Family Tropes
Basic Information
Family tropes are topical tropes related to the family of the characters in a story.
List of Family Tropes
- Anime In Laws
- Black Sheep
- The Clan
- Dysfunctional Family
- Evil Uncle
- Feuding Families
- Grandparental Obliviousness
- Happily Married
- In The Blood
- Incest Is Relative
- Lamarck Was Right
- Pater Familicide
- Patronymic
- Royally Screwed Up
- Secret Legacy
- They Do
Subcategories
Sources
Game and Story Use
- Unfortunately, too many players make their characters orphans, possibly because they suspect that any relatives would experience a messy fate at the hands of the GM just to drive a plot. So saddle them with a number of previously unknown relatives which are extremely embarrassing, until they get the hint.
- Conversely, do not wantonly kill off any relatives that are already part of a character's backstory. While families can and should serve as a source of drama, killing them off means that that source is gone.
- This also goes for any other major acts of cruelty against a character's family. I mean, who wants to have relatives even in a game if the only thing they do is depress him?
- Hey, why are we focusing on the negative here? There are lots of positive things a character's family can provide!
- A parent or uncle or an older sibling can be a mentor figure for a character.
- Or an inspiration: Look at Speed Racer's older brother Rex
- A family member can pass on an important family heirloom; perhaps an object of symbolic or sentimental value, perhaps a MacGuffin of Power.
- The older brother, the one who Mom constantly reminds you got a real job with the police force instead of wasting his life with all this adventuring stuff, can from time to time be a useful contact providing information and favors.
- And y'know, sometimes it's just nice to take a break from the adventures to enjoy a nice home-cooked meal.
page revision: 1, last edited: 11 Apr 2009 18:02
