Forbidden banished exiles. Especially in MMORPGs, I've found that the most common overall in-setting guild theme is "we don't belong in the society that this setting established." It's not just in MMORPGs, of course. It's often a crutch (or training wheels, if I'm being generous) for some roleplayers to participate by not participating. I'm not saying that a character (or a player for that matter) has to bend the knee to Lord So-And-So, but it's kind of hard to find plot excuses for the the forbidden banished exile to even be in the same picture, let alone get the quest to do the thing.

Plot armor dependents. Yes, it's quite likely that if I'm running the game and telling the story that I won't have the guards kill a player character on sight even if they do something exceptionally stupid just to see what happens, like stabbing a random citizen. Those kind of players don't tend to last long if their only contribution is "try to knock down the props just to see what happens on set."

People that directly lift an established character in well known fiction, often just changing the spelling, and often not even trying to resemble or act like that character. In an older MUD, I recall a "Frrodoh Bhaginz" that was a Half-Ogre hunter. Again, it didn't ruin the game, but it was annoying. I admit it can sometimes be a red flag warning, and a helpful one, if the lifted name is from chud fiction, like if they have "Rahl" in their name. It can show me what to expect, either in a tabletop group or in a MMORPG guild.

  • jabrd [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    When a DM wants to be smart and subversive by doing something like “oh the monsters were actually the good guys and the humans are evil” but they’re not actually a good storyteller. If you’re gonna diverge from the beaten path of knight punches dragon, saves village you need to actually be able to deliver on these themes and worldbuilding. You can’t just have a twist for the sake of a twist

    • BeamBrain [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Story ideas are like revolutionary tribunals: all about the execution.

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      IMO the most critical thing in delivering on this is foreshadowing. If the players feel like they should have known all along, then it's a good twist, if the players figure it out and switch sides, then it's also a good twist, but if the players get to the very end of a quest and then you suddenly reveal the truth it will feel like you've pulled it out of your ass and the players will be annoyed.

    • cynesthesia
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      deleted by creator

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      That was the other thing that made me quit 4chan, the other being the nazis fully taking over. The "traditional gaming" board was unbearably saturated with "what is your best plot twist/villain speech" and it was always "I WAS ACTUALLY RIGHT ALL ALONG AND YOU WERE THE BAD GUYS" mixed into a slurry with "THIS WAS ALL MY MASTER PLAN ALL ALONG AND YOU PLAYED YOUR PART BECAUSE WATCHMEN WAS THE ULTIMATE MOVIE KEK"