101 Stereotypes & Tropes

[Brovo]

Note: If this belongs better somewhere else (ex: General Discussion), feel free to move it. I just wasn't entirely certain where this type of thing would go.

This list is purely for fun, made up primarily of common tropes and stereotypes, worded in a manner intended to be humorous and/or informative. See how many of these you do, and feel free to add some of your own or simply talk about it. The more we can learn about and enjoy common writing practices, the more self-aware we'll be about our writing, and in the process, have a good chuckle about it.

Additional tropes added by: Kadaeux, Asuras, Alphakoka, Jorick.

#1: Training Inverse Law. The longer and better trained the opponent, the more likely the underdog of the fight will win.

#2: Abnormal hair colour (ex: Green, Blue, Rainbow, etc) will generally not cause anyone to bat an eye or look twice. Double points if the abnormal hair colour is natural and not dyed.

#3: Scars and other body deforming wounds and injuries nearly always follow aesthetic guidelines. That is, scars and the like make someone look better, such as being "more badass", rather than making them look horrible.

#4: Appearance pictures which have little to nothing to do with the character's actual skills and nature. Ex: Using a grizzled war veteran with an assault rifle to represent a teenager in high school who wields a pencil... OF JUSTICE! And +2 to exam passing rolls.

#5: Suffering is never subtle. Even the most minor of grievances are significant enough to warrant suicidal thoughts and genocidal rage! HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY SANDWICH!

#6: Characters with Japanese names are rarely Japanese. The opposite is also often true: Japanese characters are often named "Jimmy Junior Takashi McDonalds Whopper."

#7: Claims Law. The more a character is described to have and/or be the master of any particular attribute, (beauty, wisdom, charisma, skill in battle, et cetera) the less likely that character actually possesses any of those talents to nearly the level spoken of when put into action.

#8: Nuclear Justice Law. The more powerful the heroes, the greater the acceptable casualty rate of non-combatants. After about a million people becomes acceptable in terms of losses, heroes can commit genocide killing the villain and still be heralded as heroes universally. Double points if the villain's plans aren't as damaging as the hero's attempts to stop him/her.

#9: Technobabble is the sci-fi equivalent of magic in most instances of its use.

#10: Orphans Anonymous. The cast is full of orphans, while not every character might be an orphan a disproportionate number of the cast members have a 'woe is me' background with 'my entire family is dead'. (Kadaeux.)

#11: Romance for Creepers; The one who wants romance the most will pursue it in the creepiest ways possible. Grima Wormtongue anyone? (Kad.)

#12: Injuries are conveniently sustained in non-lethal ways by weapons designed to be explicitly lethal. (Ex: Firearms, swords, mace, et cetera.) Bonus points if it is a limb instead of the torso area. Double down on those points if it doesn't end up meaningfully impeding the character and results in no development of the character as a person.

#13: Players always expect the NPCs to be idiots and believe their plans are Machiavellian schemes that'd make Maskarovka look like a kids magic show. GM's love to shatter those expectations. (Kadaeux.)

#14: Magic fixes everything. Including plot holes. Including this list. However, it will fail if the plot demands it.

#15: High schools in the modern world filled with mutants or other such powerful entities... That has zero media and military presence whatsoever.

#16: Speaking of, military and police are near always portrayed as villainous swine or self sacrificial heroes with little in the way of a human in-between.

#17: Stories (especially fantasy) often have a character that is discriminated against for his or her race, whilst simultaneously portraying an entire race (ex: orcs) as being universally evil without rhyme or reason.

#18: Children with super powers will always be locked in a facility and treated extremely poorly. Because this, after all, is the number one method of ensuring that they will never harbour long term resentment towards you.

#19: Large blocks of dialogue or actions in short periods of time. (Ex: In the time it takes to swing your blade, your opponent has recited to you his entire evil plan, ideology, childhood, and first sexual experience with your mother.)

#20: The players will always, always assume the big monster looking creatures or black robed characters are evil without fail. (Kadaeux.)

#21: In a fantasy RP there will ALWAYS be someone asking if they can have gunpowder weapons. (Kadaeux.)

#22: Characters that master complex talents or multiple fields of study before they are legally adults. (ex: A seventeen year old engineering major who holds three black belts.) Speaking of which...

#23: Characters who are suspiciously prepared for certain situations to occur by incredible coincidence or unlikely happenstance. (ex: A person who just happened to train in martial arts and own the perfect firearms for the zombie apocalypse that would happen ten years later.)

#24: There will always be a brooding lone wolf character who wears dark jackets, carries a katana and mopes around the whole RP being depressing 'because its cool' regardless of the RPs genre. (Kadaeux.)
Addendum: Bonus points if the loner then immediately crushes on the 'prettiest' woman of the group. Double down if that woman is nobility of any kind. (Brovo.)

#25: Flirtations and sexually provocative actions are typically handled with the subtlety of a brick flying three hundred fifty kilometers an hour into the passenger door of a Ferrari.

#26: Mental instability typically translates to a character wavering drunkenly from sociopath to dissociative identity disorder, to bipolar disorder, to obsessive compulsive, to codependent, with utterly no coherency in which particular set of symptoms they'll actually have.

