Genre, Ethos and Tropes - A Declaration of Intent pt. the second

It's important for me to emphasize that the setting and general world ethos of Enoa is that of light-hearted adventure movies. To go for more cinematic examples, it shares genre tropes with The Princess Bride, Willow, Merlin (the miniseries), to an extent the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy (the slightly over-the-top combat, in particular) and most definitely A Knight's Tale.

Generally, it's assumed that player characters will survive the campaign (this is what Luck points are for), and that opponents will come in three categories, Mook, Named Villain and Main Villain. Mooks are treated akin to environmental hindrances, they're not a main threat, they're not meant to be a main threat (at all), and they're basically just there to, as mentioned, be a temporary hindrance (so that a Named or Main Villain can get away) and to make the player characters (PCs) look good. The orcs in the LoTR movies are an excellent example, especially the fight at the end of Fellowship.

There, the Named Villains (the elite Uruk Hai) capture two of the PCs, while the orcs and Named Villain Uruk Hai leader slows down the other PCs. The only one posing a slight threat to the PCs is the Uruk Hai leader, who is nevertheless dispatched with some fancy stunting and good die-rolls from one of the more combat-oriented PCs (Aragorn), and even then he deliberately impales himself on the sword just to slow them down a bit further.

Named Villains usually begin either at or slightly below the PCs level of skill/expertise. They work for the Main Villain for their own reasons (fanatic loyalty, self-interest, blackmail), and serve as plot devices, environmental hindrance and someone to focus attention on. Named Villains can easily be used as either Hidden Villains (a Main Villain who covered his own plot up by manipulating the previous Main Villain), Heel-Turn Villains (a Villain who only works for the Main Villain out of duress, like a hostage loved one or for misguided reasons such as vengeance, despair or love) or Enlightened Self-Interest (the moment they see the writing on the wall, they are so outta there, and might even help the PCs if they're not too villainous).

It's often necessary to inform players of these genre tropes, since many roleplaying gamers assume any villain (or NPC in general) is there to be killed and looted. I intend to solve at least part of this problem with a story hook system included in the character creation process, but for now it's more efficient simply to tell players that killing everything that moves is a bad thing unless they intend to become villains (another mechanic will be Reputation, negative and positive). Good guys don't stab someone helping them in the back, even if they're annoying and weaselly (they can kill them when the Named Villain tries screwing them over later, if he or she does so).

The point of this mild rambling is a repeat of the previous post: This Is Not Your Father's RPG. Many play roleplaying games as if they're first-person shooter video games or hack-and-slash fantasy videogames, where everything that moves, talks or breathes is something to be gunned/sworded down and stripped for ammo/money/loot. In Enoa, Player Characters are not the equivalent of wandering brigands/hitmen. They're Heroes, in the 20th century version.

Next, Reputation and Story Hooks.