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Old 11-16-2013, 10:37 AM   #21
johndallman
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

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Originally Posted by robkelk View Post
Now you've got me picturing a nice, quiet chat between Archangel Yves and the Unseen University's Librarian...

Okay, that's enough digression.
Digression? Yves' Library explicitly uses Pratchett's L-space.
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Old 11-17-2013, 08:57 PM   #22
combatmedic
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

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Do you have any themes or phenomena which regularly recur in your campaigns, perhaps even so frequently that you could make a drinking game from it? Take a shot if the villain is an Ancient Cult. Every time there are zombies, take a shot. Etc. And they shouldn't be commonplace, so "people have to drink or they die" wouldn't be valid.

My main recurring theme is Ancient Gods of Chaos, very H.P.Lovecraft-esque. They may not play a major role in the campaign, but they're always there.
I make use of the following elements fairly often:

  • humans, or formerly-human monsters, as the main opposition
  • necromancy and the undead
  • creepy-crawlies (or supah cuties, as I call them) were-rats, slimes, swarms of huge centipedes, fungi that induce madness by means of toxic spores, etc.
  • sewers and other underground environments
  • feuding families, guilds, gangs, etc.
  • gritty/Noir cities, medieval or modern
  • spooky forests or moorlands or rocky hills


These things do not show up in all my games.
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Old 11-19-2013, 02:40 PM   #23
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

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Do you have any themes or phenomena which regularly recur in your campaigns ...
In science fiction a human colony on a water world on the frontier of the
known space and in fantasy or alternate history a small island inherited or
conquered and then ruled by the characters come to mind ...
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Old 11-20-2013, 02:04 PM   #24
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

Trust issues seem to come up a lot lately, as well. One In Nomine campaign arc turned out to involve a mole in an angelic Tether; in that same campaign, one Bright Lilim, Kay, found she didn't have the same trust in her "older sister" Susan that she used to because a Geas that Susan imposed for Kay's protection backfired badly.

Meanwhile, in my gritty Supers campaign, our solo PC has lost trust in a SEAL she once trusted implicitly, after he cheated on her twin sister. She's also wondering if she can trust herself after discovering several post-hypnotic commands that were apparently instilled in her at a very early age. And all of Hudson City is a backdrop for wondering who can trust whom, and whether the local criminal organization isn't more reliable and honorable than anyone the police can send ...
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Old 11-20-2013, 02:45 PM   #25
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

Theres always a traitor, and its usually alternates between someone you would never guess, and the obviously suspicious guy.

whenever there is some huge dungeon-esque place to invade, theres always other groups with other reasons trying to do the same in paralel.

Power usually scales up faster than id like

Extremelly powerfull NPCs comunicate with the PCs on a constant basis.
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Old 11-22-2013, 12:59 PM   #26
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

Some themes I like;
  • Hidden agendas revolving around personal stuff like ideology, commerce, grudges, etc. Behind closed doors, everyone's got their troubles.
  • Grey and grey morality, everyone's just trying to get through this, for the most part. Your usual enemies are just violent criminals, either self-employed or hired by...whoever. It's Stale Beer/Low Fantasy/whatever, there's no cosmic force of evil to oppose or grand destiny.
  • Many ways to accomplish any given goal. Fight. Talk. Stealth. Whatever. I'm open to it.
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Old 04-06-2014, 12:06 PM   #27
johndallman
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

I've noticed a recurring theme: things that you don't perceive until you learn how. Thinking about this, it's a pretty obvious reversal of a current personal experience: my sight is getting worse owing to cataracts, which the surgeons don't want to touch yet.

It also relates to experiences when I was learning photography: you learn to notice potential pictures in your environment, and you also learn to see how other people's pictures work.

I also have a suspicion that there are aspects of our environment that nobody has learned to notice yet, but that's an easy opinion to form when your vision has always been substandard, and there are things that most people can see which I can't.
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Old 04-06-2014, 01:04 PM   #28
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
It also relates to experiences when I was learning photography: you learn to notice potential pictures in your environment, and you also learn to see how other people's pictures work.
On a completely different level, I've heard people who've been on FISH (urban combat) training say that suddenly they see a street in terms of where the snipers, spotters, grenade-throwers and so on are likely to be hiding.
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Old 04-06-2014, 03:05 PM   #29
johndallman
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

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On a completely different level, I've heard people who've been on FISH (urban combat) training say that suddenly they see a street in terms of where the snipers, spotters, grenade-throwers and so on are likely to be hiding.
Far less comprehensive training can do that: in the days I played a lot of Doom, I would spot places in the real world where I could fire a rocket and take cover.
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Old 04-07-2014, 06:04 AM   #30
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Default Re: Recurring themes in your games?

My main themes/tropes seem to be...

Magic, or something that can pass for it (psi, superpowers, ect...)

Cultural conficts, people driven by different value systems and ideals in conflict. Example: time lost groups of basically good people with radically different ideas about how to run a society.

Travel, space, time, around the kingdom.

Cities, I like cities.

Starting things, settlements, terraforming worlds, founding comunities...
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