#27: Mental instability will also only appear where convenient, and not be omnipresent in all actions like it most often is.

#28: Factions who declare war for no discernible reason beyond simply being fetishists for violence and chaos, rather than for any kind of tactical benefit. This applies both to malevolent villains and nations.

#29: Attractiveness Survival Law. The more physically appealing and/or innocent looking a character is, the less likely they will sustain injury or die. Children are basically Immortal thanks to this, until they grow up and become Ensign Ricky. Their parents should have sent them to command school.

#30: The antagonist is ALWAYS a massive bad guy of some sort. Few GMs ever turn the tables and have the players fall afoul of a "Big Good". (Kadaeux.)

#31: Clothing which does not fit the time period. Especially humorous if said clothing has not been invented yet or could not be created with the time period's methods of production. (ex: A medieval warrior wearing skinny jeans.)

#32: No true fat people. Typically, all too typically, not a single PC is above a healthy weight. (Kadaeux.)

#33: Love is often made obsessive and all consuming of a character's personality, thoughts, and individuality. Double points if this is triggered with #11. Humorous in that this does happen in real life, it's called a psychotic obsession.

#34: Romance and sex will be confused. Much like gender and sex, or sexuality and fetishes. (Sex is an action that can be done independently of any romantic context, gender is the sexual identity of a person whereas sex is the physical representation of male or female, sexuality is the XY scale of asexual to sex-maniac and heterosexual to homosexual with all in-between states represented, and fetishes are small but unorthodox objects, entities, and actions, that cause people to become excited. That clear it up for you?)

#35: Characters are nearly always sheet white Caucasians. The only time they aren't is if it's a fantasy race that defies it, or a character is made specifically to be "not white™" to avoid claims of racism.

#36: Everyone has a sword. Contrary to historical accuracy, swords are exceptionally common and every man and his goblin seems to have one instead of spears and axes taking the pride of place as most common weapons. (Kadaeux.)

#37: Battles often devolve into mind numbing, confused clusterfucks, in which chaos reigns supreme and blood sprays everywhere, but not once, at any point, no matter how unskilled or uncoordinated, the player characters will never commit friendly fire.

#38: Zombies somehow always overrun the world. Leave alone that any Jimmy with an assault rifle can mow them down like chickens in a dog kennel.

#39: If an NPC gains a name, they're more likely to survive. If they gain a last name, they've obtained a vest of plot armour. If you learn about their favourite colour and food, full body armour. If they tell you about their family and how they're going to love going back home to their wife, kiss the sweet, poor, genre-blind soul goodbye.

#40: The leading cause of parental death is having a child destined to do things. (Asuras.)

#41: Alcoholic Superpower Law. The more drunk a character becomes, the greater their capacity to do anything except commit to social actions. Double down if the character is a legitimate alcoholic and sincerely believes this as well.

#42: Ancient dead civilizations which have super-advanced technology or magical artifacts that could bring the modern world to ruin will conveniently kill themselves for us and leave these powerful things behind for us. (Jorick.)

#43: Chosen One Syndrome. "I am the last of X dynasty/skill set/power."

#44: Equipment last forever regardless of how much shit you got them through. (Alphakoka.)

#45: Religion is either completely benign or the source of all the world's evils. Very rarely is it a middle ground. Bonus points if religion just at some point appears in a plot out of nowhere to try and avoid #28.

#46: The people in their hometown always found it in their best interest to be as horrible and mean to a character with incredibly high potential, the higher the potential, the worse the treatment. (Alphakoka.)

#47: The more alien something looks, the more horrifyingly destructive it will likely be by its base nature. (ex: Insectoid race? Starship Troopers. Black people with bony heads? Klingons. The list goes on ad naseum.)

#48: When choosing a weapon, half of the time, it will be used in highly inappropriate ways that make absolutely zero sense for the design of the weapon. (ex: Choosing a sniper rifle to fight in close range combat. Choosing a warhammer or comically oversized mallet and giving it to a little girl with green hair. Et cetera.)

#49: Commentary on racism, sexism, or other sensitive "isms" will often paint said people out to be completely, malevolently psychotic and evil. Never will you see a chivalrous knight who seeks to slay evil and save lives be maybe a little tiny bit racist or sexist unless it's done to make him evil or to point out how quaint his old timey beliefs are.

#50: Tactical geniuses are never wrong, to the point that you can figure out their lineage fairly quickly: Sun Tzu, son of Gary Stu and Mary Sue.

#51: Education is widely prolific for player characters, even settings where it would be odd, such as a peasant who can read and write, or do eighth grade mathematics.

#52: Aliens are always monocultured. They always lack the diversity of the human race. And many times this will be pictured as a weakness or potential downfall. (Kadaeux.)
Addendum: Or pictured as why they're "superior" to humans. (Kadaeux.)

#53: Characters never get sick. If they do, however, get sick, it'll be with a deadly disease that never impedes their ability to do things where it counts.

#54: In romance terms, a female character is twice as likely to generate romantic or sexual interest than their male counterparts, irrespective of any other qualities beyond their sex.

#55: Supernatural creatures like vampires and lycanthropes always somehow avoid detection by the general masses. Especially odd if the role play is set in the modern day with security cameras being basically everywhere. Doubly odd if magic is present that could easily be used to detect them.

