History WithThisHerring / TabletopGames

* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', of course, doesn't merely use this trope, it practically embodies it. Almost every piece of equipment given is not only useless for its intended purpose but is guaranteed to be the cause of death of at least one player character. [[RuleOfFunny Thankfully, there's a reason for this.]]
** ''Paranoia'' does something even worse: It's actually not that odd to get equipment assigned to you. Lots of equipment. Tons of it. Things you don't need, even. But one small detail: You're ''responsible'' for all the equipment given to you and are expected to return it in the same condition you were given it. Yes, that includes grenades. This being ''Paranoia'', it hardly needs saying that a failure to do so is treason. Or bringing it back in perfect condition is treason, as you failed to use your resources appropriately. Or both: you get accused of treason for failing to bring one thing back in mint condition ''and'' for failing to use your resources appropriately. Even if, logically, you had no way of knowing that you could set things on fire by pouring the latest version of Bouncy Bubble Beverage on them--or that this was what Friend Computer (or your superiors, [[BadBoss who probably do want you dead]]) wanted, instead of you using your zap-gun or, y'know, a grenade. [[note]]That said, experienced Troubleshooters do in fact know that BBB is almost invariably a more potent, reliable, and effective weapon than anything you get issued through official channels.[[/note]] ''Never'' underestimate the ways you can get killed and/or accused of treason in ''Paranoia''.
** And that's not even getting into the equipment you might get from R&D. Not only does it have to be returned in mint condition, but you also need to use it at least once during the mission and file a report on it afterward. You don't have security clearance for the instructions. You might not have security clearance to know what it does. And it has a tendency to [[PhlebotinumBreakdown malfunction]] even ''more'' often than your regular equipment.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Spycraft}}'' breaks from the "gather loot and save" setup in favor of "get stuff from quartermaster depending on the mission": a low-level mission will give you a mundane 9mm pistol, and as things get worse you can ask for Uzis, AK-47s, Browning Automatic Rifles, and if the world is ''really'' going to hell, an [[{{BFG}} M2HB heavy]] [[MoreDakka machinegun]].
* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', of course, doesn't merely use this trope, it practically embodies it. Almost every piece of equipment given is not only useless for its intended purpose but is guaranteed to be the cause of death of at least one player character. [[RuleOfFunny Thankfully, there's a reason for this.]]
** ''Paranoia'' does something even worse: It's actually not that odd to get equipment assigned to you. Lots of equipment. Tons of it. Things you don't need, even. But one small detail: You're ''responsible'' for all the equipment given to you and are expected to return it in the same condition you were given it. Yes, that includes grenades. This being ''Paranoia'', it hardly needs saying that a failure to do so is treason. Or bringing it back in perfect condition is treason, as you failed to use your resources appropriately. Or both: you get accused of treason for failing to bring one thing back in mint condition ''and'' for failing to use your resources appropriately. Even if, logically, you had no way of knowing that you could set things on fire by pouring the latest version of Bouncy Bubble Beverage on them--or that this was what Friend Computer (or your superiors, [[BadBoss who probably do want you dead]]) wanted, instead of you using your zap-gun or, y'know, a grenade. [[note]]That said, experienced Troubleshooters do in fact know that BBB is almost invariably a more potent, reliable, and effective weapon than anything you get issued through official channels.[[/note]] ''Never'' underestimate the ways you can get killed and/or accused of treason in ''Paranoia''.
** And that's not even getting into the equipment you might get from R&D. Not only does it have to be returned in mint condition, but you also need to use it at least once during the mission and file a report on it afterward. You don't have security clearance for the instructions. You might not have security clearance to know what it does. And it has a tendency to [[PhlebotinumBreakdown malfunction]] even ''more'' often than your regular equipment.

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' is, as usual, flexible: you generally get a reasonable set of starting cash, you can use an equipment list to buy any items your DM agrees are available, and you can even have a regular income (assuming your character actually has a job and attends to it regularly...) But you can get better starting funds as an Advantage by spending character points or get extra character points by taking poverty as a Disadvantage.
* Creator/GamesWorkshop games:

** This can almost literally happen in Bretonnia. Knights cannot receive corporal or capital punishment, but one who is found guilty of an offense has their sentence decided by noble jury, who is allowed to require the offender to complete a quest. A quest like, for instance, "Travel to the Vaults, and kill the Orc warlord Balagran, wearing no armour and armed only with a fruit knife."

