Most overdone concepts in RPGs?

[timfire]

- Must... have... a new name for: GM/PC.

Oh yes, I detest new names for the GM.

However, I like the switch that some people have made by calling a (N)PC a (Non-) Protagonist Character, rather than Player Character. Especially in games where the players can control/create NPCs, I think this makes lots of sense.

[Shreyas Sampat]

must...be...different!

No you don't. Just be good. Everything is crap. Different will come by itself.

[herrmess]

[*]Strange and Bizarre Capitalization
[/list:u]

!

Herrmess:  I understand most of your comments, but what's wrong with using weird/unique dice, or d20s in particular?

Nothing really, one comment was for all the games riding the "d20" wave (to me, it's an exemplar of the generic-mechanic-which-is-good-for-everything-especially-if-everyone's-using-it paradigm) and the other was for games that seemingly went "we won't be using d6, let's use 3d10, well, just to be different".

Or maybe it's just my imagination. Just for the record, I played EarthDawn and enjoyed the Step system (where you can actually use d4,d6,d8,d10,d12 and d20 ON THE SAME ROLL) immensely. It's not the type of dice, it's the reason they're used this way.

MarK.

[Shreyas Sampat]

High material barriers to entry!
I hate having to buy dice to play a game.
Or, like, roulette wheels or Porsches or whatever.
Just give my my d6s and cards and Mahjongg tiles, and I'm all set.

Low intellectual barriers to entry!
If I don't need to think carefully and in a novel manner about your game to play it to its fullest extent, then it must be the same as some other game. Sucks to be you.

[Ron Edwards]

I've had it with games in which the characters are specially-powered in any way whatsoever.

And yeah, I wrote games about sorcerers, magical elfs, and tall babes with horns on their heads. That's done with.

No more. People in situations, from now on.

Best,
Ron

[Chris Goodwin]

Elves and dwarves and fill in the blanks.  

Fantasy worlds in which elves are the shiny happy forest people and dwarves are the short gruff miners and blacksmiths.  (As though humans have never ever mined nor smithed iron.)  

Multiracial fantasy worlds in general.  

Adventuring parties with a just-right mix of races and classes.  

Adventuring parties.

Races and classes.  

All of D&D's assumptions.  

Modern games with listings of 300 firearms, many of which are nearly the same weapon with minor differences that are reflected in the game mechanics.  

Superhero games with the aforementioned firearms lists.  

Games with unnecessarily or inappropriately detailed rules for situations that will likely never come up in play.  (Example:  Fringeworthy has detailed rules for starvation and a list of foods with Food Points.  I swear to fucking Ghu I am not making this up.)