#56: Characters who make no attempt to hide their unnatural nature generally get paranoid about people noticing, who ordinarily ignore them. Characters who make all attempts to hide their unnatural nature on the other hand are nearly always instantly detected by fellow PC's, usually in the manner of "there's just something odd about him."

#57: Characters with musical superpowers never cause the government or others to take interest in such a profound power.

#58: Settings with mages in fantasy settings which do not cause the superstitious peasantry to stare in abject terror of people who can literally light their house on fire. With their mind.

#59: Telepaths who can uncontrollable read minds who are not instantly overwhelmed the moment they walk into a crowd.

#60: Musical instruments transcend time barriers, such as electric guitars in medieval Europe, or pianos in Feudal Japan.

#61: Humans can live on distinctly not-Earth worlds no problem regardless of the planet's size, mass, temperature, or atmospheric composition, completely ignoring everything we understand about science. (ex: An Earth-sized desert world should by all rights have little to no Oxygen. No plants are producing it and little to no water is present!)

#62: Firearms in space still work. Firearms on planets with different atmospheric compositions still work. Firearms lit on fire still work. Firearms are the most brazenly invincible American icon ever produced.

#63: Stories which snuff tropes and stereotypes are also the ones that most often use them without knowing it.

#64: Games-based worlds are always virtual realities. Never once do characters simply come to the realization that they're just pixels, it's always a human being somewhere down the line. Somewhere.

#65: "Realistic magic" used un-ironically by characters within the story.

#66: Characters are nearly always pretty. At the very worst, they're "average" and often feel depressed about that. Ugly characters are nearly always evil, such as orcs. If they are pretty and evil, they're also likely a woman, or a feminine male. How advanced we are.

#67: Characteres who have obscure weaknesses that often don't relate to their strengths. "I'm a warrior who is allergic to cheese."

#68: Voices in a character's head are nearly always dementedly evil and constantly want them to maim and kill and rape. Never once is the voice something benign and humorous, like Bill Cosby.

#69:

Thoroughly Adult Joke

There are at least this many sexual positions, but characters 9/10 times will only do it missionary/doggystyle, and if they're virgins, it'll be the greatest sex ever, not awkward and painful like it should be! (I warned you.)

#70: The more impossible the odds, the greater the chances of success. Inversely, the more unlikely something will go wrong, the greater the odds something will go wrong.

#71: Broken bones and other horrifying wounds will heal overnight. Scratches and bruises though? You'll carry those for life. Double down the points if this works in tandem with #3 and #12.

#72: As with #60, songs made in the modern day will transcend time barriers and be known by the protagonist both in the distant past and in the distant future.

#73: Characters who have special personal possessions will refer to these possessions before any significant event, and for some odd reason, nobody will ever ask about it unless forced to do so.

#74: Characters who aren't subjected to #10 will instead have horrible abusive parents. If they aren't abusive, they're probably dead, and that makes them orphans. Really sucks to be a parent, doesn't it.

#75: Child characters are always naïve to the point of it being painful, or extremely wise/observant to the point of it being absurd. There is little middle ground concerning children.

#76: The elderly are either wise sages or badass war veterans, racism optional. (Though if racism is present, it automatically gives them the 'flawed logic' trait and often throws them into #49.) Never will you see the bumbling old man in a wheel chair shitting himself when he accidentally turns the corner to see one of these staring at him.

#77: Assassins are skilled at close quarters combat and are master duelists. No way could they possible, maybe need their stealth skills because they aren't good at fair combat.

#78: Speaking of, characters are always masters of stealth. Never is a character simply "kind of quiet most of the time", they've obtained Ninja level 100 stealth skill if they do possess it.

#79: Half-breeds will never have medical disorders as a result of the crossbreeding. (ex: Half-Elves come out perfectly fine, despite biology apparently so different that it causes elves to live fifteen times longer then some of the longest lived humans.)

#80: Characters can willpower their way through injuries that would, and should, by all reasonable means, debilitate them. If your muscle and tissue is destroyed, no amount of willpower--no matter how noble--will suddenly make it start working again.

#81: The more complex the task is in the real world, the more likely it'll be relegated to the words "and he used his [skill set] to resolve [problem]", rather than describing any intricate details to the task that would imply the author did research.

#82: Muscular juggernauts are for some reason extremely slow. Meanwhile, in the real world, muscles make you fast. If someone the size of a small tank is charging at you, he's going to not only hit you with the strength of a freight train, but the speed of one too.

#83: Cybernetic implants never seem to cause instant death in the user in the event of an EMP, nor do they seem to require any outside resources to maintain, nor do they seem to cause any sort of delay in reaction times for the user... Leaving one to wonder why all soldiers aren't robots.

#84: Speaking of which, robots almost always succumb to genocidal murder rampage if they have even a remote hint of artificial intelligence. Because you know what makes sense with superior intellect? Turning the world into a post-apocalyptic nightmare land where you murder everyone else with intelligence.

#85: Speaking of the post-apocalypse. The Protagonist always has a dog to keep him/her company. (Kadaeux.)

#86: Love is nearly always mutual. It's rare to see a character experience nonreciprocating love unless that character is depicted as being obsessive.

