between sermons, or a fire-and-brimstone religious nut-job, rather than a case of [[Virginity Makes You Stupid]].
[[Faceless Mooks]] are cliché. The "bad guys" should have their stories told too. Try not to just use [[Those Two Bad Guys]] or [[Enemy Chatter]], but give the [[No Campaign for
The [[Spoony Bard]] splat has been overdone. Give the minstrel [[Power of Rock]].
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A character who starts out working for [[The Empire]] but defects to the [[La Résistance]] mid-game no longer counts as a refreshing plot.
''[[
A good idea to try is that the characters are participating in a war that is like a real war in that there is no "good side" or "evil side". The protagonists might win, but in so doing they might also doubt the justice of their cause.
[[Saving the World]] is always popular. After all, what greater purpose could your heroes have than trying to stop [[The End of the World
Female protagonists are underused. If you're going for a [[Cliché Storm]], using [[Write Who You Know]], or just want a male protagonist, use [[The Three Faces of Eve]], or for a [[Five-Man Band]], [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]. The [[Smurfette Principle]] is overused and sexist.
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If you want to be subversive, try subverting [[Always Chaotic Evil]]. (And not just with a small, friendly [[Monster Town]], either). Just because some goblins jumped out of the woods to mug you doesn't mean that you're free to kill the next goblins you meet in a preemptive strike.
Also, don't get stuck by [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]: Ugly characters can be good, [[Evil Is Sexy|beautiful ones bad]]. In fact, ''mean'' characters can be [[Good Is Not Nice|good]] and ''friendly'' ones [[Affably Evil|bad]]. Study the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series for some especially good versions of this twist -- it's an Aesop that should be drilled into kids very early, seeing as it reduces the chance of their going with nice strangers or shunning [[Jerk
[[Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters]]. Those Rebels you've been gunning down had loved ones. A [[Fatal Family Photo]] found while prying the boots and jewelery off an enemy can be a good way to induce a [[Heroic BSOD]].
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Another thing you could try is getting infected by [[The Corruption]] while fighting the enemy, going from a noble [[Paladin]] to a slavering Daemonspawn, [[And Then John Was a Zombie|the very thing you're fighting do destroy, something the character has been raised from birth to abhor]]. Abilities granted by [[The Corruption]] could be [[Cast From Hit Points]], and tied to a [[Karma Meter]]. Not using it makes the game harder (and the abilities are wicked cool, like [[Animate Dead]] or [[Spawn Broodling]] or some other sub-set of [[Lovecraftian Superpower]], just to make it extra-difficult to resist using), but using it untill you accidentally kill yourself or hit zero Karma leads to a [[Downer Ending]] or [[Nonstandard Game Over]] because the [[Big Bad]] considers [[The Corruption]] to be "A gift, given to my children," and he/ she/ it therefore owns the character, body and soul. Getting a low Karma score brings into play "I-created-you-so-you-can't-touch-me", (which, as far as One knows, has no trope) making the [[Final Boss]] fight very hard. Low Karma score could [[And Your Reward Is Clothes|make a character gain]] [[Evil Is Sexy|a really slikny, revealing version of the Daemonhunter's uniform]], weather with [[Absolute Cleavage]] or [[Walking Shirtless Scene]] (manky, pockmarked grey skin optional), and they could get [[Uh-Oh Eyes]] and [[Spikes of Villainy]] and /or [[Shoulders of Doom]]. You could also have some weapons infected by [[The Corruption]], and make them steal HP whenever you make a successful [[Critical Hit]], and hurt the character when they miss. One could even go so far as to [[Transhuman Treachery|let the player keep going as a Daemonspawn if they bottom out their]] [[Karma Meter]], or a Zombie if their health hits zero.
There are two tropes which are infinitely more useful and common than you'd think if you have the traditional [[Five-Man Band]]. The five-man version of [[Four-Temperament Ensemble]] is common. You have your gothic [[Black Mage]], soft-spoken [[White Mage]], tough female warrior, big tough angry guy who is really a [[Jerk
If you're going to have a [[Cliché Storm]], try [[Playing With]] things, subverting things, but still keeping it a [[Cliché Storm]], like [[Tales
Make it [[Survival Horror]]. Try [[Playing the Player]], [[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]] style. The RPG equivalent would be [[
=== '''Potential Motifs''' ===
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''[[Phantasy Star]] IV'' went with sci-fi underpinnings, complete with alien worlds and spacecraft, plus [[Psychic Powers]] in an alien language that you had to work out as you went (assuming you didn't just [[Guide Dang It|look it up]]). Consider this a lesson in the pros and cons of not using [[Canis Latinicus|Latin]] for your spell language, if there is one.
''[[
''[[Fallout]]'' earned notability by breaking a long line of games without a [[Standard Fantasy Setting]]. It also allowed open-ended character creation rather than the standard [[Fighter, Mage, Thief]] [[Class and Level System]] (though one may argue that it only used a hidden fighter/thief/diplomat selection of its own).
You should strongly consider both, and experiment with other genres (and remember that a [[Standard Sci Fi Setting]] is only slightly better, being the second most common) and non-standard [[Game System|character systems]].
''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' took the basic game engine behind the more traditional [[
''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' is to be acknowledged for having a rather unique gothic horror theme in an original (for JRPGs anyway) setting, early 20th century Europe and China. It also contains Yuri Volte Hyuga, who is considered by many to be the best RPG protagonist of all time (and the other playable characters are fairly well-developed), along with Roger Bacon {{spoiler|(real name Albert Simon)}} and [[Enemy Within|Fox Face]], two of the more memorable JRPG villains, and some of the more creative [[Mook]] designs. While its sequels are to be applauded for proving that JRPG characters don't always to be the same tired, cookie-cutter stereotypes (if a bit [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|drastically]] so), they unfortunately dropped the original dark and creepy storyline and atmosphere in favour of a far more generic one.
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For more traditional fare, check out:
* The ''[[
* The ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series. ''Dragon Warrior III'' and ''IV'', which are oldschool and got updated for "better" graphics later.
* If you want to go ''really'' oldschool, consider checking out a [[Roguelike]], early ''[[Ultima]]'' games, or ''[[
=== '''The Epic Fails''' ===
''[[Horrible Demon 2]]''. The backstory is that there was a [[Exactly What It Says
''[[The Demon Rush]]''. The Demon Rush is the ultimate example of How Not To Do It--how best to mismanage your time, budget, and skills. It's patently obvious the designer has only played a few JRPGs--The Demon Rush plays like a JRPG xeroxed to the point of illegibility, to the point where despite being a computer game you can't even use the keyboard to write your characters' names or use the mouse to click anything. The plot is an incomprehensible mess of exposition, jargon, and "dramatic revelations" that require more exposition and more jargon. Characters are poorly-designed in every way: they look stupid, they have random abilities that make every character a useless jack-of-all-trades, and they're all poorly-written, with most of them talking in the same voice and in the same stilted diction. Enemies are staggeringly hard and drop zilch for experience. Bosses are too easy. Deus ex machina and author appeal are everywhere. Even the coding is a abomination. See the [http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2913491 announcement thread] and the [http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2925321 Let's Play] on the Something Awful forums for the full skinny. Take notes on a piece of stationary titled THINGS I MUST NEVER, EVER DO.
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