Ensembles
Basic Information
Ensembles are groups of Characters. An ensemble trope is one that describes how the characters interact and exist as a group.
Ensemble Tropes:
- Adventure Duo
- All Star Cast
- Amazon Brigade
- Badass and Child Duo
- Badass Army
- Badass Crew
- Balanced Harem
- Band of Brothers
- Bash Brothers
- Battle Couple
- Battle Harem
- Beast and Beauty
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn
- Big Bad Duumvirate
- Big Bad Ensemble
- Big Guy, Little Guy
- Big Screwed-Up Family
- Big, Thin, Short Trio
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead
- Blood Brothers
- A Boy A Girl And A Baby Family
- Brains and Brawn
- Breakfast Club
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl
- Bully and Wimp Pairing
- Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards
- Cain and Abel and Seth
- Caper Crew
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough
- Carnival of Killers
- Cast Full of Gay
- Cast Herd
- Catch Phrase Spouting Duo
- Chorus Girls
- The Chosen Many
- Chromatic Arrangement
- The Church
- The Clan
- Combat and Support
- Commedia dell'Arte
- Comic Trio
- Command Roster
- Cosmopolitan Council
- Counterpart Combat Coordination
- The Dividual
- Dysfunctional Family
- Eccentric Townsfolk
- Elite Army
- Ensemble Cast
- Equippable Ally
- Evil Duo
- Fake Band
- The Family That Slays Together
- Fantasy Axis of Evil
- Fat and Skinny
- Five-Bad Band
- Five-Man Band
- Five Races
- Five-Token Band
- Four Element Ensemble
- Four Girl Ensemble
- Four-Man Band
- Four Philosophy Ensemble
- Four-Temperament Ensemble
- Freudian Trio
- Garage Band
- Gang of Critters
- Gang of Hats
- Gender Equal Ensemble
- Geodesic Cast
- Girl Posse
- Gossipy Hens
- The Hecate Sisters
- The Hollywood Formula
- Horsemen of the Apocalypse
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl
- Leader Forms The Head
- Lead Bassist
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine
- Limited Social Circle
- Little Guy, Big Buddy
- Loads and Loads of Characters
- Lookalike Lovers
- Love Dodecahedron
- Lovely Angels
- The Magnificent Seven Samurai
- Maid Corps
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy
- Multinational Team
- Mister X and Mister Y
- Mistress and Servant Boy
- Noble Male, Roguish Male
- Nobody Loves the Bassist
- Nuclear Family
- Old Cop, Young Cop
- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness
- The Order
- Outlaw Couple
- Paid Harem
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy
- Platonic Life Partners
- Player Party
- Power Stable
- Praetorian Guard
- The Psycho Rangers
- Quirky Household
- Quirky Miniboss Squad
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits
- Rock Trio
- Rotating Protagonist
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl
- Sealed Army in a Can
- Secret Project Refugee Family
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man
- Siblings in Crime
- Sibling Team
- Similar Squad
- Six Student Clique
- The Squad
- Standard Evil Empire Hierarchy
- Standard Royal Court
- Student and Master Team
- Super Family Team
- Super Team
- Switching P.O.V.
- Sword and Sorcerer
- Tangled Family Tree
- The Team
- Terrible Trio
- Themed Harem
- Those Two Bad Guys
- Those Two Guys
- Three Amigos
- Three Ladies
- Three Plus Two
- The Three Faces of Eve
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl
- Tomboy and Girly Girl
- True Companions
- Universal Adaptor Cast
- Villain Team Up
- With a Friend and a Stranger
Sources
Bibliography
Game and Story Use
- Ensemble Tropes can be used to give structure to your adventuring party. You may find that your enjoyment at the table can be enhanced when the player characters compliment each other, instead of fight for the spotlight.
- Likewise, the PCs might have better luck on the battlefield if everyone has a defined combat role. By way of contrast, Ensemble Tropes are about the Characterization or the characters role in the story, whereas combat role is about game mechanics.
- Ensemble tropes provide a useful tool for the GM who needs to pad out his NPC cast without wasting too much time on any one character. Sometimes you need to include a large number of NPCs at once, as suspects, victims, adversaries, the city guard, etc, and ensemble tropes can speed up that process without reducing each NPC to a stale "Guard #3, Chainmail and Sword, 7 HP" entry.
- Tropes function as short-hand to allow the players to quickly decode the personalities (and sometimes abilities) of a group of NPCs, by immediately slotting them into familiar archetypes. Not only does this reduce the GMs prep-work away from the game, but it also speeds up the player's comprehension at the table and can improve the pacing of your game.
page revision: 2, last edited: 27 Mar 2020 07:02