#87: Rapid mutations never seem to simply kill the person experiencing them via an immune system reaction. They usually also cause the person experiencing them to become more animistic, violent, and mentally unstable.

#88: Friendship and loyalty are forever. Characters never seem to experience the loss of friends due to having to make choices that distance themselves from said friends, unless the friends have turned irrevocable evil, or the character is redeeming themselves from evil.
Addendum: Unless inevitable betrayal occurs. Then forever loyalty becomes forever hatred.

#89: Pain is an abstract concept. This is why a teenager with a half a dozen bullet holes can completely ignore this to kill his enemy and survive.

#90: Vehicles used by the protagonists never take irreparable damage. Vehicles used by enemies are made of bubble gum, paper clips, and Goodwill pamphlets.

#91: Hacking nearly always succeeds, especially for technology which doesn't possess traditional operating systems or wireless connections, such as futuristic firearms with targeting computers.

#92: Beware of old lone travelers who look harmless. This applies doubly if the old lone traveler is a woman, and double again if the old lone traveler is Asian regardless of sex. (Kadaeux.)

#93: Traditionally made Katana made out of anything other than Pig Iron.
--93a: Dual wielded Katana. (Kadaeux.)

#94: Characters who hold ideologies that make little sense for the time period they live in. (Ex: Espousing American Constitutional rights in the middle of the Dark Ages. Espousing Capitalism in the middle of a Star Trek-like Socialist Utopia.)

#95: Inventions will always be made on the spot, in minutes/hours, rather than in months/years, over several different iterations.

#96: Characters never get lost and have a mentally built in quest marker telling them where to go next. Unless that is the entire purpose for the plot, in which case, they are always lost.

#97: Torches and other temporary light sources last for eternity.

#98: Nobody ever has to go to the bathroom except for comedic effect. This is probably for the best.

#99: Nor eat, except for a dramatic interlude before battle. (Kadaeux.)

#100: Pets cannot die. Thousands of people can be slaughtered, but Boomer, the halfway retarded mutt, will live.

#101: Tropes and Stereotypes will often be looked down on for no more reason than their lack of originality, despite the fact that anything which is totally original is also totally incomprehensible for a lack of reference material to understand it.

 

[HerziQuerzi]

#13: Players always expect the NPCs to be idiots and believe their plans are Machiavellian schemes that'd make Maskarovka look like a kids magic show. GM's love to shatter those expectations. (Kadaeux.)

The smart NPC plans are the one that are total trap cards set by the GM.

#32: No true fat people. Typically, all too typically, not a single PC is above a healthy weight. (Kadaeux.)

Guilty as charged.

#51: Education is widely prolific for player characters, even settings where it would be odd, such as a peasant who can read and write, or do eighth grade mathematics.

Also guilty as charged, though have recently become self-aware of it.


There should probably be more, but a lot of these are based on situations in RPs I just haven't had. Low score through shallow Venn Diagram, essentially.

 

[Yiyel]

#9: Technobabble is the sci-fi equivalent of magic in most instances of its use.

Occasionally guilty of this, but the only times it's happened to me was because I actually had made up a whole scientific thingy around something and nobody had any idea what I was talking about.

#32: No true fat people. Typically, all too typically, not a single PC is above a healthy weight. (Kadaeux.)

Guilty as charged, but that's because fat people are just as much of a pain to RP as/with as they are in real life. Plus being fat in any setting that holds any sort of action either leads to Gary Stu levels of shenanigans or death of the character.

#72: As with #60, songs made in the modern day will transcend time barriers and be known by the protagonist both in the distant past and in the distant future.

Guilty, but I find this one unfair. While retroactive knowledge of music has no excuses, we do listen to compositions from centuries ago - why should we not have what we consider modern music today be known in a few hundred years, or even a thousand? Especially considering today's data retention possibilities - I dare you to find something that truly and permanently disappeared from the Internet.

#83: Cybernetic implants never seem to cause instant death in the user in the event of an EMP, nor do they seem to require any outside resources to maintain, nor do they seem to cause any sort of delay in reaction times for the user... Leaving one to wonder why all soldiers aren't robots.

Guilty with explanation. It's always possible to shield electronics from EMPs, and it would be in the best interest of those who make them to make them as autonomous and shielded as possible for minimum harm. What's the point of sending something vulnerable to something so simple as EMPs into battle? A lot of military gear is shielded. Of course, this point fails if it's not a combatant and not meant to be exposed to EMPs, but that hasn't happened to me.

I'm not as terrible as I thought I would be. Side note, I love how this post handled the quoting.

 

[Holmishire]

I dare you to find something that truly and permanently disappeared

This seems to contradict itself. ;]


On another note, I counted about eight that I felt I have used. Note that I didn't solely consider my roleplay characters, but also the characters and settings I have developed for personal writing stories. (I may add in which specific ones I fail in, with explanations of why I chose to keep them that way, later. Also, I may discuss some of the stereotypes I have purposefully fought against in my various writings.)

Nice list, mate!

 

[Digi-Guy]

That was a really good read. It helped expose some things I do or look over. Thank you!