** ''Paranoia'' does something even worse: It's actually not that odd to get equipment assigned to you. Lots of equipment. Tons of it. Things you don't need, even. But one small detail: You're ''responsible'' for all the equipment given to you and are expected to return it in the same condition you were given it. Yes, that includes grenades. This being ''Paranoia'', it hardly needs saying that a failure to do so is treason. Or bringing it back in perfect condition is treason, as you failed to use your resources appropriately. Or both: you get accused of treason for failing to bring one thing back in mint condition ''and'' for failing to use your resources appropriately. Even if, logically, you had no way of knowing that you could set things on fire by pouring the latest version of Bouncy Bubble Beverage on them--or that this was what Friend Computer (or your superiors, [[BadBoss who probably do want you dead]]) wanted, instead of you using your zap-gun or, y'know, a grenade. [[note]]That said, experienced Troubleshooters do in fact know that BBB is almost invariably a more potent, reliable, and effective weapon than anything you get issued through official channels.[[/note]]''Never'' underestimate the ways you can get killed and/or accused of treason in ''Paranoia''.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' makes this potentially CrazyAwesome, however, in that there is a Charm (character power) that would potentially allow a character to block a thrown mountain, ''with a butter knife''. And a combat-focused character can take this power ''at starting level''. Needless to say, the butter knife would not survive. Also completely averted through purchasable backgrounds. High levels of Command and Arsenal allow you to start the game with an army of 10,000 men outfitted with the finest mundane equipment available. Pool points with the rest of the party and you can outfit a squadron of 20-foot tall Magitek robots.

* Most TabletopRPG setups avoid this: ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' (depending on the campaign and generousness of your DM, of course) gives you at least enough starting gear to do your job -- things like a decent set of armour and a good weapon for the fighter, or a mostly-stocked spellbook for a wizard, or the clothes on your back for a monk. That said, it usually takes leveling to about level 4-ish to grind enough gold to buy magic items (or be able to take on enemy encounters that would drop magic items), but that's less this trope and more the inflation brought about by every adventurer and their brother swimming in treasure.
** Fifth edition averts this trope entirely by attacking it from the other end: there is only one item in the game that is actually necessary for the full use of a character combat ability: the divine focus, arcane focus, or spell components pouch used by a spellcaster to cast their spells. Every other combat ability in the game is either entirely innate or can be applied at only a slightly reduced power level to improvised or trivially-obtained weapons, and full-strength gear is cheap on the level of standard adventuring profits covering a near-full replacement even at level one. Out of combat abilities such as lock-picking still require tools, but the skill required to use the tools can also be used to craft replacements on the fly in a pinch and inferior materials rarely levy a mechanical penalty on them either. Even losing your armor entirely doesn't shift your defenses enough to be a crippling loss... even for fighters. Wizards still need their spellbooks, which are expensive to replace, but they only need them to change what spells they have prepared or cast ritual spells.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Spycraft}}'' breaks from the "gather loot and save" setup in favor of "get stuff from quartermaster depending on mission": a low-level mission will give you a mundane 9mm pistol, and as things get worse you can ask for Uzis, AK-47s, Browning Automatic Rifles, and if the world is ''really'' going to hell, an [[{{BFG}} M2HB heavy]] [[MoreDakka machinegun]].

** ''Paranoia'' does something even worse: It's actually not that odd to get equipment assigned to you. Lots of equipment. Tons of it. Things you don't need, even. But one small detail: You're ''responsible'' for all the equipment given to you and are expected to return it in the same condition you were given it. Yes, that includes grenades. This being ''Paranoia'', it hardly needs saying that a failure to do so is treason. Or bringing it back in perfect condition is treason, as you failed to use your resources appropriately. Or both: you get accused of treason for failing to bring one thing back in mint condition ''and'' for failing to use your resources appropriately. Even if, logically, you had no way of knowing that you could set things on fire by pouring the latest version of Bouncy Bubble Beverage on them--or that this was what Friend Computer (or your superiors, [[BadBoss who probably do want you dead]]) wanted, instead of you using your zap-gun or, y'know, a grenade. [[note]]That said, experienced Troubleshooters do in fact know that BBB is almost invariably a more potent, reliable and effective weapon than anything you get issued through official channels.[[/note]]''Never'' underestimate the ways you can get killed and/or accused of treason in ''Paranoia''.
** And that's not even getting into the equipment you might get from R&D. Not only does it have to be returned in mint condition, but you also need to use it at least once during the mission and file a report on it afterwards. You don't have security clearance for the instructions. You might not have security clearance to know what it does. And it has a tendency to [[PhlebotinumBreakdown malfunction]] even ''more'' often than your regular equipment.

*** {{Averted|Trope}} in ''TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}''. While in the main ''Warhammer 40,000'' game, the Imperial Guards' lasguns and flak armour (known flashlights and T-shirts to the fandom) compare poorly to the equipment of other factions, it's usually because those other armies are immortal death machines, spore-based super warriors, or {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s. The Imperial Guard still has ten thousand years of technology and the resources of the quadrillion strong Imperium of Man. Compared to them, the gangs of ''Necromunda'' are, well, slum dwellers. The general lack of armour or sophisticated weapons in the game's [[WretchedHive underhive]] setting makes even basic and improvised weapons like knives, big chunks of pipe, and ordinary pistols (aka "stub guns") reasonably effective. Lasguns are actually toward the high end of the effectiveness scale, and flak armour is elite gear. A single [[SuperSoldier Space Marine]] or Genestealer would be a OneManArmy.

* Averted by ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'', since there's not really anything in the way of magical equipment in the setting, and most players can easily start with decent equipment for their class. This is because in the first edition, equipment optimization was determined by weight, and in second edition, classes came with a core set of starting equipment (so a noble class character would always have a good-quality outfit and a rapier, for instance).