Most abused Cliche?

[jchurchill]

What is the most abused cliche that you have seen or even [sad to admit] used in Traveller? Have you ever [as I must admit I have done] loaded an adventure with a comic number of cliches deliberately to provoke reactions from players?

 

[Swordsage]

How about this one:

The Butler did it.

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

"Your all sitting at a Startown Bar because your ship is broke for (insert time) weeks when all the sudden:
(pick one)
a: a mysterious stranger-in-need comes in;
b: in infamous-former-antagonist and/or local enforcers come in;
c: "Mr. Johnson" (a patron encounter) comes in;
or
d: locally-stationed members of (insert rival service) begin talking trash about (insert ship/unit the party currently/used to serve on/with)."

 

[vutpakdi]

A group of misc. people of different service backgrounds, different ages, different races, and from different planets/subsectors/sectors happen to meet at the muster out station and decide that they want to hang out together. One has a ship and suddenly decides that she trusts these complete strangers with her life and ship.

Ron

 

[kaladorn]

Ron, that sounds dangerously like high-treason against the OTU!

Seriously, in my current campaign, I linked the characters together by forcing them to be from the same homeworld and assume they were from the same neighborhood (roughly) and thus knew each other before they went off to the service and were only getting back together again after the post 5FW demobilization cost them all their jobs....

It's nice to have a bit more binding people together than "I just met you... let's sail off into the cosmos together....".

 

[Forged]

Ha Ha,

Ron, that sounds like something I'm involved in now....

Oh wait, you're running that one....

Oops......

 

[vutpakdi]

Originally posted by Forged:
Ha Ha,

Ron, that sounds like something I'm involved in now....

Oh wait, you're running that one....

Oops......

Hey now! Careful what you say, lest a certain Vilani merchant meet a beautiful femme fatale out to get him. Oh wait. That already happened.

Anyway, I didn't throw the characters together, and at least they didn't meet at the muster station. In the original game setup, Darishun and Martha were supposed to have been serving together for some time before the start of the game, but Paul changed the scenario and start a little.

I'm innocent in this case! Really!

Ron

 

[vutpakdi]

More cliches:

</font>

• The big ugly guy is the most dangerous one.</font>
• The old grizzled guy is competent and crusty.</font>
• Only important NPCs have well thought out names.</font>
• Most cargo runs suffer from pirates, drive failures, or stowaways.</font>
• The characters are the only ones who can save the planet, system, subsector, sector, or Imperium.</font>
• Openly carrying around weapons available by the law level is socially acceptable.</font>
• Ancient artifacts are incredibly powerful, useful things that also are extremely dangerous to those trying to figure out how to use them.</font>

 

[Whipsnade]

Ron Vutpakdi wrote:

"More cliches: ..."


Mr. Vutpakdi,

Guilty as charged, but only in the opposite sense! During my years as a GM I was so averse to the list you wrote that my PCs got skittish over things exactly reverse of the normal cliches!

They feared little men who smiled, knew that the Old Timer was a waste of time, paid attention to Eneri and not Henry Cabot Henhouse III, twitched when cargo runs went well, never really saved a planet (Chamax didn't count), didn't pack around guns like a bad Hollyweird epic, and never knowingly saw an Ancient artifact.

Cliches are crutches and everyone has a different selection.


Sincerely,
Larsen

 

[far-trader]

Fun topic, nothing to add except don't knock them too much. Like an archetype or stereotype they exist because of an underlying truth and as a shorthand to set a mood. For example just start an introduction with "The hooded figure..." and the player's imaginations should be in the right frame of mind. Cliche's are good, and overused the comical absurdity can be a lot of fun too. And of course a couple of cliche's can be great to set up that one exception that'll really ruin the complacent player's day

 

[Nurd_boy]

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

What about the omnipresent:

"Lock and Load!!!" shouted by someone?

Even Data said this one... and Doctor McCoy...

 

[Andrew Boulton]

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

I once played a dark and stormy knight...

 

[Tanuki]

Originally posted by Andrew Boulton:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> "It was a dark and stormy night..."

I once played a dark and stormy knight... </font>[/QUOTE]Nope. That's a dark and stormy kuuuh-niggit.

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran:
What about the omnipresent:

"Lock and Load!!!" shouted by someone?

Even Data said this one... and Doctor McCoy...

By the by, this one always kills me. In Real Life, it's "Load and Lock"...

Anybody care to guess how efficient it would be to try and load a piece while the bolt is locked down?

OOPSIE!

 

[Nurd_boy]

Originally posted by Ganidiirsi O'Flynn:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran:
What about the omnipresent:

"Lock and Load!!!" shouted by someone?

Even Data said this one... and Doctor McCoy...

By the by, this one always kills me. In Real Life, it's "Load and Lock"...

Anybody care to guess how efficient it would be to try and load a piece while the bolt is locked down?

OOPSIE!

</font>[/QUOTE]I shoot muzzleloaders...does that apply to me?

for us it 'stuff it !!'

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Ganidiirsi O'Flynn:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran:
What about the omnipresent:

"Lock and Load!!!" shouted by someone?

Even Data said this one... and Doctor McCoy...

By the by, this one always kills me. In Real Life, it's "Load and Lock"...

Anybody care to guess how efficient it would be to try and load a piece while the bolt is locked down?

OOPSIE!

</font>[/QUOTE]

yeah, unless you accept the theory of a second possible (earlier) origin of the phrase...

"One explanation of the phrase comes from the actions needed to prepare a flint lock rifle for firing. In order to safely load a rifle of this type it was necessary to position the firing mechanism in a locked position, after which the gun powder and ball could be safely loaded into the rifle barrel without any chance of the rifle misfiring."

I'm not sure myself but at least this one fits with the more widely used version of the phrase.

 

[vegascat]

Actually "Lock and Load" is accurate.
ON the M-16, you release the bolt forward "Lock", then insert magazine "Load". It is done in this order to prevent acidental discharges. You only chamber a round when ready to fire and you are not surrounded by buddies that would not appreciate a friendly bullet hole.

 

[siefertma2]

Back to the cliches:

The extremely powerful Ancient's artificat that can cure all illness, feed the poor, raise the dead, and solve all the universe's problem's that must be abandoned at the end of the adventure so the PCs can save themselves from impending doom.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Ahh well, might as well try this out too..<Nice topic, btw..</me likes it=in irc-geek-speak>.

a) ski masks on thugs who attack your party. even if its not winter.

b) friendly travellers in distress who then attempt to hijack your ship once you've answered the distress call...(the archetype wolf in sheeps clothing).

c) the great "deal" you got on your starship..[ a used one, of course-details vary with each GM]..

d) the good looking/ charismatic ones are usually up to no good, and the plug-uglys, aka fugly ones, are the virtuous ones. [either gender]...(archetype of evil disguised/ cloaked in beauty).

e) Oh,lets not forget!!!-- the NPC who never makes a mistake!

..that'll do me fer now..more as I have spare time..