 

[Brovo]

Guilty as charged, but that's because fat people are just as much of a pain to RP as/with as they are in real life. Plus being fat in any setting that holds any sort of action either leads to Gary Stu levels of shenanigans or death of the character.

I'm not sure I understand. There are plenty of overweight cops/military officers/etc throughout history, it's no advantage certainly but it's not like a person who's overweight is instantly a 500 pound ball of butter and lard. There is such a thing as just "husky", but you'll never see anyone weight more than 180 pounds unless it's purely muscle.

Guilty, but I find this one unfair. While retroactive knowledge of music has no excuses, we do listen to compositions from centuries ago - why should we not have what we consider modern music today be known in a few hundred years, or even a thousand? Especially considering today's data retention possibilities - I dare you to find something that truly and permanently disappeared from the Internet.

I'm not sure how I would find something that has truly and permanently disappeared off the Internet by virtue of the fact that the moment I'd mention it on the Internet, well, there it is. It's also not so much people listening to Beethoven as it is people listening to some extremely obscure band of the modern day. For instance, I don't think anyone two hundred years from now is going to know who Mad at Gravity was. You probably don't either, as an example of "time marches on." It's also an oddity because most often when a character, say, five hundred years in the future, who was born far away from Earth and has never interacted with anyone from Earth and feels zero connections to Earth beyond it being the distant home world of humanity, completely forgoes any local musical icons to focus on, say... One OK Rock, a band whose members would be five hundred years dead.

See how this might be weird?

I'm not as terrible as I thought I would be. Side note, I love how this post handled the quoting.

Tropes are tools. Nearly all the tropes listed above can be wielded well, when you're self-aware of them. (ex: A character in the distant future loving "old digital era music", isn't necessarily bad for it. It just doesn't hurt you to be self-aware that it would be an oddity of the time.)

That was a really good read. It helped expose some things I do or look over. Thank you!

That was the whole purpose, thanks. ^^; If you have a few to add of your own, please, do.

 

[Digi-Guy]

I guess one of my things, and you pretty much said it, is that tragedy is the only way to make a strong willed hero. Parenting can breed quality morale people.

 

[Yiyel]

I'm not sure I understand. There are plenty of overweight cops/military officers/etc throughout history, it's no advantage certainly but it's not like a person who's overweight is instantly a 500 pound ball of butter and lard. There is such a thing as just "husky", but you'll never see anyone weight more than 180 pounds unless it's purely muscle.

Thing is, overweight cops/military officers/etc aren't running across the whole galaxy and fighting on front lines or in stealth operations. Hell, I'd argue that an overweight cop is less efficient at his job. But point is, I would love to hear of a single overweight front-line fighter.

I'm not sure how I would find something that has truly and permanently disappeared off the Internet by virtue of the fact that the moment I'd mention it on the Internet, well, there it is. It's also not so much people listening to Beethoven as it is people listening to some extremely obscure band of the modern day. For instance, I don't think anyone two hundred years from now is going to know who Mad at Gravity was. You probably don't either, as an example of "time marches on." It's also an oddity because most often when a character, say, five hundred years in the future, who was born far away from Earth and has never interacted with anyone from Earth and feels zero connections to Earth beyond it being the distant home world of humanity, completely forgoes any local musical icons to focus on, say... One OK Rock, a band whose members would be five hundred years dead.

See how this might be weird?

I meant it as something you've heard of but can't find on the internet anymore. Anyhow, would you really say it's far fetched that in three hundred years people would still listen to Led Zeppelin or even Daft Punk?

Tropes are tools. Nearly all the tropes listed above can be wielded well, when you're self-aware of them. (ex: A character in the distant future loving "old digital era music", isn't necessarily bad for it. It just doesn't hurt you to be self-aware that it would be an oddity of the time.)

True enough, but it can be pretty hard to wield them properly. But yeah, if tropes didn't work, then why would TVTropes be a thing? :P

 

[Brovo]

Thing is, overweight cops/military officers/etc aren't running across the whole galaxy and fighting on front lines or in stealth operations. Hell, I'd argue that an overweight cop is less efficient at his job. But point is, I would love to hear of a single overweight front-line fighter.

Certainly, but then there are all sorts of RP's that don't have front line combat (ex: ship to ship, slice of life, etc) where overweight characters still don't exist, really.

I meant it as something you've heard of but can't find on the internet anymore. Anyhow, would you really say it's far fetched that in three hundred years people would still listen to Led Zeppelin or even Daft Punk?

Considering the probably unhealthy amount of time I spend on the Internet, I can't really do that for you, aside from an old musical toy passed down to me from my mother's side of the family, but there's understandable reason why that sound isn't on the Internet. As for the other part, eh', maybe, largely yes, but not entirely. In the same sense that while you can still hear Beethoven, he's not exactly mainstream in games, movies, television, music, radio, and so on. There are places that still play his stuff, but largely he's ignored for what's coming out now.

True enough, but it can be pretty hard to wield them properly. But yeah, if tropes didn't work, then why would TVTropes be a thing? :P

To amuse us! Weasel/Ferret Mascot!

 

[Yiyel]

Certainly, but then there are all sorts of RP's that don't have front line combat (ex: ship to ship, slice of life, etc) where overweight characters still don't exist, really.

