Well…I think I was insufficiently rigorous in hammering home what I meant by “trope” early on. And so it’s been pretty easy to let this conversation wander around while we talk past each other. Like… a grab bag of 60s/70s weird fantasy motifs sounds to me like exactly the opposite of “overused cliche,” or the definition at tvtropes.com which is even better (and explicitly not “cliche,” but go read it yourself because it’s kind of involved). which is what I mean when I say “trope.” Who besides Vance was using Vancian magic? Who besides Moorcock was talking about law and chaos?

And like all good conversations, I can safely say I feel absolutely no more settled on this stuff now than when I wrote my OP! Embracing tropes (overused cliches/widely used patterns) as part and parcel of RPGs makes me feel resigned, like we’re not doing anything more than derivative celebration of other, better work. Rejecting tropes and trying to look at RPGs without them feels alien and alienating and probably not “fun” beyond the tastes of an extremely jaded, extremely esoteric audience.