| The Tavern Cliche; Bollywood's take on the Starting Tavern | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 6 2018, 12:31 PM (8 Views) | |
| Bollywood | Apr 6 2018, 12:31 PM Post #1 |
|
Dusk Falls and you all come to the Tipsy Mare for food, warmth and a place to rest. Several Villagers are eating, drinking, being merry and talking about their day. To day is much like any other in the town of Vernoire, but looking at you something tells the villagers: Today will be different. How many times have you and a group of friends gotten together and decided to play Dungeons and Dragons? Maybe you've played with some of the other players before or maybe you haven't. Anyone with any sort of Dungeons and Dragons experience will look at the passage from above and be able to compare it to a handful of first adventures they've experienced. DM's will admit how many times they've opened a game with a short piece of flavor similar to that. Even those who haven't played Dungeons and Dragons before can see the cliche just from fantasy in pop culture. It's Predictable, easy, overused and without a doubt a cliche. Does that mean it should be avoided? I can't count how many times I've started a new campaign as a player and found myself inside Tingledunks Blah-Blah-Tavern and run into two to four strangers who became my best friends until we defeated the big baddy that wants us dead, or we are forgotten and replaced by newer, cooler and lower leveled characters. It happened so frequently that the more I played I avoided the tavern. I'd go to some weird corner of the town and spend forever inquiring about various maps from the cartographer or learn the perfect stitch from the old, near death tailor who may have a crush on me (I still hope so) to avoid falling into the cliche. All I have to say is; I'm so, so very sorry. Eventually I would DM more. I did a few times in the early days of my Dungeons and Dragons career but they were one-shots that I was half-drunk for or with characters in already established worlds and parties. When you become the DM your perspective of the Tavern is so goddamn different. I think it is important for both the Game Master and players to understand that the tavern is not just a place for the Players to develop their characters and give everyone a feel for how they will interact with other NPCs and each other as they adventure. It can be what I previously said, but in actuality it is a crutch. The Tavern is a crutch and the first game is Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim could move forward without his crutch, but it takes longer, is difficult and tiring. And for years as a player I snapped that crutch in half before the game got past the introduction stage by avoiding that tavern. Can you run a game without Cliches like "The Tavern"? Absolutely. I've been a player and the party got together by bumping into each other throughout the day until the characters realized they could work together. One time I ran a game and even though the party wasn't together, they all happened to have interest in the first "encounter," not even speaking a word before they fought of the street thugs together. I still believe these cases are blind luck, and in the end the party became the party because the group knew "We have to get this moving" and even though I was glad these games broke the cliche, it probably took us four hours to accomplish what is usually done in around one hour. Instead of relying on blind luck, the other option is to give the players as much information as possible about the adventure so they have a goal. If all the characters want similar things they are more likely to work together than if you tell them "Just roll up a character and meet at eight." If you hint at some sort of motive for the character to have, or even say something like "In the first game you will be fighting against a low-leveled wizard who has gone rogue against his town" Players can incorporate that into their backstory and concept. Perhaps your version of a tavern isn't a tavern; maybe you are sick of That messenger board int he middle of town with jobs on it or The herald looking for adventurers to help a lord, I get it. I've been in that spot; as a player it is redundant and as a DM you feel like a bad writer. The first game is only one game out of many though, and the party is going to experience various challenges that could ultimately kill them-- remember that good ole' tavern from long ago might not be such a bad thing for them. If you hate the tavern then by all means forget about it, but my next game is going to start in Tingledunks Blah-Blah-Tavern . |
Offline
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Hellcow Articles · Next Topic » |
| Theme: Zeta Original | Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
2:33 PM Jul 11
|





2:33 PM Jul 11