I... had not considered that. I don't really do these - ship-to-ship combat usually involves people who also do front-line and highly inefficiently designed ships where the weapons nest is at the other side of the ship that the main cannon calibration terminal is, and I never really have done slice-of-life (and not sure if I see the appeal - if slice-of-life has nothing extraordinary happen, then one could probably just go outside and make friends, right?)

Considering the probably unhealthy amount of time I spend on the Internet, I can't really do that for you, aside from an old musical toy passed down to me from my mother's side of the family, but there's understandable reason why that sound isn't on the Internet. As for the other part, eh', maybe, largely yes, but not entirely. In the same sense that while you can still hear Beethoven, he's not exactly mainstream in games, movies, television, music, radio, and so on. There are places that still play his stuff, but largely he's ignored for what's coming out now.

What's coming out yes - but I'm fairly sure it's always possible to find people who listen to that stuff still. My point is - with today's technology, it's either so obscure a handful of people know it, or immortalized.

To amuse us! Weasel/Ferret Mascot!

Yeah, definitely - but it wouldn't be as funny if it didn't happen EVERYWHERE.

 

[Krnon]

@Yiyel personally, I like playing larger overweight people as it adds diversity to the environment, and I am fat myself, which aids in me thinking of what my character may or may not do in what situation. I prefer that if there is conflict, that it be done on foot and not on a vehicle since that adds a more... interesting element to it. I agree though that slice of life I cannot foresee anything more violent then someone randomly shooting someone or the occasional beat down, depending on what is actually going on. As for music, I still listen to Beethoven, so I completely agree that it will be around, just not as popular as it is today.

@Brovo Please correct me if I am wrong, but front line combat includes navy and air forces, so why stop the lines on planet and why not draw more for in space like people had to for in the water and in air? Just because the front line on the ground is in one place, does not mean that the front lines always have to be together in a relative area. Those things mainly deal with tactics and the sort, but I digress.

 

[Jorick]

I'm definitely in the 21-40 range, 32 by my count. I even made a list of all the ones I'm guilty of, which I'll throw in a spoiler. A lot of them apply more to worldbuilding than to individual characters, and I've only built a few fantasy worlds, so quite a lot of them didn't even have a chance of applying to me else I probably would've ended up in the 40+ range.

Tropes I use

2 - I blame all that anime I watch.
3 - Totally do this with about 50% of my characters that have scars or deformities.
8 - There's no kill like overkill, especially when it's done in the name of justice. I once had a super zealot character that commited literal genocide against a whole race to prevent their leader from stealing some magical artifact that could have inconvenienced maybe a few hundred thousand people.
10 - I contribute to this a lot, because I don't want to have to deal with character baggage like living family members.
12 - I have been guilty of this in the past, but I've worked a lot to fix it.
13 - I've been guilty of this as well, though nowadays I've almost entirely overcome it I think.
14 - Magic is the best deus ex machina.
17 - Hah, yes, I have done this. I had a dwarf character who was discriminated against, but he thought all races other than dwarves, elves, and humans were evil scum; this was in a world where all races comingled and did not actually have the inherent goodness or evilness thing going on.
19 - Super guilty of this one.
20 - If they didn't want to get shot they shouldn't have been wearing a black robe.
22 - I've done this, but, wellll, the magical age of competency in fantasy is 16, and that's also generally the age of majority in fantasy, so technically... Screw it, I'll count it.
23 - I made some of these in my early roleplaying days. Haven't done it in a long while, but still counting it.
24 - Not counting the katana, I did this a couple times, again in my early roleplaying days.
25 - I've definitely been guilty of this. I am not a romantic man, so subtlety in this area does not come naturally to me.
28 - Definitely guilty. I've made some evil for evil's sake characters and groups before.
34 - Hah, another one I've grown past but still count because I've done it.
35 - Yeah, guilty of this in spades. Even most of my fantasy race characters are still caucasian.
36 - I like swords. :<
40 - In conjunction with #10, yup, lots of my characters are destined orphans.
43 - I kinda do this, but usually with mundane and area specific things; for instance, I have a character that's currently the last wise woman/healer woman with healing herb knowledge from this one village. Not like "I am the last air bender" level of stuff though.
44 - Yup. I often hand-wave it away by saying that maintenance happens off screen, haha.
45 - I have done both sides of the spectrum before, and I get the bonus points.
47 - I've done this one a lot.
51 - Super guilty. I like playing wild barbarians and such, but I have a hard time playing stupid characters, so I often give them basic education even if it makes little sense.
53 - Yep. It's just not proper heroic or villainous behavior to have a cold, you know.
58 - Definitely made and played in settings like this before.
66 - Another of those tropes I've worked to break myself of, but damn is it hard to find good character art that shows people as being not pretty.
76 - Definitely applies to every elderly character I've ever played, haha.
80 - I've done this before, even though I know it's ridiculous. Rule of cool, man.
96 - The only times I can recall having characters get "lost" were for the purpose of extending some inner thought and reminiscence time, so I made them wander around somewhere but end up exactly where they wanted to be nonetheless.
97 - Mhmm, infinity torches are a standard item of adventure gear.
98 - My characters may as well not produce waste matter for all I show them using bathrooms, haha.

Oh, and I also noted a few which I very much dislike and actively avoid using.

4 - Avoid to the max. If I can't find a character image that is almost perfectly fitting, I just don't use an image and resort to a text description. Also applies to #30, I just won't use a char image that has period unrealistic clothes.
26/27 - When I make a mentally unstable character, I try my damnedest to make it as realistic as possible. Can't stand characters that fall under these tropes.
42 - I suggested that one because I hate it and avoid using it at all costs. It's so annoying and ridiculously common.
49 - I rather enjoy giving my good characters a touch of casual scumminess in the form of discrimination, actually. Keeps them feeling real.
101 - I hate it when people crap on things just because they use tropes and stereotypes. As I've said many times, they became super popular because they work so damned well, and generally they haven't become any less effective for all the use.

 

[Brovo]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but front line combat includes navy and air forces, so why stop the lines on planet and why not draw more for in space like people had to for in the water and in air? Just because the front line on the ground is in one place, does not mean that the front lines always have to be together in a relative area. Those things mainly deal with tactics and the sort, but I digress.

Yes if it is dogfights and direct naval engagements. If it's artillery strikes (which the Navy most often does) or specific long range guided laser strikes (ex: Drone Strikes), then not particularly, those are support roles. Still, while someone in the Navy might be overweight, pilots have rather strict physical demands, I'm not sure if a pilot could be overweight.

 

[Holmishire]

I've split this into two parts. The first part focuses on ones I avoid, the second on ones I do. As said before, I do eight of them regularly.

---

#8: Nuclear Justice Law. The more powerful the heroes, the greater the acceptable casualty rate of non-combatants. After about a million people becomes acceptable in terms of losses, heroes can commit genocide killing the villain and still be heralded as heroes universally. Double points if the villain's plans aren't as damaging as the hero's attempts to stop him/her.

This is one of the ones I make sure to avoid. In most of my settings, the heroes are rather weak. The great exception is a story called SoulGatherer, in which one kid ends up killing ten thousand people—mostly innocents—to revive his childhood friend.

He starts off good, but as he gains in power, he also becomes more ruthless, until he's seen as a monster.

#14: Magic fixes everything. Including plot holes. Including this list. However, it will fail if the plot demands it.

I put a lot of effort into making rigid rules for my settings' magic. If I need it to do something in my plot, I'll redesign the system so it works, and make sure not to contradict it in the future.

#35: Characters are nearly always sheet white Caucasians. The only time they aren't is if it's a fantasy race that defies it, or a character is made specifically to be "not white™" to avoid claims of racism.

I make mostly caucasians and orientals, because honestly, that equates most of the people I know round here.

#59: Telepaths who can uncontrollable read minds who are not instantly overwhelmed the moment they walk into a crowd.

I created a world specifically to subvert these kinds of superpowers. The telepath startd off weak, and so can control whose mind he reads. As he gains in power, however, he stops being able to control it, to the point that his body spasms uncontrollably as it tries to process the mental commands sent out by dozens of other minds.

#63: Stories which snuff tropes and stereotypes are also the ones that most often use them without knowing it.

Most of my stories are directly derived either from a trope I want to use, or one I want to subvert. I adore tropes, and am always looking for interesting ways to abuse them.

#70: The more impossible the odds, the greater the chances of success.

I always give a good reason as to why impossible odds are reversed.

One man kills ten thousand? He also gains the strength of every man he kills. (Plus magic in a world where magic is growing weaker.)

One hundred villains take down a nation? One hundred superhumans against a relatively isolated nation whose military amounts to a glorified militia uprising.

#79: Half-breeds will never have medical disorders as a result of the crossbreeding. (ex: Half-Elves come out perfectly fine, despite biology apparently so different that it causes elves to live fifteen times longer then some of the longest lived humans.)

When you're in a fantasy world, what else are you to do?

However, I am currently working on a world where hybrids are less common and far less healthy.

#80: Characters can willpower their way through injuries that would, and should, by all reasonable means, debilitate them. If your muscle and tissue is destroyed, no amount of willpower--no matter how noble--will suddenly make it start working again.

Sometimes.

#98: Nobody ever has to go to the bathroom except for comedic effect. This is probably for the best.

I don't show it explicitly, but I do allude to it happening.

---

#10: Orphans Anonymous. The cast is full of orphans, while not every character might be an orphan a disproportionate number of the cast members have a 'woe is me' background with 'my entire family is dead'. (Kadaeux.)

I very much do this. Makes life much easier.

#12: Injuries are conveniently sustained in non-lethal ways by weapons designed to be explicitly lethal.

I do this sometimes, but typically I only bother making characters get hit if I want them to die.

#32: No true fat people. Typically, all too typically, not a single PC is above a healthy weight. (Kadaeux.)

I do this! This is totally me!

#37: Battles often devolve into mind numbing, confused clusterfucks, in which chaos reigns supreme and blood sprays everywhere, but not once, at any point, no matter how unskilled or uncoordinated, the player characters will never commit friendly fire.

I've done this.

#44: Equipment last forever regardless of how much shit you got them through. (Alphakoka.)

Oops.

#53: Characters never get sick. If they do, however, get sick, it'll be with a deadly disease that never impedes their ability to do things where it counts.

Oops. Though on the rare occasion that they do get sick, I make them impaired.

#54: In romance terms, a female character is twice as likely to generate romantic or sexual interest than their male counterparts, irrespective of any other qualities beyond their sex.

I'm biased. Can't help it.

#55: Supernatural creatures like vampires and lycanthropes always somehow avoid detection by the general masses. Especially odd if the role play is set in the modern day with security cameras being basically everywhere. Doubly odd if magic is present that could easily be used to detect them.

I have a world that does this. However, the vampires in question don't need to drink blood, and usually go to certain efforts to cover their tracks. (e.g.: Burning down the block.)

#66: Characters are nearly always pretty. At the very worst, they're "average" and often feel depressed about that. Ugly characters are nearly always evil, such as orcs. If they are pretty and evil, they're also likely a woman, or a feminine male. How advanced we are.

I'd say most of my characters end up being average, but the point still stands. I rarely have uglies, though I also don't automatically make them evil.

 

[Yiyel]

Yes if it is dogfights and direct naval engagements. If it's artillery strikes (which the Navy most often does) or specific long range guided laser strikes (ex: Drone Strikes), then not particularly, those are support roles. Still, while someone in the Navy might be overweight, pilots have rather strict physical demands, I'm not sure if a pilot could be overweight.

If I remember, no a pilot cannot be overweight for four reasons. First is the suit - I think that the Air Force has like three sizes of air suits. Overweight people would tackle on costs by requiring a new suit. Second would be actual space - a fit pilot is already pretty snug in the cockpit, it would be unbearable by overweight people if it even fit. Third would be plane specifications - I am not sure what effect having an overweight person in the cockpit would do on the plane dynamics, though I DO know that over a certain weight it would reduce payload capability and fuel efficiency. Fourth is that fighter pilots are subjected to immense forces - forces sufficient to reverse the breathing effort (normally, people breathe in and can just relax to let air out - in a plane, the reverse is true, you force air out) and for the pilot to require a pressure harness on the legs to avoid blood pooling - I think that blood would pool much more easily in the legs with a weight surplus, and it could be difficult if overweight person already has difficulty breathing, causing faintings much more easily (and I'm sure you have an idea of how catastrophic fainting in a transsonic fighter plane would be).

 

[Krnon]

@Brovo I agree that direct confrontations create a new front, but my point was that if and when the space age does happen, you know people would have to draw up territories over that as well due to greed or some other reason. I did not mean that pilots or even naval officers would be inclined to be overweight.

@Yiyel Thank you for pointing out those brilliant deductions, as this all really did show me that I was not being specific enough here. The military has specific demands of the people it employs to be physically fit, after all, what point is there in a soldier that cannot keep up enough to help out where he is needed most?

I apologize for anything I said that could be misinterpreted.

 

[Screwface Romeo]

There's actually some legitimacy behind #62. Guns do work in a vacuum, including space, as modern gunpowder and primers contain an oxidizing agent. Guns are actually far more vulnerable to very terrestrial problems, primarily dust, silt and sand. As long as you can keep it clean and lubricated, a gun will work in most conditions. Now, there is a disconcerting frequency of people firing off guns in null-G and failing to realize that the recoil would send you flying backwards in that environment, or failing to account for high gravity, air density, or other factors like that.

 

[Brovo]

I agree that direct confrontations create a new front, but my point was that if and when the space age does happen, you know people would have to draw up territories over that as well due to greed or some other reason. I did not mean that pilots or even naval officers would be inclined to be overweight.

Actually if we're speaking strictly, purely realistically based on what we know of physics and space, war in space would be extremely impractical without some form of FTL if simply because any one faction sending missiles/ships/etc at another would be spotted with more precise instruments than we have now and countered several years in advance of successfully striking a target. This is assuming optimum. More likely, it'd be in the realm of hundreds of years. Ergo, space warfare would be fought... Maybe in an inter-system level. Maybe. What you'd have is a case of Balkanization in Space.

There's actually some legitimacy behind #62. Guns do work in a vacuum, including space, as modern gunpowder and primers contain an oxidizing agent. Guns are actually far more vulnerable to very terrestrial problems, primarily dust, silt and sand. As long as you can keep it clean and lubricated, a gun will work in most conditions. Now, there is a disconcerting frequency of people firing off guns in null-G and failing to realize that the recoil would send you flying backwards in that environment, or failing to account for high gravity, air density, or other factors like that.

Ja. That's more the point of the rule than anything else, that guns work the same anywhere you go. I'm also sure there are environments where our firearms would simply be impractical. (Then again those are likely environments we don't want to colonize or stay in very long anyway.)

 

[Screwface Romeo]

Ja. That's more the point of the rule than anything else, that guns work the same anywhere you go. I'm also sure there are environments where our firearms would simply be impractical. (Then again those are likely environments we don't want to colonize or stay in very long anyway.)

Indeed. Still, it might be worded a bit better, as it does further the misconception that guns don't fire in space.

 

[HerziQuerzi]

More likely, it'd be in the realm of hundreds of years.

Imagine the arms race. Attempting to create a weapon strong enough that even with several hundred years of technological innovation, they wouldn't be able to stop it.